Officials balked on '05 Blackwater inquiry (State Dept. e-mails discussed how to deflect questions)

[ProSense]

National News

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-emails26oct26,0,798301.story">Officials balked on '05 Blackwater inquiry

State Department e-mails obtained by ABC News discuss how to deflect a Times reporter's questions about a civilian shooting death.

By T. Christian Miller, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
October 26, 2007

Even as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice defended her department's oversight of private security contractors, new evidence surfaced Thursday that the U.S. sought to conceal details of Blackwater shootings of Iraqi civilians more than two years ago.

In one instance, internal e-mails show that State Department officials tried to deflect a 2005 Los Angeles Times inquiry into an alleged killing of an Iraqi civilian by Blackwater guards.

"Give (the Los Angeles Times) what we can and then dump the rest on Blackwater," one State Department official wrote to another in the e-mails, which were obtained by ABC News. "We can't win this one."

One department official taking part in a chain of e-mails noted that the "findings of the investigation are to remain off-limits to the reporter." Another recommended that there be no mention of the existence of a criminal investigation since such a reference would "raise questions and issues."

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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-emails26oct26,0,798301.story">more

[L. Coyote]

1. K & R & Impeach two too

[soothsayer]

2. Blackwater Mamba? Is that a dance? Cuz if it's a snake, it's redundant.

[ProSense]

3. U.N. expert wants to probe Iraq contractor killings

U.N. expert wants to probe Iraq contractor killings

By Claudia Parsons 1 hour, 32 minutes ago

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings said on Friday he plans to investigate deaths caused by the U.S. military and contractors in Iraq, including the recent Blackwater case in Baghdad.

Private security firm Blackwater has been under intense scrutiny since the shooting deaths of at least 17 Iraqis last month in an incident that enraged Iraq's government and sparked calls for greater accountability for contractors.

Philip Alston, U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, told a news conference at the United Nations the United States was among the few countries that had agreed for him to visit as part of his mandate to investigate allegations of extrajudicial killings.

<...>

"I am very interested in questions relating to military justice, for example. In other words, the response to alleged extrajudicial executions by members of the U.S. military, particularly in places like Iraq and Afghanistan."

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