Blackwater probe expands to 5 deadly incidents

updated 7:53 p.m. ET Sept. 28, 2007

WASHINGTON - Five cases this year in which private Blackwater USA security guards killed Iraqi civilians are at the core of a U.S. review of how the hired protection forces guard diplomats in Iraq, officials said Friday.

Iraqi authorities are also concerned about a sixth incident in which Blackwater guards allegedly threw frozen bottles of water at civilian cars, breaking windshields. No one was killed.

The United States has not made conclusive findings about the incidents, which include a Sept. 16 case in which at least 11 Iraqis died. A State Department official said investigators are not aware of others. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the inquiries are in progress.

The United States is conducting several inquiries spawned by the deadly Baghdad shooting this month involving the private security contractor that protects U.S. diplomats and others in Iraq.

The Sept. 16 killings outraged many Iraqis, who have long resented the presence of armed Western security contractors, considering them an arrogant mercenary force that abuses Iraqis in their own country.

Blackwater is the largest of three private companies contracted by the State Department to provide security for U.S. diplomats in Iraq.

Blackwater in 56 shooting incidents
The State Department has counted 56 shooting incidents involving Blackwater guards in Iraq this year. All will be reviewed as part of a comprehensive inquiry ordered by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, but the five fatal shootings involving Iraqi civilians are paramount, two officials said.

Rice announced Friday that she has brought in outside military, diplomatic and security advisers to help guide the inquiry.

“My instructions to the panel are simple,” Rice said. “Their review should be serious, probing and comprehensive. Once they have established baseline facts, I look forward to hearing their recommendations on how to protect our people while furthering our foreign policy objectives.”

The broad review ordered by Rice will begin in earnest this weekend. Retired Gen. George Joulwan, a former NATO commander in Europe, and Stapleton Roy, a retired veteran diplomat, will help lead the diplomatic review. Rice also brought in a former State Department and intelligence official, Eric Boswell.

Led by Patrick Kennedy, one of the most senior management experts in the U.S. foreign service, the panel will present an interim report by Oct. 5.

Force protects diplomatic convoys
As of last week, Blackwater had protected U.S. diplomatic convoys 1,873 times this year, Deputy Secretary of State John D. Negroponte said Thursday. Guards fired 56 times.

The five incidents involving civilians were previously identified by Iraqi authorities, who are also looking into whether the shootings were out of bounds.

Separately, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has sent a fact-finding team to Baghdad to investigate conditions involving private contractors working for the Pentagon and to consult with military officers there.

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