John Pilger "The Invisible Government" Part 3/4

Blackwater: Hired Guns, Above the Law


by Jeremy Scahill

Global Research, September 22, 2007

My name is Jeremy Scahill. I am an investigative reporter for The Nation magazine and the author of the book Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army. I have spent the better part of the past several years researching the phenomenon of privatized warfare and the increasing involvement of the private sector in the support and waging of US wars. During the course of my investigations, I have interviewed scores of sources, filed many Freedom of Information Act requests, obtained government contracts and private company documents of firms operating in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. When asked, I have attempted to share the results of my investigations, including documents obtained through FOIA and other processes, with members of Congress and other journalists.

I would like to thank this committee for the opportunity to be here today and for taking on this very serious issue. Over the past six days, we have all been following very closely the developments out of Baghdad in the aftermath of the fatal shooting of as many as 20 Iraqis by operatives working for the private military company Blackwater USA. The Iraqi government is alleging that among the dead are a small child and her parents and the prime minister has labeled Blackwater's conduct as "criminal" and spoke of "the killing of our citizens in cold blood." While details remain murky and subject to conflicting versions of what exactly happened, this situation cuts much deeper than this horrifying incident. The stakes are very high for the Bush administration because the company involved, Blackwater USA, is not just any company. It is the premiere firm protecting senior State Department officials in Iraq, including Ambassador Ryan Crocker. This company has been active in Iraq since the early days of the occupation when it was awarded an initial $27 million no-bid contract to guard Ambassador Paul Bremer. During its time in Iraq, Blackwater has regularly engaged in firefights and other deadly incidents. About 30 of its operatives have been killed in Iraq and these deaths are not included in the official American death toll.

While the company's operatives are indeed soldiers of fortune, their salaries are paid through hundreds of millions of dollars in US taxpayer funds allocated to Blackwater. What they do in Iraq is done in the name of the American people and yet there has been no effective oversight of Blackwater's activities and actions. And there has been absolutely no prosecution of its forces for any crimes committed against Iraqis. If indeed Iraqi civilians were killed by Blackwater USA last Sunday, as appears to be the case, culpability for these actions does not only lie with the individuals who committed the killings or with Blackwater as a company, but also with the entity that hired them and allowed them to operate heavily-armed inside Iraq--in this case, the US State Department.


http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=6849

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• War
• Iraq
• Vietnam
• 9/11
• Empire
• Terrorism
• imperialisms
• Bush
• Hussain
• Osama

[swervemufc]

GREAT STUFF JOHN!MARGARET THATCHER FED THE PEOPLE A DIET OF FEAR AND WON THE 1983 ELECTION.FALKLAND ISLANDS MEANT NOTHING TO THE UK, BUT UK FOLK GOT ALL PATRIOTIC even when the economy was sufferin BADLY!STUPID BASTARDS!Thatcher made a fool of them and now BUSH ET AL; are making complete fools of USA folk who blindly believe their lies and bullshit! WAKE UP people

[sootykettel]

Israel: An expansionist state whose aspirations go far beyond its current borders

From the Nile to the Euphrates

Thats the meaning of the Israeli flag

Two blue stripes: The rivers Nile and Euphrates

The star of David (The Kingdom of David), ALL land in between the 2 rivers

Think.

Wake Up.

[surathisuran]

@ukusapillage Without U.K and its modern medicine, culling of epidemics which were quite common at precolonial India, the english language, which are part of colonial legacy, India would not have developed such a huge population and the average life expectancy would have been much lesser I am not saying that the India would be worse but definitely the population rise is directly linked to British colonialism.

[dave19711998]

@hireality It would be nice to get some truth told in the schooling system for a change

[ukusapillage]

indias pop is 800 million chinas is 1.3 billion thats what great british school system tought you... uk killed million during the colonial days and then continued with a neo colonial system with usa through debt and dictatorsdhips a more efficient racist way to suck country dry keep them dying in wars working as slaves to pay loans without uk usa being charged of crimes directly by colonialism and making alot more money a clean way to inslave kill 3 world with media and ppl in power together

[rohanmarkjay]

Good call Pilger on Bill Clinton. People look back on Bill Clinton as some great president when he was anything but. Obama is like Clinton. A warmonger, but where are the great antiwar movements of the world when Millions marched against Bush? There are 5 wars going on right now on Obama's watch where are the millions that marched against the Iraq war. An worldwide antiwar movement needs to be mobilised quickly. It should be held once every six months worldwide like in February 15 2003.

[surathisuran]

Inspite of outside appearence, Millions of Indians are Indians are starving below the pverty line and thousands of farmers are forced to commit suicide. The country is hugely troubled by the over population. If the story of british killing millions in colonial India is true then Indians are the greatest profligates.damn them

[surathisuran]

This video says the colonial british systemetically famined millions of Indians.I don't believe it!You are also doing propoganda, mixing with true lies. If they killed millions how can India's population be at a staggering 1.21 billion!!! equal to United States, Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Japan put together ! .density 365 per sq.km or 940 per sq mile.if it is true imagine what would be the population without the millions famined :-).

[NMSTZYRECORDS]

Werd up, that's whats up then!

[BalkanibalX]

Wait till China rises, I fear that we will all remember 'the good old days of USA' with nostalgia

[MustafaBiggun]

what's with the visual? it's too weird.

[tkidcharlemagne]

Interesting that when he gets into the fact the liberal left are just as much warmongerers as the right, the audience become very quiet. Paradigm shift right there in many people's perceptions.