Iraqis learned to fear banned US security firm
By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
BAGHDAD: Armed contractors employed by private US security firm
Blackwater USA gained a reputation of shooting first and not bothering to ask
questions later as they charged through Iraq protecting US personnel and
property. The North Carolina firm, whose license was cancelled by the Iraqi
government Monday after its personnel were involved in a deadly shootout in
Baghdad, has never been far from controversy in war-ravaged Iraq. Nor
have its estimated 1,000 or so contractors in Iraq, who have been drawn
increasingly into the war, been far from death. Established 10 years ago
by Erik Prince, right-wing son of a multi-millionaire and a former Navy SEAL,
the security consulting firm has grown into what US investigative reporter
Jeremy Scahill describes as the "world's most powerful mercenary army."
According to Scahill, Blackwater has "more than 2,300 private soldiers deployed
in nine countries including the United States." Its "private soldiers"
arrived in Iraq soon after the US-led invasion of March 2003, being employed
by then US pro-consul Paul Bremer to provide protection for US officials.
Blackwater's presence has however been a bone of contention for Iraqi officials
as it has never been clear whether they are immune from prosecution.
Blackwater's security-consulting division holds at least $109 million worth of
State Department contracts in Iraq and is authorized to use deadly force,
according to a Washington Post report in June. Armed contractors are
deployed to protect US officials and convoys transporting reconstruction
material, including vehicles, weapons and ammunition for the Iraqi Army and
police. But, the report said, they are becoming increasingly involved in
military action, fighting insurgents, enduring attacks and taking hundreds of
casualties that have been sometimes concealed. Armed contractors can make
up to $20,000 a month in Iraq but the risks are high.
Blackwater lost four employees in Fallujah in March 2004 when a mob brutally
mutilated their bodies and hanged them from a bridge. The slaughter sparked the
first major US assault on Fallujah. In April 2005, Blackwater contractors
were again in the line of fire when six were killed after insurgents downed a
Bulgarian helicopter with a missile strike near the northern city of Tikrit.
A seventh Blackwater employee was killed at the same time near Ramadi when a
roadside bomb detonated near his vehicle. Blackwater is by no means the
only private security company operating in Iraq - or losing personnel.
Jose Luis Gomez del Prado, head of a United Nations workgroup on the use of
mercenaries in Iraq, estimates that at least 160 companies are in the country,
employing between them 35,000 to 40,000 people. Gomez del Prado also
estimated in January that more than 400 private employees have died in Iraq
since 2003, putting their casualties below the number suffered by US armed
forces but ahead of British military deaths. For Iraqis, Blackwater
contractors were known for their propensity to open fire indiscriminately when
they felt they were under threat. Riding machine-gun mounted utility
vehicles while providing security escorts to, among others, US Ambassador Ryan
Crocker, residents of Baghdad preferred to get off the roads when their convoys
approached. In May, according to the Washington Post, a
guard working for Blackwater shot and killed an Iraqi driver near the Interior
Ministry. The Blackwater guards said the victim drove too close to their
convoy and drew fire, the report said. Also in May, a
Blackwater-protected convoy was ambushed in downtown Baghdad, triggering a
furious battle, in which the security contractors, US and Iraqi troops and
AH-64 Apache attack helicopters opened fire in a crowded area. A similar
incident occurred on Sunday, when Blackwater guards were escorting a US
diplomatic convoy through the Al-Yarmukh neighborhood of West Baghdad.
According to Iraqi and US officials they came under small arms attack and
returned fire. Witnesses and victims lying in hospital suffering gunshot
wounds said the Blackwater guards had opened indiscriminate fire into the
crowded streets and at cars trapped behind the convoy. When the
pandemonium died down, at least eight peo-ple had been killed and another 13
wounded.
The incident was just one too many for the Iraqi authorities, who issued
orders Mon-day to revoke Blackwater's license. - AFP
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=85350
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