Iraq analysis

[Al-khiyal]

WASHINGTON, September 27, 2007 (CNN) -- Private military contractor Blackwater USA "delayed and impeded" a congressional probe into the 2004 killings of four of its employees in Falluja, Iraq, the House Oversight Committee said Thursday in a report.

Blackwater contractors Jerry Zovko, Scott Helvenston, Mike Teague and Wesley Batalona were ambushed, dragged from their vehicles and killed on March 31, 2004.

The burned and mutilated remains of two of the men were hung from a bridge over the Euphrates River, an image that fueled American outrage and triggered the first of two attempts to retake the city from Sunni Arab insurgents.

The company stalled the committee's investigation into the incident by "erroneously claiming" documents related to the incident were classified, trying to get the Defense Department to make previously unclassified documents classified and "asserting questionable legal privileges," according to a report from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee's Democratic staff.

According to Blackwater's reports on the killings, the men killed in Falluja had been sent into the area without proper crew, equipment or even maps.

One company document found a "complete lack of support" for its Baghdad, Iraq, office from executives at the company's headquarters in North Carolina, the committee report states.

"According to these documents, Blackwater took on the Falluja mission before its contract officially began, and after being warned by its predecessor that it was too dangerous. It sent its team on the mission without properly armored vehicles and machine guns. And it cut the standard mission team by two members, thus depriving them of rear gunners," the report states.

In a written response to the report, Blackwater called it "a one-sided version of this tragic incident."

"What the report fails to acknowledge is that the terrorists determined what happened that fateful day in 2004," the company said. "The terrorists were intent on killing Americans and desecrating their bodies. Documents that the committee has in its possession point out that the Blackwater team was betrayed and directed into a well-planned ambush."

The report notes that members of the now-defunct Iraqi Civil Defense Corps "led the team into the ambush, facilitated blocking positions to prevent the team's escape, and then disappeared."

Blackwater did not discuss details of the report's findings, noting the incident is still the subject of a lawsuit by the slain contractors' families.

The committee's chairman, California Democrat Henry Waxman, has scheduled a hearing Tuesday on Blackwater's operations in Iraq. The company's chairman, Erik Prince, is scheduled to testify at that hearing.

The committee previously disclosed that the day before the fatal mission, the manager of Blackwater's Baghdad office warned his bosses he lacked armored vehicles, radio gear and ammunition.

During February's hearing and in a subsequent written response, Blackwater general counsel Andrew Howell told the committee that documents on the attack had been classified by the U.S. government. But the Pentagon later told the committee the documents had not been classified.

In addition, Blackwater made "multiple attempts" to get the Defense Department to declare company and Coalition Provisional Authority reports on the incident classified, the report states. The Pentagon refused.

The families of the slain men have sued Blackwater Security Consulting, one of the most familiar of hundreds of private military contractors operating in Iraq. The families allege the company failed to provide their relatives with adequate gear and weaponry. Blackwater has denied the allegations and argued the men agreed to assume the risks of working in a war zone.

Thursday's report adds to the intense scrutiny the company has faced since it was involved in shootings September 16 in western Baghdad. Iraqi authorities said Blackwater guards protecting a U.S. Embassy convoy opened fire indiscriminately, killing as many as 20 civilians.

Blackwater said its employees responded properly to an insurgent attack on the convoy.

Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte on Thursday told a Senate committee that "something went tragically wrong" in the Baghdad incident, and that the State Department and Iraqi authorities are conducting a thorough investigation. He said Blackwater guards had fired their weapons on 56 of the 1,873 escort missions they have conducted in Iraq in 2007, "And each such incident is reviewed by management officials to ensure that procedures were followed."

"I personally was grateful for the presence of my Blackwater security detail, largely comprised of ex-Special Forces and other military, when I served as ambassador to Iraq," Negroponte told the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday in response to questions. "Their alert and controlled posture kept me safe - to get my job done."

Report: Blackwater 'impeded' probe into contractor deaths in Fallujah

[Al-khiyal]

September 28, 2007 -- Blackwater, one of the largest American security firms in Iraq, has come under criticism in the US for its role in a 2004 ambush in Fallujah that left four of its staff killed and the region in deadly chaos.

