The cowboy mentality unleashed in Iraq

The Wild West meets HALO 3:

It was Nov. 27, 2004. Blackwater 61 -- its official flight code -- was a transport flight operated by Presidential Airways, a subsidiary of the US security contractor Blackwater. It handled airlifts for the Pentagon in the area, as part of a $35 million contract. On board with Miller and several crates of illumination mortar rounds were the Blackwater crew -- pilot Noel English, 37, co-pilot Loren Hammer, 35, and flight mechanic Melvin Rowe, 43 -- and two other army passengers: Lieutenant Michael McMahon, 41, and Chief Warrant Officer Travis Grogan, 31.

Shortly after 7 a.m., the propeller plane took off. The weather was good, the visibility was clear. Roughly 45 minutes later, the plane smashed into a rocky canyon wall high in the mountains.

The crash of Blackwater 61, with its blood-curdling details only now fully revealed, has long been a forgotten chapter in the drama of that security company. Even more so: It exposes the cynicism of a war, which has become almost a videogame for its warriors. The doom of that flight, chillingly documented in official investigative reports and a dramatic cockpit voice recording, paints a picture of a campaign between audacity and folly.

The tragedy only came to full light this week during Blackwater CEO Erik Prince's testimony before the US House of Representatives' Oversight and Government Reform Committee. When chairman Henry Waxman, a Democrat, broached the subject briefly, Prince denied all responsibility: "The Air Force investigated the incident, and they found it was pilot error."

[snip]

Blackwater itself initially denied having anything to do with Presidential Airways and Flight 61. Later, it called the reports by the NTSB and the Army CIB "erroneous" and "politically motivated." They were only intended to cover for the military's failures, Joseph E. Schmitz, chief operating officer and general counsel for the Prince Group, the parent company of Blackwater and Presidential told the News & Observer newspaper.

Blackwater CEO Erik Prince, too, showed himself unmoved when the case came up in the hearing on Tuesday. Instead, he defended his fun-loving crash pilots: "I disagree with the assertion that they acted like cowboys." Besides, he added drily: "Accidents happen."

And this:

BAGHDAD, Oct. 7 — The Iraqi prime minister’s office said Sunday that the government’s investigation had determined that Blackwater USA private security guards who shot Iraqi civilians three weeks ago in a Baghdad square sprayed gunfire in nearly every direction, committed “deliberate murder” and should be punished accordingly.

[snip]

Mr. Jassim said that little information had come from the Americans and that Iraqi investigators had not been granted access to the guards. But he said the Americans had promised to cooperate.

In previously undisclosed details in the government’s final report, the Iraqi police documented that Blackwater guards shot in almost every direction, killing or wounding people in a near 360-degree circle around Nisour Square.

The thick file amassed for the investigation asserts that bullets reached bystanders who were as far as 200 feet away and nearly on the opposite side of the square.

Even the military is having a hard time:

PATROL BASE HAWKS, Iraq (AP) -- When U.S. sentries fatally shot three guards near an Iraqi-manned checkpoint south of Baghdad, they thought they were targeting enemy fighters planting roadside bombs, according to the American commander of the region.

The shootings, which are still under investigation, underscore a new dilemma facing U.S. troops as former fighters join forces against extremists and Iraqis are increasingly forced to take up arms to protect themselves - how does one distinguish them from the enemy?

The U.S. military said the American troops shot the three civilians Thursday near a checkpoint manned by local members of a U.S.-allied group helping provide security in the village of Abu Lukah, near Musayyib, a Shiite-dominated town 40 miles south of Baghdad.

Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division that controls territory south of Baghdad, stressed the investigation was continuing but said initial results showed that U.S. troops fired on the checkpoint after spotting what appeared to be enemy forces planting roadside bombs.

"We are not looking to see who made a mistake but rather see what we can learn from that particular event," Lynch told The Associated Press Saturday during a whirlwind tour of patrol bases in the area.

Lynch said it's critical to "better coordinate between coalition forces, Iraqi security forces and concerned citizens," as he calls the vigilante-style groups that have sprouted up across the country to fight extremists.

The comments reflect rising concerns about possible friendly fire killings that could threaten to undermine the U.S. strategy of seeking alliances with local Sunni and Shiite leaders to fill the vacuum left by a national police force that has been plagued by corruption allegations and infiltration by militants.

Incidents of shooting of civilians at checkpoints has drawn allegations by many, in Iraq and beyond, that U.S. troops and contractors are quick to fire and ask question later.

Hold still! No sudden moves, dammit! We are bringing democracy to your country! So smile!