Blackwater Used Gas on US Soldiers and Iraqis
NY Times: (reg. req'd)
Suddenly, on that May day in 2005, the copter dropped CS gas, a riot-control substance the American military in Iraq can use only under the strictest conditions and with the approval of top military commanders. An armored vehicle on the ground also released the gas, temporarily blinding drivers, passers-by and at least 10 American soldiers operating the checkpoint.
"This was decidedly uncool and very, very dangerous," Capt. Kincy Clark of the Army, the senior officer at the scene, wrote later that day. "It's not a good thing to cause soldiers who are standing guard against car bombs, snipers and suicide bombers to cover their faces, choke, cough and otherwise degrade our awareness."
Both the helicopter and the vehicle involved in the incident at the Assassins' Gate checkpoint were not from the United States military, but were part of a convoy operated by Blackwater Worldwide, the private security contractor that is under scrutiny for its role in a series of violent episodes in Iraq, including a September shooting in downtown Baghdad that left 17 Iraqis dead.
None of the American soldiers exposed to the chemical, which is similar to tear gas, required medical attention, and it is not clear if any Iraqis did. Still, the previously undisclosed incident has raised significant new questions about the role of private security contractors in Iraq, and whether they operate under the same rules of engagement and international treaty obligations that the American military observes.
"You run into this issue time and again with Blackwater, where the rules that apply to the U.S. military don't seem to apply to Blackwater," said Scott L. Silliman, the executive director of the Center on Law, Ethics and National Security at the Duke University School of Law.
Officers and noncommissioned officers from the Third Infantry Division who were involved in the episode said there were no signs of violence at the checkpoint. Instead, they said, the Blackwater convoy appeared to be stuck in traffic and may have been trying to use the riot-control agent as a way to clear a path.
You know, I get frustrated in rush hour traffic too, but that's ridiculous. I have to agree with Markos:
The use of these mercenaries has been glorified by the Right for years. But at the end of the day, their actions have hampered and perhaps even sabotaged our mission while endangering our troops.
Holy Shit!!!
and Bullshit!!!
Why was Blackwater able to purchase this crowd control weapon? How does it fit into their contracted mission?
Ya lets outsource more government services.. Is this a surprise ?
Said I wouldn't do it again. And won't.
But there's no one no where who doesn't get the preznits finger.
Why do you hate America, W. Run out of frogs to torture?
"He gassed his own people [sic]!"
- Bush rationale for invading Iraq and deposing Saddam
Time to round up Blackwater and toss them in Halliburton camps. They are a menace to everyone.
While our troops are missing body armor, Blackwater truckers are making 6-digit incomes, and the company is assembling the largest private army in the world, funded almost entirely by YOUR taxes.
Even the notorious Machiavelli advised against employing mercenaries.
Blackwater is Chaney/Bush's Waffen-SS.
Blackwater isn't our military, so where did they get the CS gas in the first place? Why do they even have it? Who's giving them their orders? And are they rehearsing over there for controlling crowds over here when the American public has finally had enough?
These guys have done time in Iraq and New Orleans and god knows where else. They have to be made illegal, and they MUST be prosecuted for their crimes.
We have to get the dems to declare this shit illegal, disband them, whatever it takes. W's leaving behind lots of nice dictatorial powers for the next nit. Use them this way before dissolving those powers too.
SUPPORT OUR MERCENARIES!!
someone ought to make a bumper sticker.
Blackwater has become like its own country with no rules. They have a very well equipped military and have to answer to no one. Hell of a dangerous situation plus, they have done us no favors in winning hearts in Iraq. Rumsfield should rot in hell for his idea that we could win this "war" with a light military force, that basically had to be helped out by such as blackwater. He and cheney and anyone else involved in this.
I guess we should be thankful they didn't nuke or napalm them.
I wonder how the Big Three lobbying firms Prince has working for Blackwater, will spin this?
Doesn't matter, Congress will buy it.
They may 'up' the bribery fee, but they'll buy it.
I thought our soldiers were all full of gas
From those damn C-Ration beans.
Seriously where are the indictments? Where is the prison sentences?
walter @ 12:
I like that! What color ribbon would symbolize support for mercenaries? I'm getting a magnet made up to put on the back of my H2 while I go run down some immigrants!
