Wednesday, July 16, 2025
  • About us
    • Write for us
    • Disclaimer
    • Terms of use
    • Privacy Policy
  • RSS Feeds
  • Advertise with us
  • Contact us
DefenceTalk
  • Home
  • Defense News
    • Defense & Geopolitics News
    • War Conflicts News
    • Army News
    • Air Force News
    • Navy News
    • Missiles Systems News
    • Nuclear Weapons
    • Defense Technology
    • Cybersecurity News
  • Military Photos
  • Defense Forum
  • Military Videos
  • Military Weapon Systems
    • Weapon Systems
    • Reports
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Defense News
    • Defense & Geopolitics News
    • War Conflicts News
    • Army News
    • Air Force News
    • Navy News
    • Missiles Systems News
    • Nuclear Weapons
    • Defense Technology
    • Cybersecurity News
  • Military Photos
  • Defense Forum
  • Military Videos
  • Military Weapon Systems
    • Weapon Systems
    • Reports
No Result
View All Result
DefenceTalk
No Result
View All Result
Home Defence & Military News Defense Geopolitics News

Blackwater threatened to kill US official in Iraq: report

by Agence France-Presse
July 1, 2014
in Defense Geopolitics News
2 min read
0
Blackwater Security Firm Ends Operations in Baghdad
14
VIEWS

The top manager in Iraq of the notorious private security firm Blackwater threatened to kill a US State Department investigator for probing the company’s performance, The New York Times reported Monday.

The Times, citing an internal State Department memorandum, said the threat came just weeks before Blackwater guards shot and killed 17 civilians on September 16, 2007 in Baghdad’s Nisour Square.

In an August 2007 memo detailing the threat made to her, lead State Department investigator, Jean Richter, said it “sent a clear message that the Blackwater contractors saw themselves as ‘above the law’ and actually believed that ‘they ran the place.’

However, US embassy officials in Baghdad sided with Blackwater and the State Department team was ordered to leave, The Times said.

Four former Blackwater employees are currently on trial in a US court for the Nisour Square deaths.

The killings, seen as an example of the impunity enjoyed by private security firms on the US payroll in Iraq, exacerbated Iraqi resentment toward Americans and was part of the reason the Iraqi government refused to reach a treaty allowing US troops to stay beyond 2011.

Richter warned in her memo dated August 31, 2007, that little oversight of the company, which had a $1 billion contract to protect US diplomats, had created “an environment full of liability and negligence.”

Daniel Carroll, Blackwater’s project manager in Iraq, told Richter after an argument “that he could kill me at that very moment and no one could or would do anything about it as we were in Iraq.”

“I took Mr Carroll’s threat seriously. We were in a combat zone where things can happen quite unexpectedly, especially when issues involve potentially negative impacts on a lucrative security contract,” Richter wrote.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said there was little information she could provide to reporters as it was an ongoing legal case, but said the department’s staff had been conducting a regular “contract review” not an investigation into Blackwater.

A fellow State Department investigator who witnessed the exchange corroborated Richter’s report in a separate statement.

Blackwater lost its license to work in Iraq; it since been renamed twice and after merging with a rival firm is now called Constellis Holdings.

The State Department canceled its contract with the company soon after President Barack Obama took office in January 2009.

Tags: blackwaterconflictcontractorsiraqiraq warmiddle eastwar
Previous Post

US drones over Baghdad as Iraq battles for Tikrit

Next Post

Russia loses its last early warning satellite

Related Posts

Trump announces ‘full and immediate’ India-Pakistan ceasefire

Trump announces ‘full and immediate’ India-Pakistan ceasefire

May 10, 2025

US President Donald Trump on Saturday announced a ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan after days of deadly jet fighter,...

Pakistan says Indian missiles strike air bases as conflict spirals

Pakistan says Indian missiles strike air bases as conflict spirals

May 10, 2025

Pakistan's military on Saturday said India launched another wave of missiles targeting three air bases -- including one on the...

Next Post

Russia loses its last early warning satellite

Latest Defense News

Britain, Germany jointly developing missiles: ministers

Britain, Germany jointly developing missiles: ministers

May 17, 2025
Trump announces ‘full and immediate’ India-Pakistan ceasefire

Trump announces ‘full and immediate’ India-Pakistan ceasefire

May 10, 2025
Pakistan says Indian missiles strike air bases as conflict spirals

Pakistan says Indian missiles strike air bases as conflict spirals

May 10, 2025
J-10C fighter jet

Pakistan says India has brought neighbours ‘closer to major conflict’

May 9, 2025
North Korea fires multiple suspected cruise missiles

North Korea fires flurry of short-range ballistic missiles

May 9, 2025
China says ‘closely watching’ Ukraine situation after Russian attack

China vows to stand with Russia in face of ‘hegemonic bullying’

May 9, 2025

Defense Forum Discussions

  • Indonesian Aero News
  • The Russian-Ukrainian War Thread
  • USAF News and Discussion
  • Royal Netherlands Navy
  • Indian Military Aviation; News, Updates & Discussions
  • Russia - General Discussion.
  • Russian Air Force News & Discussion
  • Royal Australian Navy Discussions and Updates 2.0
  • US Navy News and updates
  • General Aviation Thread
DefenceTalk

© 2003-2020 DefenceTalk.com

Navigate Site

  • Defence Forum
  • Military Photos
  • RSS Feeds
  • About us
  • Advertise with us
  • Contact us

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Defense News
    • Defense & Geopolitics News
    • War Conflicts News
    • Army News
    • Air Force News
    • Navy News
    • Missiles Systems News
    • Nuclear Weapons
    • Defense Technology
    • Cybersecurity News
  • Military Photos
  • Defense Forum
  • Military Videos
  • Military Weapon Systems
    • Weapon Systems
    • Reports

© 2003-2020 DefenceTalk.com