Blackwater merceneries drew weapons on US soldiers in Iraq.Is that the neocon's idea of supporting the troops?

Question

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21163806/site/newsweek/

The colonel was furious. "Can you believe it? They actually drew their weapons on U.S. soldiers." He was describing a 2006 car accident, in which an SUV full of Blackwater operatives had crashed into a U.S. Army Humvee on a street in Baghdad's Green Zone. The colonel, who was involved in a follow-up investigation and spoke on the condition he not be named, said the Blackwater guards disarmed the U.S. Army soldiers and made them lie on the ground at gunpoint until they could disentangle the SUV.

Answer 1

Nothing like "unofficial and unnamed sources" to add veracity to a questionable story. I doubt that a Humvee full of American soldiers are going to give up their weapons to Blackwater mercenaries. Since Blackwater doesn't contribute to the Democrat party, I am anticipating an increase in these stories over the months to come.

To all you uninformed liberal twits who say Blackwater should not be over there. My son is over there in Iraq. I do not want him there but the fact is that he is there. Blackwater takes missions that American soldiers are NOT trained for such as escorting VIPs (Iraqi and foreign) and supply convoys. We do not need to lose the lives of American soldiers taking over that mission. You people are absolute idiots. Pure stupid, ignorant dorks who are nothing more than oxygen wasters. I can't believe the level of stupidity of the average liberal. Pure freaking twits who haven't a clue.

Answer 2

I wonder what the Neocons think about George Bush's decision to send Blackwater mercenaries to Iraq now?

Neocons talk about how patriotic these Blackwater merceneries are, but I say they are hindering military operations, because they don't listen to military commanders.

They have a different agenda than our soldiers. The Blackwater mercenaries will shoot and ask questions much later.

Answer 3

This could not be more wrong. I can't imagine how our military feels when Blackwater can boss them around. Against the war or for the war, how anyone can defend this is beyond me.

Of course they can't. They'll be nasty but this is just plain wrong.

Yes, Blackwater will be investigated by the FBI and guess who guards the FBI? Blackwater.

It's true people,no bs at all.

Answer 4

The neocons will support anything that Bush does-including sending hired killers who murder innocent civilans and are just as likely to gun down our troops.

What do they care--as long as they get stock profits off companies like Haliburton, Blackwater,etc.

Answer 5

Blackwater mercs were givin' lousy info on how to conduct themselves.Poorly lead also.

Answer 6

These thugs do not belong over there.. they are only going to make things even harder for our troops. Why are they allowed to be there?

Answer 7

Blackwater is the largest private security contractor working in Iraq. It was first hired by Paul Bremer's CPA in 2003 in a $21 million no bid contract. This was followed by another no bid contract in June 2004 to provide security for State Department (DOS) personnel in Iraq. The no bid contract was let as a matter of urgency but if this was the case, it is unclear why Marines or Special Forces were not used, or why, despite the urgency, there was still time to do a comparative cost analysis of various security contractors before awarding the contract to Blackwater. The no bid contract was eventually shifted to a "competitive" one in May 2006 (actually 3 security contractors were each awarded $1.2 billion). DOS has paid the company $832 million for services in Iraq from 2004 to 2006. In all Blackwater has received over a billion dollars in federal contracts going from $737,000 in 2001 to $593 million in 2006.
....It costs 6 times as much to use a Blackwater operative as it does for a US serviceperson or about $445,000 a year. Many of Blackwater's contractors received their training in the US military.
....The DOS has a detailed guide of how Blackwater is supposed to act in potentially threatening situations and how force is to be escalated, but in practice with convoys barreling down roads often the wrong way, these are routinely ignored and maximum force is used first not last. Between January 2005 and April 2007, Blackwater personnel were in 168 incidents involving firearms. In 143 or 85% of them, Blackwater employees fired first. The situation is complicated by the fact that private security contractors are responsible to no one. Just before leaving Iraq in June 2004, Paul Bremer signed Order 17 which placed all contractors outside Iraqi law. As civilians, contractors do not appear to fall under the military's UCMJ, and federal investigation from the US is difficult and has not been rigorously pursued.
....Blackwater first came to national attention on March 31, 2004 when 4 of its contractors were caught in Falluja in unarmored vehicles and killed. Their burned bodies were hung from a bridge. This incident sparked the first siege of Falluja and eventually the destruction of that city later that year. There have been other incidents.
....On June 25, 2005 in al Hillah, Blackwater employees initially tried to cover up the shooting of an innocent bystander, a father of six. In a DOS effort to hush up the incident, the victim's family was paid $5,000
....On November 28, 2005 in Baghdad, a Blackwater commander directed his convoy to randomly collide with 18 vehicles "for no apparent reason".
....On Christmas Eve 2006 in the Green Zone, a drunk Blackwater employee shot and killed a bodyguard of Iraqi vice president Adel Abdul Mehdi. The DOS helped spirit him out of the country within 36 hours of the shooting. His punishment was that he was fired by Blackwater. The DOS also talked down a settlement to the victim's family from $250,000 to $15,000 arguing that they did not want to set a precedent.
....On September 16, 2007, Blackwater employees securing a square in western Baghdad for a second convoy escorting USAID officials (evacuated from a meeting because of a bomb) fired a single shot at a car (for no discernible reason) in a line of traffic some distance from their position. Although the driver had been killed, the car continued to roll forward and Blackwater employees opened up on it and the surrounding area with indiscriminate fire that killed 17 and wounded 24.
....Blackwater was also involved in post-Katrina security and was criticized for its heavyhandedness.
....The company is owned by Erik Prince a well connected Republican and former Navy Seal. In addition to Prince's own political ties, Joseph Schmitz COO and general counsel of Blackwater's parent company the Prince Group is Jeb Bush's brother-in-law.
....Our country spends more on defense than the rest of the world combined yet essential government security services are being contracted out (at inflated rates) to private armies made up of cowboys and mercenaries. This is not only expensive in monetary terms, but the lack of accountability of these armed and dangerous actors seriously undercuts America's already precarious position in Iraq. It rings hollow to talk about law and order to Iraqis when high profile security contractors show on a daily basis that they have no use for either.

Answer 8

Overreactions ocurr in a warzone. Get it through your head, you weren't there and the media doesn't tell all the facts.

But here's a question for you, is Nancy Pelosi and Kucinich going to Syria and badmouthing the troops and the US supporting them?

Answer 9

Well, of course, anything big business wants to do to screw the dumb taxpayers is okay with dumb washington, d c.
Anything to run THIS country into bankruptcy seems to be their aim!!!!

Answer 10

I say we pull the troops out, and make the civilians fight for their own damn war until they beg us to come back