CIA Shut Down in Iraq
According to exclusive information obtained by Pajamas Media's Washington editor Richard Miniter, the movement of key CIA station personnel in Baghdad has been all but shut down. Are we witnessing Iran's counter-strike to the surge?
Support Pajamas Media; Visit Our Advertisers
Movements of key CIA station personnel in Baghdad-along with most State department diplomats and teams building police stations and schools-have been frozen for the second day in a row, according to a State department source who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Essentially, the CIA, State department and government contractors are stuck inside the International Zone, also known as “the Green Zone,” in Central Baghdad. Even travel inside that walled enclave is somewhat restricted.
Pajamas Media is the first to report that the CIA station is all but motionless-as meetings with informants and Iraqi government officials have been hastily cancelled.
What caused the shut down? Following a firefight between Iraqi insurgents and a Blackwater USA protection detail on Sunday (12:08 PM Baghdad time), Iraqi officials suspended the operating license of the North Carolina-based government contractor. While the Iraqi government is yet to hold a formal hearing on the matter, Blackwater and all it protects remain frozen.
“By jamming up Blackwater, they shut down the movements of the embassy and the [CIA] station,” a State department source told Pajamas Media. He is not cleared to talk to the press.
Blackwater provides Personnel Security Details-or PSDs-for most CIA, State department, and U.S. Agency of International Development officers. In addition, Blackwater’s special-forces veterans guard many of the Provincial Reconstruction Teams-or PRTs-that build schools, clinics, police and fire stations and other structures that house essential Iraqi government services. Work on these vital “hearts and minds” projects has all but stopped across Iraq.
The State department has long insisted on using Blackwater and other private security firms so that its convoys and legations would not be controlled by the Defense department.
There are now more private contractors working in Iraq than U.S. soldiers serving there. Many are not U.S. citizens. Triple Canopy, another private firm, usually hires Peruvians to man the checkpoints inside the International Zone and Ugandans to guard distant airbases. The Peruvians, known as “incas” among Americans there, usually do not speak English or Arabic-a persistent source of complaint by Iraqi politicians who speak one or both languages.
At least eight Iraqis are reported dead after the Sunday shoot out and some press reports refer to the local casualties as “civilians.”
“Initial press accounts were inaccurate,” said Blackwater USA spokeswoman Anne Tyrell. “The ‘civilians’ reportedly fired upon by Blackwater professionals were in fact armed enemies and Blackwater personnel returned defensive fire. Blackwater regrets any loss of life but this convoy was violently attacked by armed insurgents, not civilians, and our people did their job to defend human life.”
“Blackwater professionals heroically defended American lives in a war zone on Sunday and Blackwater will cooperate with any inquiry into this matter.”
It’s well known in Iraq that dead insurgents become “civilians” as soon as their comrades carry away their AK-47s and spare magazines. Captured al Qaeda manuals detail how militants should use deaths as a propaganda tool.
TIME magazine received a partial copy of the official incident report.
According to the incident report, the skirmish occurred at 12:08 p.m. on Sunday when, “the motorcade was engaged with small arms fire from several locations” as it moved through a neighborhood of west Baghdad. “The team returned fire to several identified targets” before leaving the area. One vehicle engine was hit and disabled by bullets and had to be towed away. A separate convoy arriving to help was “blocked/surrounded by several Iraqi police and Iraqi national guard vehicles and armed personnel,” the report says. Then an American helicopter hovered over the traffic circle, as the U.S. convoy departed without casualties. Some reports have said the helicopter also opened fire on Iraqis, but a Blackwater official told TIME that no shots were fired from the air.
By apparently lifting Blackwater’s license, the democratically elected Iraq government may stall the forward progress created by the Gen. Petraeus’ surge and change in counterinsurgency tactics.
Indeed, some contend that the actions of Iraq’s Ministry of Interior, which supervises police and some intelligence functions, may be influenced by insurgents or even by Iran.
The staffing and internal rules of the Interior ministry were set up by Biyat Jabr, an affable and charming Shia Muslim who once worked for Saddam Hussein. (He was never a member of the Ba’ath party and thus survived de-Ba’athification with ease.)
Jabr is widely believed to be in the pay of Iranian intelligence services, although U.S. officials caution that there is no firm evidence of this charge. Jabr left the ministry in August 2006 and is now Finance Minister, but before he exited he salted the ranks with people loyal to Iran and hostile to the U.S. “Innocents dying [in the Sunday gun battle with Blackwater] is just a pretext,” the same State department source said.
Enemies of the U.S. inside the Interior ministry have been looking to shut down Blackwater for some time.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has adopted the same hard line against the American company. “This company should be punished. We are not going to allow it to kill Iraqis in cold blood. We have frozen all its activities and a joint panel has been formed to investigate the incident,” the prime minister told wire-service reporters.
