State Dept. ignored Blackwater warnings: Diplomats had raised concerns about endangering civilians

Source: Los Angeles Times

By Paul Richter, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
October 7, 2007

WASHINGTON -- The State Department, which is facing growing criticism of its policy on private security contractors, overlooked repeated warnings from U.S. diplomats in the field that guards were endangering Iraqi civilians and undermining U.S. efforts to win support from the population, according to current and former U.S. officials.

Ever since the contractors were granted immunity from Iraqi courts in June 2004 by the U.S.-led occupation authority, diplomats have cautioned that the decision to do so was "a bomb that could go off at any time," said one former U.S. official. But State Department leadership, unable to field U.S. troops or in-house personnel to guard its team, has clung to an approach that shielded the contractors from criminal liability, in the hope of ensuring continued protection to operate in the violent countryside.

The procedures have come under critical scrutiny since a Sept. 16 shooting involving contractors for Blackwater USA, the State Department's main security contractor, killed at least 11 Iraqis and set off a series of American and Iraqi investigations.

On Friday, in a tacit acknowledgment of the policy's shortcomings, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice ordered drastic increases in supervision of the security contractors. Meanwhile, the House, flatly rejecting the current approach, on Thursday approved in a 389-30 vote legislation that would subject contractors to U.S. criminal law....

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-blackwater7oct07,0,2076854.story?coll=la-home-center

---

There are numerous horror stories at the LA Times link. Even NEGROPONTE questioned these guys!

"...concerns have been voiced at times even by the most senior U.S. officials in Iraq. Former U.S. ambassador to Iraq John D. Negroponte, now the deputy secretary of State, had been overheard urging contractors to slow down and take more care as they careened through the streets. 'He was frequently exasperated,' (Janessa) Gans said. 'He would say, "Is that necessary?"'

Dick Devos, hardcore winger's wife his Erik Prince owner of Blackwater.

...the ticket of Motherfucker and Asswipe stole the 2000 election, I scoffed loudly that it was the beginning of the "Amway" administration. To wit:

• The use of the term "compassionate conservative" was first coined by Amway co-founder's Richard "I Lied About My WWII Service" Devos' book "Compassionate Capitalism."
  
• Continuing the coincidence to happenstance to enemy action refrain, Devos "penned" a book called "Promises to Keep." Sound familiar? It should if you've heard of Motherfucker's "autobiography" "A Charge to Keep."
  
• The use of the term "independent contractors" as applied to Perfumed Prince's Blackwater comes from SCAMWAY's "independent distributors."
  
• Just a little aside on the phony wannabes that like to dress up as service members. Devos and other co-founder Jay "Skeletor Now Burns in Hell" Van Andel used judicious lying to promote their service. Fortunately for these two scumbags, a fire at the PERSCOM records repository in St. Louis supposedly destroyed all their supposed records. Gee, what Motherfucking Asswipe won't produce his records and how did Sorta-Maybe-SEAL Prince get out of his service obligation?
  

Start connecting the dots and you'll begin to see who has guided our jerkoff Not-My-Commander-In-Chief.

That would be interesting to get out in the media. Fat chance that it will be publicized, of course. And some folks still think that we're not living in a fascist dictatorship.

....

Security Adviser pre-9-11.

why can't she retire and spend more time with her family, or if Laura objects, spend more time relearning russian, playing piano and even emptying shelves of Prada and Ferigamo stores?

while she was pursuing pigheaded, short-sighted, destructive, yet, personally empowering policies is so far out of er, ah, er ah, touch with her efforts to remake what she thinks reality should be - damn that is scary.

These guys are her personal army. She pays them, she orders them around, she is protected by them, and she rewards them (and is rewarded, I am sure).
If there is anyone to whom they respond, it is her. And that is the scariest thought yet. The only thing worse would be if Cheney had his own SS troops.

Condi is not protected by Blackwater, except for the rare occassion she's actually in Baghdad. Just like every other Secy of State, U.S. ambassador, and foreign ambassador visiting the U.S., she's protected by the Bureau of Diplomatic Security.

That's never happened before. (Osama bin Laden plans to fly airplanes into buildings.)

U.S. agents, video cameras to monitor contractor in Iraq
By Aamer Madhani and Bay Fang | Washington Bureau
October 6, 2007

Digg Del.icio.us Facebook Furl Google Newsvine Reddit Spurl Yahoo Print Single page view Reprints Text size: WASHINGTON - With Congress poised to expand laws overseeing private security contractors in Iraq, the State Department announced a new set of procedures Friday that will allow for closer monitoring of Blackwater USA security guards assigned to escort U.S. diplomats in Baghdad.

Tis the only logical conclusion,
a person can draw from the Los Angeles Times report.

Could our rapacious Secretary of State be,
simply a reflection of U.S. citizens looking upon
every strange looking Iraqi Man, Woman, and Child
as Sub-Human...?

This excerpt sums up the problem:

...even staff members who were uneasy with the arrangement were ambivalent because they wanted aggressive protection when they felt personally endangered.

When leaving the gates of the U.S.-controlled Green Zone, "you want the biggest, meanest guys in the world protecting you," said a U.S. official who served in Baghdad and has been moved to another post in the region.

Either you get aggressive protection or you don't get any at all. Is it better that a perceived threat be ignored and then the convoys get attacked? People complain about security measures until they're the ones actually in danger. But for pete's sake, the embassy building in the green zone is rocked by mortars on a regular basis. Embassy staff workers sitting in their trailers get shot by stray bullets. It's a freakin' dangerous place. If Blackwater and the Dipl. Sec. agents waited to find out if the gunshots they heard is because the soccer team just won, they'd be criticized for not being aggressive enough.

It sucks, and it makes me sick to my stomach on a regular basis.

over here. Gun toting, unaccountable, soon-to-be umemployed killers losing their $100K/year jobs. How's that going to work out for us?? Another reliable GOP voting bloc.

expect from the Bush administration? They spit on the constitution and civil rights.