Jeremy Scahill also has some video up on youtube. He appeared to me to be very slanted against the company and it's ownership.
Re: Blackwater
Jeremy Scahill also has some video up on youtube. He appeared to me to be very slanted against the company and it's ownership.
Fallout from the Blackwater Shooting
More here.Associated Press BAGHDAD — The Interior Ministry said Monday that it was pulling the license of an American security firm allegedly involved in the fatal shooting of civilians during an attack on a U.S. State Department motorcade in Baghdad.
The ministry said it would prosecute any foreign contractors found to have used excessive force in the Sunday incident.
Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul-Karim Khalaf said eight people were killed and 13 were wounded when security contractors working for Blackwater USA opened fire in a predominantly Sunni neighborhood of western Baghdad.
"We have canceled the license of Blackwater and prevented them from working all over Iraqi territory. We will also refer those involved to Iraqi judicial authorities," Khalaf said.
Blackwater, based in North Carolina, provides security for many U.S. civilian operations in the country. Phone messages left early Monday at Blackwater's office in North Carolina and with a company spokeswoman were not immediately returned.
Example is better than precept.
Only a matter of time, I guess...
but not a good move on Blackwater's part...assuming of course that the current story is what actually happened. I haven't heard enough about this yet to hazard a guess either way.
"On the plains and mountains of the American West, the United States Army had once learned everything there was to learn about hit-and-run tactics and guerrilla warfare."
T.R. Fehrenbach This Kind of War
Devil's Advocate
Much has been written here and elsewhere about the insurgency's tactic of using civilians as shields. They will often shoot from the crowd hoping to evoke a lethal response which helps them win in the IO realm and possibly creates new recruits from those directly affected (i.e. those wounded or friends/family of those wounded or killed). Could this be more of the same? By pulling the credentials of this company, are we actually giving the terrorists what they want? They have previously attacked the UN and some of our smaller allies to get them to pull out of Iraq. Is this an updated version of that tactic?
Disclaimer: I am not advocating a blank check for contractors and believe that any contractors that violate the law should be held accountable.
-john bellflower
Rule of Law in Afghanistan
"You must, therefore know that there are two means of fighting: one according to the laws, the other with force; the first way is proper to man, the second to beasts; but because the first, in many cases, is not sufficient, it becomes necessary to have recourse to the second." -- Niccolo Machiavelli (from The Prince)
Contract security firms, as a generalization, do more to screw up an AO than anything the owning unit can do. Often they don't coordinate with the owning unit. They are there and paid to protect their cargo, be it materials or people. FM3-24 is not part of their contract.
Example is better than precept.
As for being "held accountable", isn't this one of the big issues with using contractors, mercenaries, Hessians, hired guns or whatever term is in vogue these days? I don't think they are accountable to the UCMJ. Does the Iraqi courts system have any jurisdiction over this? I guess rather than bother with the hassle of trying something like this in court, just telling them to leave seems easier.Originally Posted by LawVol
No signature required, my handshake is good enough.
The tactic of shooting from the crowd in order to attempt to elicit an undisciplined response that will kill civilians is directed at turning the population (and members of the Iraqi government) against the US and its allies (or simply deepening already existing resentment and anger). The bad guys don't really care if BW specifically stays or goes - they want us all out.
Your last statement is a false analogy. For example, the bombing of the UN HQ and the Jordanian Embassy in '03 were direct attacks specifically intended to drive those representatives out of Iraq, and, by extension, to send an explicit warning to the wider diplomatic community in Baghdad. BW just ain't important enough to target in that manner.
The Iraqi government insisting that BW get out is an unintended side-effect of the of the incident that caused it all. I'm sure the bad guys welcome their departure, but the resulting perceptions of indiscriminate killing of civilians are far more important in the big picture.
Blood Lust and Gunmen
Just my opinion but it boils down to whom the State Dept. and the big money boys want protecting them and what the latter wants, the latter usually gets. Some civilians in country may not want a close relationship with the military for any number of reasons, legitimate and non-legit. Since former military significantly fill the ranks of mercs, it is out of character for years of training and experience to be tossed out the window in a firefight as if they were gunslingers in town on a drunken binge. No doubt mercs complicate and impinge on AOs but non DOD covert ops piggyback on mercs from time to time too, they would have to.
I'm Not Sure How I Feel About This
I'm getting some love in the latest Blackwater newsletter.
All in all - a pretty good approach to educating the work force. I'm impressed, and I think if read and discussed it could help them integrate with us on the ground - kind of like "here is what is important to the boss right now". I wonder if they have gone as far as implementing some kind of continued education program?
Rob
Monicker
Steve, would you prefer that they disagree with you? I'd be delighted to see my prose highlighted. As my friend Michael Ledeen said to me once (to encourage me to continue), "The goal of writing is to change someone's mind, we know not whom."
By the way. I took note of your dapper new look ... hat, glasses, Gamecocks rag behind you (to convince us that you are, um, the young collegiate type?). You banking on the ladies visiting the SWJ?
I don't care whether they agree or disagree...so long as the magazine is out of their weapon at the time.
