Shit First, Ask Questions Later

Blackwater USA founder and CEO, Erik Prince, former Navy SEAL and Michigan native told Congress:

No individual ever protected by Blackwater has ever been killed or seriously injured. There is no better evidence of the skill and dedication of these men,” Prince said, adding there was a “rush to judgment” on whether Blackwater had acted improperly. (“Congress grills Blackwater CEO”).

He said this on Tuesday to Rep. Henry Waxman’s House Oversight Committee. Waxman is no slouch when it comes to rushing to judgment, and immediately changed the subject from Blackwater's perfect record to the scandal that privatizing security in Iraq was “working exceptionally well for Blackwater,” meaning financially. (Just after saying this, and momentarily misunderstanding the name “Blackwater” to mean that the contractor was actually a large and greedy oil company, Waxman was only just yanked back by an alert staffer from promising into the mike that "I want to take those profits" and put them into Senator Clinton's strategic energy fund. )

In keeping with the Left’s modus operandi of taking their opponents’ every potential political bump, without regard for the complications of facts, and reducing it to a slogan that can be plastered with all the others onto the rear hatch of a 1979 Subaru, the charges being repeated now against the Blackwater company are that they are “cowboys,” "trigger-happy," and that they're “out of control,” Now, thanks in part to Waxman’s committee and the New York Times, we all know there is “a shoot-first, ask-question-later mentality on the part of Blackwater guards.” (“Firms in Iraq face court jurisdiction").

There were even charts being passed around to show how often Blackwater guards “fired first.”

ABC News explains (“Blackwater: Shoot First, Face Questions Later, Committee Says”)

Overall, the firm's soldiers-for-hire, working on contract to the U.S. government, have engaged in at least 195 shooting incidents in Iraq since 2005, the committee said. In 84 percent of such incidents, the committee said, Blackwater personnel fired first. The other firms, Dyncorp and Triple Canopy, reported shooting first in 62 percent and 83 percent of their incidents, respectively.

State Department policy and U.S. law requires contractors to “engage in defensive uses of force” only to prevent “imminent and grave danger” to themselves or others, according to the committee's memo. But “the vast majority of Blackwater weapons discharges are preemptive,” before the company's guards receive any incoming fire, the committee found.

Stated another way, critics of a “fire first” policy clearly favor either a “fire second” policy (which has proven successful in sport target-shooting where all contestants politely take turns), or a “fire-second-if-you-still-can policy.”

The Left's traction on this issue is due in part to Americans' overexposure to too much E! Channel and VH-1. It isn't quite clear enough that Blackwater "bodyguard" duty in Baghdad is not exactly comparable to bodyguard duty in say, Los Angeles, where Sonny and T-Bone’s primary mission is to protect J-Lo’s bottom from unauthorized pinching by the drunks on the other side of the velvet rope. (Don't ask how I know.) Blackwater’s primary mission is protecting US and other diplomatic personnel from getting assassinated by highly-aggressive, and suicidal, murderers in an extremely hostile urban combat zone.

Yet it turns out that Blackwater has in fact experimented with an “ask-questions-first, wait-for-incoming-fire-then-shoot-second” policy during one of its recent patrols. The results, which were mixed, were caught on a tape recovered from a destroyed SUV, and a transcript of which naturally, we at DU, have obtained.

The situation is a convoy of Blackwater vehicles on a mission to escort US Assistant Undersecretary of State for Baghdad Reconstruction Miles Tugo down the Iraqi capitol’s violent Haifa Street:

1st Guard: “...so anyway, I don’t think I’ll forget my wedding anniversary again next year!”

Undersecretary: “Hey, guys, there’s the white pickup again.”

2nd Guard: “Yup. Definitely trying to cut us off.”

Undersecretary: “They’ve stopped. They’re getting out. I see guns!”

1st Guard: “Okay guys. You know the drill. Take up defensive positions.”

2nd Guard: “Roger. I’m going for that burned-out taxi over there.”

Undersecretary: “I can see at least four of them. They’re running straight at us!”

From distance: “Allahu Akhbar! Allahu Akhbar!”

1st Guard: “Relax. Soon they’ll be close enough to that taxi where Zeke can start asking them questions one by one.”

Undersecretary: “Is that shooting! They’re all shooting at the car!”

1st Guard: “Not quite ready yet, Mr. Undersecretary. ”

Sounds of gunfire, and shouting, much closer: “Allahu Akhbar!”

Undersecretary: “Why don’t you shoot?”

1st Guard: “Policy. First we ask questions. Then they get to shoot. Only then do we shoot.”

Sounds of shooting, very close: Ka-pow! ka-pow! ka-pow! ka-pow! “Allahu Akhbar! Allahu Akhbar!”

