Blackwater: Fallujah deaths unavoidable

[Lone_Star_Dem]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON - Heavier guns and sturdier trucks would not have saved a team of Blackwater USA guards brutally killed in March 2004 after being lured by corrupt Iraqi forces into a well-planned ambush, the embattled private security contractor contends in a report to Congress.

This conclusion sharply contradicts the findings of a congressional investigation led by House Democrats and a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the families of the four slain guards. Blackwater is cast in both as an incompetent, penny-pinching outfit that sent an undermanned and poorly equipped detail through Fallujah, a known insurgent stronghold 40 miles west of Baghdad.

In the 10-page report, obtained by The Associated Press and delivered Tuesday to lawmakers, Blackwater says Democrats and the lawyer for the families have teamed up against the company for political gain.

While calling the deaths "a tragic event," Blackwater says the incident was unavoidable and the guards — former Navy SEALs and Army Rangers — understood the risks of their mission and could have refused to go.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071024/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/blackwater_response

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Nasty but necessary read for those following this issue.

[Aviation Pro]

1. They went to Fallujah to pick up kitchen supplies....

....not exactly a mission of high OPTEMPO. Uh, does anyone smell another Bush Crime Family plot here?

[gratuitous]

2. Is Col. Blake on the jury?

If you've seen the movie M*A*S*H, you know what I'm talking about.

[Robbien]

3. Political gain my foot. Decency and humanity more like it.

And a very firm dislike of death gangs.