Blackwater banished
Iraq is ousting Blackwater, founded in Holland, Mich. by Erik Prince, son of Calvin grad and donor Elsa Prince.
This photo from March 31, 2004 was taken at the bridge in Fallujah, Iraq when four Blackwater employees were brutally murdered by an Iraqi mob.
Blackwater is a private security firm based out of North Carolina contracted by the U.S. to work in Iraq.
By Katie Sytsema
Nat-World Editor
The license of private U.S. security firm Blackwater has been cancelled by Iraq after being involved in a gunfight which killed at least 11 civilians.
The U.S. state department contracted the Blackwater workers by sending them to Iraq for security measures, especially to protect U.S. government officials while in Iraq. Blackwater employees apparently opened fire in Baghdad on Sunday due to what they call personal defense measures.
Iraq is currently forcing Blackwater to leave the country and banning their return.
The firm is based out of North Carolina but was founded in Holland, MI in 1997 by Erik Prince, son of Elsa Prince, the namesake of Calvin College’s Prince Conference Center.
Blackwater told CNN that the “independent contractors acted lawfully and appropriately in response to a hostile attack,” and that “Blackwater professionals heroically defended American lives in a war zone on Sunday.”
While Blackwater claims Sunday’s attack to be out of defense, Iraqi civilians disagree. Hasan Jaber Salman is lawyer hospitalized with multiple gunshot wounds to his back. He stated to CNN that “No one fired at them, they were not attacked by gunmen and they were not targeted by an explosion.”
Blackwater has had a reputation of shooting first and asking questions later. Their secretiveness came to attention after an incident in Fallujah, Iraq on March 31, 2004 when four Blackwater workers were murdered by a mob. Blackwater Bridge in Fallujah has been named to commemorate the security employees who lost their lives there.
But although this event was recorded by worldwide media, answers to the men’s death were kept secretive from their families, which the families refer to as the Blackwater company’s negligence. The families sued Blackwater for not conveying the messages and meanings of the deaths after the attack. But when Blackwater sued the families back for having sued them in the first place, the morals and integrity of the company were questioned.
The murder of the Blackwater employees prompted an attack on Fallujah from the U.S., which in turn sparked widespread anger in Iraq against U.S. forces. This anger from Iraq has continued to brew even into the present day.
There are 25,000 employees of private security forces in Iraq, but they usually remain quite peaceful. Iraq’s Maj Gen Abdul Karim Khalaf, interior minister’s director of operations, said that any foreign contractors who are found to have used excessive force will be prosecuted by Iraqi officials.
The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad also claims that they are taking the incident very seriously, according to the BBC, and that they are conducting internal examinations about private security firms.
CNN states that the U.S. Embassy has also issued a suspension on diplomatic convoys outside of the Green Zone in Baghdad, as well as throughout the rest of the country. “This suspension is in effect in order to assess mission security and procedures, as well as a possible increased threat to personnel traveling with security details outside the International Zone,” the embassy said in a notice to Americans.
It is uncertain how long the suspension will be held, especially since lifting the hold would most likely happen after the investigations are complete.
Time reported that Iraq’s decision to suspend Blackwater’s license in the country could have serious repercussions for the future ability of U.S. diplomats and others to function as in Iraq. Companies like Blackwater are depended on by the U.S. and its government officials for their protection in Iraq.
