International   

Blackwater denies charges that it is a cowboy outfit

— Photo: AP

STRONG-ARM TACTICS?: Plainclothes contractors working for Blackwater USA in a firefight as Iraqi demonstrators loyal to Moqtada Al-Sadr attempt to advance on a facility being defended by U.S. and Spanish soldiers in Najaf, in this April 4, 2004 file photo.

Washington: The U.S. company at the centre of the scandal over the role of private security guards in Iraq on Tuesday brushed aside accusations that it was a cowboy outfit, even as details emerged about an incident in which an allegedly drunken member was involved in a fatal shooting. Testifying before a congressional hearing Erik Prince, the normally secretive head of Blackwater, denied his company was overly aggressive.

The company is in the middle of a tug of war between the Iraqi government and the U.S. State Department following the alleged killing of 11 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad on September 16. Blackwater has been blamed. The Iraqi government has called for the company to be expelled but the State Department, which relies on Blackwater for protection of its diplomats, wants it to stay.

The hearing offered the first opportunity to hear Blackwater’s side of the story in detail. But the U.S. Justice Department unexpectedly stepped in at the last minute and asked that the congressional committee and Mr. Prince avoid specific questions about the September incident.

In an opening statement before the House oversight committee, Mr. Prince (38) defended his company in relation to the killings. “There has been a rush to judgment based on inaccurate information, and many public reports have wrongly pronounced Blackwater’s guilt for the deaths of varying numbers of civilians,” he said. “Congress should not accept these allegations as truth until it has the facts. Based on everything we currently know, the Blackwater team acted appropriately while operating in a very complex war zone on September 16.”

But a memo by congressional staff said Blackwater had been involved in an average of 1.4 shootings a week. The memo detailed various incidents, including one on December 24 when a 26-year-old Blackwater staffer killed a 32-year-old guard to Adil Abd al-Mahdi, the Iraqi Vice-President, provoking an angry response from the Iraqi government. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2007

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Tension grips a quiet Myanmar
Polish envoy to Iraq injured in bomb attack
Fresh challenge to General Musharraf
LTTE planning declaration of independence, says Minister
“Civil war” between Brown, Tories
Blackwater denies charges that it is a cowboy outfit
Indian activist denied U.K. visa
Time to address Kashmir issue, says Pakistan
Human rights clause off the EU-India trade deal
“India will be key ally in 20 years”

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu