In this segment I want to try to figure out what happened on September 16, when Blackwater mercenaries killed 17 Iraqi civilians and wounded 24 others. There are many conflicting stories. The incident took place in Nisour Square, just outside the Green Zone. On that day a Blackwater security detail was escorting a convoy of State Department officials to a meeting with officials of the United States Agency for International Developement in western Baghdad. The incident may have started with an explosion close to the convoy as they were entering Nisour Square. Whether the explosion was caused by a car bomb or a mortor round or if it happened at all is unclear. Nothing is clear in this story.
There are at least five investigations under way. The one everyone, including Henry Waxman, is waiting on is the FBI investigation. I have been reading everything I can find and although I believe I have a general idea of what happened that day, the only thing that is clear to me is that Blackwater's account of this incident is bullshit. One thing I do understand better now is what the term the fog of war really means. So far the only thing the FBI has said it that only 3 of the 17 faltalities could be said to be justified under the rules of engagement followed by the U.S. military. Even the FBI is having a hard time piecing things together. They complain that it is hard to reconstruct events when they were not called in until almost three weeks after the incident happened. Nonetheless I will go ahead and give an account of what appears to have happened.
A photo of Nisoor Square a few days after the shooting.
I hesitated to even include the part of the story about the car bomb explosion which supposedly started the whole incident because this is what Blackwater says and I have been unable to confirm this from any other source. I found a photo of an explosion claiming to be the one in question, but have no way of knowing if it actually is. I cannot find any news reports about any such explosion that day or any reports of casualities. I have a hunch that because the first car Blackwater fired upon exploded into flames that they tried to pass this off as a car bomb explosion. The reports of the incident seem to fall into two camps. The Iraqi police reports and that of the U.S military seem to collaborate each other. As does the little that the FBI has said so far. On the other side is the State Department and Blackwater. Why? Well it turns out that the State Department assigned a Blackwater employee working in the U.S. embassy in Baghdad to write their report for them. Good God.
Even if there was a car bomb explosion, it was not directed at the Blackwater convoy as they first claimed. There seems to be two seperate shooting incidents. The first was when the convoy entered the square and stopped while an Iraqi police officer tried to clear traffic so the convoy could pass. A car driven by an Iraqi woman and her grown son failed to stop and was fired upon by the convoy. The firing seems to have started with turret gunner #3, a Blackwater contractor named Paul. The car caught on fire, possibly from grenades or a grenade launcher. Or maybe some rounds hit the fuel tank. The convoy proceded up the street when a second round of firing broke out. Again turret gunner #3 opened fire on a red bus, bystanders in the street, and cars that were turning around trying to flee the scene. Many of the Iraqi civilians were shot in the back. A statement by turret gunner #3 given to the State Department claims that he was fired upon by insurgents from the bus and the street firing AK-47's. Four other Blackwater mercenaries also opened fire but seems to have ceased fire when they realized that no one was firing back and that they were not under attack. Turret gunner #3 continued to fire even though the other Blackwater guards ordered him to cease fire by yelling and by hand signals. When he continued to fire one of the other Blackwater mercs aimed his weapon at him and again ordered him to cease fire. Only then did he quit firing his weapon. The convoy then left the scene. It seems to me that Paul on turret gun #3 went a little apeshit with his machine gun. In light of the recent revelations of steroid and other mind altering drug use by Blackwater employees, it makes me wonder........
Blackwater dispatched a second convoy to the scene which was apparently involved in some type of standoff with Iraqi police as they approached Nisoor Square. U.S. military personel arrived on the scene within 20 minutes after the shooting. They assisted in getting the casualities to the hospital and also began an investigation into what happened. They collected spent shell casings and found that all of them came from weapons used only by the U.S. military and contractors. None were from AK-47's or any other weapons typically used by insurgents. They also interviewed witnesses. None of the witnesses reported anyone firing on the contractors. They considered the most credible to be three Kurds who were on a rooftop overlooking the square. They were members of a pro-American political party who were in Baghdad for a conference. They collaborated the other eyewitnesses who said that the shooting was unprovoked. Eyewitnesses also reported Blackwater heliocopters on the scene firing into the crowd. Blackwater originally denied this but later admitted it but claimed that they didn't fire their weapons. Iraqi police and U.S military reports noted bullet holes in the roofs of vehicles. An American army colonel said that if U.S Army pesonel had done this that they would be courtmartialed. The FBI has said that only three of the shootings could be justified. The two in the origninal car which failed to halt and one other unspecified person.
Blackwater originally said the the convoy was on their way to the conference but now admits that they had already dropped the State Department people off and were on their way back. They seem to be constantly changing their story. The day after the shootings the Iraqi government said that they would suspend Blackwater's license to operate in Iraq. The problem is that they never had one to begin with. The Private Security Company Association of Iraq report issued in July 2007 stated that Blackwater had no license. When the Association announced that they would open their own investigation into the shootings, Blackwater announced the next day that they were withdrawing from the Association, thereby killing the investigation. The Justice Department has said that the fact that the State Department gave Blackwater inmunity before they took statements from the contractors involved in the shootings will complicate filing any criminal charges after the FBI investigation is complete. Also, the families of the Iraqis killed in the shootings have filed a lawsuit against Blackwater. Secretary of State Rice has ordered video cameras to be placed on all Blackwater vehicles and for all Blackwater radio communications to be recorded. That's fine, but I think you're a day late and a dollar short on this one Condi. This story is far from over. At this point the only thing to do is wait on the FBI's final report. In the meantime I will start to look into other issues about Blackwater. They recently changed their name from Blackwater USA to Blackwater Worldwide so I think that next I will see what they're up to around the world. Then there are questions about tax evasion and arms smuggling. Most interesting is a wiff of something else I have caught scent of. A possible hidden agenda of their connections to the Christian right and of a Crusade against Islam. I have only a faint scent so far so I can't say yet if there's anything to it, but this ol' hound is on their trail.