Contractor Expert: State Dep’t Also Culpable in Blackwater IncidentFew people not employed by Blackwater know more about the rising world of private military companies than Robert Young Pelton, author of Licensed To Kill, an exploration of military contracting in the war on terrorism. Pelton told me it’s a mistake to point a finger at Blackwater for Sunday’s debacle in Mansour without looking at the role of the State Department — which, after all, pays Blackwater to protect its diplomats. State doesn’t want to take chances with its peoples’ lives in the chaos of Iraq.
Blackwater’s rules of engagement “are set by State and are different than other security contractors who use the Military Rules of Engagement and Rules of Force,” Pelton says via e-mail. “State went from a kinder, gentler Rules of Force (they were told to shoot flares, throw water bottles or wave a flag to warn off motorists) to shoot if a threat is imminent with no warning shots required. They are supposed to use aimed shots and have to file a report if there is any discharge of a weapon.” The State Department has said that Blackwater fired warning shots in Sunday’s Mansour attack at an approaching car.
As quoted by the New York Times, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said that security companies in the department’s employ will, when under attack, “respond with graduated use of force, proportionate to the kind of fire and attack that theyâre coming under.” The rules of engagement for contractors in Iraq are much less restrictive than those for the U.S. military. An ex-Legionnaire named Anthony Hunter-Choat, who used to supervise security for the Pentagon’s contracting office in Baghdad, created the first rules of engagement for Iraq security contractors. According to Pelton, Hunter-Choat said in 2003, “if they shoot, shoot back.”
That’s a standard that, so far, hasn’t been met with objections from the State Department. “Its important to note that [State Department] or Embassy security details work in close conjunction with the State Department security staff (Diplomatic Security Services) and the U.S. military, so it’s incorrect to portray Blackwater as a lone actor in all of this,” Pelton says.