“For their own interests, the Americans should hire a new company to protect their people so they can move freely.”
Both the State department and the Congress have signaled that investigations in to Blackwater will begin soon.
The State department hopes to shift blame onto Blackwater’s low-level “trigger pullers,” says the State department source, while Rep. Henry Waxman’s committee is expected to target senior executives at Blackwater and top Bush Administration officials. A perfect storm is set to roil Blackwater.
If Blackwater and other private contractors are shut out of Iraq, Democrats in Congress and Iranian intelligence operatives may have stumbled on a way to end the Iraq War-less than a week after Gen. Petraeus testified that the U.S. is turning the corner.
| Comment |  Digg This |
 del.icio.us |
 |
 |
 PJM Home |
44 Comments
MS:Looks like the people at Blackwater are doing an effective job, so of course they’re going to be targets of people who want to see the US fail in Iraq. Watch the Democrats on Capitol Hill send a flurry of subpoenas to these guys.
Sep 19, 2007 - 1:22 pm Bill:Hmm. Maybe we should have taken a cue from Imperial Rome and Renaissance Italy and noted that mercenaries are almost always a bad idea — and not have used them. As far as I can tell, the laissez-faire revolutionaries tried to privatize war, and we’re seeing the consequences.
Sep 19, 2007 - 2:17 pm Scrambled Eggs:Slant
Sep 19, 2007 - 2:31 pm someguy:I don’t think it’s responsible to report on our CIA station like this.
Sep 19, 2007 - 2:31 pm Jay:The Company is a sick joke! Name me one great thing the Company has done? I can name 9-11, the Berlin Wall, Afghanistan, the Mig 25, MK ULTRA, Castro, Ames, Pollard, Hanson, Walker, UFOs and a thousand other screw ups! I thought the Company was cool but now I see they are true Government Employees and I would not work for them for a million dollars! What really hurts is my tax dollars pay their salary! Shalom. Sincerely,
Sep 19, 2007 - 2:47 pm T.S.:jfele@aol.com
As far as mercinaries go, they’re only a bad idea when you can’t afford to keep paying them or when you are sending them to fight their own people, since I don’t think we’re going to be reconstructing the government of North Carolina any time soon, we’re probably not too bad off.
Someguy: if all our CIA ops ran around with armed guards in conveys, they wouldn’t be to covert would they? I’m not saying we should just talk openly about our security forces or anything, but to think they’re entirely crippled as this article suggests doesn’t make much since
Sep 19, 2007 - 2:49 pm bc:Hmmm….that dead child and the mother that were shot and then burned together…..Blackwater felt really threatened…..shmucks
Sep 19, 2007 - 3:01 pm Bob:Blackwater I’m proud of you, you must be doing something right! State Dept would rather sacrifice their mission than work with DOD wtf?… over. As for the Clintonized CIA, get your heroe’s Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson IV to to safe guard your lives.
Sep 19, 2007 - 3:12 pm Matt:It sounds like the Iraqi’s want their country back.
Sep 19, 2007 - 3:17 pm JJ:Two sides:
1. It does look like a possible setup. Although, just cause it *could* look like it doesn’t mean it is.
2. BW does have a reputation for many of its guys being excessive. It may just be coming back to bite them.
Finally, do NOT assume that the State Dept. is a collection of noble civil servants.
Sep 19, 2007 - 3:26 pm coldeye3:Every dead civilian is a viet-cong, er, I mean insurgent. But I agree, we should let our mercenaries kill all the brown mothers and babies they can. After all, it is our country isn’t it?
Sep 19, 2007 - 3:30 pm shawn92101:Did ill-Maliki get the phrase “in cold blood” that is quoted above from that hero / patriot Jack Murtha? or maybe he just saw the Capote movie?
Just asking…
(sarcasm is now off)
Sep 19, 2007 - 3:48 pm Peter:Why doesn’t anyone realize that we have our military over there. why can’t they help protect the cia? why do we need to pay blackwater in the first place. follow the money and the propaganda….
Sep 19, 2007 - 3:49 pm RobertInDallas:The work done and actions taken by BlackWater in Iraq are not touchable by our congress, Its a private firm. The contracts are in the embassy in Iraq and has nothing to do with the haters in the DNC contrplled congress and senate. It is a setup. It wreaks of being a setup. And they are not mercenaries, they are security guards. Well paid security guards.
Sep 19, 2007 - 4:01 pm Baloney:What a bunch of garbage this story is. Blackwater has nothing to do with the State Dept. or the CIA. It would be a sad state of affairs if indeed those agencies needed protection from private companies and could not get the same protection from the US military itself. This is a propaganda ploy to allow these private firms to continue to glut the US war budget in their selfish favor. The US military is strong enough to do the job themselves. We certaily don’t need a bunch of high paid mercenaries, reporting to no one, involved in the mess over there. The Iraqi’s are right to demand justice for this apparent situation.
