Smearing Blackwater

NY Times carries the Democrats' water again--they can't attack our troops directly, so they attack Americans who are risking their lives in Iraq to protect diplomats and Congressmen and women. An incredibly arrogant and ungrateful bunch. Waxman, the congressman from swanky, liberal Beverly Hills is leading the charge. As is that forceful Sen. Dick Durbin. What a hypocrite. (Not to mention Congressperson Jan Schakowsky herself.) And of course The Times tells only the side of the story they want to see in print. Mark Corallo on David Broder's hit piece:

I told Broder stories of bravery from Blackwater employees in Iraq, who suffered injury and death to save the lives of the American civilians in their care. I told him about the standards to which Blackwater holds its employees — standards that exceed those of our armed forces. I told him of their dedication to the rule of law and the Constitution.

I told him of a cable from a State Department employee who literally watched Blackwater heroes die while rescuing her from enemy attack in Baghdad — how she owed her life to them and would never be able to repay them. I then told him that when Blackwater was being dragged before Henry Waxman’s oversight committee back in February in a blatant effort to help a civil lawsuit, the State Department would not allow them to even quote from that diplomat’s message in order to describe what Blackwater is really about. [snip]

A million people will tell me that I shouldn’t be surprised that the New York Times mischaracterized my comments and omitted 99.9 percent of what I said because it didn’t fit the story the Times wanted to tell. They’ll tell me that I should have expected it and that I should never have trusted a reporter from the country’s leading left-wing newspaper. But I did expect more, and still do.

I’m not holding my breath for a retraction, but I am sorry I ever spoke to the New York Times about Blackwater. Blackwater is a great company that protects Americans in hostile environments. They haven’t lost a single one of the Americans in their care, despite suffering over 30 deaths and countless injuries. They are maligned daily for doing exactly what their government has asked them to do, and they do it better than anyone else in the business.

And this in the Christian Science Monitor:

The very branch of the US government charged with fostering relations with the Iraqi government and people is responsible for the behavior that has helped erode support from the Iraqi populace. The State Department Diplomatic Security Service set up aggressive rules for the use of force for its contractors in what's called the Mission Firearms Policy. These rules are more aggressive than those used by the military for its contracted forces. In fact, the Secretary of State's Panel on Personal Protective Services in Iraq recommended last month that these guidelines be amended to require basic assurances: "due regard for safety of innocent bystanders," "every effort to avoid civilian casualties," and only aimed shots – a nod to the fact that pointing and spraying rounds isn't explicitly banned.

Since 2005, Blackwater has conducted more than 16,500 protective security details under contract with the State Department. In 1 percent of these missions, Blackwater operators discharged weapons. The government officials that Blackwater was guarding were present on some portion of these missions and, at the least, were tolerating Blackwater's aggressive behavior.

Again, who protects Congress when they go to Iraq? Sen. Obama is planning to go sometime before the primaries, perhaps he can just rely on his "aggressive diplomacy" to protect himself.

Your Democrat Congress, rushing to smear Americans sworn to protect them.

P.S. Here's what my congressperson Jan Schakowsky learned on her last trip to Iraq. (Gee, who protected you Jan?)

Related post: Fatal Limits to Liberals' Foreign Policy, Tears of Darfur, Schakowsky Too Little Too Late