Current Blackwater contractors may continue to work in Iraq for Triple Canopy April 6, 2009
Posted by Aaron Walter in Uncategorized.Tags: Blackwater, Private security, Triple Canopy
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In what does not entirely come as a shock, instead of hundreds of former Blackwater securtiy contractors flooding home the United States or to their home countries upon the completion of their former contracts, it looks like many will simply stay under contracts with rival contractor Triple Canopy. Blackwater recently lost most of its Iraq related security contracts with the US Government, in large part due to significant bad press in the United States stemming from several shootings of civilians in Iraq.
I first read this news in a New York Times article titled “Ex-Blackwater Workers May Return to Iraq Jobs“ The topic is newsworthy on its own, but this article contained an unusual quote from a Blackwater spokeswoman:
An unresolved question is whether Blackwater, recently renamed Xe (pronounced zee), or any affiliated company will profit from the deal. Speculation inside the industry and the Iraqi government has focused on whether Triple Canopy might hire as a subcontractor a company called the Falcon Group, identified in a lawsuit brought by Ms. Burke as a Blackwater affiliate.
A Blackwater spokeswoman, Anne Tyrell, said that Blackwater had no relationship with Falcon Group, whose Web site describes it as an Iraqi-owned company with interests in security and reconstruction. “The people who provide security services abroad are independent contractors,”Ms. Tyrell said. “When their 60- to 90-day contracts with us expire, they can seek employment with whomever they choose.”
That statement is ironic because Blackwater has defended themselves from wrongful death lawsuits by former employees arguing against their classification as independent contractors. So publicly, these contractors are independent contractors whom Blackwater has no control over, but in court they are direct employees when it suits them to limit benefit/liabilities. Maybe this spokesperson was uninformed, but these words do mean things, and you can’t have it both ways.
U.S., Sixteen other countries agree to rules for private security contractors operating in war zones September 20, 2008
Posted by Aaron Walter in Uncategorized.Tags: Afghanistan, Blackwater, Iraq, Private security
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The United States and sixteen other countries including Great Britain, Iraq, and Afghanistan have entered into an agreement purportedly to ensure that private military contractors in war zones opperate under some form of international law, rather than in a lawless void. The United States has some 8,000 private military contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan protecting civilian staff, diplomats, and business leaders.
The countries collectively produced a document called the “Montreux Document” defining obligations of private military contractors during armed conflicts. The agreement also catelogues 73 good practices defining criterea to both vet prospective firms and direct their progress.
Private military contractor Blackwater Worldwide of North Carolina has been made infamous since the deaths of 17 Iraqi civilians in September of 2007 at the hands of Blackwater contractors. Since then there has been much international debate as to what jurisdiction, if any, has the authority to prosecute contractors if they are deemed to have commited a criminal act.
The Montreux Document, though the product of a three year joint initiative is not legally binding on the member countries nor on private contractors. It appears the debate will continue to rage on.
Hillary Clinton to Ban Private Security Contractors in Iraq ? March 17, 2008
Posted by Aaron Walter in Uncategorized.Tags: Iraq, Private security
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We try to stay away from the political debate over Iraq, but this tidbit is quite topical in our ongoing discussion of the Defense Base Act (DBA). Private security contractors have been controversial addtions to the U.S.’s contractor forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. Based on the nature of their positions in this dangerous arena, it is no surprise that a large number of these contractors have had to rely on Workers’ Compensation under the DBA. Maybe those days are numbered:
Speaking this morning, Hillary hits Obama for not ruling out continuing to use armed private contractors in Iraq. She wants to ban such contractors.
Read more from The Campaign Spot.
UPDATE: Bloomberg.com has a good article on this now.
The Pentagon has about 137,000 contract workers in Iraq, of which about 7,300 work in security. One contractor in particular, Blackwater Worldwide of Moyock, North Carolina, has come under scrutiny by Congress and the courts after a series of violent incidents involving its employees, including a 2007 shooting that killed at least 17 Iraqis.
Security Contractor Blackwater Being Investigated For Tax Evasion? March 16, 2008
Posted by Aaron Walter in Uncategorized.Tags: Blackwater, Private security, Taxes
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For more, see the March 12 post from the “Ataxingmatter’ Blog
House chairman asks agencies to probe Blackwater
Sad News Regarding Several Security Contractors Missing Since 2006 March 14, 2008
Posted by Aaron Walter in Uncategorized.Tags: Iraq, kidnapping, Private security
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This disappointing story was reported yesterday by the Washington Post:
Five Severed Fingers Identified as Belonging To Guards Held in Iraq
”The four Crescent contractors whose fingers have been identified are Jonathon Cote, 25, of Getzville, N.Y.; Paul Reuben, 41, of Buffalo, Minn.; Joshua Munns, 25, of Redding, Calif.; and Bert Nussbaumer, 26, of Vienna, Austria. The fifth finger belonged to Ronald J. Withrow, 40, of Lubbock, Tex., a contractor and computer specialist for JPI Worldwide who was abducted Jan. 5, 2007, near Basra.”
Our prayers go out for these men and their families.
Aaron Walter
Herb Chestnut
