Blackwater Tops All Firms in Iraq in Shooting Rate

[Neil D]

My take on this is that Blackwater has abused it's privilages...What do you think?

Blackwater report

WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 — The American security contractor Blackwater USA has been involved in a far higher rate of shootings while guarding American diplomats in Iraq than other security firms providing similar services to the State Department, according to Bush administration officials and industry officials.

Blackwater is now the focus of investigations in both Baghdad and Washington over a Sept. 16 shooting in which at least 11 Iraqis were killed. Beyond that episode, the company has been involved in cases in which its personnel fired weapons while guarding State Department officials in Iraq at least twice as often per convoy mission as security guards working for other American security firms, the officials said.

The disclosure came as the Pentagon said Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates had sent a team of officials to Iraq to get answers to questions about the use of American security contractors there.

The State Department keeps reports on each case in which weapons were fired by security personnel guarding American diplomats in Iraq. Officials familiar with the internal State Department reports would not provide the actual statistics, but they indicated that the records showed that Blackwater personnel were involved in dozens of episodes in which they had resorted to force.

The officials said that Blackwater’s incident rate was at least twice that recorded by employees of DynCorp International and Triple Canopy, the two other United States-based security firms that have been contracted by the State Department to provide security for diplomats and other senior civilians in Iraq.

The State Department would not comment on most matters relating to Blackwater, citing the current investigation. But Sean McCormack, the department’s spokesman, said that of 1,800 escort missions by Blackwater this year, there had been “only a very small fraction, very small fraction, that have involved any sort of use of force.”

In 2005, DynCorp reported 32 shootings during about 3,200 convoy missions, and in 2006 that company reported 10 episodes during about 1,500 convoy missions. While comparable Blackwater statistics were not available, government officials said the firm’s rate per convoy mission was about twice DynCorp’s.

The State Department’s incident reports have not been made public, and Blackwater refused to provide its own data on cases in which its personnel used their weapons while guarding American diplomats. The State Department is in the process of providing at least some of the data to Congress. The administration and industry officials who agreed to discuss the broad rate of Blackwater’s involvement in violent events would not disclose the specific numbers.

“The incident rate for Blackwater is higher, there is a distinction,” said a senior American government official who insisted on anonymity in order to discuss a delicate, continuing investigation. “The real question that is open for discussion is why.”

A Blackwater spokeswoman declined to comment.

Blackwater, based in North Carolina, has gained a reputation among Iraqis and even among American military personnel serving in Iraq as a company that flaunts an aggressive, quick-draw image that leads its security personnel to take excessively violent actions to protect the people they are paid to guard. After the latest shooting, the Iraqi government demanded that the company be banned from operating in the country.

“You can find any number of people, particularly in uniform, who will tell you that they do see Blackwater as a company that promotes a much more aggressive response to things than other main contractors do,” a senior American official said.

Today, Blackwater operates in the most violent parts of Iraq and guards the most prominent American diplomats, which some American government officials say explains why it is involved in more shootings than its competitors. The shootings included in the reports include all cases in which weapons are fired, including those meant as warning shots. Others add that Blackwater’s aggressive posture in guarding diplomats reflects the wishes of its client, the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security.

Still, other government officials say that Blackwater's corporate culture seems to encourage excessive behavior. "Is it the operating environment or something specific about Blackwater?" asked one government official. "My best guess is that it is both."

2nd page, if you want to read it...

[Dr. Shane]

My take is that I wouldn't want to be doing their job and having other people second guess me on it.

[GodsOath]

Companies making money out of tragedies.

[Bravus]

Unaccountable private firms taking over the work of the military was always going to lead this way. The military has procedures for controlling and dealing with violence and curbing its excessive use, but heavily armed civilians without those controls are dangerous. Not to mention further inflaming the people of Iraq, even those who were well disposed toward the original invasion, against the occupation.

[Neil D]

my first impression is that if blackwater is in the wrong, not only do they loose thier contracts, but they must make restitution to those innocents that they 'accidentily' shot. and Karzide has every right to expell every one of the blackwater employees....for a 3 months exile...then they could sigh up with another company, if that company will have them...

Just my take on the situation....

[Dr. Shane]

The idea that the military should provide security for private firms is not completely without merit.

I watched the interview of a special forces sniper on TV some months ago. He talked about how they determine if a person is a threat or not and it is quite subjective. It is almost impossible to draw up some kind of standard to hold these people accountable to. If they don't kill someone who actually is a threat, they could all end up with their burnt bodies hanging from a bridge.

War is hell. It is not pretty. That is why we want to avoid it and when it is not avoidable, win it and thus end it as quickly as possible.

[GodsOath]

IN Answer to CoAspen "Relevant to the ongoing conversation"