Where does the US Military stand on the Blackwater killings?

Question

Does it feel rogue mercenaries blacken their name?

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F.B.I. Says Guards Killed 14 Iraqis Without Cause

Federal agents investigating the Sept. 16 episode in which Blackwater security personnel shot and killed 17 Iraqi civilians have found that at least 14 of the shootings were unjustified and violated deadly-force rules in effect for security contractors in Iraq, according to civilian and military officials briefed on the case.

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A separate military review of the Sept. 16 shootings concluded that all of the killings were unjustified and potentially criminal. One of the military investigators said the F.B.I. was being generous to Blackwater in characterizing any of the killings as justifiable.

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But nearly 11 months later, no charges have been brought, and officials said a number of theories had been debated among prosecutors in Washington and Seattle without a resolution of how to proceed in the case.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/14/world/middleeast/14black

The military employs Blackwater and other mercenaries, hence they have the responsibility of oversight. Perhaps it is just this lack of oversight though which they create in order to have a force with greater flexibility and fewer restraints for selected operations.

America will be judged by all of its agents, soldiers and mercenaries alike. The American public will differentiate the two, but only in part, and rightfully so, as the military has created the modern mercenary and widened the use of private security forces.

I understood that both State and DOD employed Blackwater. Is this true?

Answer 1

well yesterday in a congressional hearing the inspector general of the state department (the guy that writes, approves and reviews contracts) actualy admitted his brother sits on the board of Blackwater! this was after he lied earlier, then asked for a break, then came back and confessed after supposedly callling his brother on the phone and "learning for the first time" that his blood brother works for Blackwater

yeah, sure, stick with THAT story! LOL

talk about cronyism and corruption!

gotta love the Republicans and bush!

Answer 2

Comfortable with it? The USA is only going to inflict, on a far wider group of its own citizens, the same type of terror tactics that it has inflicted on the rest of the world for a long time. If this move is enough to make the good people of the USA start to take notice of what has been done in their name, if they start to see through the incredible rubbish that passes for news in the popular media, and if they start to hold their elected representatives accountable, then the world will be a better place. When the American people cheered when Oliver North was acquitted, it demonstrated to the right wing leaders that people will swallow any sort of lies, law-breaking, murder, drug-dealing, etc, by the government, just as long as it is wrapped in the Stars and Stripes. Americans are just like everybody else on the planet. The great majority of people would rather do a stranger a good turn than a bad. They want to feel that they are the good guys, helping to protect and enlighten the weaker countries and people of the world. But Americans are insular. There are still Americans who believe that their actions in Vietnam were right. Most Americans do not know that the USA put Saddam Hussein into power in Iraq, they do not know that the Taliban were trained, armed and financed by the USA. They do not know of their government's dealings with drug lords, crime bosses, war lords, corrupt regimes in countries all over the world. Perhaps having Blackwater acting as thugs on behalf of the government might awaken the people of the USA to a wider reality, and take them beyond the idea that life is just a matter of eat, excrete, and watch TV.

Answer 3

The U.S. Military has no legal standing on the killings, however U.S. Military Officials have stated that in their opinion the Blackwater Operatives had opened fire with no justifiable provocation.


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You state this in your post, which basically answers your own question: A separate military review of the Sept. 16 shootings concluded that all of the killings were unjustified and potentially criminal. One of the military investigators said the F.B.I. was being generous to Blackwater in characterizing any of the killings as justifiable.

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Not sure how you count time in your area but September to now is only 3 months since the killings.


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That is the crux of the problem Blackwater has been allowed to operate unchecked, it was part of the conditions when they took on the job in Iraq.

Who is going to charge them?

The Iraqi justice system????

The American Military cant touch them as they are not Military personnel.

The U.S. State Department I believe has no jurisdiction in a case involving American people in a foreign country

Answer 4

What does the military have to do with Blackwater? The State Department holds the contract for them and the other 2 major security companies.

Answer 5

Why would Black Water hurt the military ?

The military didn't employee them.

They weren't doing a military job.

Black Water is employed by the State Department to augument the State Departments own Diplomatic Security Service.

The State Department provides security for Diplomats, not the US Military.

Answer 6

What about charges for Abu Graib, Walter Reid, Tillmanns death, J, Lynch lies, and 9/11 as total failure of FBI, CIA, Pentagon, Airport Security, Government in General, 2 Trillion cost for a senseless war, unfinished business in Afghanistan, quagmire in Iraq, lies and more lies to get us into senseless wars. A couple of lowly underlings get send home, that's it, the brass keeps the medals, the job, the pension and the money (courtesy of us tax payers)

Answer 7

What Blackwater has done, the US military has also done. Accounts of the killing of civilians in Iraq by mercenaries as well as US troops are well known. I am disgusted that mercenaries like Blackwater would go to Iraq and kill for money. I have some sympathy for US soldiers, as they are conned into serving through lies. I have utmost respect for the brave soldiers who are refusing to fight in Iraq. These are the heroes in my eyes.

Answer 8

I don't mind at all. They also build schools and do jobs to dangerous to assign to most soldiers.

But the bastards get paid way too much...

Answer 9

I think conranger pretty well summed it up.