Oh My!!Blackwater approved payments in Iraq shooting - NYT

[malaise]

Jeremy Scahill is on Rachel now - this is serious shite - Federal prosecutors are on this now -
http://www.reuters.com/article/mediaNews/idUSN1033455220091111
<snip>

Top Blackwater executives authorized about $1 million in payments to Iraqi officials to buy support and silence criticism of the private security firm after a deadly shooting in Baghdad in 2007, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.

In September 2007, Blackwater workers fatally shot at least 14 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad's Nisour Square, an incident that provoked protests in Iraq and prompted the Iraqi government to deny Blackwater a license.

Four former executives said in interviews that Blackwater approved the payments in December 2007 but they did not know whether the cash was delivered to Iraqi officials or the identities of potential recipients, the Times reported.

Blackwater's strategy, which would have been illegal under U.S. law, created a deep rift inside the company, the sources told the newspaper

[MidwestTransplant]

1. That is soooo illegal.

[azul]

2. Was not.

Laws of Iraq didn't apply, and US military and civilian didn't either. Perfectly gray area legally if not morally.

[MidwestTransplant]

3. Bribing foreign officials is illegal. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

[Merchant Marine]

5. Technically it's not a bribe

It's "Reparations for the families of the dead". Not Blackwater's fault if the cash didn't make it to them, they turned it over to legitimate authorities.

Wink wink nudge nudge of course. It's functionally a bribe, but legally its reparations that got shanghaied by a kleptocracy.

[MidwestTransplant]

7. They were trying to pay off Iraqi officials to not object to them staying in country.

[Merchant Marine]

8. No no no,

What I'm saying is that they're "reparations" paid into the care of iraqi "officials" so they could "distribute" them to the "afflicted families". They didn't know that the "officials" were going to "misappropriate" the "reparations".

Do I need to post a picture of air quotes or something. Yeah, its a sleazeball move, but that's probably how they're going to portray it as.

[ProleNoMore]

4. Truly Was Illegal - Blackwater Should Go Down

eom

[merh]

6. What do you mean?

Perfectly gray area legally if not morally.

[BeHereNow]

9. 1 million dollars from TAXPAYER pockets- Did you agree to this? I did not.

Perhaps the biggest elephant in the room is the fact that
WE the people funded this gang of thugs- with no vote, just
our corrupt representative's say-so.

Any politician who allowed our tax dollars to fund these gangsters should be held accountable

BHN

[BeHereNow]

10. Recommended.

bhn