Last year, the Army vehemently denied allegations that Halliburton had hired Blackwater, another private contractor, to provide security in Iraq, but in a hearing before the House Government Oversight Committee on Wednesday, the military reversed itself.
The committee also made public an e-mail from a Blackwater employee who frantically demanded that the firm properly equip its guards, four of whom were killed hours after the message was written.
New York Times:
The Army announced during a House oversight committee hearing on Wednesday that it would withhold $19.6 million from the Halliburton Company after recently discovering that the contractor had hired the company Blackwater USA to provide armed security guards in Iraq, a potential breach of its government contract.
The Army has said that its contracts with Halliburton, which has a five-year, $16 billion deal to support American military operations in Iraq, generally barred the company and its subcontractors from using private armed guards. But in a statement, Halliburton disagreed with the Army’s interpretation and suggested that there was nothing to prohibit Halliburton’s subcontractors from hiring such guards.
The announcement came during a hearing of the House Government Oversight Committee that included emotional testimony about the killing of four Blackwater employees in Falluja, Iraq, in 2004.
In an e-mail message made public in the hearing and written only hours before the four were killed, another Blackwater worker told the company to end the “smoke and mirror show” and provide its employees in the war zone with adequate weapons and armored vehicles.
“I need ammo,” the worker, Tom Powell, said in an e-mail message dated March 30, 2004, to supervisors at Blackwater, which is based in North Carolina. “I need Glocks and M4s—all the client body armor you got,” he wrote. “Guys are in the field with borrowed stuff and in harm’s way.”
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By Rodney Matthews, February 10, 2007 at 5:31 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
It’s all about the money. These guys went to work in Iraq because of the hugh salary offered to a person with limited skills and education.
Report thisThey never thought they would not be given proper equiptment,training,and manpower to do their jobs,neither did the US military. The Bush adminstration and their war profiteering cronies should be in jail not only for starting and participating in a illegal war, but for sending troops and civilians into a war zone without proper equiptment. Needless death’s have occurred because the lack of armored humvees and body armor.
The only people who really care are the survivors who lost their love ones in this senseless,needless war. Bush and Cheney could care less,with less than two years left in office, they want to start a war in Iran to take our minds off of the fisacso they created in Iraq. These dangerous people only care about money and legacy. At this point more money than legacy. They have to know that at point they will go down as the worst adminstration this nation has ever seen.
By David, February 8, 2007 at 12:17 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
I have absolutely no compassion for Blackwater employees or their families. They were not drafted or coerced into going to Iraq. They were PAID to do it. If their company screwed them, well, welcome to the club, suckers. Welcome to the world of capitalism. Sheesh, what ever happened to personal responsibility? Suck it up, Blackwater employees. Your job is to die for the company’s bottom line. Do your job.
Report thisBy lawlessone, February 8, 2007 at 11:15 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
Did the accounting textbook Bush read in college have a misprint? I don’t recall anything in mine about bundling pallets of shrink wrapped $100 bills, shipping them to friends and not even asking for receipts.
[more irreverence at http://resistence-is-possible.blogspot.com and http://lawlessone.wordpress.com. Link to them if you like.]
Report thisBy trantieungoc, February 8, 2007 at 9:18 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
The more they denied the naked truth will be appeared. Just ask “papa” Cheney what’s Halliburton ? Is his name still on its pay list ?
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