Blackwater Hearing Part 1: Henry Waxman's Opening Statement (2007)

October 2, 2007 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/156858394X?ie=UTF8&tag=doc06-20&link... Watch the full program: http://thefilmarchived.blogspot.com/2010/09/blackwater-congressional-testimon...

Henry Arnold Waxman (born September 12, 1939) is an American politician. He has represented California's 30th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1975. Waxman, a Democrat, is considered to be one of the most influential liberal members of Congress. His district includes much of the western part of the city of Los Angeles, as well as West Hollywood, Santa Monica and Beverly Hills. Before his election to Congress, he served six years in the California State Assembly.

With the Democrats' victory in the 2006 midterm elections, Waxman became chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, the principal investigative committee of the House. He was the committee's ranking Democrat from 1997 to 2007. In 2009, he began serving as the Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee after defeating Chairman John Dingell in a 137-122 secret vote of House Democrats on November 20, 2008.

Waxman had a reputation for a vigorous approach to oversight long before becoming ranking Democrat on what was then the Government Reform Committee in 1997. He was well known for insisting that witnesses appearing before his subcommittee testify under oath, thus exposing them to perjury charges if they didn't tell the truth. For example, in 1994, he forced the chief executives of the seven major tobacco companies to swear under oath that nicotine was not addictive.

In 1998, he created a "Special Investigations Division" to investigate matters that he felt the full committee had neglected. This was possible because the committee has broad powers to investigate any matter with federal policy implications, even if another committee has jurisdiction over it. He has also harshly criticized the Republicans for ignoring their "constitutional responsibility" to conduct oversight over the government.

On the day after the 2006 elections, Waxman directed his aides to draw up an "oversight plan" for the panel. He had already let it be known that he wanted to investigate Halliburton, as well as its alleged malfeasance related to government contracts in Iraq. It is very likely that he could also investigate the numerous scandals surrounding Jack Abramoff. This led to concerns among Democratic aides that the Government Reform Committee under Waxman would stage a repeat of the committee's performance under the Clinton administration, when it issued over 1,000 subpoenas. However, Waxman told Newsweek that he is interested in accountability and not retaliation.

On March 16, 2004, at Waxman's request, the Committee on Government Reform Minority Office published "Iraq on the Record, the Bush Administration's Public Statements on Iraq" a detailed and searchable collection of 237 specific misleading statements made by Bush Administration officials about the threat posed by Iraq. It contains statements that were misleading based on what was known to the Administration at the time the statements were made. It does not include statements that appear mistaken only in hindsight. If a statement was an accurate reflection of U.S. intelligence at the time it was made, it was excluded even if it now appears erroneous.

In 2007, Waxman changed the committee's name from the Government Reform Committee to the "Oversight and Government Reform Committee," or the "Oversight Committee" for short.

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[Volkov556]

How in the hell does Halliburton offer a service performed by the military? (quoting waxman here). They're an oil company,

[machngunjoe]

@privateer013 Oh thank you Trolling Unicorn Commander, your comes backs are just too too good. lol

[machngunjoe]

@privateer013 good for you what'd you want a cookie now.

[machngunjoe]

@privateer013 Just because you served doesn't mean shit. I don't have to automatically respect anyone, especially when you speak to others with such disrespect. I'm so tired of some junkie driven jack-ass who thinks he can say whatever retarded comment he wants to just because he held a gun and got yelled at in basic. keep that rhetoric to the to your circle jerk buddies. You defend Blackwater? Then go fuck yourself.

[HexTest]

I think it sucks that the State Department never went through with placing cameras inside the vehicles of the PSD's that Blackwater had so that they could show their side of the story.

If they responded immediately, there could've been evidence once and for all whether or not they were fired upon in Baghdad a year and a half later. I guess we'll never know.

Darfur sure could use a firm like this though.

[NastyFast]

@privateer013 I'm not a liberal.. that's the second time you made that mistake, but judging by your blind rhetoric (and your writing skills), I bet you make a lot of mistakes. You love to to print what you are and what you have done.. Why is that? Who are you trying to impress? Private security = Mall Cop LOL!

PS: Your God, little bitch boy erik prince, reported that if it looked like he was going to be convicted that he would "Move to The Arab Emirate's". What a Pussy

[NastyFast]

@privateer013 I have to utmost respect for all of our service woman and men serving and had have served. I realize that what You and those other brave souls have done for our country. That being said, BLACKWATER SPITS IN THE FACE of EVERYTHING we fought for. If you on the side of blackwater, then your not a real American.

[NastyFast]

erik prince grew up a spoiled brat and used his family influence to become a Navy Seal. He then inherited a large sum of money, purchased a large piece of land in N.C and again, used family connections to start blackwater where he went off and proceeded to F'd the American tax payer in the a**, wiped off his little d*ck with the constitution and killed innocent Iraq's (because he could). You want to see what the devil looks like? 2:50.. he's in the middle.

[cmfluteguy]

We are going broke fighting all these dumb ass wars.

The military is raping our treasury and using it to kill people all over this planet.

We need to cut their budget to 1/10 th of what it is now.

Anyone that volunteers to kill others abroad for a freakin paycheck is morally corrupt.



[deathdealer1995]

@njjroberts They were coming back to base and were ambushed.