Making a rare appearance before Congress on Tuesday, the founder and chairman of Blackwater USA defended his company’s record, disputing a congressional report that determined his company is out of control and does not care about Iraqi civilian casualties.
“I believe we acted appropriately at all times,” said Erik Prince, a former Navy SEAL who founded the security firm in 1997, in his testimony before a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee clearly split along party lines.
The publicity-shy Prince said that his embattled company “is painted with a very broad brush” and gets blamed for incidents that usually involve other private security companies. There are about 170 such firms operating throughout Iraq.
Prince charged that Blackwater’s actions have been judged based on “inaccurate information” and that “many public reports have wrongly pronounced Blackwater’s guilt for the deaths of varying numbers of civilians.”
Democrats sharply criticized Blackwater and the use of private security contractors in Iraq, which have come under intense scrutiny after the alleged shooting of at least eight Iraqis on Sept. 16. That incident is being investigated by the Department of State and the Justice Department.
But Republican members of the panel praised Blackwater for protecting them and other lawmakers on congressional delegations to Iraq.
Under contract with the Department of State, the firm is in charge of protecting diplomats, visiting officials and congressional delegations in Iraq.
Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) said he was “grateful” for the services of Blackwater, a private security company, and Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) thanked Prince for the firm’s “amazing job.” He cited its record of no deaths or serious injuries among those whom it had protected since 2004.
“The number of times that you all have to protect members of Congress is infinitesimal compared to all the civilians you have to protect,” said Shays. “And one of the outrages … is that some members who have never been there are passing judgment on what we‘re doing there.”
In defense of the firm, Prince said that about 30 Blackwater employees have been killed carrying out their duties in Iraq. He argued that Blackwater does not engage in offensive or military missions, only defensive and protective missions.
Blackwater’s business with the U.S. government in Iraq has boomed over the years. Blackwater has earned more than $1 billion in contracts since 2001. The company’s stated annual profit is of about 10 percent.
When repeatedly pressed to clarify his own salary for the year, Prince conceded that it is “more than $1 million.”
Blackwater is seen as tied to the GOP, but it does not have a political action committee (PAC). Prince has contributed more than $230,000 to GOP political campaigns and causes since 1986. Among his donations are $2,000 to the Bush presidential campaign in 2003; $1,000 to current presidential candidate Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) in 2004. He also gave $1,000 to former Rep. Max Burns (R-Ga.) that same year and $1,000 to the Principles Exalt a Nation PAC, affiliated with Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), in 2006.
Prince’s testimony comes a day after the investigative panel, chaired by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), released a report stating that Blackwater employees engaged in at least 195 “escalation of force” incidents since early 2005, firing their weapons from moving vehicles without stopping to account for the wounded or dead.
In more than 80 percent of the incidents, Blackwater guards fired first, the report said. In one incident, the State Department helped Blackwater get an employee out of Iraq less than two days after the employee got drunk and killed a bodyguard of one of Iraq’s two vice presidents on Christmas Eve. In that shooting and other incidents, the State Department approved payments to Iraqi victims’ family members, according to the report.
The case that has come under recent investigation involves Blackwater employees who were involved in a shooting in a Baghdad square. The resulting deaths of at least eight Iraqis outraged Iraqi officials, who demanded that the security company be removed from the country. The State Department is conducting several investigations of the shooting, and on Monday the FBI decided to send a team to Baghdad to gather evidence for potential criminal prosecution.
The State Department’s initial report on the incident was written by a Blackwater contractor working in the U.S. Embassy security detail, according to a CNN report. Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), a presidential candidate, condemned that move.
“By outsourcing the investigation of Blackwater’s shooting of Iraqi civilians to Blackwater, the State Department has allowed the fox to guard the henhouse,” he said in a statement. “This tragic incident, and the string of others involving Blackwater, remind us that unregulated military contractors can put American troops, policy and reputation at risk when their actions create strife in Iraq.”
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said that more hearings are forthcoming on Blackwater and the role of contractors in Iraq. He expressed particular concern about the legal uncertainty regarding the accountability of contractors accused of crimes.
“Some of the legal experts are saying there may be no law [governing contractors],” Reid said, adding: “I hope that’s not the case. If not, I think it’s incumbent upon us to change the law.”
During his testimony before the House panel, Prince said that Blackwater conducted 1,873 security details in 2007, out of which 56 involved incidents of weapons being discharged in defense. In 2006, Blackwater conducted 6,500 security missions, while weapons were discharged in 1 percent of the missions, Prince said.
“We are not there to achieve firepower dominance,” Prince said during the hearing.
Waxman told Prince that he appreciated what his company has done, “but it looks like a lot of people in the U.S. military don’t appreciate it.” Waxman went on to cite several military officers who have expressed concern about the lack of accountability in cases of alleged wrongdoing involving Blackwater employees — and how the aftermath of their actions could hurt the U.S. mission “badly.”
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has also expressed concern over the incidents involving private security firms, saying that they “have disproportionate impact on the Iraqi people.”
During the hearing, Waxman also brought to light a Blackwater plane crash incident in Afghanistan. A flight operated by Blackwater aviation and designated “Blackwater 61” crashed in a canyon in a remote area of Afghanistan, killing the flight crew and the three members of the U.S. military who were passengers. According to government investigative reports and other documents obtained by the panel, the crash was caused “by a combination of reckless conduct by Blackwater pilots and multiple mistakes by Blackwater including hiring unqualified and inexperienced pilots, failure to file flight plans and failure to have proper equipment for tracking and locating missing aircraft.”
Alex Dunn and Elana Schor contributed to this report. |