Does anyone else get the feeling that the decisions of this "administration" have left the world looking more and more like a Hunter S. Thompson tale?
Stupid Git @ 17:
I'm voting either Blood Red or Money Green (or a striped version with both!).
You know, the US hiring Blackwater to provide security in Iraq was about as smart as The Rolling Stones hiring the Hells Angels to provide security at the Altamont Free Concert at the Altamont Speedway back in 1969.
I think things are in such a state in Iraq that if these guys were pulled out there's no telling what would happen. Leaving them there makes the situation look better, but the damage they're doing is not helping either.
Not that I'm a spring chicken, but in past wars have groups such as this been used to fight on the battlefield? I'm asking because I'm not as up to date on tactics of past wars as I would like to be.
Sadly, this will be added to the "Things to be shredded" list along with the rape case, the shooting upon U.S. soldiers, the numerous video taped road rampages and so many other "non-stories" us liberal America-haters obsess over. Why don't we support our mercenaries... I mean, troops?
Naomi Wolf sadly has it CORRECT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjALf12PAWc
For those that haven't seen this then I strongly suggest you do.
Balckwater/BrownShirts? What is the difference?
But who is supplying them with this stuff? And, who is giving them their orders?
I see a day, not too far in the future, when I will be trying to cross the border into Canada or Mexico to get out of what's left of the US. And Blackwater patrols will turn me back at the border while a Berlin Wall-looking structure is being built the length of the borders to keep disaffected citizens in. Or maybe Canada will hire Blackwater to keep tens of thousands of us from crossing over once things get really bad.
Oh, wait, no. I'm just joshing. Things could never get that bad. Right?
Is the money that goes to pay blackwater in the military supplementary bill? If it is, no wonder bush stomps his foot and demands it. Imagine what they could do if they didn't get paid.
And the Democrats go "yawn"....
Corporate America and its instrument the Republican Party have their own private army. It's as simple as that. Guess who pays the bills?
Anyone who doesn't believe these guys are the Boy King's private army and they
take their orders directly from him and that they actually serve a good purpose
in Iraq is seriously lying to themselves in a way the Bush Admin. could only dream
of!
Preacher Boob @ 14:
Give them time...they're just waiting for the perfect opportunity in Iran.
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4115702&page=1
Tom Toren @ 25:
I have those same nightmare - especially since I'm a liberal/yankee/atheist. I think the only thing I have going for me is I'm a straight, white male so at least I won't be the first group they herd into the camps. I used to think militias out in Montana where I grew up were bad, these religious fanatic lead, Capitalist Killers for hire scare the crap out of me.
Dana @ 29:
I believe this has more to do with cheney. I think cheney is so paranoid that he feels they need a private army for anything our soldiers can't or won't do. I would put nothing past that man, nothing.
What's really sad is that anyone who's been on a military base/post recently will notice more and more private security and mercenaries doing work that used to be done by soldiers (e.g. manning gates, security, etc). These private security firms have become a way of masking the effects this war has had on our military.
These guys are so badly needed that they're able to arm wrestle their way into getting a blank check BECAUSE WE"RE SO DESPERATE FOR THEIR SERVICES! And when you have an evil facist fark-tard like their CEO, Mr. Prince, in charge, well.. they'll stop JUST short of asking for all the Iraqi women and children as personal slaves for their services. All this so a Republican president/congress didn't have to do the politically nasty duty of instituting a draft.
We better fight them there so we don't have to fight them here. (Blackwater, that is).
Why would the military and our soldiers tolerate this from private corporation mercenaries? The military takes orders from our "Commander in Chief", but if Blackwater is also taking orders from Bush which would endanger our soldiers, wouldn't that put the military in the position of getting furious and going up against the president?
Is Blackwater and the US Military working together or at cross purposes? Or just parallel to each other? Yet, they may be taking orders from the same person? How much sense does that make?
Blackwater and its sister organizations are not only getting rich but are recieving valuable training in Iraq. So when the shit hits the fan and the country and Middle East crumble, Bush and the rest of the "elite" will have their private military already trained and equipped.
TimV @ 33:
Mr. Prince may own the company and be in charge, but even he has to be taking orders from someone to be there running those kinds of operations.. He is not his own "Commander in Chief".
