NYT bashing
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The New York Times is still obsessing over Blackwater – well at least it gives Halliburton a break. Today the Times reports:
The American security contractor Blackwater USA has been involved in a far higher rate of shootings while guarding American diplomats in Iraq than other security firms providing similar services to the State Department, according to Bush administration officials and industry officials.
The Times doesn’t have any precise figures for Blackwater, but explains:
In 2005, DynCorp reported 32 shootings during about 3,200 convoy missions, and in 2006 that company reported 10 episodes during about 1,500 convoy missions. While comparable Blackwater statistics were not available, government officials said the firm?s rate per convoy mission was about twice DynCorp?s.
So DynCorp’s ‘shoot rate’ was around one mission in a hundred in 2005, and around one mission in 150 in 2006. Blackwater’s shoot rate was about twice as high, so if we average the shoot rate for DynCorp over the two years (one incident per 125 missions) then double it and round down for good measure, that gives Blackwater a shoot rate of one incident per 60 missions.
I don’t know about you, but I find those figures – both for Blackwater and DynCorp – staggering, even allowing for the fact that there must be other incidents where convoys come under attack, but keep going without returning fire.
I was under the impression that every time a convoy left the Green Zone it was like the scene in Mad Max II where the fuel tanker (no spoilers in case you haven’t seen it) driven by Max leaves the good guys’ compound. I pictured insurgents leaping off buildings on to the roofs of SUVs, IEDs going off left, right and centre, and suicide car bombs and RPGs coming from every direction.
Where did I get this impression? From watching the TV news and reading the mainstream news websites. It’s almost as if… as if… the media is exaggerating how bad things are in Iraq!
Ha!
September 27th, 2007 at 2:28 pm
The MSM.. LYING?!
Say it ain’t so!
September 27th, 2007 at 10:10 pm
I feel that Blackwater should have just as much right to kill “friendlies” as the armed forces.
If (in fact) Blackwater has a higher “friendly” kill rate compared to other merc companies and/ or the govt forces, then fire them. If not, then this looks much more like a scapegoat job.
September 27th, 2007 at 11:25 pm
Wow, that’s actually a lot higher than I would have expected. My impression of Iraq would probably translate into a shoot rate of 1 in 150-300. Now perhaps most of those shots are just warning shots into the air, but if they represent responses to legitimate insurgent/terrorist attacks, against an armed escort, then that’s a pretty significant conflict rate.
Just think if a couple times a year someone was actively trying to kill you during your daily commute, that’s a pretty significant threat level.
October 2nd, 2007 at 10:14 pm
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