State Dept. Tallies 56 Shootings Involving Blackwater on Diplomatic Guard Duty

[RamboLiberal]

Source: NY Times

The State Department said Thursday that Blackwater USA security personnel had been involved in 56 shootings while guarding American diplomats in Iraq so far this year. It was the first time the Bush administration had made such data public.

Blackwater, a large, privately held paramilitary contractor based in North Carolina, provided security to diplomats on 1,873 convoy runs in Iraq so far this year, and its personnel fired weapons 56 times, according to a written statement by Deputy Secretary of State John D. Negroponte.

The State Department did not release comparable 2007 numbers for other security companies, but the new Blackwater numbers show a far higher rate of shootings per convoy mission than were experienced in 2006 by one of the company’s primary competitors, DynCorp International. DynCorp reported 10 cases in about 1,500 convoy runs last year.

The New York Times reported Thursday that Blackwater’s rate of shootings was at least twice as high as the rates for other companies providing similar services to the State Department in Iraq.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/28/world/middleeast/28contractors.html

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That's about an average of 2 a week! Oh and Blackwater has pulled in a Billion of taxpayer's money since 2000. http://www.fedspending.org/fpds/fpds.php?parent_id=38113&sortby=u&detail=-1&datype=T&reptype=r&database=fpds&fiscal_year=&submit=GO

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. Lots of BW stories about.

I get the feeling that someone is getting thrown over the side of the boat.

[Demeter]

3. We Should Only Be So Lucky n/t

[tanyev]

2. They're your Blackwater guys, Condi. Do you love every single one of them?

[orleans]

4. a billion dollars since 2000? well, don't we all feel much safer now?

what the hell do we do with these fucking mercenaries that are going to come home and lose their fucking minds some hot afternoon and start playing wild west here?

[TheMadMonk]

8. Perhaps as a nation you might finally wake up to the fact...

...That the size of the shooter in the hand, will not in any way positively affect the size of the one in their pants.

It's all anthropologically very fascinating:

• Mr "Lookit me." doing his handstand on the 23 rd floor balcony.
  
• Laying 100 feet of rubber on the tarmac.
  
• Shots and stamping on anti-tank mines.

But quite frankly:

• I have no interest whatsoever in the size of your dick. Odds are mine is bigger, so there. :P
  
• I am somewhat fascinated by the fractal nature of the pattern you made on the tarmac.
  
• I too can leave a lingering sulfurous odour in the air, and with a far shorter skidmark.
  
• And if really wanted to monkey with dangerously explosive materials I'd take my niece's soother away come nap time.

[rodeodance]

5. 'this year.'

[Thor_MN]

6. So multiply by about 10? Condi actively lobbied in Iraq for Blackwater

why should we believe 56? "What the lowest number that's high enough to be beleievable?" was certainly the topic of a meeting in this "investigation". GOP scientific methodology consists of determining the outcome, and then finding evidence to support it.

[Magleetis]

7. Then there is this

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/09/27/iraq.blackwater/index.html

BW is totally out of control.