"Blackwater Manager Blamed for 2004 Fallujah Massacre" by Joseph Neff, Raleigh News & Observer, July 8, 2007.As President Bush's surge stretches the U.S. military ever thinner, the media has trained its eye on the private contractors who are filling the manpower gap in Iraq. In early July, the Los Angeles Times Los Angeles Times Morning daily newspaper. Established in 1881, it was purchased and incorporated in 1884 by Harrison Gray Otis (1837–1917) under The Times-Mirror Co. (the hyphen was later dropped from the name). reported that private contractors now outnumber U.S. military forces. Days later, the New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times investigated the high incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), mental disorder that follows an occurrence of extreme psychological stress, such as that encountered in war or resulting from violence, childhood abuse, sexual abuse, or serious accident. among returning contractors. Another valuable contribution to this important story is Joseph Neff's report in the Raleigh News & Observer detailing the events surrounding the Fallujah massacre in 2004. The images of the bodies of four murdered and mutilated mu·ti·late tr.v. mu·ti·lat·ed, mu·ti·lat·ing, mu·ti·lates 1. To deprive of a limb or an essential part; cripple. 2. To disfigure by damaging irreparably: mutilate a statue. Blackwater USA Blackwater USA is a private military company[2] founded in 1997 by Erik Prince and Al Clark. It has alternatively been referred to as a security contractor or a mercenary organization by numerous reports in the international media. security officers being dragged through the streets by chanting crowds were a resounding re·sound v. re·sound·ed, re·sound·ing, re·sounds v.intr. 1. To be filled with sound; reverberate: The schoolyard resounded with the laughter of children. 2. confirmation that the American presence was not entirely welcome in Iraq. Overlooked at the time, however, was the extent to which these deaths resulted in part from Blackwater practices. Neff obtained internal Blackwater memos showing that the team of four had been deployed despite warning supervisors that they were undermanned, underarmed, and sleep deprived. The memos also suggest that such practices were not an anomaly: "[Baghdad manager Tom Powell] had sent us on this [expletive] mission and over our protest," wrote Daniel Browne, a member of a different Blackwater team that ignored company orders to drive through the heart of Fallujah. Neff emphasizes a disturbing consequence of the U.S.'s increasing reliance on private soldiers: a lack of accountability. An erring Army officer faces both public scrutiny, which can force reform, and the military justice system, which can punish offenders and deter others from malfeasance The commission of an act that is unequivocally illegal or completely wrongful. Malfeasance is a comprehensive term used in both civil and Criminal Law to describe any act that is wrongful. . Blackwater, on the other hand, has refused to release any information regarding the four Fallujah deaths. When the estates of the four men sued for the release of documents, Blackwater countersued for $10 million and got the trial moved into secret arbitration. So far, Blackwater remains accountable only to its bottom line. |
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