Saturday, October 06, 2007

What does a U.S. security contractor have to do to get kicked out of Iraq?

Apparently engaging in manslaughter (at the least) and conspiring to cover it up isn't quite enough to put you on the bench for more than two months.

The information that the Blackwater employee who was involved in the Christmas party "incident" was back to work in February for a DOD contractor in Kuwait, after being quietly flown home by Blackwater, in complicity with the State Department, was tactfully not submitted to the House oversight committee in time for last week's hearing, although the meager payoff to the victim's family was disclosed. And he's since been sighted back in the Green Zone in Iraq.

And apparently the Army didn't know any more than DOD did, according to Chairman Waxman's letter:

The report also stated that in April 2007, the U.S. Army tried to call Mr. Moonen, a veteran of the 82nd Airborne Division, back to active duty, but cancelled the request upon learning that he was already overseas.

But I'm sure that even if these facts were mentioned, Ranking Member Davis and Reps. Mica and Westmoreland would still spend most of their questioning minutes complaining about what a tragic waste of time the hearing was and how the good folks at Blackwater and the State Department are just trying to do their jobs and don't deserve all this pointless harassment from those meanies on the other side of the aisle.

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