Sep 19, 2007 - 4:03 pm PETER GILL:The scoop by PAJAMA is poop! The CIA is never shut down. Even when pretentious congressmen think they can effectively wound the CIA they are far from shutting the CIA down……its laughable to think that inhibiting Blackwater has any effect on the CIA.
Sep 19, 2007 - 4:04 pm Kras:Shesssh!! The first defense against para military operations is inteligence which neither the State Dept nor Congressmen seem to demonstrate!
Movement restricted in the GZ? I am in the GZ, have had no problems driving around. No restrictions whatsoever. Dont read too much into this. Blackwater doesnt operate with a license, never has. This is Jabr saber rattling and typical Arab face saving. Like most guys here, I dont much like BW’s PSD meatheads. However, no one who has worked with them would accuse them of randomly killing civilians. They were engaged and returned fire. That is all.
Sep 19, 2007 - 4:11 pm Peg C.:Suggesting security companies other than Blackwater is like suggesting rebuilding and oil services other than Haliburton — for no earthly reason other than political.
I’m in favor of the war and of winning in Iraq and always have been, but if the Iraqis are stupid enough to run Blackwater out on a rail, they deserve the result.
Sep 19, 2007 - 4:32 pm Epic Lulz:Kras is lying!. I’m hiding right behind him in disguise (lampshade on my head). I think he peed his pants. The GZ is totally shut down don’t listen to him he works for BW!
Sep 19, 2007 - 4:39 pm Heather:Interesting note about more private contractors than soldiers in Iraq. My dad was offered a project manager job in Iraq a few years ago, very good pay, but he turned it down despite the offers of security from…Blackwater! Also interesting to note how Al-Qaeda is taking advantage of our idiot media by turning militants into civilians. Of course, if you believe the MSM, only women and children are being slaughtered by our side anyway.
Sep 19, 2007 - 4:42 pm Rick T.:For a well-balanced, introspective look at Blackwater and other private security companies, check out “License to Kill” by Robert Young Pelton.Pelton was imbedded with Blackwater and others during various conflicts. In addition to other facts and info, Pelton provides a believable rationale for the use of PSD’s in-country vs. utilization of normal Army personnel for the same tasks.
Sep 19, 2007 - 4:44 pm docdoober:Uh, I think I’ve seen this tactic before in a jungle - another Asian country some years back. Ringing any bells?
Sep 19, 2007 - 4:55 pm fred e bruynell:This is just what the democrats wanted,why don’t they just let us do our job and get it over with,so we can all come home////
Sep 19, 2007 - 5:11 pm dust:Does anyone find this disturbing. The dems seem to be on anyones side that hates the US.
If Blackwater and other private contractors are shut out of Iraq, Democrats in Congress and Iranian intelligence operatives may have stumbled on a way to end the Iraq War-less than a week after Gen. Petraeus testified that the U.S. is turning the corner.
Sep 19, 2007 - 5:12 pm M_Doney:Pajama Media is a traitor to print this sort of information. What next are you going to tell AQ exactly where our brigades are. It is tell-the-enemy mentality like this that makes people distrust the military.
Sep 19, 2007 - 5:21 pm ricky rightwing:The deaths and blood of all civilians and U.S. Troops are the responsibility of Republicans. No matter how you spin it and/or justify it, you Blackwater Repubs have blood on your hands and you shall take it to your graves.
Sep 19, 2007 - 5:24 pm david cory:It’s a sad commentary on the personnel running the State Dpt and Defense Dpt that the two dpts can’t get along so that private contractors are hired at outrageous fees to do what the Defense Dpt should be doing. What a lame government we have. Leaders with no backbone who are more concerned with helping their buddies with lucractive contracts rather than the national interest. Where’s the “greatest generation” when we need it? We have replaced self-sacrifice with greed and self-interest.
Sep 19, 2007 - 5:48 pm FNU LNU:Your State Dept. source is not totally correct in saying the Station is on a complete lockdown. Although BW performs PSD for those folks, they are not “locked down” per se. Administrative missions will be hindered, however operational missions can be assisted by DoD personnel as required in the short term until Blackwater gets back to work.
Sep 19, 2007 - 6:04 pm Beat:I’m not sure why this whole ‘well paid’ bit has had traction for as long as it has. The dollar figure may seem high, but beyond that and maybe DBA (which is not a bene anyone wants to be in a position to collect), ICs really aren’t all that well compensated. That’s the key when looking at this sort of thing, ‘compensation’ not just ‘pay’. As far as what happened Sunday…it may sound cold, but near as I can tell they did their job, the principal(s) survived.
Sep 19, 2007 - 6:17 pm Tony soprano:What I really find disturbing is that we are hiring these mercs at 5-10X the compensation of our regular military.
