Blackwater won't allow arrests / Washington Times

http://washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071017/FOREIGN/110170057/1003&template=nextpage

October 17, 2007


By Sharon Behn - A defiant Blackwater Chairman Erik Prince said yesterday he will not allow Iraqi authorities to arrest his contractors and try them in Iraq's faulty justice system. "We will not let our people be taken by the Iraqis," Mr. Prince told editors and reporters at The Washington Times. At least 17 of 20 Blackwater guards being investigated for their roles in a Sept. 16 shooting incident are still in a secure compound in Baghdad's Green Zone and carrying out limited duties. Two or three others have been allowed by the State Department to leave the country as part of their scheduled rotation out of Iraq and are expected to return. "In an ideal sense, if there was wrongdoing, there could be a trial brought in the Iraqi court system. But that would imply that there is a valid Iraqi court system where Westerners could get a fair trial. That is not the case right now," said Mr. Prince. Mr. Prince also expressed his disappointment that the State Department has not come to the company's defense, even though it has never lost a State Department client in years of protecting them. "For the last week and a half, we have heard nothing from the State Department," said Mr. Prince. "From their senior levels, their PR folks, we've heard nothing — radio silence. "It is disappointing for us. We have performed to the line, letter and verse of their 1,000-page contract," he said. "Our guys take significant risk for them. They've taken a pounding these last three years." A number of Blackwater contractors, most of whom come from military and law-enforcement backgrounds, have been killed in action or grievously wounded in Iraq while running more than 16,500 security missions in the past three years.


Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki demanded yesterday that Blackwater leave Iraq and pay $8 million to the family of each of the 17 victims. Iraqi Human Rights Minister Wijdan Salim said the American guards responsible should stand trial in Iraq, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported.

Mr. Prince, a 38-year-old former Navy SEAL, said if there was any evidence of wrongdoing, his employees could be tried in the United States by a jury of their peers under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

He said the hostility toward Blackwater was partly driven by partisan politics from the Democrat-led Congress and the news media...He said the scrutiny by Congress, which Democrats say is aimed at better oversight, may have backfired. "What has happened in the last six to nine months is we've seen the U.S. government, in particular, awarding a lot more work to non-U.S. companies ... because it is harder to drag those guys before Congress," Mr. Prince said.
"And there is less oversight, there is less accountability, there is less visibility into those operations."

Mr. Prince has been caught in a partisan crossfire since shortly after last year's election, when a trial lawyer targeting Blackwater lobbied then-House Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, for hearings on the "extremely Republican" company.

...means zero mission accomplished, means total failure. Generations to come will thank Shitwater for terminating all Republican delusions of grandeur in empire.

"Mr. Prince, a 38-year-old former Navy SEAL, said if there was any evidence of wrongdoing, his employees could be tried in the United States by a jury of their peers under the Uniform Code of Military Justice."

Blackwater is not military, they are a private company sending people they hire into a war zone.
Let the Iraqi courts try them for murder or even war crimes. Is the Iraqi government real or a puppet of the bu$h administration?
Blackwater has no business being in Iraq with duties our military should be doing. In fact our military should not even be there.

The governing body of the host country should have the authority here.
But these hired hit men are dangerous, they love to kill and are not going to go down easy.

of having different military groups all over the place as a some what Am. force yet who runs them and just what oath do they take to who. I do not like this different armies for different things we seem to be going to. It makes me think of what would happen under marital law if we got that far. I see some thing wrong with this group being in La. after the storm. Some thing is really wrong with this. I can almost seeing Bush having Blackwater as his private army. I knew my mind is off in a wild thought but the whole thing is scary and we know Bush has signed so many things behind our backs I do not trust what is going on. I believe last year he signed some thing that makes it easier to put in martial law. Did I hear the Sen,. from Vermont say that? Blackwater makes me feel real bad. One must keep looking at this for sure.

They hanged Saddam Hussein. It seemed to work splendidly then.

will modify their behavior.

Blackwater is a global recruiter!

If they can't get tot the 20 involved in that one shooting, they will take some that they can get to.

Erik Prince is a war criminal.

already have with Bilgewater?