Blackwater's Iraq Contract Renewed Despite Investigations

WASHINGTON — Amid investigations into fatal shootings of civilians and allegations of tax violations, Blackwater USA's multimillion-dollar contract to protect diplomats in Baghdad has been renewed, the State Department said Friday.

A final decision about whether the private security company will keep the job is pending, the department said. Moyock, N.C.-based Blackwater is one of the largest private military contractors, receiving nearly $1.25 billion in federal business since 2000, according to a House committee estimate.

Blackwater provides security for diplomats in Baghdad, where the sprawling U.S. Embassy is headquartered. Its private guards act as bodyguards and armed drivers, escorting government officials when they go outside the fortified Green Zone.

Iraqis were outraged over a Sept. 16 shooting in which 17 Iraq civilians were killed in a Baghdad square. Blackwater said its guards were protecting diplomats under attack before they opened fire, but Iraqi investigators concluded the shooting was unprovoked.

An FBI probe began in November. Prosecutors want to know whether Blackwater contractors used excessive force or violated any laws.

The State Department's top security officer, Greg Starr, told reporters Friday that because the FBI is still investigating the shootings, there is no justification now to pull the contract when it comes due in May.

Blackwater has a five-year deal to provide personal protection for diplomats, and its contract is reauthorized each year. The decision announced Friday extends Blackwater's deal for the third year.

Prosecutors investigating the shootings have questioned more than 30 witnesses in the U.S. and in Iraq, but they have announced no conclusions. One possibility is that individual contractors could be indicted, another is that the company could be indicted, or the FBI could conclude that there was no crime.

Story continues below

The company is also the target of an unrelated investigation into whether its contractors smuggled weapons into Iraq. Lawmakers have called for an investigation into whether Blackwater violated tax laws by classifying employees as independent contractors. The company says the claim is groundless.

Starr said that Blackwater's contract could be pulled at some future point, depending on what the FBI and an internal State Department inquiry conclude. He would not predict whether that is likely, and he said he has no information about when the FBI might act.

Starr's predecessor, Richard Griffin, resigned just one day after a State Department study found serious lapses in the department's oversight of private guards.

After the September deaths, U.S. commanders in Iraq complained that they often do not know security firms are moving through their areas of responsibility until after a hostile incident has taken place.

At the end of October, Defense Secretary Robert Gates met with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and reached a general understanding that more military control was needed over security firms operating in the war zone.

The Pentagon and the State Department agreed in December to give the military in Iraq more control over Blackwater Worldwide and other private security contractors.

The agreement spells out rules, standards and guidelines for the use of private security contractors and says contractors will be accountable for criminal acts under U.S. law. That partly clarifies what happens if a contractor breaks the law, but it leaves the details to be worked out with Congress.

The State Department also installed new safeguards after the September shooting, including a requirement for additional monitoring of Blackwater convoys.

Rep. David Price, D-N.C., author of a House-passed bill that would subject all contractors to criminal liability, called the agreement "an important step toward improving transparency, management and accountability in security contracting."

"There is no question that it comes in response to significant congressional pressure ... but the agencies deserve credit for reading the writing on the wall and taking substantive steps to deal with a clear and critical problem," Price said.

___

Associated Press writer Matt Apuzzo contributed to this report.

Comments

[TN]

It's all those no-bid contracts. Years ago a lady from the Defense Department tried to put a stop to it, she said they never had no bid contracts like this before, she got demoted. It was when the republicans had the super majority, of course they new what was going on, that includes McCain, and didn't do anything about it. Nancy Pelosi, it is time to use the power of the purse. Cut this back now. When they say they can't function without blackwater say, "Are you saying our troops can't do the job" and through it right back in their face.

[fignozzle]

only 161 comments????????????????????????????

AREN"T YOU PEOPLE LISTENING?????????

[ErnestineBass]

Those that have something between their ears ARE, fignozzle.

The rest are yapping about Renee Zellwegger's plastic surgery.

HuffPo reflects American priorities PERFECTLY.

heh heh

[peacekitten]

OMG!!!!!!!!!!

the news that renee zellweiger had plastic surgery was so traumatic i was forced to use capital letters!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

is she having her face fixed so she doesn't constantly look like she's smelling a used jock strap???????????

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

where are my smelling salts???

[peacekitten]

btw, the fact that this is a story of substance, should answer your question about anyone listening.

anything that would provoke thought, or the consideration of right and wrong is nowhere near as juicy as gossip, scandal, and who insulted who.

our country is in one hell of a mess now, because it's become too easy to try and live vicariously when reality becomes too much to take.

[ExRepublican]

hi. I don't understand the word, vicariously,

How are you and explain the above? Vica who?

[moodyring]

This is disgusting.

