TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Blackwater Chief Denies Guards Act Improperly

ADVERTISEMENT

By KAREN DeYOUNG, The Washington Post

Published: October 3, 2007

WASHINGTON - The chairman of the Blackwater private security firm said Tuesday that guards working for his company have 'acted appropriately at all times' while protecting U.S. diplomats in Iraq and he accused critics of making 'baseless allegations of wrongdoing' against them.

In a contentious hearing before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Erik Prince said it is up to the Justice Department, not Blackwater, to investigate shootings and other acts of violence involving Blackwater employees and, if warranted, prosecute personnel involved in the deaths of Iraqi civilians.

'We fired him,' he said of a drunk Blackwater employee who allegedly shot and killed a security guard of one of Iraq's vice presidents last Christmas Eve. The man was fined 'multiple thousands of dollars,' Prince said. But 'we can't flog him. We can't incarcerate him. That's up to the Justice Department.' The guard has not been charged.

But senior State Department officials testified that it remains unclear whether U.S. laws cover contractors. 'The area of laws available for prosecution is very murky,' said Richard Griffin, head of the department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security. 'That lack of clarity is part of the problem.'

The hearing was prompted by a Sept. 16 incident in which Blackwater guards escorting a U.S. diplomatic convoy in Baghdad are alleged to have killed at least 11 Iraqis. But discussion of that incident was prohibited soon after the session began when committee chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said the Justice Department has warned that testimony on the shootings could endanger 'any potential criminal prosecution.'

The panel released on Monday a majority-staff report that said Blackwater guards had engaged in 195 shooting incidents since early 2005, including several involving previously unreported killings of Iraqi civilians. In more than 80 percent of the incidents, Blackwater guards fired first, the report said.

In an opening statement before the committee, Prince, a former Navy Seal who started Blackwater in 1997, said that nearly 30 of his employees have been killed carrying out their duties in Iraq. Meanwhile, he said, no one under the protection of his personnel has been killed or seriously injured. He said Blackwater 'does not engage in offensive or military missions, but performs only defensive and protective duties.'

'A lot of people call us mercenaries,' he added. 'We are Americans, working for Americans, protecting Americans.'

He said contractors follow a strict protocol for 'escalation of force' against Iraqis who appear to be threatening a convoy, first using 'hand signals and audible yelling,' and then firing flares. 'Water bottles are sometimes thrown at vehicles to warn them off. If you have to go beyond that, they take shots, hitting the radiator' followed by shots to the windshield.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT