Schakowsky Responds to Blackwater Grand Jury Supoenas

SCHAKOWSKY RESPONDS TO BLACKWATER GRAND JURY SUPOENAS

Washington, D.C.–U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, released the following statement in response to today's New York Times article about how federal prosecutors recently issued grand jury subpoenas to several Blackwater employees involved in the September 16th shooting. Schakowsky recently introduced H.R. 4102, the Stop Outsourcing Security (S.O.S.) Act, to phase-out private security contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"The fact that the Bush Justice Department is investigating the involvement of Blackwater employees in 14 killings of Iraqi civilians is just more proof that it is time to phase out the use of private security contractors. The Justice Department is belatedly responding to the international outcry against this Adminstration's reliance on reckless mercenaries in Iraq that operate with impunity, tarnish the reputation of the United States, and put our military at risk. These inherently governmental functions should rightly be conducted by U.S. security personnel who are clearly part of and accountable to the chain of command and laws of the United States....