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— Rachel Carter

The LA Times has a fascinating story that digs into the cultural difference between Iraq and the US when it comes to justice. For the Iraqis in this story, the admission of wrongdoing comes first, then an apology, and then payment. In the American civil justice system, payment typically comes without admission of wrongdoing. Given that Blackwater is being sued by some families of those killed in wounded at Nisour Square Sept. 17, I don't see Blackwater's lawyers consenting to an apology anytime soon.

BAGHDAD -- He refused to take the Americans' blood money.

"I told her I refuse to receive any amount," the auto parts dealer said. "My father is a tribal sheik, and we're not used to taking any amount unless the concerned will come and confess and apologize. Then we will talk about compensation."

One U.S. soldier has solved the vexing riddle: "Whatever happened to Sheriff Hege's cowboys?"

Gerald Hege was widely known in North Carolina as a notorious showboat and camera-hogging buffoon. Hege modeled himself after Sheriff Buford Posser of 'Walking Tall" fame. He painted his jail cells pink with blue teddy bears to humiliate his inmates and made work crews wear the old black-and-white striped suits from chain gang days. For himself, Hege preferred commando attire - black military fatigues, calf-high boots and holsters around his shoulder and waist. No pink. He once had a show on Court TV called "Live from Cell Block F ," in which inmates described their crimes and he berated them.

Hege's slogan was "there will be no deals for anybody." In 2004 he took a deal and pled guilty to two felony counts of obstruction of justice.

Cerberus, the $100 billion hedge fund that controls Chrysler and other companies, has dropped its plan to invest in Blackwater, Reuters reported.
ABC News reported yesterday that a deal was in the works; not so, a Cerberus executive told the Wall Street Journal: “We are not doing that deal,” said (Mark) Neporent in a telephone interview a few minutes ago. “We decided for a myriad of reasons that it is not an investment that Cerberus is going to pursue.”
No word yet on what killed the talks, whether publicity (Cerberus may be more secretive than Blackwater), due diligence or what have you.

Blackwater's plans to run training centers in the San Diego area keep running into problems. A shooting range instructor who trains Navy personnel for Blackwater says he's ending the relationship at the end of May.
“I'm tired of being dragged into this thing,” said Marc Halcon, owner of American Shooting Center in Kearny Mesa.

Meanwhile, the San Diego City Council is going to challenge the permit granted for an indoor training facility in San Diego. San Diego City Council President Scott Peters said the public didn't know about the plan.

Earlier this year Blackwater dropped a controversial plan to build a large training facility in a valley east of San Diego.

This was probably inevitable in the Youtube era. The Islamic Army in Iraq has posted a video attacking privately contractors in Iraq, especially Blackwater. The video (available here) opens with gruesome footage of the massacre of four Blackwater contractors in Fallujah in 2004, and rhetorically asks what caused Iraqis to forget their great civilization and act with such brutality. One proffered answer: contractors "killing drivers and passengers as a way to have fun and pass the time."

Blackwater has brought out a second plan for expanding in southern California: an indoor training range. The company scotched plans to build an 800+ acre training ground after extensive community protest.

I just caught up on the transcripts the Petraeus-Crocker tour of Congress last week. Lots of press focused on performance of the three presidential candidates in questioning the General and the Ambassador. Here's what Ambassador Ryan Crocked said about the State Department continuing reliance on private security contractors.

"Well, this was a decision made in the department -- the Department of State. Blackwater is I think in the third year of a five-year contract, so the decision was to go ahead with the next year of that contract. The fact is, Senator, that we, in order to move around securely, we are and we'll need to continue to rely on private contractors. We just simply don't have the assets within the State Department diplomatic security system to do it any other way."

Turkey is an essential U.S. ally in the Islamic world, a western-looking NATO member. Here's a column from Yeni Safak, a newspaper that backs the AKP, the Muslim-rooted ruling party. The column contains some wild accusations and a curious grasp of fact. I'm posting so folks can see what's running in an influential newspaper of our close ally. Courtesy of the BBC Monitoring service.

April 9, 2008

Ibrahim Karagul: "What is Army of Hired Killers Doing in Turkey?"

A murder network. An army of killers. They have no accountability. There is nothing holding them in check. They cankill, they can carry out mass killings, they can start street fights, they can arrange all manner of provocation, theycan plant and detonate bombs in the streets, they can start civil wars and carry out political assassinations. They workfor whoever gives them the largest slice of a pie worth hundreds of billions. They can eliminate anyone who istargeted.

So, what nefarious operation are they part of in Turkey? Who are they collaborating with? What targets are they goingup against? What kind of dirty work are they or their partners doing for their masters? Might they have taken part inmurders, bombings and clandestine operations in Turkey? Have they any involvement in the PKK attacks over the past four years, in particular the Daglica attack?

