State Dept. intercedes in Blackwater probe

[Ghost in the Machine]

State Dept. intercedes in Blackwater probe

A House panel reveals a letter telling the firm not to disclose information about its Iraq operations without the administration's OK.
By Peter Spiegel, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 26, 2007

WASHINGTON -- The State Department has interceded in a congressional investigation of Blackwater USA, the private security firm accused of killing Iraqi civilians last week, ordering the company not to disclose information about its Iraq operations without approval from the Bush administration, according to documents revealed Tuesday.{emphsis mine}

In a letter sent to a senior Blackwater executive Thursday, a State Department contracting official ordered the company "to make no disclosure of the documents or information" about its work in Iraq without permission.

The letter and other documents were released Tuesday by Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles), whose House committee has launched wide-ranging investigations into contractor abuses and corruption in Iraq.

The State Department order and other steps it has taken to limit congressional access to information have set up a confrontation between Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Waxman, who has repeatedly accused the State Department of impeding his inquiries.

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-fg-blackwater26sep26,1,5892876.story?coll=la-news-a_section&ctrack=1&cset=true

[ClintonTyree]

1. Gee, what a surprise....

the Bush administration effectively stopping another investigation into it's illegal activities by not providing critical information.

I'm beginning to sense there's a pattern evolving here. :think: :sarcasm:

[Disturbed]

2. Is Waxman ever going to issue Inherent Contempt on any of

these Assholes?

[izzie]

3. I will join in on how you feel.

I am not shocked. I have said for years it will take years to figure out just what they have done and what they have skimmed for them self. Put party hacks running every thing and this is what you get. A second rate country.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

11. Why is one branch of this government consistently allowed to obstruct justice sought,...

,...by the other branch?

:shrug:

I just do not understand how this is allowed when, if it were you or I, we'd be in the slammer before we could plead innocent. I mean, I am aware that the rules concerning government activities are different. But, it seems to me that no rules are being enforced, at all.

[annabanana]

4. I'm sure Erik Prince requested this interference

And I'm sure the administration was only too happy to comply.

(ERIK PRINCE, Blackwater’s founder and chairman, has deep roots in conservative Republican politics in Michigan. Erik Prince’s sister Betsy, a former chairwoman of the Michigan Republican Party, is married to Dick DeVos, billionaire son of the founder of marketing giant Amway)

[liberal N proud]

5. Can we impeach yet?

[Ghost in the Machine]

6. but.... but.... we don't have the votes...

:eyes:

[HereSince1628]

7. The whole point of having 2 armies is to keep one off the formal books.

And obviously out of the public media.

Americans have no clue that the combined forces of Blackwater and the US military bring the number of 'US' combatants in Iraq to more than 300,000.

The Republic we are allowed to see is only a Potemkin-like facade.

[druidity33]

8. when this story broke

i asked a question a few times on separate threads here on DU and never got a reply. No on else seemed to be wondering... Who was in that State Dept convoy last week?.

IMO Security contractors are more likely to over-react to a perceived threat when they are guarding a high-value target...

Stonewalling is par for the course, but i can't help but feel this is one question that WON"T GET ANSWERED.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

12. Perhaps, the answer to that question is being concealed.

Your question is certainly a relevant one since whomever was in that convoy effin' witnessed the crime and is failing to report it.

[OneBlueSky]

9. and what will Congress do about this rebuff? . . . they'll huff, and they'll puff . . .

and then they'll do nothing at all . . . why? . . . because they don't want to upset the corporate apple cart that ensures that their campaign coffers will be filled to overflowing when the time comes . . .

classic case of SNAFU (Situation Normal: All Fucked Up) . . .

[loudsue]

10. And....how much of this information will we hear on the cable news channels?

How much of it will be front-page headlines in the leading newspapers? My guess: not!

This is a fascist totalitarian state we're living in. No checks, no balances; just a runaway train heading straight to hell at the highest levels of government.

And if Waxman and Conyers & Leahy try to issue those contempt charges, it will end up in the most rightwing supreme court that has ever darkened the halls of justice in this country... An opus dei fraternity, if there ever was one.

Kick & rec. Everyone needs to see this and create an internet firestorm. Blackwater is the most despicable cancer to inhabit the body politic of this country since their "blood-brothers" in Halliburton left for the safety of foreign shores.

:kick:

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

13. zzzzip, zero, zilch,...nada eom

[Ghost in the Machine]

14. kick

[Ghost in the Machine]

15. weekend kick