by Deb Cupples | Last year, I blogged a fair amount about private contractor Blackwater. The Blackwater folks haven't been big news much lately, and I've sort of missed them. No longer.
A couple days ago, ABC News reported on a new Blackwater scandal:
"A federal grand jury in North Carolina is investigating allegations the controversial private security firm Blackwater illegally shipped assault weapons and silencers to Iraq, hidden in large sacks of dog food, ABCNews.com has learned.
"Under State Department rules, Blackwater is prohibited from using certain assault weapons and silencers in Iraq because they are considered 'offensive' weapons inappropriate for Blackwater's role as a private security firm protecting US diplomatic missions.
"'The only reason you need a silencer is if you want to assassinate someone,' said former CIA intelligence officer John Kiriakou, an ABC News consultant.
"Six Blackwater employees are under investigation by another federal grand jury, in Washington, D.C., in connection with the shooting deaths of at least 17 civilians in September, 2007 at a Baghdad traffic circle. Prosecutors are expected to return indictments in the next few weeks, according to people familiar with the case." (ABC)
Let's review some of the allegations against Blackwater over the past two years.
In October 2007, the House Oversight Committee received information from an Iraqi military official indicating that Blackwater folks had taken two Iraqi military planes -- and didn't give them back when asked to.
Before the September 2007 shooting of 17 civilians in Iraq, the Iraqi government had heard reports of "at least a half-dozen incidents in which Blackwater guards allegedly shot civilians" -- far more than any other security company. (WaPo)
On Christmas eve 2006, a Blackwater contractor allegedly shot the Iraqi vice president's body guard.
When Mr. Prince was questioned by the House Oversight Committee last year, some of his answers seemed more than a little misleading: like when he said that $600 million in federal contracts had been competitively bid. The Oversight Committee learned that they had not been.
So, who is Blackwater? A company with some heavy Republican connections and heavy government contracts.
In 2000, Blackwater was a tiny company with only $200,000 in federal contracts. Since then, the company has enjoyed roughly $1 billion in federal contracts. CEO Erik Prince told the Oversight Committee that 90% of Blackwater's business comes from federal contracts. (Hearing video) The upshot: we taxpayers have funded Blackwater's phenomenal growth.
Prince estimated Blackwater's profits at 10%: if accurate, roughly 100 million tax dollars have already gone into Blackwater's coffers. (Hearing video)
You can read all sorts of interesting stuff about Blackwater at SourceWatch.
Other Buck Naked Politics Posts:
* State Dept. Officials Blocked Investigations?
* Cutting Executive Pay Would Save Jobs
* Senate Considers <em>Another</em> Auto-Industry Bailout: Why?
* Bush "Op-Ed" Riddled with Self-Contradiction & Non-Facts
* More Sleight of Hand re: Bailout Funds?
* Waxman Wants Executive Pay Data from Banks Getting Bailout Funds
* Are Bailout Funds Being Misused?
* Execs Made Millions While Driving Companies into Ditch
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