Undersecretary: “Questions? What kind of questions do you ask at a time like this? Aaaaakkk!”

1st Guard: “Are you okay, Mr. Secretary? Mr. Secretary? (Sounds of continuous gunfire). Zeke? Zeke? Talk to me! Zeke! Zeke? Can you help us out here, Zeke?”

Kwame Kilpatrick Tells Radio Audience: 'It's Hard Out Here for a Mayor'

This past Tuesday Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was “blown away,” (his expression), when a jury unanimously found him and the city liable for unfairly punishing two ex-cops probing reports of bad behavior by the mayor and his police bodyguards. The jury awarded the plaintiffs more than $6.5 million.

"I'm absolutely blown away ... and I know Detroiters are, too," said Kilpatrick, who vowed to appeal the decision. (“Mayor 'blown away:' Jury awards $6.5M to two ex-cops”).

The mayor immediately denounced the verdict as unfair, charging that the “facts have no relation to the verdict," that he was not judged by his peers (because only one black Detroiter was on his jury), and that he “did not get a fair trial.” (“MAYOR VS. THE VERDICT: Kilpatrick brought the decision on himself, juror says”). He intends to appeal the verdict, which will drive up the final cost of the judgment as interest will continue to accrue until final resolution. Either way, the city will pay Kilpatrick's portion of the judgment.

The mayor promptly scheduled radio interviews on stations with a “predominantly urban audience.” Kilpatrick was able to explain that, in spite of the wickednesss of the jury system that so wrongly ruled against him, he is unphased by the judgments of the unrighteous, as he serves at the pleasure of the LORD.

“They don't have the power to resurrect or the power to condemn,” he said. “I will be here tomorrow at work, carrying my laptop.” He adds that he “won't be deterred from the mission God gave him to lead the city and warning black men that the outcome of his case sends a dangerous message.”

Kilpatrick explained to listeners that the unjust verdict against him is “Because people have been so pent up to punish me, they got it.”

And not only that, the unanimous verdict also was followed by scathing remarks from at least one juror, foreman Curtis Scott, who said in an interview that he thought the mayor and his chief of staff, Christine Beatty were “liars,” “arrogant,” and that the mayor was "a spoiled little brat who has been caught with his hand in the cookie jar, was sent to the corner and is now pouting."

Scott called him that name again, when he added, “He should take the punishment like a man, not like a spoiled little brat. He could save the city some money and save the court some time by not appealing.”

But Kilpatrick has to appeal, because while he personally is man enough to stand up under the injustice, he has a divine mission to look out for all those other black males whom may be similarly targeted.

“All of a sudden,” he said of his experience as a defendant, “you just get corrupt, ignorant, stupid, lazy and promiscuous. And I just think that this is a reality check -- not just on Kwame Kilpatrick because, you know, I'm God's guy; I'm going to be all right -- I think this is for all black men right now in the city of Detroit.

"I think we need to pause and examine this situation because there's so many of us that hear every day we're no good."

So Kilpatrick has to fight this injustice, as “God’s guy,” and for all the black men in Detroit who also risk facing “this situation.” (According to the Detroit Free Press, “The mayor did not specify what he meant by 'this situation,' and declined to comment for this report. His spokesman, Matt Allen, declined to clarify the mayor's remarks.")

Kilpatrick wound up his testimony this way:

"I believe with all of my heart and my soul that God anointed me to do this. And I believe something bad would happen to me if I walked away from this blessing."

After saying which, Kwame began spraying out an infectious beat, accompanied by, as it turned out, his chief of staff, Christine Beatty:

(Melodiously, to the tune of, “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp”):



It's Hard Out Here for a Mayor

[Chorus 2X: Christine - singing] + (Kwame)
You know it's hard out here for a mayah (you ain't knowin)
When he tryin to be His Honor and a playah (you ain't knowin)
For the Explorers and the lawyers money spent (you ain't knowin)
[1] Because a whole lot of cops talkin shit (you ain't knowin)
[2] And now a whole lot of jurors talkin shit (you ain't knowin)

[Kwame]
Cops that drive me see some crazy thangs in the streets
Like a bitch in a mink shakin' naked there for me
But I gotta keep my game tight like Coleman on vote night
Like lyin’ to the churches don't know no better, I know that ain't right
Done made people fired, done got people hurt
Done hit Jamaican coochie in a damn short skirt
It's fucked up where you live, but that's just how it is
Cuz my crib is a mansion, and I can stay in there for years
See I’m God’s guy for this city when it come down to this shit
So why not try to hit it 'fore I leave up out this bitch?
I'm tryin to have thangs but it's hard fo' a Mayah
But I'm prayin and I'm hopin to God I don't slip, yeah