More potential book buyers.
Could this be outsourcing of COIN airpower?
Article today on Fox News:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,361322,00.html
Looks like Blackwater may be getting a COIN aircraft - a Super Tucano (really not a "Fighter Jet" as Fox labeled the headline).
This deal was previously reported when the order was made back in Aug '07. Sounds like it has now been approved by the Brazilian govt based on a USG request.
Wonder whose pilots they are going to train? Reports in '07 had a spokeswoman claiming "only US" pilots would be trained.
Interesting implications no matter who it ends up being...
Mercenaries, folks from "other" govt agencies, or the AF?
Anyone out there have more info?
V/R,
Cliff
Just that we are going back in history. We did this in the Congo in the 1960s with merc air using ex-pat Cuban pilots. Some good things some bad. Notably however it was an air suppression centric rather conventional flying ground column operation with mercs, foreign advisors (Belge and US), and piss poor ANC troops. The Cuban pilots got paid by rounds expended so guess what? They never brought any rounds back.
If it was me on the ground, I'd rather have mortars and artillery.
Tom
Tom-
Were they Cubans who left post Castro? Is there more info on this somewhere? Just wondering - thanks!
V/R,
Cliff
Ciff,
They were "Bay of Pigs" Cubans hired by the CIA through a front company called WIGMO which operated out of Miami. They flew B-26K Invaders, T-6s, and T28s. See LP 14
Here is an excerp from my end notes on this effort:
In attempting to forestall a complete ANC collapse, the CIA established a covert air force. Using front organizations- the Western International Ground Maintenance Organization in Lichenstein and the Caribbean Marine Aero Corporation in Miami, Florida- the agency hired ground maintenance personnel and Cuban exiles to pilot the force. American officials were careful to disassociate the United States government from these operations by maintaining that the Cubans were hired by the Leopoldville government. This policy collapsed in June when the news media documented that American pilots had been flying combat missions. Faced with this embarrassment, the State Department was forced to promise to prohibit such future activities. Ironically, the American officials on the scene, who shortly afterward became distressed by Tshombe's use of white mercenary troops, never considered these contract pilots in the same light. Regardless of such fine distinctions, the instant air force was soon in full operation using T-6s against Muléle's rebels. These aircraft provided air cover sorties for UN evacuation operations around Kikwit during early 1964; UN pilots, glad to have the T-6s around, turned a blind eye to the nature of the pilots. As the year progressed, the CIA continued to expand this operation and others to meet rising demands. By one account, the agency had a Cuban force of 200 infantry, around 30 pilots, and 60 ground personnel in the Congo by 1965. Some of these infantry were to have a critical role in support of Dragon Rouge. Still, this covert support was not intended to secure the Congo; the only way to accomplish that objective was to retrain the ANC. State, "Congolese Rebellion of 1964," pt. 1, 2-6; LBJ-NSF-CF: Congo, Container 81, Memos and Miscellaneous, vol. 1, 11/63-6/64; U.S. Department of State, Memorandum for Governor Harriman, Subject: Chinese Communist Involvement in Congolese Involvement in Congolese Insurrections, 11 August 1964, LBJ-NSF-CF: Congo, Container 81, Memos and Miscellaneous, vol. 3, 8/64; Vandewalle, L'Ommengang, 63-64; Victor Marchetti and John D. Marks, The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1974), 136; Message, STATE 336 to AMEMBASSY Leopoldville, transmitted 4:09 p.m., 15 August 1964, LBJ-NSF-CF: Congo, Container 81, Congo Cables, vol. 3, 8/64; Fred E. Wagoner, DRAGON ROUGE: The Rescue of Hostages in the Congo (Washington, DC; National Defense University, 1980), 29; and Barbara A. Wilson, "The Congo (Republic of the Congo- Leopoldville) Since January 1964," in Research Notes on Insurgency Potential in Africa South of the Sahara (Washington, DC: American University, August 1966), 77-78.
OPINION: Prince is composed, direct - and wrong about The N&O
I really don't know enough to make any judgement about Erik Prince or Blackwater, but I thought this was amusing:
http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2008/07/13/3543928.htm
In the meeting, Prince and Gary Jackson, Blackwater's president, said our May 18 story, "Blackwater survives rough time," contained three errors:
--We reported that Presidential Airways, a sister company to Blackwater, had received a $91 million contract for air charter work in Guam. Prince said it was much smaller. When we provided documents, Blackwater responded that The N&O was "not as misguided as we thought."
Shortly someone with ties to Professional Soliders will be along and give the scoop on Prince and the snake he is.
Example is better than precept.
Army Times, 14 Jul 08: Erik Prince Interview
.....Blackwater’s reputation has been tainted by several high-profile incidents that have garnered negative publicity, most recently a Sept. 16, 2007, incident in Baghdad’s Nisour Square in which a Blackwater personal security detail escorting a State Department convoy allegedly shot 17 Iraqi civilians.
In a July 7 meeting with the Military Times editors and reporters, Prince vigorously defended his company, which he said had a guiding principle of “operational excellence.”
The following are extracts from that meeting, edited for brevity and clarity....
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