Schakowsky Response to Ambassador Crocker's Comments about Blackwater
| For Immediate Release: April 17, 2008 | Contact: Peter Karafotas (202) 226-6898 |
SCHAKOWSKY RESPONSE TO AMBASSADOR CROCKER'S COMMENTS ABOUT BLACKWATER | ||
| Washington, D.C.--U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), a founding member of the Out of Iraq Caucus, delivered the following statement on the House floor this morning in response to Ambassador Crocker's recent comments about Blackwater. Schakowsky is the sponsor of H.R. 4102, the Stop Outsourcing Security (S.O.S.) Act, which would phase out the use of private military contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan. "Only a week after the State Department renewed Blackwater's contract, the Bush Administration was at it again... giving more praise to Blackwater the private military contractor. Last Friday, Ambassador Crocker said that private military contractors "like Blackwater are absolutely essential." But was it "absolutely essential" for Blackwater to gun down 17 innocent Iraqis? Was it "absolutely essential... for a Blackwater employee to kill a guard to the Vice President of Iraq? Was it "absolutely essential" for a Blackwater helicopter to drop CS gas on a traffic jam in Baghdad? It's been months and in some cases years since these incidents and we still don't have the results of any of those investigations. Instead our government has ignored those abuses and renewed Blackwater's contract and then a week later said they are "absolutely essential.... What kind of country do we live in where it is acceptable for the U.S. government to praise and reward a company that kills innocent people? The only thing that is "absolutely essential" is that we end the State Department's dependence on private military contractors now." |