A House of Representatives report outlined the "unprepared and disorderly" build-up to the incident on 31 March, 2004, resulting in the employees – who were escorting a convoy – being executed and having their charred bodies hung from a bridge.

The disturbing attack was seen as a turning point for US public opinion after images of the charred bodies were shown around the world by the media. A few days later, the US military launched a major offensive in Fallujah, leading to one of the bloodiest periods since the 2003 invasion.

Yesterday's report, led by the Democrat Representative Henry Waxman, said Blackwater had ignored "multiple warnings" to stay away from Fallujah, described as "hottest zone in Iraq in unarmoured, underpowered vehicles."

Although Blackwater – one of the biggest security firms in Iraq – was warned by other contractors that it was dangerous to drive through Fallujah, the Blackwater guards "seemed unaware of the potential risk," the report says. Two members of the mission's team were cut prior to its departure, the report found.

Blackwater – also under investigation for the deaths of 11 Iraqis this month, in an incident reported by The Independent – rejected the report, accusing it of being a "one-sided version of this tragic incident".

But Mr Waxman said the committee's research showed that the company was in a chaotic state in the run-up to the incident and "mistake apparently compounded mistake".

On 16 September this year, 11 Iraqis were killed after Blackwater guards opened fire while escorting a convoy through Baghdad. The company is under a joint US-Iraqi investigation over the incident.

John Negroponte, the Deputy Secretary of State and a former ambassador to Iraq, told Congress: "Something went tragically wrong on 16 September and we are taking steps to address the matter."

He added in a statement that from January this year until 18 September, Blackwater conducted 1,873 missions protecting diplomats or visitors outside of the Green Zone in Baghdad – 56 of which saw weapons fired by the firm.

The findings come as a fresh leaked transcript of a conversation between President Bush and his Spanish counterpart President Aznar before the invasion of Iraq in February 2003 show Mr Bush saying: "We have to get rid of Saddam. In two weeks we will be ready militarily. We will be in Baghdad at the end of March",

The comments – which appear to show disregard for whether or not a second UN resolution would be passed at the time – appear to further contradict a speech made by Tony Blair to the House of Commons on 23 February 2003, in which he said: "I detest his [Saddam's] regime. But even now he can save it by complying with the UN's demand. Even now, we are prepared to go the extra step to achieve disarmament peacefully."

Blackwater 'mistakes' led to surge of Iraqi violence

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Surge in Basra killings may force British back to city

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Rice orders team to Iraq on Blackwater

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BAGHDAD, September 28, 2007 - A controversial deal by the Hunt Oil Co. with an Iraqi regional government faces "significant legal uncertainty" and undermines American efforts to strengthen Iraq's national unity, a U.S. Embassy spokesman said Thursday.

The official, who insisted on anonymity, warned that Dallas-based Hunt and a handful of small companies that have signed similar deals could find themselves caught in a legal battle between the Iraqi federal government and the northern, semi-independent Kurdistan region.

"We think that these contracts have needlessly elevated tensions between the KRG (Kurdistan Regional Government) and the government of Iraq, who both share a common interest in the passage of national legislation," the official said.

The deals are for areas where oil hasn't been found, not for Iraq's massive existing oil fields, which would remain under the control of the national oil company. Kurdistan and Hunt officials have declined to reveal the terms. Typically in such a deal, Hunt would get a share of the revenues after it discovers, develops and begins pumping oil.

The Iraqi oil minister has called the Hunt deal illegal, but the leaders of the Kurdistan Regional Government say it's in the country's best interest to boost oil production because a proposed national law seems to be going nowhere in parliament.

The law, which would divide oil and natural-gas revenues among Iraq's Shiite and Sunni Muslims and Kurds and would regulate how the country's oil fields are developed and run, has been stalled for months. Most of Iraq's oil is in the southern Shiite and northern Kurdish regions; the Sunnis, who ruled Iraq under Saddam Hussein and tyrannized the Shiites and Kurds, have virtually no oil. Most of Iraq's oil is in the southern Shiite and northern Kurdish regions; the Sunnis, who ruled Iraq under Saddam Hussein and tyrannized the Shiites and Kurds, have virtually no oil.

