What's Happening with Blackwater

Back in 2005, The New York Times reports, a Blackwater helicopter dropped tear gas (CS gas) on a checkpoint in Baghdad's Green Zone. "An armored vehicle on the ground also released the gas, temporarily blinding drivers, passers-by and at least 10 American soldiers operating the checkpoint.... A number of Iraqi civilians, both on foot and in cars waiting to go through the checkpoint, were also exposed. " The gas, which the American military itself "can use only under the strictest conditions and with the approval of top military commanders," causes burning eyes, skin irritation, coughing, difficulty breathing and sometimes even vomiting.

Blackwater's explanation, by way of spokeswoman Anne Tyrell, was that "a CS gas canister was mistaken for a smoke canister and released near an intersection and checkpoint."

  TPM Muckraker

From the helicopter or the armored vehicle? A mistake it wasn’t; it was a coordinated gassing.

Oddly enough, Army officers told the Times that "the Blackwater convoy appeared to be stuck in traffic and may have been trying to use the riot-control agent as a way to clear a path." Now, how blinding everyone in the area would help traffic to clear isn't immediately clear to me. Nor is it clear to Capt. Kincy Clark who was hit by the gas and wrote, "Why someone would think a substance that makes your eyes water, nose burn and face hurt would make a driver do anything other than stop is beyond me.”

These Blackwater clowns certainly managed to do a lot of damage in the years they were operating apparently with impunity.

As Blackwater heads into 2008, a number of investigations, inquiries and lawsuits are still swirling around the company.

[...]

[A] congressional committee released data showing that the company's contractors have been involved in nearly 200 shooting incidents in Iraq since Jan. 1, 2005.

  Holland Sentinel

Swirling, swirling.

A law granting immunity from prosecution to private security personnel was passed by the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority, which ran the country following the 2003 invasion until a government was established in June 2004.

The law remains in force unless superseded by new legislation.

[...]

The Iraqi government approved [a law ending immunity for overseas security contractors] after a Blackwater Worldwide team killed 17 Iraqi civilians while guarding a U.S. State Department convoy in Baghdad. Blackwater, based in Moyock, North Carolina, has said its guards acted in self-defense during the Sept. 16 shootings.

[...]

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Cabinet approved the measure in October and Parliament has since struggled to draw enough lawmakers for a valid vote on the legislation.

  Bloomberg

Private-security contractor Blackwater Worldwide, which protects U.S. diplomats in Iraq and faces scrutiny over its role in the shooting deaths of Iraqi civilians, has ramped up its lobbying representation on Capitol Hill.

Law firm Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice was tapped by the company to lobby the government on contracting and other issues, according to the form posted online Tuesday by the Senate's public records office.

Womble Carlyle is the third lobbying firm to be hired by Moyock, N.C.-based Blackwater since October.

  CNN

Blackwater Worldwide, the private security contractor which has been trying to revamp its image, is being credited with rescuing Americans stranded in Kenya. The three young women -- Brittanie, Aubrey, and Jamie -- were whisked out of the country by Blackwater.

[...]

The three women, graduates of South Christian High School, were in Kenya working at an orphanage when violence broke out following the recent elections.