Feral Jundi

Friday, January 30, 2009

Legal News: Priv-War, and Regulating the PMC/PSC Industry

Filed under: Legal News,PMC's,Publications — Tags: , , , — Matt @ 4:53 AM

    Be sure to check in with their news section every now and then.  This is Europe’s attempt at finding the correct model of regulation for private military companies, so it will be interesting to see what they come up with over the years. –Matt 

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PRIV-WAR is a collaborative research project coordinated by the European University Institute through the Academy of European Law in cooperation with LUISS “Guido Carli” (Rome) and the other project partners: Justus Liebig Universität Giessen; Riga Graduate School of Law; Université Panthéon-Assas (Paris II), Centre Thucydide; University of Sheffield and Utrecht University. The project will assess the impact of the increasing use of private military companies and security companies (PMCs/PSCs) in situations of armed conflict. It will examine the regulatory framework at national, European and international levels, with a view to ensuring improved compliance with international humanitarian law and human rights. Launched in January 2008, the project will run for three years.

The PRIV-WAR project is aimed to

• Promote a better understanding of the phenomenon of the privatisation of war 

The research project will formulate a definition of PMCs/PSCs and examine the reasons why states resort to them, focusing on the nature of the functions they exercise, the definition of rules of engagement and chains of accountability. Special attention will be paid to outsourcing in the context of peace-keeping operations, against the background of the development of a European Security and Defence Policy. The project will favour comparative research in a historical perspective.  

(more…)

Monday, January 12, 2009

Legal News: Raven 23 Radio Logs Key for Defense

Filed under: Iraq,Legal News — Tags: , , , — Matt @ 12:17 PM

     I also understand that now a days, some of the companies are using video cams, similar to what law enforcement use, to record actions during missions.  Any record of actions taken, especially in this phase of the Iraq war, will be vital to protect a team in a court of law(Iraqi or US).  

    Although, most companies do not put the money into these kinds of systems because of cost.  Even a simple recording machine back at the TOC is too much to ask for.  I personally think that the Raven 23 example might change some minds about keeping records or purchasing recording equipment. –Matt 

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Blackwater radio log key in guards’ defense: Rochester man among those charged

Article published Jan 11, 2009

The call came in at 11:59 a.m.: A car bomb exploded 25 yards from a female U.S. Department of State official as she attended a meeting in a dangerous section of Baghdad. The blast left a crater in the ground.

Five Blackwater Worldwide security guards, part of a 19-man team known by the call sign “Raven 23,” grabbed their M-4 carbines and loaded into their heavily armored BearCat assault vehicle. One manned the M-240 machine gun turret.

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Friday, December 19, 2008

Legal News: Blackwater Radio Logs–Guards Took Incoming Fire

Filed under: Legal News — Tags: , , — Matt @ 1:55 PM

 “The Justice Department began their presentation to the American people with a lie,” Connolly said

 

I think this quote and the photo says everything I have to say about this whole thing.  –Matt  

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Blackwater vehicle 

Blackwater radio logs: Guards took incoming fire

12/19/2008

By MATT APUZZO and LARA JAKES 

WASHINGTON (AP) — Radio logs from a deadly 2007 shooting in Baghdad cast doubt on U.S. government claims that Blackwater Worldwide security guards were unprovoked when they killed 14 Iraqi civilians. The transcripts of Blackwater radio reports, obtained by The Associated Press, describe a hectic eight minutes in which the guards repeatedly reported incoming gunfire from insurgents and Iraqi police.

Five guards face manslaughter and weapons charges for their roles in the shootings. A sixth has pleaded guilty. Prosecutors said the men unleashed a gruesome attack on unarmed Iraqis, including women, children and people trying to escape.

But the radio logs from the Sept. 16, 2007 shooting suggest otherwise. Copies of the logs were turned over to prosecutors by Blackwater.

Because Blackwater guards were authorized to fire in self-defense, any evidence their convoy was attacked will make it harder for the Justice Department to prove they acted unlawfully.

The logs, which document radio traffic heard by the company’s dispatch center inside the U.S.-controlled Green Zone, show that the Blackwater convoy known as Raven 23 reported taking small arms fire_or SAF_ from insurgents within one minute of shutting down traffic in Baghdad’s Nisoor Square.

