Schakowsky Responds to Investigation into September 16th Blackwater Shooting

SCHAKOWSKY RESPONDS TO INVESTIGATION INTO SEPTEMBER 16th BLACKWATER SHOOTING

Washington, D.C.--U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) responded to today's New York Times story regarding the results of the FBI's investigation into the September 16th Blackwater shooting. Schakowsky delivered the following remarks this morning on the House floor.

"Today's New York Times reported that at least 14 of the 17 shootings from the September 16th Blackwater incident in Iraq were unjustified and violated deadly-force rules.

Even though the F.B.I. concluded that Blackwater used excessive force, there is no guarantee that anyone will be punished for these killings.

On Monday, the front page of the New York Times ran a story titled "Security Guard Fires From Convoy, Killing Iraqi Driver....

The shooter was an employee of DynCorp and the victim was an Iraqi taxi driver.

The details of the incident are still unclear, but one thing is certain. The problem of trigger-happy contractors isn't confined to one company; it applies to all private security contractors.

The longer we wait to fix this problem the worse this situation is going to get for the Iraqis and for our troops.

I urge my colleagues to co-sponsor the Stop Outsourcing Security Act, H.R. 4102, to phase-out unaccountable private security contractors before they do any more damage."