Blackwater USA chairman Erik Prince vigorously rejected charges from members of Congress that guards from his private security firm acted as if they were immune from the law while protecting US State Department personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"I believe we acted appropriately at all times," Prince, a 38-year-old former US Navy SEAL commando, calmly told the House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
Tuesday's hearing was only part of Prince's problems. The FBI is investigating Blackwater personnel for their role in a Sept. 16 shootout that left 11 Iraqis dead. The incident and others, including a shooting by a drunken Blackwater employee after a Christmas party last year, led to pointed questions by lawmakers about whether the government is relying too much on private contractors who fall outside the military courts-martial system.
"We're not getting our money's worth when we have so many complaints about innocent people being shot," Representative Henry Waxman, the committee chairman, said at the end of a nearly six-hour hearing. "And it's unclear whether they're actually being investigated by the State Department, because we haven't had any cooperation."
The committee agreed not to look into the Sept. 16 incident during the hearing because of a Justice Department request that Congress wait until the FBI completes its investigation.
Prince cast his company as a scapegoat for broader problems associated with the government's reliance on security contractors and the murky legal jurisdiction. He said his staff comprises courageous individuals who face the same threats and high-stress environment as US military personnel and noted 30 Blackwater personnel have been killed and no Americans have died under the company's protection.
Often leaning back to listen to the advice of his lawyer, Stephen Ryan, Prince repeatedly refused to say whether former Blackwater employees were guilty of murder and said it should be up to the Justice Department to pursue charges against contractors who commit crimes overseas.
In the case of the Christmas eve shooting, Prince said the company fired and fined the individual.
"But we, as a private organization, can't do any more," he told the House panel. "We can't flog him. We can't incarcerate him. That's up to the Justice Department. We are not empowered to enforce US law."
The Blackwater chairman said he supports legislation to guarantee that his employees and those of other private security companies working for the State Department are subject to prosecution in US courts. The House was expected yesterday to consider such a bill, sponsored by Representative David Price. Price represents North Carolina in Congress, the state where Blackwater is headquartered.
At the same time, Prince said the government's decision to include the FBI in the investigation of the Sept. 16 incident is proof that oversight and accountability already exists.
Waxman said he was concerned particularly that the State Department advised the company about how much to pay the family of the Iraqi security guard shot by a drunken Blackwater employee last year.
Internal e-mails later revealed a debate within the State Department on the size of the payment, Waxman said.
"It's hard to read these e-mails and not come to the conclusion that the State Department is acting as Blackwater's enabler," Waxman said.
Waxman also expressed frustration at the State Department representatives for not providing more information about Blackwater and its conduct in Iraq.
"We've had a better response from Blackwater then we've had from the State Department in getting information," Waxman said. "Does that bother you as much as it bothers me?"
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of