Blackwater

09 October 2007 -- Iraq's government is asking American security firm Blackwater USA to pay $136 million to the families of Iraqis killed in a recent shooting.

The demand is included in a report of an Iraqi government investigation into the September 16 incident in a western Baghdad square. It charges that Blackwater security guards deliberately killed 17 people in the shooting.    » read more »

09 October 2007 -- Iraqi officials say there has been another shooting involving private security guards in Baghdad, this time killing two people. Dubai-based security firm Unity Resources Group issued a statement saying its guards were involved in the incident. The incident occurred the same day Iraq's government said the U.S.- based Blackwater security contractor should pay millions of dollars in compensation to people killed in a shooting incident last month.    » read more »

October 05, 2007 -- Today Chairman Waxman wrote to Secretary Rice following reports that a Blackwater contractor, who was fired after he shot and killed an Iraq security guard, was hired by Combat Support Associates, another private contractor, to work in the region two months later.

A letter was also sent to the President of Combat Support Associates requesting information about the former Blackwater contractor.

Read: Letter to Secretary Rice (pdf file)

Source: Administration Oversight, Defense and Security

October 5, 2007 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) today sent the following letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, asking her to further clarify the new guidelines she proposed for contractors operating in Iraq and Afghanistan. Obama called on Rice to clarify the legal framework the State Department intends to use to hold contractors accountable for their actions in Iraq and Afghanistan, and to provide more information on the rules of engagement contractors will employ.    » read more »

Obama bill will require federal law apply to contractors in war zones

October 4, 2007 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) today introduced legislation to increase accountability of American security contractors operating in Iraq and Afghanistan by subjecting the contractors to U.S. criminal law. The bill would clarify the language of the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act (MEJA) to ensure that it applies to all contractors working in war zones.    » read more »

07 October 2007 -- Iraq has revised higher the death toll of citizens killed by U.S. private security guards from Blackwater USA in a shooting incident in Baghdad last month.

An Iraqi government spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh, said the government's official investigation found that the death toll in the September 16 shootings was 17, six more than the 11 deaths previously reported.

Iraqi investigators said the shootings were a deliberate crime. Dabbagh said the probe revealed that the U.S. diplomatic convoy the guards were protecting did not come under direct or indirect fire.    » read more »

October 4, 2007 -- (Washington, DC)- Today, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act (MEJA) Expansion and Enforcement Act of 2007, despite the Bush Administration's opposition, with a vote of 389-30. The bill, which passed through the House Judiciary Committee in August, makes private contractors working in combat zones like Iraq and Afghanistan subject to prosecution for wrongdoing in U.S. courts. House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) made the following remarks on the House floor in support of the bill:    » read more »

04 October 2007 -- Acting amid continuing controversy over a recent incident involving Blackwater, the largest American private security contractor in Iraq, the U.S. House of Representatives has overwhelmingly approved legislation that would subject contractors to prosecution by U.S. courts. A similar measure is expected to be introduced in the Senate.

Approved by a vote of 389 to 30, the legislation revises existing law called the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act.    » read more »

Enforce Law with Special FBI Unit; Last Week, Senate Passed Obama Plan to Force Disclosure of Contractor Activities

October 03, 2007 -- Iowa City, IA -- At a foreign policy town hall meeting, US Senator Barack Obama unveiled a plan to force Iraq War contractors to follow federal law and proposed creating a special Federal Bureau of Investigations unit to enforce it. Obama said law-breaking American contractors in Iraq aren't just wasting taxpayer money - they are impacting troop morale and making it harder to wage and win the war on terror.    » read more »

Plan will restore democracy to our military decisions about the war, expand the rule of law, ensure accountability and wipe out cronyism

Oct 3, 2007 -- Manchester, New Hampshire – Today, Senator John Edwards will unveil a plan to end the current system of outsourcing military and security missions to private contractors.    » read more »

03 October 2007 -- Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says he believes the U.S. security firm involved in the fatal shootings of Iraqis last month should be barred from the country.

Maliki Wednesday said he is closely following investigations into the security provider Blackwater USA. He said he has been told that Blackwater has been involved in multiple incidents that have killed or wounded a total of 190 people.    » read more »

04 October 2007 -- U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says he wants to give the coalition military command in Iraq a larger role in coordinating the activity of private security contractors that operate in the country. He says that is among the suggestions from a five-member panel he sent to Iraq in the wake of the incident last month in which armed guards from the Blackwater company, protecting a U.S. diplomatic convoy in Baghdad, allegedly killed at least 11 Iraqi civilians in a shootout.    » read more »

02 October 2007 -- U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says he expects to order several steps to improve the supervision of security contractors working for the U.S. military in Iraq.

Secretary Gates said he read a report early Tuesday from a five-member team he sent to Iraq last week to assess the use and supervision of security contractors. The secretary ordered the review two weeks ago after contractors from the Blackwater security company working for the State Department were accused of killing at least 11 Iraqi civilians during a shootout in Baghdad.    » read more »

September 27, 2007 -- On February 7, 2007, the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing to initiate an investigation into the performance and accountability of private military contractors in Iraq. The hearing included the examination of one prominent case study: a pivotal event of the Iraq War in which four Blackwater USA security contractors were ambushed and killed in Fallujah on March 31, 2004, while escorting a convoy.    » read more »

Legislation demands answers on role of contractors in Iraq

September 28, 2007 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – Last night, the United States Senate accepted an amendment to the Defense Department Authorization bill introduced by U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) that will require federal departments to compile and report information to Congress on the role of private security contractors in Iraq.    » read more »