Gene Robinson makes a good point this morning: In the case of the five indicted Blackwater guards, why isn't the company in any legal jeopardy?
The indictment, charging voluntary manslaughter and weapons violations, demonstrates that those who engage "in unprovoked attacks will be held accountable," Assistant Attorney General Patrick Rowan claimed.But it demonstrates nothing of the sort. As with the torture and humiliation of detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison, our government is deflecting all scrutiny from the corporate higher-ups who employed the guards -- to say nothing of the policymakers whose decisions made the shootings possible, if not inevitable.
Prosecutors did not file charges against the North Carolina-based Blackwater firm -- the biggest U.S. security contractor in Iraq -- or any of the company's executives. The whole tragic incident is being blamed on the guards who, prosecutors say, made Baghdad's Nisoor Square a virtual free-fire zone. [...]
There is a huge difference between self-defense and the kind of indiscriminate fusillade that the Blackwater team allegedly unleashed. Proper training and supervision -- which was the Blackwater firm's responsibility -- would have made it more likely for the guards to make the right split-second decisions amid the chaos of Nisoor Square. Rather than give Blackwater a free pass, the Justice Department ought to investigate the preparation these men were given before being sent onto Baghdad's dangerous streets.
Blackwater no doubt has rules and regulations about when and where its people can discharge their weapons. But were those rules enforced? Did the guards who were indicted yesterday have any reason to believe they would be punished for the rampage? Or were the shootings considered acceptable inside the Blackwater bunker? Company executives should have to answer these and other questions -- under oath.
Seriously. One lesson of the Bush administration is that the buck stops with the lowest relevant person in the hierarchy. Responsibility is never attached to the top levels of any organization that fails in its mission. If I had to guess a reason why no one at Blackwater corporate HQ has been indicted, it probably would have something to do with Erik Prince, the founder and CEO who also happens to be a huge donor to Republican and conservative causes. But if you run a mercenary army out of the United States, you are responsible for their actions. Incidentally, the decision to deploy more contractors in Afghanistan is not looking very smart right now.
--Tim Fernholz
