Blackwater, A different Spin

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED -----Original Message----- From: Subject: FW: Blackwater

Thanks to US Naval Officer John Doe for sharing this personal information regarding Blackwater and other security contractors in Iraq. I think you will find it counter to all you are reading here.....Hal ============================================================================

I was asked recently by a WW II veteran if I had an opinion on the activities of the men under contract with Blackwater in Iraq. Having no personal knowledge, I asked a person whom I believed had 'been there and done that.' The reply from Don Kropp, Colonel USA (retired) follows. Don and our son Mike completed ROTC and graduated together from the University of Georgia. Subsequently the y both earned commissions in the regular Army and were stationed together in Korea, Ft. Bragg and elsewhere. Don's response:

As you know, I spent nearly a year working as a security contracto r in Iraq. My son, John Doe Jr, spent 2 years (and was wounded on the job). I worked for DynCorp and he worked for a British company called Aegis.

All of the Blackwater security contractors who support the US Embassy live in a compound right next to the Embassy run by DynCorp. DynCorp and Backwater have a 50/50 split of the Embassy diplomatic protection contract.

These attacks on Blackwater are politically motivated. Iraqi politics and US politics:

Iraqi Politics: The Iraqi government is trying to exercise some sovereignty by using an incident involving Blackwater employees as the centerpiece of their outrage. The sad fact is that the Iraqi police and military are guilty of far more indiscriminate violence than any security contractor. Their government chooses to ignore their own security shortcomings in a bid to take political advantage of an unfortunate incident involving Americans. The Iraqi politicians want to look strong by standing up to the Americans and they are using Blackwater to do it. In reality, the last thing they want is for Blackwater to leave the country.

US Politics: The American Media and Democratic Party do not support this war and have done their best to depict our soldiers as incompetent or criminal. Since the US public has rallied in support of our troops, the media (and Democrats) have selected Blackwater as their new (corporate) target.

The fact is that th ese Blackwater security men are all former US military Officers and NCOs. Just to get on that Contract an individual has to be a former Special Forces or Navy SEAL operator with at least 10 years of 'A-team time.' These men are among the best trained and most disciplined soldiers in the world. Any depiction of them as amateurs or 'trigger happy' is false.

Moreover, if Blackwater went away tomorrow all travel by US Embassy personnel would essentially stop. There are not enough trained soldiers to do the very dangero us missions that Blackwater (and other contractors) do every day. Both the Iraqi government and US government know that. Hence, this whole episode is for show with no real substance behind it.

Additionally, we have a false accusation that Blackwater does not pay tax on the people it hires. The fact is that people who work for security companies in Iraq are hired as independent contractors on an 'At-Will' contract. The reason for the 'At-Will' arrangement is so that Blackwater can immediately terminat e any contract employee who does not perform to standard ( I fired at least 20 people) . Conversely, any contract employee can literally walk away from the job at any time. This is a good arrangement in an environment where people don't have time to argue over labor law. Since the security men are independent contractors it is their responsibility to pay the taxes on their wages. Speaking from personal experience, those taxes are quite high and they do get paid (just try not paying them).

In summary I would like to point out that Blackwater, DynCorp and Aegis send their security men out into the most dangerous environment in the world every day. S o far, over 30 Blackwater men have been killed on the job and no US Embassy person under their care has ever been killed or injured.

These men are brave professionals doing a job that 99% of the American people would never consider doing. They deserve that same thanks we bestow upon our active duty soldiers.

This arrived today from a friend in Afghanistan. I wanted to share it as the first word I have seen contridicting the media rampage against Blackwater. Its an on the scene view of what has happened and in the context of radical anti war politics, fits perfectly with the methods of the hard core anti American left as it continues to work for defeat from victory.

IMO this situation with Blackwater is another anti-war smear not unlike the Duke Lacrosse players situation. Something happened but we don't know exactly what happened yet.

The truth will come out.

This is the crux of it. They were unable to get the people to turn on the troops so they have turned to this bogey man to damage the war effort in Iraq.

If these people are so well-trained and capable, why have so many been fired? The stress of a war zone? Typical attrition for this kind of work? ??? I know I’ll be asked this, and want the facts.

I would add another angle to this: The contractors of various sorts, security and otherwise, are a force multiplier for the U.S. Military. It relieves the military branches of certain tasks that frankly they’re not the right organization for anyway.

VIP protection detail is more akin to what the Secret Service does, not the Marines or the Army. It takes specific training and has a very different focus than aggressive patrols and warfighting. Their whole day is about keeping a particular person alive. It’s a very narrow mission.

It’s not the sort of job that regular troops are really all that well suited for. True— elite troops make a fine pool of prospective candidates. But then they go on for more specific training and re-orientation to a completely different mission.

It’s a different world they live in. Makes sense to outsource it people who just do that, and from the results, do it pretty well.

If these people are so well-trained and capable, why have so many been fired?

I would suspect that turnover is pretty high for lots of reasons. It's not the sort of job that just anybody can do well, or for very long. Some of them are simply not going to work out, even if they were good in training and have a great resume. I suspect the pressure is high and so is the burnout rate. And... you never really know how good somebody will be until they're in the field and under fire.

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