I agree with what the Captain stated in the article. I've been exposed to this sort of gas before during my time in the Marines. Each year we had to qualify with it in a gas chamber. I can understand why that Captain is pissed. You got a bunch of mercenaries popping CS off and they probably didn't even tell the Army that they were going to do it either. You can imagine what would have happened if a sniper or suicide bomber used that as cover to move closer or to ambush those troops that were exposed. While the troops were putting on their gas masks and trying to overcome the CS effects a sniper could have been taking aim or a suicide bomber could have detonated his explosives. If Blackwater keeps this up, they might just find that they have another enemy to fight. The U.S. military.
That is just fucking horrible.Unconscionable.
nwmuse @ 37:
Don't you see though. That's the beauty of the design. The orders are simply to have Blackwater get to the end, but he means are left up to them (hence them being immune from any laws out there). It's a "results" oriented system.
The two great attractions that mercenaries have for the right-wingers: well-connected corporate criminals can get obscenely rich at taxpayer expense; and the men themselves are expendable.
Point two I can agree with. I would shed no tear for these hired killers.
What troops survive the terrorists and insurgents attacks in Bush's oil war gets gased by Blackwater.
Support the troops Republican style!
Seems the blackwater boys hate the Iraqis and our soldiers. They are a danger to both. Plus we are paying them more than we pay our soldiers. This is so wrong in so many ways.
Support the troops: gas them! /sarcasm
Bush says we are fighting a group of terrorists who will kill Innocent women and children for an ideology.
So we hire a group that will do the same thing except not for an ideology, but a fat paycheck.
Just to give a sense of what this is like as I described in my other comment (38) here is a clip of an Army basic training gas chamber video on youtube. It shows the effects that CS has on people. With troops effected by the CS in this way you can see why that Captain was pissed. I recall when I was first exposed to CS I had a foot long string of snot hanging from my nose, my eyes were tearing up bad and my skin was burning.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=k3R92L2Tsbw&feature=related
pissed off patricia @ 45:
Bush and his henchmen are OK with that, as long as the mercenaries are killing Iraqi women and children.
What a bunch of crap. CS is tear gas, mild, non deadly, and American BAsic Trainees are exposed to it for training purposes. My mother used to carry a canister of it on her keychain before pepper spray became popular.
Try again Nicole.....
Jay @ 48:
Thats true. But then again, your mother probably wasn't standing guard in a war zone either. That CS that Blackwater set off could have given any enemy forces watching the cover or distraction they needed to get by or to kill those military personnel.
Idiots!
"Blackwater says it was permitted to carry CS gas under its contract at the time with the State Department. According to a State Department official, the contract did not specifically authorize Blackwater personnel to carry or use CS, but it did not prohibit it."
So what else is Blackwater "not specifically authorized" but "not prohibited" (aka permitted) to use? Jeez..
I can't wait to read a report where the troops declare war against Blackwater & just open up on them.
Boy, let's hope the next president and Congress stay busy prosecuting the Bush administration AND its agents in 2008.
This is inexcusable and a criminal act.
War Criminals. Bush's hidden hand....
You can't support our troops and support Blackwater at the same time.
The surge is a big lie. If Americans knew they are actually paying for more mercenaries and are bribing Sunni terrorists with half a billion dollars they would not support it.
Ignorance is bliss.
more fruits on Chicago School economics
You would THINK this would be a major story on TV news , but it's not , because Blitzer would rather bring up Bloomberg running , several times during the day and beat the endorsement Of Obama by Kerry .
The TRUTH hurts sometimes and the so called " news "media where most people get their news , has degenerated into a cesspool of speculation , sensationalism and lapdogs for U.S. foreign policy.
When is this insanity going to stop , Mercenaries dropping CS Gas on Iraqis , who want only one thing , the U.S. occupation to end . How many Iraqis are they murdering on back roads that DON'T get reported , how many are shot up and left on the side of the road . We know what needs to happen , the media ( which never will ) needs to ask, McCain on one hand you talk about Iraqis " taking control " " democracy " , yet you proclaimed we " stay in Iraq for a hundred years in Iraq " ..WHICH is it ? The hypocrisy and dishonesty is appalling , and the complicit media facilitate the occupation .
Under reported or censored stories in the news .
