Company acted appropriately, chairman says

The British prime minister said he is reducing troop
levels by nearly 20 percent.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Blackwater chairman Erik Prince vigorously rejected charges Tuesday that guards from his private security firm acted like a bunch of cowboys immune to legal prosecution while protecting State Department personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“I believe we acted appropriately at all times,” Prince, a 38-year-old former Navy SEAL, calmly told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

His testimony came as 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 drunk Blackwater employee after a 2006 Christmas party, 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,” said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., committee chairman, at the conclusion 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 Tuesday’s hearing after the Justice Department requested that Congress wait until the FBI concludes its investigation.

Defending Blackwater

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 was comprised of courageous individuals who face the same threats and high-stress environment as U.S. military personnel, and noted 30 Blackwater personnel have been killed and no Americans have died under the company’s watch.

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 U.S. law.”

British troops

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced Tuesday that he was slashing the remaining British contingent in Iraq by nearly 20 percent. A beleaguered Iraqi leader said his own forces would be ready to take up the slack in the country’s oil-rich southernmost province in two months.

Brown’s one-day, unannounced swing through Iraq comes as U.S. military officials are concerned that the reduced British presence in the south could open security gaps along key supply and transit routes to Kuwait.

The roads are a vital lifeline for U.S. forces. And everything that the Americans can’t fly out of the country when they eventually leave must make the long and potentially dangerous road journey to Kuwait through Basra province.