Federal Blackwater Investigation

You know it's serious stuff when a Blackwater spokesweasel actually has a comment on something, even if it's pretty much a "non-comment comment." Let's examine the process: First, the NYT has a story that Mme. Spokesweasel won't comment on:

Anne E. Tyrrell, a Blackwater spokeswoman, said she would have no comment until the F.B.I. released its findings.

Then, the AP does a story on the NYT piece, & Mme. has a platitudinous response:

Responding to the Times report, Anne Tyrrell, a Blackwater spokeswoman, said the company “supports the stringent accountability of the industry. If it is determined that one person was complicit in the wrongdoing, we would support accountability in that. The key people in this have not spoken with investigators.” She added that the company will withhold further comment “until the findings are made available.”

The NYT story, based on statements from anonymous sources (DoJ & FBI spokespeople didn't comment either) indicated that once one of Blackwater's "private security contractors" started firing, all the others started as well. Hey, why not?

Investigators have concluded that as many as five of the company’s guards opened fire during the shootings, at least some with automatic weapons. Investigators have focused on one guard, identified as “turret gunner No. 3,” who fired a large number of rounds and was responsible for several fatalities. Investigators found no evidence to support assertions by Blackwater employees that they were fired upon by Iraqi civilians. That finding sharply contradicts initial assertions by Blackwater officials, who said that company employees fired in self-defense and that three company vehicles were damaged by gunfire. Government officials said the shooting occurred when security guards fired in response to gunfire by other members of their unit in the mistaken belief that they were under attack. One official said, “I wouldn’t call it a massacre, but to say it was unwarranted is an understatement.” [...] A separate military review of the Sept. 16 shootings concluded that all of the killings were unjustified and potentially criminal. One of the military investigators said the F.B.I. was being generous to Blackwater in characterizing any of the killings as justifiable.

When Blackwater's mouthpiece spoke to the AP, she had this to say:

“Without a doubt, the teams were faced with deadly force that day,” the Blackwater spokeswoman said.

Any possibility we could make P. R. flack a profession that's just plain illegal, like pimp or contract killer?