[wvns] US Confiscates Blackwater Footage
'NYT' Reporter Reveals How He Got 'Blackwater' Scoop
U.S. Confiscates AP Footage At Scene of Bloody Baghdad Bombing
October 03, 2007
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003651227
BAGHDAD A daring ambush of bombs and gunfire left Poland's ambassador
pinned down in a burning vehicle Wednesday before being pulled to
safety and airlifted in a rescue mission by the embattled security
firm Blackwater USA. At least three people were killed, including a
Polish bodyguard.
American authorities confiscated an AP Television News videotape that
contained scenes of the wounded being evacuated. U.S. military
spokesman Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl told AP that Iraqi law make it
illegal to photograph or videotape the aftermath of bombings or other
attacks.
The attack — apparently well planned in one of Baghdad's most secure
neighborhoods — raised questions about whether it sought to punish
Poland for its contributions to the U.S.-led military force in Iraq.
But Poland's prime minister, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, said his nation would
not retreat "in the face of terrorists."
The diplomatic convoy was hit by three bombs and then attackers opened
fire in the Shiite-controlled Karradah district. Polish guards
returned fire as the injured ambassador, Gen. Edward Pietrzyk, was
pulled from his burning vehicle. At least 10 people, including four
Polish security agents, were wounded.
U.S. Embassy officials dispatched Blackwater helicopters to evacuate
the ambassador and others. Blackwater was not involved in protecting
the Polish convoy.
Pietrzyk, who was commander of ground forces in Poland before taking
the ambassador post in April, suffered minor burns over 20 percent of
his body, including his head and right arm and leg, said Polish Charge
d'Affaires Waldemar Figaj.
"They were waiting for us," Figaj told The Associated Press as he gave
details of the attack.
Shortly after the assault, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki
renewed his government's offensive against Blackwater.
"There have been 190 victims of Blackwater ... The kind of accusations
leveled against the company means it is not fit to work in Iraq," he
told a news conference.
It was not known if al-Maliki knew Blackwater rescued the Polish
envoy. It also was not clear if the 190 victims represented a new
figure arising from an Iraqi investigation or a reference to the 195
incidents involving the U.S. security company outlined in a House
report earlier this week.
Congress is looking into Blackwater's role in a Sept. 16 shootout that
left 11 Iraqis dead in a west Baghdad intersection and other incidents
by the Moyock, N.C.-based company, which protects U.S. diplomats and
others in Iraq.
Diplomatic missions or foreign envoys in Iraq have been attacked at
least seven times since the war began, including the July 2005
kidnapping and murder of Egypt's ambassador.
Poland, a staunch U.S. ally, contributed combat troops to the 2003
U.S.-led invasion and has since led a multinational division south of
Baghdad. About 900 Polish troops remain in the country training Iraqi
personnel; 21 Poles have died during the conflict.
Last year, the Polish government extended its mission in Iraq until
the end of 2007, but has made no decision on next year.
Pietrzyk was treated at the U.S. military hospital in the fortified
Green Zone and later flown to Warsaw.
"He is going to be fine," Figaj said. "He is stable, but he needs rest."
Two Iraqi passers-by also were killed in the 10 a.m. blasts, according
to an Iraqi police official who spoke on condition of anonymity
because he was not authorized to release the information.
A Polish security guard, Bartosz Orzechowski, 29, died at the
hospital, said Poland's Interior Minister Wladyslaw Stasiak. The slain
guard had been employed by the service since 2004.
Robert Szaniawski, a spokesman for the Polish Foreign Ministry, said
officials "don't have the reasons for the attack," which destroyed
three armored vehicles just a few hundred yards from the Polish Embassy.
But Figaj noted that Poland is a "strong U.S. ally and you can make
your own conclusions."
Polish Foreign Minister Anna Fotyga said officials planned to move the
embassy into the Green Zone.
"Backing out in the face of terrorists is the worst possible solution
and I trust that the Poles, who are a brave nation, will not desert
the battle field," said Poland's prime minister, Kaczynski. "We must
fight terrorism and that entails a certain risk."
U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S.
military commander in Iraq, issued a joint statement condemning the
attack.
"Poland has been a strong and steadfast ally here and around the
world, and we commend its commitment to a stable and secure Iraq," the
statement said. "We stand ready to provide any additional assistance
we can."
