AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ CARNAGE

In Afghanistan, Blackwater was hand in hand with US troops and CIA teams. Blackwater was also present at the forward CIA base at Shikin, close to Pakistan/Afghanistan border.

Blackwater convoy in Iraq

Blackwater started out in Iraq with a $21 million no-bid contract to supply security guards and two helicopters for Paul Bremer, the head of the U.S. occupation in Iraq. The main task initially for Blackwater was to provide security for US Viceroy in Iraq Paul Bremer, and other US officials. Gradually Blackwater’s scope of influence started expanding.

The main reason for this as mentioned above is that Blackwater has a secret understanding with CIA and the Pentagon. It is now clearly evident that Blackwater fought side by side US troops in Iraq at different locations. Blackwater is often seen by Iraqi militants as CIA troops in civilian clothing, only now have the people of Iraq realized that Blackwater and other PMC’s are part of civilian armies.

In March 2004 four Blackwater employees are ambushed while escorting a convoy in Fallujah and brutally murdered, two of their charred bodies dragged through the streets and strung up on a bridge over the Euphrates. Gory photos circulate, putting private military contracting on the map for the first time. In June 2004 Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) published Order 17 that grants private contractor’s immunity from Iraqi law. Three months later, a Blackwater subsidiary is awarded another $34.8 million contract to transport troops and supplies in Afghanistan.

According to Jeremy Scahill, In Iraq Blackwater was smuggling weapons into Iraq. This included weapons other than officially given to US troops or Blackwater contractors. Blackwater also operates a K-9 unit, according to one witness; Blackwater was smuggling explosives hidden in supplies of its dog food.

In January 2007 two former Blackwater employees, Kenneth Wayne Cashwell and William Ellsworth Grumiaux, plead guilty to possession of stolen firearms shipped in interstate or foreign commerce. Later in 2007 in Baghdad, at Nisour Square a massacre took place in which seventeen Iraqi civilians were killed. This prompted hue and cry inside Iraq and even US puppet Prime Minister of Iraq had to ask action from US against Blackwater. But Blackwater was immune from prosecution under laws that Bremer made when US invaded Iraq. Respected author, traveler, and journalist Robert Young Pelton, says that ‘PMCs are generally trigger happy people, and they don’t mind shooting’.

Farid Walid, who was shot in Nisour Square two years ago during a massacre that killed 17 Iraqis, said: “Everybody here knows of cases where Blackwater guards shot innocent people without a second thought. They are a symbol of the occupation. Nobody will forget. But Iraqis might think at least a little differently of America if the killers are put in prison.” Mr Walid remembers the Nisour Square shooting on September 16, 2007 — for Iraqis one of the blacker days of the US occupation. Claiming to have come under fire, Blackwater guards stopped in the middle of a large roundabout and began shooting in all directions. “I left my car and ran away to hide in a petrol station, which was made of concrete. The shooting was so heavy it was like rain,” he said. “I saw lots of people getting shot. The driver who had been in front of me died and his wife fell out of the car. Her child was killed as well. The shooting went on for about ten minutes.” [7]

After a great deal of navel-gazing, in 2007 the US Congress began looking into activities of Blackwater. In February 2009, Blackwater changed its name to Xe. State Department said that it will not renew Xe contract to provide security in war zones. This was worth $200 million dollars in 2008. Currently a US Justice Department inquiry is going on into the allegation of Blackwater employees killing innocent people in Iraq. There is a statute in US law it’s called Alien Trot Claims Act. This means that if a US company, operating in another country does something against the law, the citizen(s) of that country can ask US law to look into the actions of the Company. (This statute is notable for allowing United States courts to hear human rights cases brought by foreign citizens for conduct committed outside the United States.) A human rights advocacy law firm, Center for Constitutional Rights based in New York, have filed a law suit on behalf of the victims of Nisour Square massacre. At the moment the prosecution has two key witnesses against Blackwater in the court proceedings. One former employee of Blackwater has pleaded guilty and is cooperating with the FBI.