“Mult insuirg SAF @ R23,” the log states at 12:12 p.m.

One minute later, the Raven 23 convoy reported taking fire from Iraqi police: “R23 rpts IPs shooting @ R23.”

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Monday, December 8, 2008

Legal News: Five Blackwater Guards Surrender to Feds, in Utah

Filed under: Iraq,Legal News,Utah — Tags: , , , , — Matt @ 10:00 AM

   Good move and this will help their case.  The photo below, is the photo that the news has just posted.  The irony is that the photo shows each one in their former military uniform, and rightly so.  It is a reminder to the public that these guys not only served their country as civilian contractors, but also served as Soldiers and Marines.  Does that mean they are less patriotic, or that their sacrifice is any less significant, now that they are security contractors? I don’t think so, and the way the press demonizes this industry is despicable.  How many civilian contractors have died in support or defense of the client?  So 230,000 plus civilian contractors supporting and defending an all volunteer military and diplomatic corps in this war, and this is the thanks we get?  

     I want justice served, just like anyone else out there.  But to make out these men to be public enemy number one, is crap.  These men were tasked with protecting people in a war zone, a war zone in which the enemy wears no uniform and obeys no laws.  This is a war, where vehicles are used as weapons, and suicide bombers could be a woman or child, and survival sometimes requires extreme measures to defend against such things.  I will not second guess what these men had to do to survive this incident, because I wasn’t there. To me, these men are innocent until proven guilty, and that their service to country in this war, both in the military and as a civilian contractors, is significant. Perhaps we should bring back the draft, just to show the other half of this country how significant that service really is? Thanks to Jeff for sending me this by the way, and Semper Fi. –Head Jundi

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Blackwater 

5 Blackwater guards surrender to feds

Charged with killing 17 civilians, they seek trial in pro-gun state, not D.C.

The Associated Press

Dec. 8, 2008

WASHINGTON – Five Blackwater Worldwide security guards surrendered Monday in an investigation into a deadly 2007 shooting in a busy Baghdad intersection.

The five guards are charged with manslaughter and using a machine gun in a crime of violence. Though they are charged in a sealed indictment in Washington, they surrendered at a federal courthouse in Salt Lake City. The Justice Department is preparing to make the charges public later Monday.

Seventeen Iraqis were killed in the September 2007 shooting. Witnesses said the heavily armed U.S. contractors opened fire unprovoked, killing innocent motorists and children at a crowded intersection. Blackwater, the largest security contractor in Iraq, says its guards were ambushed by insurgents while responding to a car bombing.

(more…)

Saturday, December 6, 2008

News: Blackwater Guards Indicted In Deadly Baghdad Shooting

Filed under: Iraq,Legal News,News — Tags: , , , — Matt @ 12:17 AM

     So this is what the prosecutors have to come to?  Using some weapons related drug law to get these guys?  That’s pretty low. Or the debate about jurisdiction will be interesting.  How are they not connected with the State Department, when their job is to protect DoS employees.  Hell, they even have to train to a specific State Department standard, just to be a protector of DoS and contract with them. Not to mention a clearance, so they can actually be around DoS folk.  

     In my opinion, DoS needs to do the right thing and own up to the fact that Blackwater was working for them and do more to stand up for them.  It’s the least they could do.  How many Blackwater employees died while protecting DoS people?  And from what I gather, out of all of the thousands of missions, not one DoS employee was killed over in Iraq.  That is a record that speaks for itself.  –Head Jundi

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Blackwater Guards Indicted In Deadly Baghdad Shooting

5 Face Trial Over Incident That Killed 17 Civilians, Sources Say

By Del Quentin Wilber

Washington Post Staff Writer

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Five Blackwater Worldwide Security guards have been charged in a September 2007 shooting that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead and raised questions about the U.S. government’s use of security contractors in combat zones, according to two sources familiar with the case.

The guards, all former U.S. military personnel, worked as security contractors for the State Department, assigned to protect U.S. diplomats and other nonmilitary officials in Iraq.

Federal prosecutors obtained the indictment Thursday, and it was sealed. Channing Phillips, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District, declined to comment on the investigation. The exact nature of the charges could not be determined. The five security guards are expected to surrender to authorities on Monday, the sources said.

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