[GeoLee]

Can't help but wonder if Greg Starr is related to Kent Starr. and was given a payback job for Kent's work in crucifying the Clinton family. Does anyone know of a relationship?

[aristippe]

none.

[ErnestineBass]

I spent about half an hour trying to find a link after the same thought occurred to me. So far, nada. Not to say it ain't there, GeoLee...

[glitzqueen]

ALL privatization of government functions has been a scam from the git-go. You place a profit-driven entity between the provider and recipient of any service and what do you get? Yeah, higher prices -- and lower wages and benefits for those who actually do the work. The real result of privatization is the exact opposite of the greater "efficiency" old horrid Reagan promised, when he began the madness.

We need to cancel ALL government contracts for services. Period. Let the government then directly hire the people it needs and let the military rely on a draft, if it has to. Gosh, imagine the savings -- and the greater reluctance to wage lunatic wars for the benefit of profiteers.

Exactly the same vampirism characterizes our insurance-based healthcare system. Knock all the middlemen out. They not only contribute nothing, but loot the system of billions every year. Even docs are grasping this now. By going to single-payer, we'll save a fortune and have far better care.

The greedy creeps skimming everything are the enemy. DUMP 'EM.

[SkylarG]

Does it not make sense to stop paying Blackwater and spend some of the money on getting some good equipment and vehicles for OUR military?

[ErnestineBass]

Makes better sense to just get us the FOOK out of Iraq and start minding our OWN business.

[dora rice]

no, because they get blown up anyhow.

[Oridaman]

Looks like another, "Heck of a job Brownie" moments again!

[quintus]

Oh, it doesn't get much better than this, does it? These guys can pretty much do whatever the hell they want, kill innocent civilians, whatever, and predictably none of this raises a single eyebrow! No, just the contrary! Reward the f*ckers! Hey, it's the good ol' United States of America! It's what America IS now! A land of laws and justice! God's special country, right?

Makes me proud!

[debwarot]

In order to keep the war 'running smoothly' we are outsourcing critical operations and functions to mercenaries. Apparently, we aren't even using the best mercenaries available, since Blackwater's practices are continually being called to task. These soldiers of fortune are earning much more than our own troops performing comparable assignments and tasks. The money we spend on our 'hired guns' is desperately needed here at home, but is going to make this company rich. Oh, and don't forget Blackwater's ties to Mark Penn and the Clinton campaign.

Does any of this make any sense at all to anyone? I gotta tell you, I sure can't see it.

[ErnestineBass]

I makes sense if you're Hillary Clinton and you're taking campaign donations from Blackwater.

[debwarot]

Right you are, Ms. Bass! Guess I should have phrased my question, "Does any of this make any sense to anyone who is not receiving campaign donations from Blackwater?"

[mariemburns]

Kimberly Kay asks the right questions. Why is Hillary Clinton's top campaigner a man -- Mark Penn -- who carries water for a company that has probably bilked Americans out of millions & whose employment policies may have encouraged the careless murders of innocent Iraqi civilians? How can we believe Hillary wants to get us out of Iraq when she is entangled in Blackwater, one of the war's biggest beneficiaries? She owes Mark Penn a couple of million dollars How will she pay him -- in new Blackwater contracts?

Now Mark Penn is running down to Colombia to broker deals between the Colombians & Bush to push through a trade deal that will hurt both American & Colombian labor -- when he got caught, he said he was sorry. Hillary claims she's against Penn's anti-labor trade deal. Is her position credible when her top campaigner is making big bucks pushing the deal she's 'against'?

Sorry, but a pastor -- by all accounts a great benefactor to his community -- who occasionally gets carried away & trashes people who used to trash him is nothing compared to Mark Penn. Hillary self-righteously said she'd leave Obama's church, but she's hanging onto her greedy pal Mark Penn in anticipation of all the lucrative deals they could cook up if Hillary & Bill ended up back in the White House.

[ErnestineBass]

Thank you, mariemburns.

A cogent take on the REAL issues we should be considering before we cast our vote in stone.

[debwarot]

Thanks, mariemburns, for putting things in context. Well said!

[ajax2]

I don't see how Congress can duck this as they are the ultimate funding authority for Blackwater.

[fact finder]

ajax2. Congress is bought and paid for by Eric Prince just as well as their other corporate masters.

[jdfast]

Yea, the best congress money can buy and our children and grand children and great grandchildren will be paying the bill. Haven't heard the MSM talking about this fact either have you.

[MinYee]

I hope people remember that Mark Penn, Hillary Clinton's senior advisor, represents Blackwater in public relations

[aznurse]

I know that Randi Rhodes may have gone overboard with those words, but she has informed her listeners about Blackwater for a very long time. When I started to tell people about them, nobody believed me. Finally, when that shoot out got some MSM coverage people started to pay attention.
I heard that the next thing they will be involved in will be something called "narcoterrorism" protection.
My guess it will be for our borders, but with the latest dealings that are going on with Colombia, who knows what the heck they'll be up to.

