AP says it didn't fall for hoax

The Associated Press has contacted this blog to say that it did not fall for the phony Code Pink news release purporting to be from Blackwater.

Paul Colford, AP's Director of Media Relations, writes to Standish, "Please be advised that the Associated Press did not fall for the bogus press release, as your Nov. 1 post claims. Moreover, the Editor & Publisher article linked within your story makes no assertion about the AP.The AP checked out the group that issued the news release and determined it was fake. A correction is in order. Paul Colford, Director of Media Relations, The Associated Press."

The Editor & Publisher article says that The Politico first surfaced the phony release and that CBS News picked it up. We got the information that AP had also reported it from FrontPageMag.com. A click on the FrontPageMag link referencing AP leads us to a Fox News page containing a story by a Fox News combined with material from AP.

Waxman twists immunity issue

Congressman Henry Waxman has twisted the Blackwater immunity issue to mislead the public about what the State Department's post-Nisoor Square action really means. Brit Hume, Morton Kondracke, Charles Krauthammer and Fred Barnes discuss the issue on Fox News. A partial transcript follows:

HUME: The issue is Blackwater. And the irrepressible Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Congressman Henry Waxman, the investigator of California, is saying this in a letter to the Secretary of State: "This rash grant of immunity was an egregious misjudgment. It raises serious questions about who conferred the immunity, who approved it at the State Department, and what their motives were."

And what grant of immunity is he talking about? He is talking about a grant of what is called "use immunity" to certain of the Blackwater USA personnel who were involved in that shooting incident last month in which 17 Iraqi civilians were killed.

There is a big investigation going on. The State Department conducted its own, and immunity was granted. Now, is this all total immunity from prosecution? Who better to ask than Mort Kondracke?

KONDRACKE: This is called a "Garrity warning," and it refers to a 1967 Supreme Court case in which police officers and others public officials whoa re required to testify and give evidence or lose their jobs cannot have what they say be used against them.

HUME: Used against them, but it can be used against others, though.

KONDRACKE: But it can be used against others. So—

HUME: And they are not immune from prosecution, but they just cannot have their own words used against them.

KONDRACKE: right. That is the warning that was given in this case. Now some FBI people, and Jennifer Griffin quoted one of them last night on our air, saying that this is going to make an FBI investigation more difficult, especially because, apparently, some of these guards are using the Garrity, this limited immunity as an excuse not to talk to the FBI, which I do not think is allowed, but, nonetheless, that is what they're doing.

The bottom line here, it seems to me, is that these are professionally trained people. And they ought to be able to do both things that they are required to do—protect Americans, including Congressman, in Iraq, and not kill civilians at the same time.

And the early evidence suggests that on September 16 there was not enemy activity—we do not know this for sure—but there was not enemy activity and they shot up a bunch of civilians.

KRAUTHAMMER: We do not know that there was no enemy activity.

Fred Barnes attests to Blackwater role

In the final part of the October 31 Fox News discussion on Blackwater, commentator Fred Barnes tells of his personal experience with the company and why the security providers have fallen under partisan attack:

BARNES: There are strikingly different versions of what happened on September 16, and I don't think they have been sorted out yet. Obviously, people in the Iraqi government believe what they heard from some citizens, which was that there was no provocation for this killing of the civilians.

Blackwater does a fantastic job. I have actually been protected by Blackwater when I was over there and going around with American officials there. They are very good, they are very professional. Most of their work is done by competitive bidding. They are not overpaid. They often get killed. They have had casualties, and they do a job that it would take 15,000 troops to do.

Why is this an issue? Because the war is going well. Democrats do not want to talk about that, so they have made up a Blackwater scandal.

Video: Blackwater 'saved the day' for US ally

Blackwater helicopter crews "saved the day" for a key American ally in Iraq - the Polish ambassador to Baghdad, who was the target of an assassination attempt on October 3.

In a Fox News segment on October 5, the wounded ambassador is shown being escorted aboard a Blackwater "Little Bird" helicopter that landed on a street. The landing, amid high lamp posts on either side of the street that posed a danger to the helicopter's spinning blades, took a combination of guts and skill that have made Blackwater pilots famous worldwide.

The video shows both sides of the story, quoting top Iraqi officials and US lawmakers who harshly criticize the company, as well as statements from Rep. Chris Shays (R-CT), who has visited Iraq 18 times and attests personally to the many times Blackwater protected his life.

Click here for the video. A sudden and annoying advertisement precedes the news segment.

(Pictured: Ambassador Pietrzyk being rushed to helicopter)

Positive press amid the feeding frenzy

While the press piles on Blackwater, usually ignoring or minimizing the company's unmatched accomplishments in Iraq, we find some bright spots in the media reporting and commentary. They include:

Bob Orr, "Blackwater: Who are these guys?" CBS News, October 5. Weighing what Blackwater's detractors and supporters say, Bob Orr of CBS News (pictured) writes, "Blackwater is effective. No Blackwater client has ever been killed. And the fact is there aren’t enough soldiers to do the jobs taken on by Blackwater and other security contractors. Add to that Blackwater’s intense training program and the fact that its employees are not amateurs – most come from elite military commando units, like Delta Force and Navy SEALS."

Even a Blackwater arch-critic, bestselling author of a book on the company, concedes a positive word. As Orr reports on CBS Evening News, "Some on Capitol Hill want Blackwater to be reined in. But, Jeremy Scahill, who wrote a book on the rise of Blackwater, says it's doing the jobs an already-stretched military can't handle. 'It's become one of the most powerful private actors in the so-called war on terror,' Scahill said."

Oliver North, "Henry Waxman should suspend vendetta against Blackwater," Fox News, October 4.

"Blackwater credited with diplomatic rescue," AeroNews.com, October 4. "Accused of cowboy tactics in Iraq and Afghanistan, the subject of Congressional hearings and the most despised private US security firm operating in American theaters of operations, Blackwater USA demonstrated Wednesday that even under fire, it can still get it right," the aviation industry news service reports.

"Witness the extraction of the critically wounded Polish ambassador to Iraq, blasted along with a member of his staff by a roadside bomb in downtown Baghdad.

"Gen. Edward Pietrzyk, Poland's ambassador to Baghdad, was suffered burns to his head, arms and hands as well as wounds to his leg in a blast that killed one of his employees and an Iraqi civilian. He and the other wounded members of his party were airlifted from the bomb site by helicopters operated by Blackwater USA."

"CBS News reports Blackwater's helos landed in the narrow street and picked up all the wounded, even though the contractor wasn't involved in protecting the Polish convoy. In spite of the effort, Blackwater is still under heavy fire from Iraqi government officials."

Greg Pollowitz, "Blackwater in the news, rescuing Polish ambassador from a horrific car bombing," National Review Online, October 3. Caption on article: "Underreported news."