8 Comments so far

1. Moonraker March 10th, 2007 4:07 pm

   Significant and disturbing as the financial side certainly is, isn’t it the case that the murders of the 4 contractors/mercenaries and, especially, the way their bodies were treated afterwards lead directly to a key battle in which hundreds of civilians and scores of US troops were killed and almost the entire civilian population forcibly removed by one side or the other. Fallujah instantly became a major propaganda symbol for the insurgents making the job of coalition forces even more difficult/impossible than it already was.
   Had these men been part of the US armed forces then surely a) they would not have been exposed as they were b) they would have had backup nearby and c) would probably never have got into that situation in the first place.

2. jjpeter March 10th, 2007 4:14 pm

   This is just the tip of the iceberg on what the bush administration gave a green light to in Iraq. A give away of billions to cronies and right wing blood suckers. And even more sinister, black water was involved in the crack down after Katrina in NO. These thugs are getting ready to be the defenders of the top 1% against the lawless hoards that are being incubated in our cities and communities as the fragile egg that is the economy edges closer and closer to the cliffs edge. But keep shopping America, keep driving around in your SUV’s - enjoy it while it lasts.

3. John F. Butterfield March 11th, 2007 5:40 am

   KBR would never have ansered any of Waxman’s questions if the Cemocrats has not won a majority in the November 2006 elections.

4. WmC March 11th, 2007 8:04 am

   It’s incredible. Not only don’t we know who the enemy is in Iraq, we don’t even know who our sub-contractors are.

5. Michael Boyter March 11th, 2007 11:59 am

   How to Steal The Republican Way

6. Michael Boyter March 11th, 2007 12:04 pm

   1 Create Caos, war is the best way to steal billions
   2. Blame the liberals, and crank you your talking head network FOX

7. Curiouser1 March 11th, 2007 1:39 pm

   I don’t understand the difference between the “unlawful enemy combatants” (UECs) being held at Guantanamo and these “private security contractors” (PSCs)…

   It seems to me that the UECs were motivated by ideology, while the PSCs are motivated by the almight $$$$.

   PSCs are not held accountable to international law, US law or Iraqi law. Sounds “unlawful” to me! Rather like a mercenary force….

8. JHuheey March 13th, 2007 6:42 pm

   Unfortunately, even though the Government was contractually responsible for providing force protection, the fact that everyone in country knew that KMS and its subcontractors were using private security in the perfromance of their contracts may result in the Government having to eat the $400 million in estimated costs for the Blackwater security people. In contract law I believe its called a “constructive change”. If the government knew the contractor had “modified” the scope of the services being provided to the Government,(by providing private security personnel to ensure they could perform their contractually mandated services) and none of the Government contract administrators objected to the change in scope of contract services being provided, then the Government is probably legally bound to pay those costs.

   In a very real sense, it seems foolish for anyone to assume that a private contractor could transport their personel from place to place inside a war zone without some type of protective services. If you want the Army to provide those services, then it means half of the military force in Iraq would be devoted to babysitting all of the contractors that the military has been forced to use because Congress (Demos and Republicans) have foolishly dictated that the military contract for support services instead of doing them itself. In “the old days” the military used its own enlisted personnel and officers to provide engineering support, facilities support, messing, and other services - but now they are required to contract with commercial firms for these services. Did you know that most of the Marine Corps Mess Halls in the US and oversees are run by civilian companies - no more peeling potatoes for GI’s:)

   It also seems foolish to me to expect that a contractor could “schedule” its requirements for security services through the US Army. So you have a truckload of freshly baked bread that needs to go from Bagdad to some town and be at the mess hall within 4 hours so the troops can eat. How long do you think it would take to call the local Army unit and get them to send over some troops to help haul your bread.:)

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