Article

2008-12-20 Iraq

Blackwater radio logs: Guards took incoming fire

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Posted by tu3031 2008-12-20 00:00|| || Front Page|| [3 views ] Top

#1 "It's absolutely bizarre that the Department of Justice thinks it can call balls and strikes for every shot fired in a firefight," Hulkower said. "I think a jury would be reluctant to do that."

Got it all on tape eh? Good on em! BW knows well the slime balls it is contracted to. Soon to be dropped by DoJ and their US State pals. No sense draggin it all thru a US court system and soiling or exposing the potentially complicit Iraqi police or US Embassy DS outriders who were ULTIMANTELY RESPONSIBLE for all contractor actions (no word yet from DS). Damn good thing it happened prior to the new SOFA and trial by Iraq court system.

Posted by Besoeker 2008-12-20 08:39|| 2008-12-20 08:39|| Front Page Top

#2 i.e: the one who plead guilty. this is how our judicial system works . they got him in there scared the shit out of him and got him too plead guilty too lesser charges. i hope the rest get off if they are truly not guilty

Posted by rabid whitetail 2008-12-20 11:59|| 2008-12-20 11:59|| Front Page Top

#3 The facts of the case are the facts of the case, and we're all willing to let justice work (so long as it works reasonably and fairly). Having said that, however, I always found it extremely dubious that a massacre would occur. Lots of direct/indirect experience with this sort of situation in B'dad makes one very very very slow to jump to conclusions about a trained BW team just going wild.

What hardly needs any more time or facts is a new layer of disgust with the press (though - shock of shocks - here AP actually reports some apparently exculpatory facts, without so much as a snarky distortion framing them to protect the public from any officially disapproved or uncomfortable thoughts about evil topics like BW and the US in Iraq) with the USG's handling of this.

Iraq is what it is at the moment - and its politicians and even most of its citizens, though often honorable, are even more often immature, ignorant, scared, and thus prone to the worst over-reactions and self-serving stunts.
To try and play along with Iraq's infuriating complex of resentment, entitlement, and dependency ("protect us! kill the bad guys! don't disturb the chickens! don't make any mistakes! restore the power and water! make life better! don't put checkpoints on my road! it's OK to kill your guys! protect us! yes dammit we'll steal you blind instead of implementing your reconstruction program! protect us! massacre! blah blah blah) is shameful - and stupid - on the part of Crocker's outfit, the department, and the administration. Of course in private I'm fairly confident they've sat the Iraqis down and straightened them out - to some extent - but the public face of this is just outrageous. Mollify a pathetic and pernicious Iraqi inferiority/persecution complex by sacrificing a BW team? Breaker Morant, anyone? (though I heard the story on that one was somewhat murkier than the wonderful cinematic version)

Posted by Verlaine 2008-12-20 16:54|| 2008-12-20 16:54|| Front Page Top

#4 the facts of the case are State trying to make blackwater a scapegoat to appease some Iraqis who need a bitch fest to feel good

Posted by Wolverine 2008-12-20 17:18|| 2008-12-20 17:18|| Front Page Top

#5 I agree with Wolverine, but now that it's started there needs to be a semblance of legal clearance for BW

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2008-12-20 18:00|| 2008-12-20 18:00|| Front Page Top

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