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| Krypton |
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. |
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/2008040...urityblackwater |
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| Fir3start3r |
| Oh I'm pretty sure they never left... |
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| Krypton |
| quote: | Originally posted by Fir3start3r
Oh I'm pretty sure they never left... |
Maybe, but they weren't allowed on the streets... |
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| Fir3start3r |
| 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. |
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| hardcore trancer |
| IT must feel great to be above the law.:rolleyes: I cant wait to see these s to face war criminal charges!! |
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| zen_zo |
| Stoneing them to death is the only reasonable sentence I can think of for Blackwater guys. |
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| Krypton |
| 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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| Fir3start3r |
| quote: | Originally posted by hardcore trancer
IT must feel great to be above the law.:rolleyes: I cant wait to see these s 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). |
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