U.S. warns Iraq oil deal may fizzle

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CAIRO, September 28, 2007: Iraq's Shi'ite vice president yesterday rejected a US Senate resolution pushing the Baghdad government to give more control to Iraq's ethnically divided regions. He insisted federalism was an internal Iraqi matter.

The Arab League also firmly rejected the US plan and lambasted Washington for destroying Iraq and turning it into the main base for Al Qaeda.

The Senate passed the measure a day earlier, calling on Iraq to limit central government control in a bid to resolve its violence and political crisis.

Democrat Senator Joseph Biden, one of the nine binding measure's primary sponsors, has called for Iraq to be divided into federal regions for the country's Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish communities in a power-sharing agreement similar to Bosnia in the 1990s.

On a visit to Cairo, Iraqi Vice-President Adil Abdul Mahdi said, "people have the right to say whatever they want, though these issues are related to Iraq."

"A thousand projects could be passed from outside, but the decision that is to be passed in Iraq is to be decided by Iraqis and nobody else," he said after meeting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

He repeated those sentiments later in the day after meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Al Sharaa in Damascus, where he expressed admiration for the UAE's confederation, but said it was inapplicable to Iraq's situation.

Abdul Mahdi said that in his talks with Mubarak, he discussed the security and political situation in Iraq and the possibility of reopening the Egyptian diplomatic mission in Baghdad, in addition to enrolling Egypt in projects to rebuild Iraq.

In Damascus, Abdul Mahdi said the "often rocky relationship between Iraq and Syria was improving. Ties have been bolstered in all sectors."

Meanwhile, Turkey and Iraq will today sign a security agreement to combat Turkish Kurd rebels taking refuge in northern Iraq, an Iraqi official said after marathon talks.

"The agreement will be signed by the Turkish and Iraqi interior ministers" an Iraqi official said yesterday.

Blackwater USA triggered a major battle in the Iraq war by sending an unprepared team of security guards into an insurgent stronghold, which led to their horrific deaths and a violent response by US forces, according to a congressional investigation released yesterday.

In another development, a senior Iraqi official urged Damascus yesterday to improve the lot of Iraqi refugees whose arrival in Syria has raised tensions between the two countries.

"The refugees are the responsibility of the Iraqi government but they're also victims of regional and international circumstances everyone helped create," Iraqi Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi said in Damascus.

Separately, the US military said yesterday it was investigating the deaths of five women and four children in a village south of Baghdad where American forces had conducted air and ground operations.

US forces were targeting Al Qaeda in Iraq-linked fighters in ground and air operations late Tuesday in the village of Babahani before the bodies were discovered.

Iraq rejects call for federalism

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BAGHDAD, September 28, 2007 (KUNA) -- The bodies of a murdered Sunni Iraqi police lieutenant and his wife were recovered in Baghdad's Adhamiyah neighborhood three days ago, a US army statement said on Friday.

The couple had been abducted several days before by Sunni insurgents, the statement quoting a relative as saying, adding that the bodies were discovered dumped in a pile of trash beneath a pedestrian overpass in the Sunni-dominated neighborhood of Adhamiyah in Baghdad.

Both victims appeared to have been killed by gunshot wounds to the head.

The police lieutenant also had drill holes in his face that indicated he was tortured before being executed, said 1st Lieutenant Daniel Lake with the 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment of the US unit responsible for security in the Adhamiyah area.

Lake said the lieutenant and his wife; both Sunnis, were most likely targeted by Sunni terrorists associated with al-Qaeda in Iraq or Islamic Government of Iraq because of their involvement with security efforts.

Sunni-on-Sunni violence now makes up the majority of violence in northeast Baghdad, following a significant drop in sectarian violence between the Shiite and Sunni communities since the Baghdad security plan began, said Lieutenant Colonel David Oclander, executive officer of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division.

To that, another Army statement said that three Iraqi high-level government officials at Baghdad's International Airport, who were suspected of involving in insurgent acts against Iraqi and US troops, were detained.

The "corrupt officials", according to the statement, were attempting to form a network to petrify innocent Iraqi civilians, by conducting kidnappings and attacks on Iraqis and US forces.

U.S. army recovers bodies of murdered Sunni couple in Baghdad's Adhamiyah