US House approves Blackwater-backed legislation

The US House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved legislation backed by Blackwater CEO Erik Prince to fill legal gaps concerning accountability for private contractors abroad.

Prince complained to Congress on October 2 that existing law did not allow him to take action against Blackwater diplomatic security personnel abroad who were suspected of committing crimes. He referred specifically to the highly publicized case of an off-duty guard who got drunk and allegedly shot a bodyguard for an Iraqi vice president. All Blackwater could do in that case, Prince said, was fire the guard, make him pay a financial penalty, send him back to the US, and urge that the government revoke the guard's security clearance.

When lawmakers suggested that Blackwater should have apprehended the alleged killer, Prince said that US law forbids the company to detain people. "We fired him. We fined him. But we, as a private organization, can't do any more," Prince told congressmen at the hearing. "We can't flog him. We can't incarcerate him. That's up to the Justice Department. We are not empowered to enforce U.S. law."

The Blackwater CEO publicly backed a bill by Rep. David Price (D-NC), HR 2740, to expand US law to make non-Defense Department contractors abroad accountable for wrongdoing or criminal activity.

Congressman Price's legislation also had the strong support of the International Peace Operations Association (IPOA), a trade group of which Blackwater is a member. "Anything that enhances the accountability is good for our industry," says IPOA President Doug Brooks.

The White House opposes the legislation, and Republicans argue that Democrats are ramming the bill through Congress without adequate review.

Harvard scholar says Blackwater may have Darfur solution

A scholar at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government writes in the Boston Globe that Blackwater USA might have the solution to the human tragedy in Darfur.

The scholar, Rebecca Ulam Weiner, discusses the failure of the African Union, NATO and the United Nations to help bring an end to the Darfur horrors and other atrocities in Africa. She argues that private military companies are right for the job - but those she interviews say that world leaders don't have the political will.

"There's little question that companies like Blackwater could be more effective operationally than the African Union, which has been hampered by its peacekeepers' lack of command and control experience. Private military companies boast a roster of former special forces officers and law enforcement officers who are accustomed to volatile conflict and post-conflict areas like Sudan," Weiner says.

"Blackwater also subjects all of its personnel to an impressive array of extra training-whether they're training to work in Baghdad or the firm's North Carolina headquarters. They take classes in international humanitarian law, leadership, ethics, regional awareness, and ''customs and traditions.' They've recently approached Amnesty International about teaching human rights education classes. And the International Peace Operations Association [IPOA] boasts that its code of conduct was written by human rights lawyers.

"The industry also claims that it's far cheaper than its multilateral or military counterparts. ''We offer the ability to create a right-sized solution-which creates a cost savings right off the bat,' says Taylor. By contrast, [IPOA President Doug] Brooks notes, ''NATO is insanely expensive; it's not a cost-effective organization. Neither is the [African Union]. Private companies would be much, much cheaper. When we compared their costs to most UN operations, we came up with 10 to 20 percent of what the UN would normally charge.'"