1. Over 20 ,000 Iraqis are suffering in U.S. controlled prisons in Iraq , including men, women AND CHILDREN .
2. Somalia continues to be attacked by U.S. backed Ethiopian troops , that are killing and raping hundreds . Not an issue for Blitzer or CNN .
3. Russian generals correctly believe they are being surrounded by U.S. military bases , having access to oil cut, oil contracts , pipeline deals which were torn up by Bush's occupation and the so called Missile defense in Poland , is really causing a a negative reaction and their response will be a military one . Reports indicate Russia is building a port for a Naval Fleet IN SYRIA . They have read PNAC , the know the NEOCON goal of complete hegemony in the middle east and guess what ..you ain't having it , eventually they will draw a line and take action . CNN blows it off , with simplistic silliness , oh they're just acting cocky because their new oil money . Ya Right . Don't forget Russia, China joint military exercises . Think that's to thwart off any attack from Norway ?
4. The fact U.S. corporations are still colluding with the NSA , AT& T and Verizon handing over private info , seems to have dropped off the news radar screen , several months ago .
Spying on Americans , seems not to be an issue anymore .
5. But CNN's catch phrase during beating every little non-important political they sensationalize is ..." BUT WILL IT BACKFIRE ?" Will hillary's crying " BACKFIRE" , will Guilian's skipping Iowa " BACKFIRE" ..will McCain cutting a fart in public " BACKFIRE " . Speculation after speculation , there is LITTLE NEWS being reported in the U.S. .
6 . CBS devoted an entire 5 seconds about the 6 marines blown up in Iraq yesterday. yet has several minutes every week about SHOPPING at MALLS , and on the same day Couric reported about some little 12 YO girl using a " gift card" with another redundant , ( make the people feel guilty for not shopping story, to help out corp America ) A 12 YO PALESTINIAN GIRL, had her HEAD BLOWN OFF by Israeli Defense Forces , in addition to the eight others that were shot DEAD . No REPORT BY CNN , or CBS and others .
Here's my new game..count now many times a Council on Foreign Relation member gets invited on TV...William Cohen is on unopposed to blather about IRAN . This CABAL wants an end of U.S. monetary sovereignty , in their OWN WORDS . It's on their web site , so check it out. One dollar for North America or one dollar for the entire world . what ever they can get away with .
Sell your soul to Blackwater, it's a gas gas GAS!
Who ARE their employees? Are there really that many sic, twisted, mercenary, sadistic, renegade traitors in the U.S.? Who ARE THESE PEOPLE and why are my tax dollars paying for their Internet porn even as I type?
All this is no surprise,nor an anomoly.It only tells us what we already know. Iraq is a clusterfuck and FUBAR rules the day.It just illuminates that Blackwater employs goons running amok.And if anyone thinks for a second this shitbag Congress will do Anything-well,that is your right. Come electionday,an Iran war,a state of emergency will be called and those 'Little Birds' will be dropping conisters on OUR heads.
jr @ 56:
Friedman is watching from his hotseat in hell.
and blackwater will be the group surrounding the whitehouse and washington dc after the 2008 elections, when bushit and cheney decide to stay in office past january 2009. just watch, with all the other crimes bush/cheney have committed, they will try a national emergency and declare themselves indefinitely in charge of the govt.
JohnnyThief @ 51:
Neither can I!
Tom Toren @ 25:
As a Canadian, i think a wall at border is becoming a better idea all the time. Will provide lots of jobs for housing subs affected by the housing meltdown. We Canadians hate locked doors but if the neighbors are nutty ? I fear the illegals might try and migrate north if US cuts off their free health care and other freebies. As far as Blackwater ? Dont think we will need them. Im sure Canucks can find some of the 7 million guns we have in country and man the border ourselves. No need for lawless scumbag mercenaries .
dadams @ 61:
Not if Hillary win. Then they know they will have 4 years of continued support for the military industrial complex, and nothing will really change except some mild rhetoric. Republicans will still attack her like wild, and 4 years later, they will have another Republican in office, and implement the finals steps to all-out Fascism.
Blackwater.........supportin' the troops since......um.......NEVER
Col Kilgore @ 63:
Illegals are already flooding north. Windsor Ontario has found itself with quite a few Mexicans, from what the media says.