[TN]

The young owner of Blackwater, his family is in bed with "For the Family" Dobbs, I think thats his name. You know the guy, Haggart was one of the preachers of his mega churches. He just denounced McCain the other day so probably McCain isn't in step with them, don't know.

[peacekitten]

the young owner of blackwater is a former military man named erik prince, who has used his experiences to make himself even richer. he comes from a wealthy family, the amway fortune. it is nearly impossible to find out exactly what sort of business institution the blackwater group is, which makes it very difficult to be able to figure out exactly how it can be regulated under the law. nice coincidence, no?

the convolution of blackwater's colombian operations is mind boggling. and all of it financed by your tax dollars.

they do own four aviation companies, which were incorporated entities before blackwater purchased them, and there was nothing that could be done about their incorporated status at that point.

erik prince has succeeded in combining religious fanaticism, enormous wealth, and outrageously brutal and violent techniques and done it all with impunity. he not only needs to be put out of business, but prohibited from profiting from the mercenary industry ever again. he's dangerous, and all the others like him are as well. in order for him to be operating with anything that resembles legal cover, the *congress* would have had to grant him a letter of marque, an issue which was in fact raised in a proposal made by Ron Paul. It was raised again as recently as July, 2007.

btw, it's dobson that is the religious lunatic associated with "focus on the family." dobson has also refused to back mccain.

[elpollo]

A "shoot out" is when all factions are armed. What occurred with the 17 dead Iraqis and Blackwater was not a shout out. It was a massacre and/or mass murder.

[GoodGuysandBadGuys]

wtf?

[KimberlyKay]

Before I leave this subject, each and every candidate now running should be asked what they think about this "out sourcing" of the military of the United States of America. We now have mercenaries performing critical functions and I find this outrageous. How about you? Blackwater should be told to pack their bags and go home and not another dollar of tax payer money should go into Blackwater's treasury.

[Beowoof]

You're hitting on a new, even more deadly "third rail of politics" for politicians. If many of these guys from are willing to leave the military in a war that has no clarity or pay for a lucrative job protecting politicians in that madness that Blackwater has been a part of, who can take on a mercenary army 30,000 to 50,000 strong?

[MaryinMontcoPA]

Blackwater and its fellow mercenaries have closer to 150,000 mercs in Iraq. As many or more than US troops for much of this invasion and occupation of a country that did nothing to us.

Their business plan is for growth providing their services in THIS country.

[Daniel8168]

You could address that question specifically to Senator Hillary Clinton since she was on the oversight committee for war contractors, and Blackwater officially got its start and thus its validation during the Bill Clinton administration.

Also, you might ask Hillary why, having been a member of the oversight committee, she suddenly, after Obama clearly stated his position on the matter, decided to pretend that she'd just realized that there was need for oversight. What was she doing the whole time she was on the oversight committee?

Here's a story about her buddy Mark Penn's company:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1007/6219.html

Obama's position on mercenary contractors is that their numbers may be needed until we can get out of Iraq, but also that if they are to be used, they must be under much stricter regulation - regulation that Hillary should have helped to create and enforce, but that she only became concerned about when Obama's position was announced. For the record, Obama has tried to pass such legislation to regulate and hold accountable contractors like Blackwater. This legislation has been derided as un-enforceable, and thus unrealistic. Basically, the legislation he tried to pass would have held mercenary contractors legally accountable for murders, thefts, rapes, abuses, etc. In other words, they could be arrested and tried in an American court of law for their actions.

[whatsmyname]

KimberlyKay, I really want to agree with you but I don't. I don't because I can't and I say that as a veteran of the Army. See, the real point we're missing is WHY do we allow the DOD, to turn our boot camps into "mills." Yes, a boiler room for soldiers to get everything in crash course measure and yet get nothing they really need -as in TIME to build soldiers not people in uniform. Time to learn what they NEED to know to fight a civil conflict and part of that is getting "seasoned as an adult." No, Blackwater, as much as I want toagree with you -is a necessary evil. Prior to their increased "coverage" in BagD, there were Marines, and other AFP's getting killed in their sleep, getting sniped even behind their own lines. In short, they didn't (many thanks to Rummy) have all the equipment needed to fight a civil conflict successfully. And, everytime you saw pics US Troops, marching by or moving about they were stumbling, and the experienced eye could tell that their collective asses were draggin.. Why? No, no Congress, is looking at an easy target here, when they should really walk over to the halls of DOD, and demand accountability. Maybe Gates or Rice, should read D M Malon's, book on Small Unit Leadership? Obviously, somebody at Blackwater has.