Congressional Hearings on Blackwater USA Begin Today (VIDEO)

Contractor receiving criticism and review today. DynCorp International and Triple Canopy also provide protective services to the State Department, the committee is also looking at their history.

Blackwater contractor at work in Iraq Photo: officialmastersofchaos.com

(SALEM, Ore.) - A Congressional Committee is investigating the private military contractor Blackwater USA today and its affiliated companies in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Erik Prince, the owner of Blackwater will testify at the hearing, as well as three State Department officials: Ambassador David M. Satterfield, who is the Special Adviser, Coordinator for Iraq; Ambassador Richard J. Griffin, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Diplomatic Security and Director of the Office of Foreign Missions; and William H. Moser, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Logistics Management.

The Congressional Committee on Oversight and Government Reform says the hearing will provide an opportunity for members to address three key questions. The first, asks whether Blackwater's presence advancing or undermining U.S. efforts in Iraq. The second key question involves whether the State Department responded appropriately to shooting incidents involving Blackwater forces. Last, committee members will ask what costs for U.S. taxpayers when it comes to the reliance on Blackwater and other private military contractors?

The Committee says they have received new information, which is summarized below, bearing on all three of these questions.

Bløckwater Shootíng Incidents

Incident reports compiled by Blackwater reveal that Blackwater has been involved in at least 195 "escalation of force" incidents in Iraq since 2005 that involved the firing of shots by Blackwater forces. This is an average of 1.4 shooting incidents per week.

Blackwater's contract to provide protective services to the State Department says they can only fire their weapons in defense. But Blackwater USA reports that in over 80% of their shooting incidents, they fired the first shots.

The committee states, "In the vast majority of instances in which Blackwater fires shots, Blackwater is firing from a moving vehicle and does not remain at the scene to determine if the shots resulted in casualties." Even so, in Blackwater's incident reports, they document 16 Iraqi casualties and 162 incidents with property damage, primarily to vehicles owned by lraqi people. In over 80% of the escalation of force incidents since 2005, Blackwater reports document either casualties or property damage.

The reports also indicates multiple Blackwater incidents involving Iraqi casualties that have not previously been reported. In one of these incidents, Blackwater forces shot a civilian bystander in the head. In another, State Department officials report that Blackwater tried to cover up a shooting that killed an apparently innocent bystander.

In another situation, Blackwater is accused of providing no assistance after a traffic accident caused by the organization's teams left an Iraqi vehicle in "a ball of flames." Blackwater also reports engaging in tactical military operations with U.S. forces.

Blackwater is not the only U.S. private U.S. military contractor receiving criticism and review today. DynCorp International and Triple Canopy also provide protective services to the State Department.

While they are all involved in similar activity, Blackwater reports more shooting incidents than the other two other contractors combined. The committee has been told that Blackwater also has the highest incidence of shooting first, although all three companies shoot first in more than half of all "escalation of forces" incidents.

State Department Responses

State Department documents reportedly raise serious questions about how their officials responded to reports of Blackwater killings of Iraqi citizens. One incident detailed for the committee is a high-profile killing that happened in December 2006. They say a drunken Blackwater contractor killed the guard of Iraqi Vice President Adil Abd-al-Mahdi. Questions were raised when, within 36 hours of the shooting, the State Department had allowed Blackwater to transport the contractor out of Iraq.

In an apparent attempt to quickly quiet the situation, the State Department recommended that Blackwater make a "sizeable payment" and apologize, "to avoid this whole thing becoming even worse." A $250,000 payment to the guard's family was suggested, but the Department's Diplomatic Security Service said this was too much and could cause Iraqis to "try to get killed." So in the end they agreed to pay the family $15,000.

One State Department offrcial wrote: "We would like to help them resolve this so we can continue with our protective mission."

The State Department reportedly took a similar approach when they received reports that Blackwater killed an innocent Iraqi, except that in this case, the State Department requested only a $5,000 payment to "put this unfortunate matter behind us quickly."

No data indicates that the State Department tried to restrain Blackwater's actions, and this raises raised concerns over the number of shootings involving Blackwater or the company's tendency to be the first to shoot. There is also no evidence to suggest Blackwater contractors were detained at any point for investigation.

Costs to Taxpayers

The committee believes that using Blackwater instead of U.S. troops to protect embassy officials is expensive. Blackwater charges the government$1,222 per day for the services of a private military contractor.

This is equivalent to $445,000 per year, over six times more than the cost of an equivalent U.S. soldier. In total, Blackwater has received over $1 billion in federal contracts from 2001 through 2006, including more than $832 million under two contracts with the State Department to provide protective services in Iraq.

Reports indicate that full disclosure may not have been offered during the recent prosecutions of Marines and soldiers for war crimes in Iraq. Supporters say the Blackwater USA inquiries are vitally important to ensure that American servicemen are not being convicted of crimes that may have actually been committed by civilian contractors.

Blackwater USA is based in Moyock, North Carolina. They were established in 1997 and over time grew to become one of the world's largest providers of private military services.

This video of Blackwater USA in combat contains graphic images and plenty of bad language, please bear this in mind:

Video

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Source: Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
Video courtesy: livedigital.com