Vt. lawmakers demand Blackwater investigation

BENNINGTON -- Rep. Peter Welch is asking a U.S. House committee to launch an investigation into a private security firm operating in Iraq after bribery allegations surfaced Wednesday in a media report.

Secret payments

The New York Times reported Wednesday that four former top executives at Blackwater Worldwide, a private security firm now known as Xe Services, authorized secret payments of about $1 million to Iraqi officials after a September 2007 incident in which 17 Iraqi civilians were shot and killed.

The payments were approved in December 2007 as outrage over the killings was growing, according to The Times report. Company officials feared the security firm would be denied permits need to retain its contracts with the U.S. State Department and other private clients that were worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

American and Iraqi investigators have said the shootings were not justified.

Responding to The Times report, Welch, a Democrat, who is on a Congressional trip to Pakistan, penned a letter Wednesday asking the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to launch an investigation into the allegations. Welch said the company may have violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and may have interfered with a grand jury inquiry if the allegations are true.

"Reckless and dangerous"

"Blackwater has earned a reputation as a reckless and dangerous organization," Welch wrote to the committee chairman, Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y. "The United States government simply cannot turn a blind eye to such actions."

Welch said the company has been the subject of previous investigations by the committee and another look is warranted. "I strongly urge you to begin a new investigation to determine exactly what happened and whether any laws were broken. Blackwater officials must be held accountable for their actions," he wrote.

Welch has support from the remainder of the state’s congressional delegation.

David Carle, a spokesman for Democratic U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, said Leahy will continue to push for tougher laws dealing with contractor fraud and abuse. Leahy is also backing efforts to investigate Blackwater in the Senate that are being led by North Dakota Sen. Byron Dorgan, according to Carle.

Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent, is hoping to end the use of private security forces.

Sanders spokesman Will Wiquist said Sanders has introduced legislation that would prevent private security contractors from being used in conflict zones like Iraq and Afghanistan. U.S. military forces would instead fulfill those duties.

Contact Neal P. Goswami at ngoswami@benningtonbanner.com