Because the other thread is FUBAR'd. Iraq shootout firm loses licence Iraq has cancelled the licence of the private security firm, Blackwater USA, after it was involved in a gunfight in which at least eight civilians died. The Iraqi interior ministry said the contractor, based in North Carolina, was now banned from operating in Iraq. The Blackwater workers, who were contracted by the US state department, apparently opened fire after coming under attack in Baghdad on Sunday. Thousands of private security guards are employed in lawless Iraq. They are often heavily armed, but critics say some are not properly trained and are not accountable except to their employers. The interior ministry's director of operations, Maj Gen Abdul Karim Khalaf, said authorities would prosecute any foreign contractors found to have used excessive force. "We have opened a criminal investigation against the group who committed the crime," he told the AFP news agency. All Blackwater personnel have been told to leave Iraq immediately, with the exception of the men involved in the incident on Sunday. They will have to remain in the country and stand trial, the ministry said. US investigation The convoy carrying officials from the US state department came under attack at about 1230 local time on Sunday as it passed through Nisoor Square in the predominantly Sunni neighbourhood of Mansour. The Blackwater security guards "opened fire randomly at citizens" after mortars landed near their vehicles, killing eight people and wounding 13 others, interior ministry officials said. Most of the dead and wounded were bystanders, the officials added. One of those killed was a policeman. A spokeswoman for the US embassy in Baghdad later confirmed there had been an incident in which state department security personnel reacted to a car bomb "in the proximity", and that they had been shot at. "We are taking it very seriously indeed," she told the BBC, adding that discussions were still taking place about Blackwater's status now that they had been ordered to leave. When asked if Blackwater was complying with the order, the spokeswoman said she could not comment because the investigation into the incident was still in progress. A spokesman for the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, said she wanted to ensure that everything was being done to avoid the loss of innocent life and to make sure this kind of incident never happened again. She is also expected to telephone Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki to reassure him that the US had launched its own investigation. Blackwater is reputed to have a contract worth $300m (£150m) with the state department to protect its diplomatic staff and equipment in Iraq. The company, whose personnel have no combat immunity under international law if they engage in hostilities, has so far refused to comment on the shootings. Civilian toll Sunday's violence followed the publication of a survey of Iraqis which suggested that up to 1.2m people might have died because of the conflict in Iraq. A UK-based polling agency, Opinion Research Business (ORB), said it had extrapolated the figure by asking a random sample of 1,461 Iraqi adults how many people living in their household had died as a result of the violence rather than from natural causes. The results lend weight to a 2006 survey of Iraqi households published by the Lancet, which suggested that about 655,000 Iraqi deaths were "a consequence of the war". However, these estimates are both far higher than the running total of reported civilian deaths maintained by the campaign group Iraq Body Count which puts the figure at between 71,000 and 78,000. http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/6998788.stm Published: 2007/09/17 17:45:25 GMT © BBC MMVII
So who else has 3,000 trained and equipped mercenaries that can be on the job in Iraq is say, 30 days?
We will probably throw them in some old uniforms and say we deployed 3000 more troops How would they know the difference? Rocket River
AEGIS for one... here is a list of some of the URL=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_private_security_agencies]other ones[/URL]. There is actually more than that. Those are just some of the larger ones. I'm not really surprised that Blackwater got kicked out. They have a tendency to shoot at anything that moves, once they have been fired upon. I also wouldn't say they are all well trained. Many of these guys were either kicked out of the military or quit. More than a few were cops and again kicked out or quit. Even then 3,000 black water employees in Iraq, if that's even correct, doesn't mean there are 3,000 fighters/body guards in Iraq. Just like in the military, alot of the boots on the ground play a supporting role. I'm not implying they are all bad or anything like that. It is what it is. I had a friend that quit the army who worked for one of these companies. He was a firefighter in the army... guess what he did in Iraq. He was a firefighter at an airfield. I believe he worked for Dynacorp. I could be mistaken. He's been a firefighter in 3 different hemispheres... I have to say though... Most of these Black Water employees can simply sign a contract with another company and never leave the region. It's a strong message to the security companies though. Hire better people or be held accountable. As it should be.
I think after some "investigations" conducted by US and some monetary compensation, Blackwater will be back in business in no time. They are too well-connected to be shut out of Iraq.
In the manufacturing industry, when we kick out a contractor, all of the workers show up the following monday with a different patch on their uniform. Does the same thing happen with defense contractors?
Well, you hired these contractors but the Iraqis didn't hire Blackwater people. That's a big difference.
yes. absolutely. 100% correct. Same deal. A contract job is a contract job. Whether you got a wrench in your hand or a gun.
Not surprised. Blackwater was involved in some of the initial New Orleans security. Before it was opened up to the public they had to basically let you in in a convoy through security points. The guy driving the humvee had just gotten back from Iraq and said it was much easier driving there because they could run through cars or push them off the road instead of stopping or slowing down. In NO, they actually had to wait at red lights and not crash the locals' cars.
Do you guys believe Blackwater only has 1000 people in Iraq? Supposedly we have over 100k contractors over there. If Blackwater only has 1000 people there, how come they are always in the news?
The percentage of the contractors doing 'security work' is a fraction of that 100k. Most of the contractors aren't carrying guns.
Yep, I don't know what happened. I was trying to start one this morning, it timed out on me, I tried again, and then had to go off and do real work. I think I said something about Blackwater having their own helicopters in a war zone, railed about having contractors doing stuff soldiers should do, and bemoaned the fact that this country doesn't particularly like having armed groups whose allegiance is to a company and the profit margin. I think I also made a Hessian reference. It also gives the lie to democracy in Iraq. Anyway, here's the article i was going to post...
Ahh...none of those contractors would put on the uniform for the type of wages our soldiers in Iraq get. The U.S. government can't possibly pay them anything even close to what they make as private contractors. That's what these guys are in it for, I doubt it's for the 'love of country'.
Not to be picky, but the US Government is paying them. It's wrong that we have to pay these kinds of salaries just because the administration doesn't want to admit it needs more soldiers. The mercs are an insult to our soldiers.
The mercs were soldiers, where else in the civilian world can they can put all the military trainings to work. Don't see where the insult it.
even if they get permanantly banned its not going to make a difference, they can always just work for another company.
But the owners of Blackwater will suffer a bit. Do you think they won't try to do something for their own interests? They do have the connections to pull something out.
They will reincorporate under a different name (if they haven't got a shell company set up already), transfer the contracts, and go on to business as usual.
