Blackwater lawsuit over U.S. security contractors killed in Iraq headed for private arbitration

MIKE BAKER Associated Press Writer

(AP) - RALEIGH, North Carolina-A potentially landmark lawsuit with a very public beginning - televised images of the bodies of U.S. security contractors burned, mutilated and strung from a bridge in Iraq - seems destined for a private conclusion.

After years of appeals and legal maneuvering, security contractor Blackwater USA has successfully steered a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the families of the four slain employees into private arbitration.
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The move will keep the secretive company away from the light of a courtroom, where many expected to learn details about Blackwater and what critics call the private army it fields in Iraq and elsewhere.

"We're spending an awful lot of money on these companies, and people still can't define their role," said John Pike, a military analyst with think tank GlobalSecurity.org. "In court we may have found that we have private military companies performing roles that people thought our troops were performing."

The case stems from the deaths Scott Helvenston, Jerry Zovko, Wesley Batalona and Michael Teague, who were attacked by a frenzied mob in March 2004 as they escorted a supply convoy through Fallujah, Iraq. In a lawsuit filed the next year, family members accused Blackwater of failing to provide the security guards with such appropriate equipment as armored vehicles or even a map.

The insurgents burned and mutilated the men's bodies, and strung two from a bridge over the Euphrates River. The gruesome scene, caught on camera and broadcast worldwide, prompted the U.S. military to launch a three-week siege of the restive city west of Baghdad.

Blackwater, whose attorneys have included former Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth Starr and current White House Counsel Fred Fielding, argued from the start the company should not face scrutiny in civilian courts because the contracting industry is an extension of the military.

The North Carolina-based company did not find a friendly legal venue until recently, when U.S. District Judge James Fox, citing a clause in the employees' contracts, ruled the case should leave the public courtroom for the private world of arbitration.

"Out of respect for due process of law, our policy is not to comment on the merits of ongoing litigation, but anyone who supports the rule of law should be encouraged to see the written agreement finally being honored and the dispute heading to arbitration as the parties agreed," said Blackwater spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell.

Though the families have appealed Fox's order, they will face a daunting task to get the case back inside a courtroom, said Katherine Stone, a UCLA law professor who teaches arbitration and labor law. To succeed, the attorneys must prove there are problems or fraud involved with the arbitration clause of the slain men's contract.

Attorneys began the arbitration process Friday with a preliminary hearing. The proceeding, and all those that will follow, was held in private, unlike a civil trial that would have featured public testimony and an open file of documents.

"The losers in this development are ultimately the American people," said Jeremy Scahill, the author of a scathing analysis of the company in his book, "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army." "This incident was a major turning point in the occupation of Iraq, and it's incredibly important that we understand the circumstances that led up to it."

The outspoken family members who filed the lawsuit and testified about Blackwater before Congress earlier this year declined to comment about the case this week. Their attorneys did not return repeated phone calls seeking comment.

Blackwater attorneys also declined comment.

"No matter what happens, they don't want anybody to know what they're doing and how they're doing it," said Helvenston's brother, Jason, who can speak because he is not a party in the lawsuit. "It's an outrage that they're going to try and get away with it. It's surreal."

Based at a sprawling compound in the remote swamps of northeastern North Carolina near the tiny town of Moyock, Blackwater is notoriously reticent to discuss details of its business. Congress has even struggled at times to get answers about Blackwater and others in the private military contracting industry.

"(The Fallujah) incident was a bit of a wake up call to many people to not only the extent of the private security contracting but the questions surrounding it," said North Carolina Rep. David Price, a Democrat who helped add increased contracting oversight measures to the defense authorization bill approved by the House last week.

Earlier this year, the Pentagon finally confirmed Blackwater was providing armed security in Iraq under a contract that began under Halliburton Co.'s KBR unit. For more than a year, the Pentagon had denied it had hired Blackwater, even though The News & Observer of Raleigh had uncovered a chain of contracts linking Blackwater to KBR.

Blackwater provides security for State Department officials in Iraq, trains military and security personnel from the United States and abroad, and also helps coordinate security for corporate clients.

Military leaders have been unable to say how many contractors are operating in Iraq, although industry leaders estimated last year the number is around 48,000. Stuart Bowen, the special inspector general for reconstruction in Iraq, plans to audit Blackwater in the coming months, his office said this week.

"What we've come to realize is that this administration has engaged in private contracting on a scale previously unimagined," Price said. "We need to have a handle on it."

I just finished reading Blackwater by Jeremy Scahill. According to his book our government has hired these more of less Republican Guard to the tune of 100's of Millions of dollars. There fighters are paid between 500- 600 a day and accountable to no one! Then what they pay our troops. They are a Mercenary group of around 100,000 or more from all countries our press calls them private contractors! They were also sent to Hurricane Katrina. These are also known as the men in Black. I read this today in the news and record in Greensboro. This is some scarry stuff! These are Bush's private soldiers!