[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5631]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               SUPPORT THE STOP OUTSOURCING SECURITY ACT

  (Ms. SCHAKOWSKY asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, last Friday, the State Department 
decided to renew Blackwater's $1.2 billion contract for another year. 
It has been over 6 months since Blackwater contractors killed 17 
innocent Iraqi civilians, 16 months since the Christmas Eve murder in 
the Green Zone, and 35 months since a Blackwater helicopter dropped CS 
gas on a traffic jam in Baghdad. Yet there have been no arrests, no 
charges, no trials, no convictions. Nothing.
  The Department of Justice, the FBI and State Department have remained 
completely silent about these investigations. Meanwhile, those 
contractors are still working side-by-side with our troops in Iraq.
  But what is even more appalling is that our government has ignored 
those abuses and renewed Blackwater's contract. If you owned a company, 
would you rehire someone who has killed dozens of innocent people? The 
State Department's decision not only puts the lives of innocent Iraqi 
civilians at risk, but it threatens the safety of our troops and 
jeopardizes our mission in Iraq.
  I urge my colleagues to sign on to my bill, H.R. 4102, the SOS, or 
Stop Outsourcing Security Act, and phase out the use of military 
security contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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