They were there as part of the build up in northern Iraq these past few years. So, were they not also part of theguns and explosives transferred into various parts of Turkey from northern Iraq? With whom were they cooperating inthese transfers? What exactly is their involvement in the transfer of weapons I talked about again yesterday and which Ithink is closely connected to the tensions we are experiencing today? They know what happened to the missing 190,000guns.

They gave some of them to the PKK. It is still unknown how many of them they snuck into Turkey. Their mark is on the guns used in murders committed in Turkey recently. Their mark is on the exploded and unexploded bombs in Ankara and manyother regions. Their mark is in many clandestine operations connected with northern Iraq and Turkey. Their mark is onthe recent PKK attacks. It is also alleged that they were there during the Daglica attack. Who are their partners? What kinds of plots are they conducting in Turkey together? What kind of street fighting scenarios are they puttingtogether?

I am talking about the murderous organization known as Blackwater.

We know that they always work in Iraq. But nobody is asking what they might have gotten up to in Turkey. The USgovernment extended by one year the Iraq contract for this network that carries out its dirty work. Yet, they have been held accountable for the massacres of civilians. Lawsuits have been filed. Not even the Baghdad administration couldstop their contract being extended. They are going to continue to kill.

They use the same methods against Iran. They are arming groups inside that country and taking part in clandestineoperations. So, why do we not know that this network, which officially turns out to have supplied the PKK with arms, is doing in Turkey? Who is protecting them? What multinational plans are they carrying out with whom?

Four American mercenaries were killed in Iraq in 2004 and their bodies hung from under a bridge in Al-Fallujah. This initiated a terrible vengeance attack. Over 90 per cent of the dead were civilians. The bodies were buried in massgraves. The media was not allowed to go into Al-Fallujah. One message sent from Al-Fallujah back then said: "There are body parts in the streets. People are unable to bury their relatives. Some people are burying the dead in theirhomes because of snipers." The city was hit with chemical weapons. The city was closed to the world for weeks andit was destroyed together with its inhabitants.

The massacre was done because of those four people. At least that is how it appears. This is a company that killed hundreds of people because of four legionaries, that wiped out a city for four of its employees, that employed chemical weapons because of four hired killers, that cut a city off from the world for weeks! Their base of operations is Malta. They have land and aerial units. They have a hand in the many secret CIA flights that stopped over in Turkey and in the prisoner trade.

It is high time that the activities in Turkey of this and similar companies are questioned. At least to predict what they might do in the future. A serious look should be taken at the role played by Blackwater, which is close to VicePresident Cheney, and similar murderous groups in such complex issues as the arming of the PKK, the transfer of explosives into Turkey, the sparking of the Turkish-Kurdish conflict and the preparation of provocations in parallel with the political crisis.

Especially now.

The Iraqi Prime Minister wasn't thrilled with the news that State Department had renewed Blackwater's contract.
According to CNN, Maliki said the renewal of Blackwater's contract isn't final "because they committed a massacre against Iraqis and until now this matter has not been resolved."
Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said Blackwater should be under the jurisdiction of Iraqi law. How likely is that?

Some Blackwater folks got an unusual honor: Poland's Silver and Gold Stars, the first time foreigners have received them since World War II, according to State magazine.

Blackwater helicopters rescued the Ambassador Edward Pictrzyk and his staff when his motorcade came under attack in October. One Polish staffer was killed, several wounded and the ambassador was severely burned (he's the one wearing gloves in the photograph.)

When he announced Blackwater's renewal, Gregory B. Starr, the Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security, said he was pleased with the company's performance in Iraq. Starr also held out the possibility of terminating the contract if charges are brought in the Nisour Square shooting or other cases.

From his press conference:

ASSISTANT SECRETARY STARR: ...I'm not going to prejudge what the FBI is going to find in their investigation. I think, really, it's complex. I think that the U.S. Government needs protective services. You know, I've been there to Baghdad many times. Essentially, I think they do a very good job. The September 16th incident was a tragedy, it's got to be investigated carefully. The results of that will come out eventually and then we will make the decision on how to proceed.

QUESTION: Do you worry about the signal it's going to send to the Iraqi people that already see Blackwater as, you know, something that's not very positive?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY STARR: I'm concerned and yet, at the same time, there have been only three incidents, three escalation of force incidents since September 16th, since we looked very closely at the rules of engagement, since the United States surge started working. I think the level of violence went down. And I am, up to this point, very satisfied with the changes that we've seen. So am I concerned? Sure. But I'm also very pleased at the level of effort that they put to resolve any issues.

The AP is reporting that the State Department has renewed Blackwater's contract. Here's the news alert in full:
WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department has agreed to renew Blackwater USA’s license to protect diplomats in Baghdad.

A Boston activist group called Corporate Accountability International has opened the voting for its "Corporate Hall of Shame." Candidates include Wendy's, Walmart and Blackwater.

ABC News reports that two families of people killed in Nisour Square have refused Blackwater's offers of $20,000 in compensation. One man, father of a 9-year-old boy, wants to sue the company.