That means taxpayers and our military are getting screwed by Bush policies that support Blackwater and others.
Sep 19, 2007 - 6:27 pm paul:“The deaths and blood of all civilians and U.S. Troops are the responsibility of Republicans. No matter how you spin it and/or justify it, you Blackwater Repubs have blood on your hands and you shall take it to your graves.”
Have you lost your mind? How many democrats voted for the Iraq invasion? Right…Democrats will do whatever is popular with the general pop. at any given time, even vote to invade countries without a good reason.
Sep 19, 2007 - 6:39 pm Ram TX:Unfortunately our media has never given us the correct picture in Iraq, but I think this is a good and honest one. Let’s be honest it benefits the Dems for the US to fail. It is sad that it has become there policy.
It’s even sadder that the real problems in Iraq stem from Iran.
Sadder still that Western Europe turns a lazy blind eye.
About oil? Yep, but we all need it…cause I can’t grow enough food in my backyard when the trucks stop.
Sep 19, 2007 - 6:41 pm Bill Bradley:Kind of sad that the most famous intelligence service in the world has to rely on hired guns to get around the streets of a city we conquered over four years ago.
If I were in the CIA, I’d be too proud to rely on Blackwater for security.
Sep 19, 2007 - 6:54 pm Tim:General Petraeus and his colleagues and superiors often speak of “turning a corner in Iraq” when discussing progress there. Just how many corners does Iraq have?
Sep 19, 2007 - 7:13 pm Chris:This is troubling, to say the least. I would think the Qods (sp?) would be thrilled to take a few State/Company people hostage and this could be a perfect strategy for doing so. Wouldn’t put it past them. Softening the perimeter, as it were.
Sep 19, 2007 - 8:01 pm Patrick Carroll:Sounds to me like a weak, high-level, is getting props for dissing yanks.
Nothing else.
Either sacrifice the troops, or kill the king.
Sep 19, 2007 - 9:00 pm OmegaPaladin:PSCs are not really mercenaries for the most part. Working security in a foreign country is a better armed version of the domestic bodyguard or security guard. We don’t hire Blackwater to kill insurgents, you know. I’d suspect a setup myself
I can’t believe the CIA is unable to operate thanks to a lack of bodyguards. It’s not like they do covert operations with an escort.
Sep 20, 2007 - 1:41 am M. Simon:I’m with Joe Lieberman.
Leaving Iraq would put us in a much worse situation than the current one.
Evidently the Democrats want to test that proposition.
Interesting times.
Sep 20, 2007 - 3:02 am Otto:Some left wing bloggers are making the point that if CIA personnel who are presumably trained to use firearms are unable to move outside the green zone without heavy protection from Blackwater security people, what does this tell you about how effective the surge is proving in reducing violence in Baghdad and elsewhere. Sounds like a reasonable point to me. Also the mere idea that the CIA which is supposed to be a secret organization can only conduct its business while travelling in armored convoys is also rather absurd. Any response?
Sep 20, 2007 - 4:58 am davecatbone:Far worse things have happened in the “good wars” approved by the Democrats. There are messy things that happen, but Maliki must go, we must prevail.
Sep 20, 2007 - 6:58 am john:vote for duncan hunter so we can win in Iraq and get on with other matters!!!
Sep 21, 2007 - 8:35 pm jerry4837:Yep that surge is going real well. Obviously security in Iraq has much improved if government bodies won’t travel outside the green zone without fully armored up personal security. Betray-us is just a Bushie talking puppet.
Sep 21, 2007 - 9:26 pm John Spragge:The Iraqi government accuses Blackwater personnel of killing innocent Iraqi civilians. Blackwater disagrees. It seems both concerned governments have an investigation scheduled. You seem to have taken the side of Blackwater in advance, but assume, just for a moment, that the investigation does turn up evidence that Blackwater guards did kill innocent people. Will you then admit that Balckwater behaved wrongly, that the deployment of private “security” and the “outsourcing” of war amounts to a mistake, and that if it leads to a major failure (as in a collapse in the US effort in Iraq), the policy makers concerned will have only themselves to blame. Would you agree that the humiliation of the United States in Iraq under those circumstances might have at least the salutary effect of encouraging both public and politicians to take war a bit more seriously?
If you have some argument that the US war effort justifies the killing of innocent people and the deployment of wholly unaccountable private “security contractors”, can we hear it now?
Sep 22, 2007 - 10:02 am john:I have done some investigations. Looks like John Edwards has a hedge fund that includes Blackwater, and the president of Blackwater once worked in the White House travel office during the mid-1990’s (he was fired, started another business), and finally the top Blackwater commander in Iraq belongs to the same church as Obama. Man, now those are some wild connections!!
Sep 22, 2007 - 8:33 pm