Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
Remember the story about the Blackwater employee who got drunk and killed an Iraqi man? Since neither American nor Iraqi law applied to his actions, he was not punished. Blackwater, knowing it had a major problem on its hands, quickly got him out of Iraq and paid $15,000 to the family of the victim. They originally were going to offer $250,000, but the State Department said that was too much and might encourage Iraqis to get themselves shot for the money (no, I'm not making that up - it's in the Congressional report noted here).
Well it turns out that the guy turned around and got another job with a private contractor with the Pentagon and went right back. Waxman is demanding all the State Department documents relating to the incident. In particular, he wants to know what the State Department told the Pentagon about it when they hired the guy and gave him his security clearance back and sent him to Kuwait. Can you say "executive privilege"?
Comments
His lawyer does have a compelling argument...
So he got wasted and blew some innocent guy away. Could happen to anyone. It's not like he lied on his resume people!
Posted by: Dave S. | October 9, 2007 12:36 PM
@Dave:
Well, that's one of the perks of being above the law. You can't get a criminal record, no matter what you do.
Posted by: konrad_arflane | October 9, 2007 1:56 PM
I am unclear on the basis for the claim that Iraqi law is not applicable to civilian contractors. The claim is that they were immunized by a Coalition Provisional Authority decree. My understanding is that the decrees of an occupying power cease to have effect when power is transferred back to the local government, in which case the CPA decree long ago ceased to be in force. Is this not the case?
Posted by: Bill Poser | October 9, 2007 2:58 PM
As per my comment on another post, a recent article in The Guardian claims the Iraqi government's report does say Blackwater's license to operate in Iraq, and hence its immunity, expired on June 2nd 2006. Whether or not that's referring to the transfer of power back to the Iraqi government, I've no idea (when did that transfer occur?).
Posted by: blf | October 9, 2007 5:29 PM
Now, I've never admitted to getting drunk and murdering somebody during a clearance investigation, so I can't be entirely sure of the consequences, but they always lead me to believe that something like that would probably disqualify me on the basis of having piss poor judgment and self-control. You have to report serious traffic citations when you hold a security clearance, and they let this guy get drunk and shoot somebody?
Posted by: Troublesome Frog | October 10, 2007 1:49 AM
Posted by: Bill Poser | October 10, 2007 2:13 AM