[NYTr] Blackwater "Contractor" Wrote Govt Report on "Incident"

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

CNN - Oct 2, 2007
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/10/02/blackwater.spot.report/


Blackwater "Contractor" Wrote Govt Report on "Incident"

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The State Department's initial report of last
month's incident in which Blackwater guards were accused of killing
Iraqi civilians was written by a Blackwater contractor working in the
embassy security detail, according to government and industry sources.

A source involved in diplomatic security at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad
said a Blackwater contractor, Darren Hanner, drafted the two-page "spot
report" on the letterhead of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security for the
embassy's Tactical Operations Center.

That office -- which tracks and monitors all incidents and movements
involving diplomatic security missions -- has outsourced positions to
Blackwater and another private firm, the embassy source said.

A highly placed industry source said that Hanner, who was listed on the
report as the TOC watch officer, was working for Blackwater at the time
the report was written, just after the September 16 incident occurred.
He was to rotate out of Iraq this past week, the source said.

The man who approved the report was Ricardo Colon, whom the embassy
source identified as the embassy's deputy regional security officer. A
State Department source confirmed a Ricardo Colon Cifredo works for the
State Department in Iraq.

The deadly incident produced an outcry in Iraq and raised questions
about the accountability of foreign security contractors in Iraq, who,
under an order laid down by the U.S.-led occupation government, are not
subject to Iraqi law for actions taken within their contracts.

Anne Tyrrell, a spokeswoman for Blackwater, emphasized that the State
Department is doing its own investigation into the incident.

The FBI is sending a team of agents to assist the U.S. investigation at
the State Department's request, FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said Monday.

Blackwater -- which provides security to U.S. diplomats -- says its
employees responded properly to an insurgent attack on a convoy. The
State Department "spot report" underscores that scenario and doesn't
mention civilian casualties.

However, those accounts are at odds with what the Iraqis are saying.

A senior Iraqi National Police official participating in the Iraqi
governmental probe of the shooting said the Blackwater gunfire was
unprovoked and the guards fired randomly, killing several civilians and
wounding others. 

Tom Casey, deputy State Department spokesman, noted that a spot report
"is a first-blush account of those on the scene" and that the "report
has no standing whatsoever."

"It was not intended to be used as an analysis, investigation, review
or any detailed assessment of the situation," Casey said. "To assert
that (it is) is untrue," Casey said.

The embassy source said after the spot report was completed and
approved, a State Department agent took sworn statements from the
participants in the shooting.

The senior Iraqi police officer said that Blackwater team members were
questioned by Iraqi police immediately after the incident and initially
said they opened fire in response to a mortar attack. However, he said,
they then changed their story at least twice during the 90 minutes they
were held.

Erik Prince, the CEO of Blackwater, was to testify Tuesday before the
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.