[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 6283]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   THE STATE DEPARTMENT SHOULD NOT HAVE RENEWED BLACKWATER'S CONTRACT

  (Ms. SCHAKOWSKY asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Madam Speaker, only a week after the State Department 
renewed Blackwater's contract, the Bush administration was at it again 
giving more praise to Blackwater, the private military contractors. 
Last Friday, Ambassador Crocker said contractors ``like Blackwater are 
absolutely essential.''
  But was it absolutely essential for Blackwater to gun down 17 
innocent Iraqis? Was it absolutely essential for a Blackwater employee 
to kill a guard to the Vice President of Iraq? Was it absolutely 
essential for a Blackwater helicopter to drop CS gas on a traffic jam 
in Baghdad?
  It has been months, and some in cases years, since these incidents 
and we still don't have the results of those investigations. Instead, 
our government has ignored those abuses and renewed Blackwater's 
contract and then a week later said they are absolutely essential. What 
kind of country do we live in where it's acceptable for the United 
States government to praise and reward a company that kills innocent 
people?
  The only thing that is absolutely essential is that we end this State 
Department's dependence on private military contractors now.

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