In a surprise move, Democrats in Congress chose to attack US military contractors protecting US interests in Iraq today.
Democratic Congressmen took cold-blooded swipes at American military contractors during another one of their special committee meeting investigations in the House this morning.
Reuters reported:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. security contractor Blackwater, under investigation over deadly incidents in Iraq, defended its role on Tuesday, but lawmakers took aim at the company’s actions in a September 16 shooting in which 11 Iraqis were killed.
Blackwater founder and former Navy SEAL Erik Prince said in testimony prepared for the House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform that his staff acted “appropriately” on that day in a very complex war zone.
“There has been a rush to judgment based on inaccurate information, and many public reports have wrongly pronounced Blackwater’s guilt for the deaths of varying numbers of civilians,” Prince said in the testimony.
“Congress should not accept these allegations as truth until it has the facts,” added Prince.
Iraq’s government has been strongly critical of Blackwater, which provides security for the U.S. State Department in Iraq, and has called the shooting incident a crime.
Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, a California Democrat, said there were serious questions about Blackwater’s performance and the September 16 shooting was just the latest in a number of “troubling” incidents.
“Is Blackwater, a private military contractor, helping or hurting our efforts in Iraq,” Waxman asked in his opening statement.
The hearing comes amid growing questions over the role of private contractors in Iraq and whether the U.S. government relies too heavily on outsiders to perform jobs traditionally done by the military.
It’s not like the media has misreported on Blackwater in the past.
Earlier in the year the media reported that terrorists had executed 4 Blackwater employees.
Twentieth Revolution Brigades claimed they were the ones to shoot down and kill Blackwater contractors in January. (SITE)
Back in January the media reported that 4 Blackwater employees were killed execution style.
This report of executions turned out to be highly suspect and more than likely terrorist propaganda spread by the media.
But, the questionable reporting from Iraq won’t stop Democrats from hauling the US military contractors into Congress for a good tongue lashing for the antiwar press.
More: Liberals discover Bloackwater not the Boy Scouts.