Illegals will have a harder time gaining a foothold in Canada. Most Canadian employers will choose law over greed. Our Government dont openly welcome and justify them either. We do have lots of immigration on a yearly basis. Over 200 thousand most years. Difference being that most of them come through front door. I dont see any meaningful attempt by either US party to stem the flow down there. The almighty buck is still God in the US.
carol @ 7:
Time for the President to order air strikes against this domestic enemy?
Time for a real investigation into the crimes of independent contractors...sure not enough Americans care if we slaughter brown Iraqi people, but you show one white soldier who was effected...oh, what am I saying, the same people who don't care if we kill Iraqis don't care if we gas Americans. You can do anything you want to whoever you want...as long as you have a 'R' after your name
Col Kilgore @ 67:
There are entire apartment buildings full of them in Windsor. Wish I could remember what news station I saw it on. They are collecting welfare. Oh the shock.
resetthathang @ 68:
I would support that! I say we can start with their base in SoCal.
Wish I had a better place to put this comment, but I live in Mexico and just met a young couple who have bought a house down here. They worked 2 and 1/2 years in Iraq for HB. What they had to tell me was very interesting.
They made a ton of money in that 2 1/2 yrs. No news there. There was absolutely NOTHING to do but work, eat and sleep while there. Again no surprise.
What was interesting to me is her comments on the caliber of the people who worked for HB while she was there. In a nutshell, she stats sadly that the majority of those who worked with her were from Texas, Louisiana or Mississippi..."gold old boys". The majority black, as she was the ONLY white in the compound. Their behavior was abysmal. Rude, arrogant and an insult to American "ethics"..as we would like to think of them.
There is an attitude of "do as little as you can, and create as much paperwork as you can". Those are her words. This, again, is no great surprise to me. It's the "good old boys" all over again. Make your fortune, stain the reputation of America (if that could possibly be done any worse), and sap as much for doing as little as possible.
Meanwhile, our military are getting their heads blown apart for trinkets, beads, and a few pats on the back from chicken-hawk politicians. This is sad!!
Jay @ 48:
So, what you're saying is that thugs gassing our military in a combat zone so that their convoy could move more quickly is okay? Jay, had those been my men, they would have been told to fire on the chopper since it was obviously an enemy asset.
This is just so sad to have these fools running the show with no experience, very little training and a pocket full of our money.
But at the end of the day, their actions have hampered and perhaps even sabotaged our mission while endangering our troops.
I couldn't agree more!
So why are the traitors and enemy combatants from that chopper walking around freemen? The belong on trial or in a POW camp.
I saw a military-type, thirty-something guy wearing his Blackwater tee-shirt out at lunch recently. I say "military-type" because he looked pretty fit, had the white-man's fade haircut and well, just had that look. This was in a really popular Mexican dive restaurant not far from the airport in my town. He must have been enjoying some comfort food while back home.
Anyway, I really despise these mercenaries and tend to run my big mouth against warmongers too often. Upon recognizing the logo on his back I instinctively gasped said "Oh my God, Blackwater? Wtf?" Well, I live in a red state, where this guy is most likely seen as some kind of hero and believe me, I got several dirty looks. The worst of which came from Blackwater guy. He basically conveyed that if we were in Iraq he'd thoroughly enjoy killing my liberal ass.
And I was glad we weren't in Iraq.
Jay @ 48:
Use of CS gas in war is prohibited by the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention (signed in 1993), as it could trigged retaliation with more toxic substances such as nerve gas. “A 1975 presidential order allows their use by the United States military in war zones under limited defensive circumstances and only with the approval of the president or a senior officer designated by the president,”
What part of that did you not fully understand? Blackwater is a 'private security' company NOT the military
that's the whole point stooge. They shouldn't even have access to it. They're fucking goons that think
they're above the law.
Maybe we ought to drop some CS gas on you while you're supposed to be
on the alert at all times while in a war zone...see how you like it.
Blackwater is a rogue group that must be reigned in. They should not be allowed to operate outside routine military rules.
Laws need to be written to stop this. Additionally, these guys should not ever, I mean EVER be allowed to brandish fully automatic weapons within the confines of the United States except "possibly" during training.
Sometimes it appears that Blackwater is in Iraq to deliberately foment trouble. Why?
Everyone should notify their respective senators and congresspersons and scream at them!
