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| Iraq-Jordan | |
| 4 Killed in Iraq Worked for N.C. Firm | |
| 2004-04-01 | |
| MOYOCK, N.C. (AP) - The four civilians who were killed and dragged through the streets of an Iraqi town Wednesday worked for a North Carolina subcontractor that is providing security in a hostile area of Iraq. Blackwater Security Consulting provides security training and guard services to customers around the world. It is one of five subsidiaries of Blackwater USA, based in northeastern North Carolina about a half-hour's drive from the world's largest naval base in Norfolk, Va. The company referred calls to a spokesman in suburban Washington who declined comment beyond a prepared statement that said Blackwater was a government subcontractor providing security for the delivery of food in the Fallujah area. Privately owned Blackwater USA's range of services include providing firearms and small-groups training for Navy SEALs, police department SWAT teams and former special operations personnel. Blackwater President Gary Jackson and two other company leaders are former Navy SEAL commandos. "We're very proud of the work that we do. We feel that we support a just cause," assistant training director Chris Epperson said during a visit last month. On a typical day, a Navy SEALs team practiced shooting in odd positions through doors and windows and cadets from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy learned how to storm through doorways during a room-by-room search. Plainclothes operatives practiced how to escape from a disabled sport-utility vehicle while under fire from attackers. The company's security-consulting business connects former special forces troops with jobs that may involve protecting people or places, or training foreign militaries. Epperson said the company's contractors provide protection to Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator in Iraq. Other Blackwater USA subsidiaries train dogs and handlers for security work, and train pilots to land airplanes and helicopters on dirt landing strips. Faye and Howard Forbes of Moyock said the deaths brought the war home to the community best known for being on the route to North Carolina's Outer Banks beaches.
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| Posted by:Steve White |
| #12 Fred Pruitt censors truth while Americans die in Iraq on basis of lies. |
| Posted by: Jackson TROLL 2004-04-01 7:47:37 AM |
| #11 Lost in the hubbub is this - what were a few lightly-armed civilian guards doing alone in a single humvee? Why weren't they travelling in convoys? I suspect they had been doing these jaunts for a while before this attack taught their eventual successors that this is not something you should do in Fallujah. This is the hardest way to learn this kind of lesson, but I suspect we won't see this kind of attack again - a convoy system will be put in place after this - without exception. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2004-04-01 8:33:17 PM |
| #10 Let's see. Continuing to daydream about appropriate responses, let's try this one: First, erect a triple concertina fence around the city, with just one entrance and exit. At that opening, put up a big billboard, in Farsi, announcing that Blackwater Security has now been placed in charge of security and team-building training in Fallujah. Give Blackwater 10,000 Kurdish volunteers, to help with security. Now, start the teambuilding training. For the able-bodied men of Fallujah, this consists of digging deep rectangular holes, about two meters long, by one meter wide, by 2 meters deep. Each man digs two such holes, arranged in neat rows in an open space near the town. Meanwhile, the young boys and old men are assigned to build about 1,000 sets of wooden gallows, complete with rope nooses, spread throughout the city. The women are split into two groups - one group builds coffins, the other group carves headstones. All under Blackwater supervision, assisted by Kurdish augmentation. Idle hands are the devil's playground. Keep all the good people of Fallujah thoughtfully busy with productive work. Let Blackwater (and the Kurds) work on their grief management skills. My bet is that Fallujah would soon become a much more peaceful place - one way or the other. Daydreaming .......... |
| Posted by: Lone Ranger 2004-04-01 8:25:56 PM |
| #9 Our prayers go out to the family and friends of these four fine people. The perpetrators shall be cursed until the last star ceases to shine in the night sky. May their souls be forever damned, and never find peace. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2004-04-01 6:01:06 PM |
| #8 Quote from Blackwater's home page: A Memorial Fund has been established to support the victim's families of the March 31, 2004 Fallujah attack. All memorial gifts will be documented and appropriately acknowledged with due regard to the wishes of the donor and the nature of the contribution. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims Please Mail the contributions to: Memorial Fund PO Box 159 Moyock, NC 27958 Please Make checks Payable to: Memorial Fund Please no cash contributions. |
| Posted by: Puddle Pirate 2004-04-01 5:17:08 PM |
| #7 Hope so, JH -- but Fallujah's been a pebble in our shoe for nearly a year, and it just seems as though we're going to pussyfoot some more. 38 of the U.S. KIA since the "end" of the war have occurred in the Fallujah area (third place after Baghdad (101) and Mosul (44). [source: Iraq Coalition Casualty Count] |
| Posted by: snellenr 2004-04-01 1:09:38 PM |
| #6 I think Bremer should issue a press release announcing that, since the four American civilians killed were protecting food shipmaents to Fallujah, there will be no further CPA food shipments to Fallujah as there are no more security guards. |
| Posted by: Tibor 2004-04-01 12:21:59 PM |
| #5 give it time snellenr. We were not there, hard to second guess the commander on the scene. Matter of time, that place will get pacified or be incapacitated. |
| Posted by: Jarhead 2004-04-01 12:13:36 PM |
| #4 My (somewhat inflammatory) question about this whole episode is "Where were the Marines?". Admittedly these guys were probably beyond help within seconds, but to allow their bodies to be handled in this way was a disgrace. It's bad enough that we adopted this "hands off" policy towards that town (encouraging the thugs), but I thought that was just an Army thing -- and that the shift in responsibility to the Marines would mean some changes for the better -- and I had hoped the sweep through the city (and ensuing firefight) in F-town last week, even though we had some KIA, was a step in the right direction. Apparently not... |
| Posted by: snellenr 2004-04-01 9:48:10 AM |
| #3 May they rest in peace. Time to bring the wood to Falujah. Fred, troll whacking needed on #2 here. |
| Posted by: Jarhead 2004-04-01 7:48:36 AM |
| #2 [Troll droppings deleted] |
| Posted by: Murray TROLL 2004-04-01 7:47:37 AM |
| #1 Killed while delivering food. Hmmm... |
| Posted by: Ben 2004-04-01 3:44:22 AM |