===
Blackwater contractor wrote government report on incident
Blackwater under scrutiny, accused of killing Iraqi civilians in clash
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/10/02/blackwater.spot.report/
"Spot" report for State Department was penned by Blackwater contractor
Iraqis say spot report is at odds with what civilians are saying
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The State Department's initial report of last
month's incident in which Blackwater guards were accused of killing
Iraqi civilians was written by a Blackwater contractor working in the
embassy security detail, according to government and industry sources.
In this September 24 photo, an Iraqi looks at a car that was destroyed
during the September 16 incident.
A source involved in diplomatic security at the U.S. Embassy in
Baghdad said a Blackwater contractor, Darren Hanner, drafted the
two-page "spot report" on the letterhead of the Bureau of Diplomatic
Security for the embassy's Tactical Operations Center.
That office -- which tracks and monitors all incidents and movements
involving diplomatic security missions -- has outsourced positions to
Blackwater and another private firm, the embassy source said.
A highly placed industry source said that Hanner, who was listed on
the report as the TOC watch officer, was working for Blackwater at the
time the report was written, just after the September 16 incident
occurred. He was to rotate out of Iraq this past week, the source said.
The man who approved the report was Ricardo Colon, whom the embassy
source identified as the embassy's deputy regional security officer. A
State Department source confirmed a Ricardo Colon Cifredo works for
the State Department in Iraq.
Lawmaker: Blackwater reports 'troubling'
Blackwater witness: 'It was hell'
The deadly incident produced an outcry in Iraq and raised questions
about the accountability of foreign security contractors in Iraq, who,
under an order laid down by the U.S.-led occupation government, are
not subject to Iraqi law for actions taken within their contracts.
Anne Tyrrell, a spokeswoman for Blackwater, emphasized that the State
Department is doing its own investigation into the incident.
The FBI is sending a team of agents to assist the U.S. investigation
at the State Department's request, FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said
Monday.
Blackwater -- which provides security to U.S. diplomats -- says its
employees responded properly to an insurgent attack on a convoy. The
State Department "spot report" underscores that scenario and doesn't
mention civilian casualties.
However, those accounts are at odds with what the Iraqis are saying.
A senior Iraqi National Police official participating in the Iraqi
governmental probe of the shooting said the Blackwater gunfire was
unprovoked and the guards fired randomly, killing several civilians
and wounding others. Watch Iraqi police video of the incident aftermath »
Tom Casey, deputy State Department spokesman, noted that a spot report
"is a first-blush account of those on the scene" and that the "report
has no standing whatsoever."
"It was not intended to be used as an analysis, investigation, review
or any detailed assessment of the situation," Casey said. "To assert
that (it is) is untrue," Casey said.
The embassy source said after the spot report was completed and
approved, a State Department agent took sworn statements from the
participants in the shooting.
The senior Iraqi police officer said that Blackwater team members were
questioned by Iraqi police immediately after the incident and
initially said they opened fire in response to a mortar attack.
However, he said, they then changed their story at least twice during
the 90 minutes they were held.
Erik Prince, the CEO of Blackwater, was to testify Tuesday before the
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. E-mail to a friend
===
Congress Quietly Approves Billions More for Iraq War
09/28/2007
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat?pid=237751
The Senate agreed on Thursday to increase the federal debt limit by
$850 billion -- from $8.965 trillion to $9.815 trillion -- and then
proceeded to approve a stop-gap spending bill that gives the Bush
White House at least $9 billion in new funding for its war in Iraq.
Additionally, the administration has been given emergency authority to
tap further into a $70 billion "bridge fund" to provide new infusions
of money for the occupation while the Congress works on appropriations
bills for the Department of Defense and other agencies.
Translation: Under the guise of a stop-gap spending bill that is
simply supposed to keep the government running until a long-delayed
appropriations process is completed -- probably in November -- the
Congress has just approved a massive increase in war funding.
The move was backed by every senator who cast a vote, save one.
Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold, the maverick Democrat who has led the
fight to end the war and bring U.S. troops home from Iraq, was on the
losing end of the 94-1 vote. (The five senators who did not vote, all
presidential candidates who are more involved in campaigning than
governing, were Democrats Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden
and Republicans John McCain and Sam Brownback.)