.
WAR CRIMINALS -R- U.S.
We can't chalk this up to out of control Privates this time.
This time, it's the U.S. PRIVATE ARMY. Blackwater.
.
Blackwater is loved by the government precisely because it wasn't bound by law or regulation. Blackwater could and did do things forbidden to US troops. This is just one reason why Blackwater was used to provide security for US diplomats instead of using US troops. A change in law last year brought Blackwater and other private security companies under the aegis of the Uniform Code of Military Justice while operating in an area of conflict. This change has limited Blackwater's ability to bypass international legal and treaty obligations on behalf of their clients, reducing their usefulness to the US government, among others. I expect that more reports of Blackwater's excesses to pop up now that they are no longer as useful as they once were.
That's it ...Our young men and women out there in the field, Need to take matters in their own hands ...since there is a leadership problem or disfunction..
They should mistake those asshole security guards for the bad guys.
So they can do their jobs and get home.... and let jesus sort it out.
Has anyone else figured it out yet? The emperor "W" is training his elite "private" security forces" (Blackwater and others) in the harshest possible conditions. Operating beyond any law or government, Gestapo style. Ultra-fanatical religious zealots who have a license to kill in the land of Islam. These people don't want peace, they want to foment violence. They are on a neo-crusade! And the training they are getting will be invaluable in the future. But what is this training for? How will they use the knowledge in the future? And why are they destroying our strong military, and our governmental institutions...for what purpose?
Obviously there is a plan. The greatest military force the world has ever seen, with the brightest military minds, the greatest military repository ever accumulated, and the most powerful computer simulations available. Don’t tell me this was all a huge blunder. It was planned. But why? What could possible explain what looks on the surface to be tremendous ineptitude from every corner of our government and military?
I can only speculate what that plan is, but I think W is preparing his next 9-11, and will declare Martial Law just before the next US election. He will suspend the elections indefinitely. With all our military forces bogged down overseas, and “for national security reasons” he will dispatch his private forces across the US to “maintain order”, just as the Gestapo of the 1930’s. Then it will be “goodbye Constitution”, hello Guantanimo-style concentration camps, torture, and who knows what else after that. And think of all those nukes in the hands of Emperor George!!! Goodbye United States of America, the land I love so much.
We used *lots* of CS gas in Kosovo. We also used some serious concussion
grenades. They brought up the point that we weren't supposed to, and for
a moment the Colonel was upset.
The obvious need overcame restriction from Stuttgart; the soldiers had to
control the crowds, as there'd been several murders. The soldiers up to that
point only had weapons, and they had been authorized to fire. To their great
credit, they didn't. Soldiers did use weapons to physically hold the crowd back,
and the way you have to hold an M-16 when pushing a crowd certainly causes
minor injury, if you push w/ the smooth side the magazine drops.
Obvious difference is Kosovo was a peackeeping mission, Iraq is a conflict.
Different rules, but tI thought I'd point out the officer in the story was wrong
about the Army not using gas.
Also that Kosovo, excepting these few days of riots in '04 is a huge success
relative iraq.
Do to them what Russians did to the SS,at the end of World War II. HANG THE BASTARDS.
carol @ 7:
Sounds like the KKK. Isn't there anything that can be done to stop all the nonsense?!?!
CS gas is just 'tear gas.'
Some kid set off a CS grenade in my high school back in '86, and to escape, I had to run right by it. I got a very good dose.
It was unpleasant as hell, but I recovered in a few hours.
(I'm not saying I like Blackwater or anything, but this may be out-of-proportion.)
You know.. I can see the logical conclusion if US troops are told to stand their ground and tolerate being gassed without engaging their attackers - under the assumption that its Blackwater attacking them and the gas wont be poisonous. An insurgent group will cook up some nasty gas or air-dispersed substance thats colored the same damn way and will kill dozens of US soldiers in one hit. Or hundreds or even thousands in multiple simultaneous strikes. Troops that will have been conditioned not to react offensively, or even defensively to such an attack.
The notion that any nonmilitary group is free to use Chemical weapons with impunity on US forces is a mindfuck that staggers me.. by mercenaries that could easily be purchased by any well-financed terrorist group that have no trustworthiness, reliability or loyalty. It can only lead to pain.
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