Guards in Iraq Cite Frequent Shootings-Companies Seldom Report Incidents, U.S. Officials Say

Guards in Iraq Cite Frequent Shootings
Companies Seldom Report Incidents, U.S. Officials Say

By Steve Fainaru
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, October 3, 2007; Page A01

Most of the more than 100 private security companies in Iraq open fire far more frequently than has been publicly acknowledged and rarely report such incidents to U.S. or Iraqi authorities, according to U.S. officials and current and former private security company employees.

Violence caused by private security guards in Iraq has come under scrutiny since a Sept. 16 shooting in Baghdad involving employees of Blackwater USA. The company's chairman, Erik Prince, told a congressional committee Tuesday that Blackwater guards opened fire on 195 occasions during more than 16,000 missions in Iraq since 2005.

However, two former Blackwater security guards said they believed employees fired more often than the company has disclosed. One, a former Blackwater guard who spent nearly three years in Iraq, said his 20-man team averaged "four or five" shootings a week, or several times the rate of 1.4 incidents a week reported by the company. The underreporting of shooting incidents was routine in Iraq, according to this former guard.

"The thing is, even the good companies, how many bad incidents occurred where guys involved didn't say anything, because they didn't want to be questioned, or have any downtime today to have to go over what happened yesterday?" he said. "I'm sure there were some companies that just didn't report anything."

The former Blackwater guards and other private security workers spoke on condition of anonymity because of concerns they would be unable to obtain future employment in the security industry. In addition, Blackwater employees reportedly sign an agreement pledging not to divulge confidential information; violations can result in a $250,000 fine imposed by the company.

more...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/02/AR2007100202456.html?hpid=topnews

Let them feel the love.

type companies. Heck for years we have heard of week-end war games played by grown men so why should be shocked. I used to hear about how we should blow up the USSR when my husband was in the service and talked about by service men. It is just a way of life and thinking for some men. Even in the out side world of no military you hear over and over that force will be the way to go. I once heard a policeman say if you can not get your teen-age child to mind beat them up. It is just a way of thinking for many people. We are most likely safer with Blackwater in Iraq than having these nuts running around in this country if one wants to be mean about it.

of Blackwater?