RebelReports - Did Blackwater Mercs Try to Smuggle Weapons Used in Massacre Out of Iraq?

This is a pretty explosive development in the investigation into Blackwater’s Nisour Square massacre that killed 17 Iraqis and wounded more than 20 others on September 16, 2007: Shortly after the shooting, Blackwater operatives allegedly attempted to smuggle weapons used in the massacre out of Iraq to dispose of them before an investigation began.

Bill Sizemore of the VIrginian-Pilot broke the story early this morning:

Shortly after a 2007 shooting incident in a Baghdad traffic square that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead, Blackwater contractors allegedly transferred a number of machine guns to another contractor who is now charged with trying to smuggle them out of Iraq.

The Blackwater contractors wanted to dispose of the weapons before an investigation of the bloody incident began, according to two confidential government informants.

John Houston, the contractor charged in the case, allegedly told one of the informants that after Blackwater “got into trouble,” the guards had to get rid of the firearms so they wouldn’t be caught with them.

[…]

In a sworn statement, Christopher Trainor, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, quoted the two confidential informants as saying Houston told them he obtained machine guns from Blackwater contractors after the Nisoor Square incident.

According to the agent, Houston told the informants that Blackwater employees had a large shipping container filled with firearms that they had seized from Iraqi insurgents.

After the Baghdad shootings, Houston allegedly told one informant, the Blackwater personnel passed some of the firearms to him “because they wanted to dispose of the weapons before an investigation ensued.”

This is the latest revelation in what seems to be a pattern in the aftermath of the shooting on the part of some Blackwater personnel and US State Department officials to cover-up the Nisour Square shooting, which was the single worst massacre of civilians by private US forces. More on this pattern is documented in the updated paperback edition of Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army. Here is a relevant section:

Any criminologist will tell you that it is essential to seal off the scene of a crime as soon as possible. Evidence must be secured, witnesses interviewed, suspects identified and taken into custody. It is a race against the clock. The Bush administration’s handling of Nisour Square was a textbook case in how not to investigate a crime. Perhaps that was the point all along.

Ten days after the shooting, and with the administration facing a mounting scandal, the US State Department’s “first blush” report on Nisour Square was leaked to the media. Dated 16 September 2007, the day of the shooting, and stamped “Sensitive but Unclassified,” it was titled “SAF [small arms fire] attack on COM team.” It was on official State Department letterhead. The report alleged that the Blackwater team entered the square and was “engaged with small arms fire” from “8-10 persons” who “fired from multiple nearby locations, with some aggressors dressed in civilian apparel and others in Iraqi police uniforms. The team returned defensive fire.” It made no mention of any civilian deaths or injuries. While it appeared as though the State Department had investigated and was contradicting the widespread allegations of an unprovoked shooting, what was not revealed at the time was that the report was written by a Blackwater contractor, Darren Hanner, and printed on official State Department stationery.

It would be two weeks before the Bush administration would get around to deploying a 10 person team from the FBI—the official investigative body of the US government— to Baghdad to investigate the shooting. As the FBI prepared to depart for Baghdad, reports emerged that the agents were to be guarded by none other than Blackwater itself. Senator Patrick Leahy quickly raised questions about the arrangement, forcing the Bureau to announce it would be guarded by official personnel and not personnel from the same company it was investigating.

In the meantime, the official investigation of the Bush administration would be conducted by the State Department, whose personnel continued to depend on the chief suspects to keep them alive. “To rely on non-law enforcement to conduct sensitive law enforcement activities makes no sense if you want impartial justice,” said Melanie Sloan, a former federal prosecutor who currently serves as Executive Director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

Normally when a group of people alleged to have gunned down 17 civilians in a lawless shooting spree are questioned, investigators will tell them something along the lines of: “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.” But that is not what the Blackwater operatives involved in the Nisour Square shooting were told. Most of the shooters were questioned by State Department Diplomatic Security investigators with the understanding that their statements and information gleaned from them could neither be used to bring criminal charges against them, nor even be introduced as evidence.

ABC News obtained copies of sworn statements given by Blackwater guards in the immediate aftermath of the shootings, all of which began, “I understand this statement is being given in furtherance of an official administrative inquiry,” and that, “I further understand that neither my statements nor any information or evidence gained by reason of my statements can be used against me in a criminal proceeding.” CCR’s Ratner said the offering of so-called “use immunity” agreements by the State Department was “very irregular,” adding he could not recall a precedent for it. In normal circumstances, Ratner said, such immunity was only granted after a Grand Jury or Congressional committee had been convened and the party had invoked their 5th Amendment right for protection against self-incrimination. It would then be authorized by either a judge or the committee.

“What the State Department has done in this case is inconsistent with proper law enforcement standards. It is likely to undermine an ultimate prosecution, if not make it impossible,” said military law expert Scott Horton of Human Rights First. “In this sense, the objective of the State Department in doing this is exposed to question. It seems less to be to collect the facts than to immunize Blackwater and its employees. By purporting to grant immunity, the State Department draws itself more deeply into the wrongdoing and adopts a posture vis-à-vis Blackwater that appears downright conspiratorial. This will make the fruits of its investigation a tough sell.” One US diplomat described the relationship between the US Embassy’s security office in Baghdad and Blackwater to The Los Angeles Times. “They draw the wagon circle,” the diplomat said. “They protect each other. They look out for each other. I don’t know if that’s a good thing, that wall of silence. When it protects the guilty, that is definitely not a good thing.”

[…]

When the FBI finally arrived in Baghdad, some of the Blackwater guards involved in the shooting refused to be interviewed, citing promises of immunity from the State Department. The agency also discovered that the crime scene had been severely compromised. Blackwater would later claim that proof it had been attacked by Iraqis could be found in damage to the company’s armored vehicles. Prince said three vehicles sustained gunfire damage and that the radiator on one had been “shot out and disabled.” The initial State Department report (written by the Blackwater contractor) alleged one had been “disabled during the attack” and had to be towed from the scene. But when the FBI went to investigate them, Blackwater had already “repaired and repainted them.” The Associated Press reported, “The repairs essentially destroyed evidence that Justice Department investigators hoped to examine in a criminal case that has drawn worldwide attention.” Blackwater spokesperson Anne Tyrrell said any repairs “would have been done at the government’s direction.” The State Department would not comment on it.

NOTE: Regarding the Nisour Square massacre: In December 2008, fIve Blackwater operatives were indicted on fourteen manslaughter charges and allegations they used automatic weapons in the commission of a crime. A sixth Blackwater operative has already pleaded guilty to two charges as part of an agreement to testify against his colleagues. The trial has not yet begun.

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