in a wide-ranging october 19 letter, chairman waxman asks for new blackwater explanations

while most of the letter
covers additional details [pdf] about
incidents already widely-known, this part
surprised many following the erik
prince/blackwater corruption scandal:

. . .According to a military
official who has con-
tacted the Committee, in
2005 Blackwater attempted
to transport at least two
Iraqi military aircraft out
of lraq. The official stated
that the Iraqi Ministry of
Defense attempted to reclaim
the aircraft, but that Blackwater
would not comply. Please provide
the Committee with the
following information:

16. All documents related to efforts by
Blackwater to remove Iraqi aircraft
from Iraq and the current whereabouts
of such aircraft. . .

i think it is surprising that chairman
waxman is hearing directly from officials
disappointed with the performance of
blackwater -- i think this means there will
be quite a bit still to come, in relation
to just how atrociously erik prince's
private army of mercenaries performed
their duties in iraq. allegedly. we've
lately learned that after a crash with
a u.s. army humvee, the blackwater cowboys
drew their weapons on our u.s. servicemen,
and disarmed them -- by force -- then,
ordered them to lie prone, while the
these blackwater guys untangled the wreck. . .

just whose side are these guys on?

time for another command performance
on the hill, mr. prince -- you, and
mr. rumsfeld [get that link!],
and ms. rice have a whole lot of
explaining to do. . .

p e a c e