Said Feingold, "I am disappointed that we are about to begin the 2008
fiscal year without having enacted any of the appropriations bills for
that year. I am even more disappointed that we voted on a continuing
resolution that provides tens of billions of dollars to continue the
misguided war in Iraq but does not include any language to bring that
war to a close. We need to keep the federal government operating and
make sure our brave troops get all the equipment and supplies they
need, but we should not be giving the President a blank check to
continue a war that is hurting our national security."
In the House, the continuing resolution passed by a vote of 404 to 14,
with 14 other members not voting.
The "no" votes in the House, all cast by anti-war members, came from
one Republican, Ron Paul of Texas, and 13 Democrats: Oregon's Earl
Blumenauer, Missouri's William Clay, Minnesota's Keith Ellison,
California's Bob Filner, Massachusetts' Barney Frank, New York's
Maurice Hinchey, Ohio's Dennis Kucinich, Washington's Jim McDermott,
New Jersey's Donald Payne, California's Barbara Lee, Maxine Waters,
Diane Watson and Lynn Woolsey.
That means that, of the 2008 presidential candidates, only Republican
Paul and Democrat Kucinich voted against giving the Bush
administration a dramatic -- if not particularly well publicized --
infusion of new money for the war.
"Each year this war is getting more and more costly --- both in the
amount of money spent and in the number of lives lost. Now this
Congress is providing more funds so the administration can continue
down a path of destruction and chaos," said Kucinich, who noted the
essential role of House and Senate Democratic leaders, such as House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, in passing
the continuing resolution. "The Democratic leadership in Congress
needs to take a stand against this President and say they will not
give him any more money. That is the only way to end this war and
bring our troops home."
===
Art of death in the Mesopotamian
Mohammed, Last of Iraqis
October 1, 2007
last-of-iraqis.blogspot.com/2007/09/art-of-death-in-mesopotamian.html
I think many have heard about the methods used for torturing prisoners
or politic prisoners to take confessions from them , we heard about
the Russian who was poisoned with Uranium , or what happened in
Abu-Ghraib , but I don't think that many people know what the militias
and AQ does to Iraqis not to take confessions from them or force them
to do anything , but just to kill them and enjoy their death and cause
the maximum grief and suffer to their parents and beloved , or maybe
terrorizing the people even more and make the people wish that they
die by a bullet or an explosion , it's a blessing now if an Iraqi dies
by a bullet or an explosion. even death in Iraq isn't like anywhere
else , those militias and AQ seems to enjoy killing and I think they
look at it as an art or something , the more weird and savage the way
they kill people in , the more creative they look at it , because as I
said they look at it as an art!
the stories that I'm going to tell are real and they happened to
people I know directly or from the people they know , that means that
there are many other "creative methods" that I will not mention.
I'll start with a method that AQ and many other militias like the
Mahdi-Army uses , which is the drilling and extraction , when they
kidnap someone whether they ask for ransom or not ; in most cases he
will be killed even if the ransom is paid , they use the drill
"regular drill" to open holes in the arms , legs , chest , head and
even eyes of the kidnapped.that's of course before they kill him
because he will die by the drill , and in many cases before they use
the drill they tend to use another method for the enjoyment because
the kidnapped might die fast when they use the drill ; they use a
pliers to extract his teeth and nails , and only god knows how painful
to extract a tooth with a pliers , I think it even hurts more than the
drill , because I know what to do to extract a tooth and what happens
if these extraction procedures weren't done , I think many heard of
this method , but I said it first because it's the most common and the
nicest one among the others.
Another "punishment" , let's say , for anyone who works with the
Americans or sometimes with the government is cutting the head by the
sword , this is old and it became boring to them so they invented a
new way ; they cut the head and open the belly of the victim by the
sword , then they place his head in his belly and suture it after that
they throw his dead body at the door of his house or somewhere near ,
this is what their nice guys do , sometimes they threw him in the
garbage to be eaten by dogs!
My father's friend had a son (7 years old) who was kidnapped and they
asked him for ransom (which was very big as he said but didn't say the
exact amount) so he accepted to pay the ransom and he borrowed from
everyone he knows and sold many things just to keep on his son's life
, and after he paid them what they asked , they told him that his son
will be at his door tomorrow , and they didn't lie! the next day the
door bell rang and they went to see who's there because they were
expecting their son coming back home , but they didn't find their son
or anyone , they saw a very big covered dish infront of the door ,
when they opened it they saw their son's dead body grilled and placed
on rice in the big dish just like the traditional Iraqi meal "Qoozi"!
