The American mercenaries are back, and blacker than ever!!
quote:
US defends decision to renew Blackwater deal in Iraq
Mon Apr 7, 5:40 PM ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The State Department on Monday cited the need to protect staff in Iraq as justification for renewing a contract with private security firm Blackwater USA without prior Iraqi government approval.
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Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, interviewed by the US television network CNN, complained that Washington had renewed the contract without his government's approval, adding the issue was still under consideration.
When asked to comment on Maliki's remarks, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters: "First of all, it's fundamentally a decision for us to take, about how we protect our people.
"The authority and responsibility with making those kinds of decisions has to reside with us," McCormack said.
"Now, of course we are going to consult very closely with the Iraqi government in how we do our jobs. But fundamentally, we're responsible, and solely responsible, for protecting our people," he said.
"The decision to renew the Blackwater contract was really done on the basis of the need to protect our people in doing their jobs," McCormack said.
"That doesn't mean that at some point, pending the final results of the FBI investigation, you can't go back and look at that investigation" into the shooting deaths last year.
The company's guards shot dead 17 Iraqi civilians while escorting an American diplomat through Baghdad in a September 16, 2007 incident that the Iraqi government considers a crime.
Blackwater says its guards reacted in self-defense.
Gregory Starr at the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security announced the renewal of the contract last Friday.
The company's contract was set to expire on May 7. It was renewed because Federal Bureau of Investigation agents have not yet concluded their inquiry into the September shooting, Starr said.
Foreign security companies at present are not subject to Iraq law, but at the same time are not governed by US military tribunals, allowing them to operate without any repercussions for their actions.
Registered: Oct 2001
Location: Toronto, ON, Canada
Oh I'm pretty sure they never left...
___________________
"...End? No, the journey doesn't end here. Death is just another path...one that we all must take.
The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all change to silver glass...and then you see it...
...white shores...and beyond...the far green country under a swift sunrise."
Apr-08-2008 02:55
Krypton
83.798 g/6.022x10^23
Registered: Nov 2003
Location: Texas
quote:
Originally posted by Fir3start3r
Oh I'm pretty sure they never left...
Maybe, but they weren't allowed on the streets...
___________________
Apr-08-2008 03:02
Fir3start3r
Armin Acolyte
Registered: Oct 2001
Location: Toronto, ON, Canada
quote:
Originally posted by Krypton
Maybe, but they weren't allowed on the streets...
Which is understandable considering they're only supposed to be guarding what they're paid for.
These guys are frackin' scary to be honest.
They have all the best toys and what looks like zero accountability.
I'm sure they have 'some' protocol but compared to the regular government grunts? Not much.
___________________
"...End? No, the journey doesn't end here. Death is just another path...one that we all must take.
The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all change to silver glass...and then you see it...
...white shores...and beyond...the far green country under a swift sunrise."
Apr-08-2008 03:12
hardcore trancer
Mystic Mind
Registered: Jan 2002
Location: Toronto,Canada
IT must feel great to be above the law. I cant wait to see these assholes to face war criminal charges!!
Stoneing them to death is the only reasonable sentence I can think of for Blackwater guys.
Apr-08-2008 03:54
Krypton
83.798 g/6.022x10^23
Registered: Nov 2003
Location: Texas
quote:
Originally posted by Fir3start3r
Which is understandable considering they're only supposed to be guarding what they're paid for.
These guys are frackin' scary to be honest.
They have all the best toys and what looks like zero accountability.
I'm sure they have 'some' protocol but compared to the regular government grunts? Not much.
Protocol is useless. Neither Iraqi or coalition law applies to them. They answer to their company supervisor. This is what corporate mercenaries look like...
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Apr-08-2008 03:56
Fir3start3r
Armin Acolyte
Registered: Oct 2001
Location: Toronto, ON, Canada
quote:
Originally posted by hardcore trancer
IT must feel great to be above the law. I cant wait to see these assholes to face war criminal charges!!
I seriously doubt that'll happen.
Blackwater will point to the employees they employed during those particular incidents which are probably long gone and disappeared.
That's not to say that Blackwater doesn't have any responsibility in it - it was obviously their employee and they should get their hand slapped somehow.
I guess that's the big question, how? and who does it?
(Considering ratio of incidents to current contracts they have there, I'm surprised how low the incident ratio is).
___________________
"...End? No, the journey doesn't end here. Death is just another path...one that we all must take.
The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all change to silver glass...and then you see it...
...white shores...and beyond...the far green country under a swift sunrise."
Apr-08-2008 03:59
hardcore trancer
Mystic Mind
Registered: Jan 2002
Location: Toronto,Canada
quote:
Originally posted by Fir3start3r
I seriously doubt that'll happen.
Blackwater will point to the employees they employed during those particular incidents which are probably long gone and disappeared.
Do you honestly believe that it was just that one incident? These guys have commited more crimes that you can think of and they are getting away with it just like that.
quote:
That's not to say that Blackwater doesn't have any responsibility in it - it was obviously their employee and they should get their hand slapped somehow.
I guess that's the big question, how? and who does it?
My god you are so simple minded. Slap on the wrist? these ******s are there and shooting the shit and getting paid for it and you just want them to get a slap on the wrist?come on now.
They should be kicked out of Iraq asap before shit hits the fan seriously.
Registered: Oct 2001
Location: Toronto, ON, Canada
quote:
Originally posted by hardcore trancer
Do you honestly believe that it was just that one incident? These guys have commited more crimes that you can think of and they are getting away with it just like that.
No I don't and never said such a thing.
Lets not go overboard with, 'more crimes that you can think of' (Engrish?) either unless you have some evidence of such?
quote:
My god you are so simple minded. Slap on the wrist? these ******s are there and shooting the shit and getting paid for it and you just want them to get a slap on the wrist?come on now.
Speaking of simple minded...I was being facetious with the slap on the wrist comment btw...
You and I both know that the punishment will be somewhat equivalent to that regardless of what you or I think it should be.
quote:
They should be kicked out of Iraq asap before shit hits the fan seriously.
I can't see that happening either - they're just too entrenched at the moment and they have nothing to do with the American government - they're a PRIVATE company.
It would be either up to their employers to fire their ass (are you really going to do that when they're protecting your assets or ass as it were) or for the Iraqis to implement a law to make these guys more accountable.
They're working within Iraqi borders, they should be following Iraqi law.
___________________
"...End? No, the journey doesn't end here. Death is just another path...one that we all must take.
The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all change to silver glass...and then you see it...
...white shores...and beyond...the far green country under a swift sunrise."
Apr-09-2008 01:15
Dervish
Your opinion matters.
Registered: Dec 2003
Location:
Lets be real no one will get done for this. It's shit but it's a fact.
___________________
If you can read this, I'm seriously fucking bored.
Apr-09-2008 01:18
shaolin_Z
Hei Hu Quan
Registered: Nov 2004
Location: Austin, Texas, USA: TXTA #102
quote:
Originally posted by Dervish
Lets be real no one will get done for this. It's shit but it's a fact.
Sadly that is the case, which is why some good old vigalante retribution from eigther marines or local Iraqi's would be kind of nice to read about.
___________________
"The Greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge."-Stephen Hawking
"First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me— and there was no one left to speak out for me." -Martin Niemöller
Blackwater back in Iraq
I cant wait to see these assholes to face war criminal charges!!
