Wanting It Both Ways: Senators Critical of Blackwater Want Assurances It Will Continue Serving

Senators who have been critical of Blackwater are now concerned that it might quit the security business in Iraq, and want assurances that the company will continue.

They've been beating the stuffing out of the company, accusing it of all kinds of wrongdoing. But then, when the company's leaders say that the security contracts aren't worth all the heat from Congress and the media, the senators worry that Blackwater might actually leave them high and dry.

They add, with a twist, that recent news reports suggesting that the North Carolina-based company might get out of the diplomatic security business are all the more reason for the State Department not to be so dependent on private contractors.

The Federal Times reports,

Given these intentions, the senators want to know whether State has been assured Blackwater will fulfill its recently renewed multimillion-dollar security contract. They also want to know what the department plans to do to shore up its Diplomatic Security Service and lessen its reliance on private security contractors.

They cite recent news reports that quote State officials as saying the other two private security contractors providing services under State’s Worldwide Personnel Protective Services contract would be unable to take on Blackwater’s work if the company pulled out.

Senators Bob Casey (D-Penn.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.) co-signed a letter of concerns to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Washington Post Misconstrues Grand Jury

Not surprisingly, the Washington Post is twisting the truth again. Never mind that they reported Blackwater as being headquartered in Virgina - operations are actually run out of Moyock, North Carolina; their reporting of a grand jury investigating the events of 16 September in Nissor Square last year show a clear bias.

"At least three Iraqis appeared yesterday before a federal grand jury hearing evidence in the September shootings in Baghdad by Blackwater Worldwide security guards that left 17 Iraqis dead," writes the Post in its opening line. Five paragraphs later they finally get around to admitting that the grand jury is a little more balanced than the post: "The grand jury has also heard testimony from Blackwater personnel and U.S. officials."

Moreover, what the Post never comes out at admits is what is implicit in the holding of a grand jury: the truth about the events of 16 September remain unclear. If everything were as obvious as the Post makes it out to be, we wouldn't be holding a grand jury.

In addition, the Post claims that after last September's firefight "Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice imposed new rules on the contractors after the incident, placing video cameras in their vehicles and ordering that State Department Diplomatic Security Service agents accompany all contractor security convoys." As this blog has vigorously pointed out, the "new rules" were not so novel and the cameras were something Blackwater had asked for years before.

State Department Installs Cameras on Blackwater Vehicles - Three Years Late

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recently ordered federal agents accompanying Blackwater security convoys to install video cameras in the contractor's vehicles. Some news outlets are trying to pretend that this is news. And in a sense, it is. But not in the way you think.

Three years ago Blackwater requested cameras for its vehicles, a request the State Department refused (as this blog has previously pointed out). Blackwater trusts the conduct of its employees enough that it wanted a record of all their actions, believing that the video record would bear them out in the case of any incidents.

Well, the boys at State didn't think the cameras would be necessary and now - after the events of 16 September in Nisoor Square - we're left wishing those cameras had been there. Don't blame Blackwater; blame the State Department.

Secretary Rice, way to do the right thing - three years late.

Rice, Gates, Petraeus "quite satisfied" with PSCs

The Associated Press reports that in joint Congressional testimony Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Bob Gates expressed their confidence in the work that private security contractors (PSCs) are doing in Iraq. Gates said General David Petraeus, Commanding General of Multi-National Force Iraq, was "quite satisfied with the arrangement that exists today" between PSCs and the government. Rice agreed. "I do think we've come to a good modus vivendi."

State Department review panel keeps open mind

A State Department panel to review the use of private security contractors has faulted the department for poor coordination and oversight, but reached no conclusion about Blackwater.

AP reports that the panel is keeping all options open, pending the conclusion of an FBI review. Once the FBI report is completed, the US Embassy in Baghdad, in the words of the panel, should assess "whether the continued services of the contractor involved is consistent with the accomplishment of the overall mission in Iraq."

Secretary of State Condolezza Rice has already ordered some interim changes in how the private diplomatic security service contractors are administered and overseen. Blackwater had requested at least one of those changes in 2005, but State Department lawyers denied the request.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates is expected to come up with additional changes to ensure that Blackwater's aggressive security services for the State Department do not conflict with the softer counterinsurgency efforts instituted earlier this year by Gen. David Petraeus.