Blackwackwater Uses Poison Gas To Clear Traffic

• Ever get stuck in a traffic jam you wish you could just make disappear? Blackwater, the rough n’ wild private security firm operating with impunity in Iraq, has a tactic for you: poisonous gas. [NY Times]
• Errrrr...
• The New York Times reports that in May 2005, a Blackwater helicopter “dropped CS gas, a riot-control substance the American military in Iraq can use only under the strictest conditions and with the approval of top military commanders.”
• The gas, which can vomiting, “burning and watering eyes, skin irritation and coughing and difficulty breathing,” temporarily blinded “drivers, passers-by and at least 10 American soldiers operating the checkpoint.”
• Their reason for dropping the gas? To clear a traffic jam.
• Anne Tyrell, a blackwater spokeswoman, explained that the guards meant to drop a smoke canister, but dropped poisonous gas instead.
• But that’s not cool either.
• Says Captain Kincy Clark, a U.S. soldier present at the incident, “It just seemed incredibly stupid...The only thing we could figure out was for some reason, one of them figured that [the gaseous cloud] would somehow clear traffic.”
• You’re thinking, Blackwater must have gotten in trouble for this incident, right? Think again.
• Neither the State Department nor the Defense Department could confirm that an investigation into the incident had occurred.
• It seems, once again, that Blackwater has escaped scrutiny. [MicCheck]

http://miccheckradio.org/issues/2008/january/11/necessary_news#15683

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