When I heard this story i wanted to throw up and couldn't eat meat for
a weak and till this day I don't like Qoozy although it was one of my
favorite meals.
And when I was in Syria I mentioned that my colleague dentist and
friend in college was killed but since I was in Syria I couldn't know
how , why or who killed him and as I returned to Baghdad I asked my
friends about what happened and they told me that he was kidnapped and
they asked his parents for ransom and after they gave it to them ,
they didn't hear anything from the kidnappers , they went looking for
him everywhere , at last they found him in the forensic medicine
building along with the unidentified dead bodies which are in tens
every day , they found him with 30 bullet holes in his body , Oh dear
friend how could his small body be enough for 30 bullets , he was so
small , his name was fitting for both Shiites and Sunnis , he was a
very nice man , he didn't have or caused any trouble through all the
college years , he was a very good man , may god have mercy on his soul.
Yesterday a man from Anbar and from one of the strongest tribes there
(Dulaimi) was killed in Raghiba-Khatoon where AQ is dominant. he was
kidnapped first , he wasn't from the neighborhood , so they took him
and killed him by making him drink "Teezab" which is concentrated
H2SO4 in the Iraqi slungs, why did they kill him he is a Dulaimi Sunni
, what do they have against him ? it's not about sect or religion
anymore , it's about numbers of people they kill , the more they kill
the more promotions and money they get , and by the way
Raghiba-Khatoon is where I used to go shopping but it has been about a
year and a half since the last time i went there , because it's one of
the most dangerous areas in Baghdad it's way more dangerous that
Adhamyia , and also in this neighborhood one of my neighbors was
killed , he was a Sunni young man , recently married. he was with his
wife in his car and they stopped them there and shot him in the head
in front of his young wife , they simple put an end to a young,
ambitious man's life and destroyed the life of at least two families.
Once before I started blogging I saw a video in one of my friends'
laptop for a dead body of an old man being dragged by his beard
through the streets of Alsadir city by member of Al-Mahdi Army or
should I say thugs of Muqtada which seems more appropriate , he did
nothing except that he was a Sunni , while they were dragging him they
were hitting him with the sandals (which is the maximum humiliation in
the Iraqi and Arabic culture) and they were spitting on him and
kicking him , after some time of dragging and hitting his face
couldn't be recognized because of the blood that covered it , the
blood and dirt that covered his whole dead body , every human being
dead body deserves respect no matter what he was , why this hatred ,
why this enjoyment in killing and taking lives ? if it's just for the
money and number of people they kill , they can kill him with one shot
in the head and the story is over , why do they do these things ?
It's not for the sect or even the religion , Islam is not like this ,
Islam is never like this , the other name of Islam is the religion of
forgiveness , they are criminals and not any criminals they are the
most twisted criminals hiding behind religion to convince stupid
ignorant people of what they are doing , they are simply gangs , no
more and no less.
Those stories , or should I say tragedies are a tiny fraction of what
happens daily in Baghdad and Iraq in general , in the best days at
least 10 unidentified dead bodies are found with another 10
identified, each one of them has a story needs to be told.
Warning:
here are some links to some victims of these gangs , it contains
explicit violence and horrifying scenes , I wouldn't recommend people
with soft feelings to watch them , that's why I made them as links.In
the last one you will see a dead body hanging from the ceiling of
Buratha Mosque which is the headquarter of Jalal Alsageer who is a
high rank in Al-Daawa party and Badir brigade , you can see him
standing there wearing the light-brown cloak and the others are also
famous members in that party , this mosques is used as a torturing and
killing place for the Sunnis by Al-Daawa party and this mosques is
heavily guarded by the national guards and the ministry of interior's
Commandos .
Link to photos at
http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=36823&s2=02
OR
last-of-iraqis.blogspot.com/2007/09/art-of-death-in-mesopotamian.html
After seeing those photos , I think many will agree with me that death
isn't that bad if it was without such a brutal torture , as long as
the one can be identified and buried respectfully!!??? it's too much
to ask in Iraq , isn't it?
*********************************************************************
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