Panel investigates Blackwater shootings

By: Marin Cogan – February 24, 2010 05:27 PM EST

Democrats on the Senate Armed Services committee hammered former Blackwater officials over the military contractor’s misconduct in Afghanistan, focusing on a shooting incident that left two Afghan civilians dead.

In an opening statement, committee chairman Carl Levin accused the Army of failing to exercise oversight in a way that would have prevented what he called Blackwater’s “reckless use of weapons, its disregard for the rules governing the acquisition of weapons.” Levin also pointed to vetting problems “that resulted in those weapons being placed in the hands of people who never should have possessed them.”

The report focuses on an event in 2009 in which two Afghan civilians were killed by Paravant employees, who had a history of criminal behavior and drug use. In 2008, members of Paravant, the shell company for Blackwater, distributed AK-47s from the Army to members of their team, despite not having authorization to do so. Two days later, one contractor was riding atop a moving vehicle with his weapon when it discharged and shot a fellow employee.

Democrats slammed the contractors for changing their name to avoid the baggage associated with Blackwater. “Everybody was working for Blackwater, right? So what was Paravant? Was it just a name?” asked Senator Claire McCaskill.

“That would be an accurate statement,” said Brian McCracken, the former vice president of Paravant, who currently works in Afghanistan for major government contractor Raytheon.

“We were looking for transparency and we got an effort to cover up who was really doing the contracting,” Levin said to officials of Xe, which is the latest name that Blackwater uses for corporate business. “There was clearly an effort to cover up that Blackwater was the contractor here.”

Levin pressed Xe officials on Paravant’s contract submission, saying that it stated the newly formed company couldn’t possibly have the training experience it claimed in the submission. Xe vice president Fred Roitz claimed that Raytheon knew they were working with Blackwater, but wanted them to change the name because of Blackwater’s history.

McCaskill read an e-mail written by McCracken in November 2008. “I got sidearms for everyone. 9 mm Sigma’s and holsters. We have not yet received formal permission from the Army to carry weapons yet but I will take my chances.”

McCracken conceded that Paravant was not formally authorized to be armed. “My understanding was that we had a verbal agreement with the government that they would be armed,” he said. “There’s no secret the military came out routinely and observed training.”

Republicans on the panel did not object to the condemnation of Paravant’s misconduct but pointed out that it made sense that the contractors would want to be armed. “Having traveled over in Afghanistan, I can imagine that you would feel the need to have weapons,” said Senator George LeMieux of Florida. “It doesn’t make sense to me that folks would not have the ability to provide for themselves.” (Click HERE for original article)

Other Related Posts From Ms Sparky

1. Justin Cannon, former Blackwater contractor sentenced for killing Afghan civilian
2. The US Government will do business with anyone including Xe/Blackwater
3. Blackwater/XE: No Rules – No Limits – No Bail (Updated links 04-17-2010)
4. Senator warns against $1B deal with Blackwater
5. David Isenberg: Would Blackwater Lie?