Blackwater flies injured Polish diplomat to hospital

[babylonsister]

Blackwater flies injured Polish diplomat to hospital
By Jay Price and Hussein Kadhim | McClatchy Newspapers

* Posted on Wednesday, October 3, 2007


BAGHDAD — Security contractor Blackwater, under investigation in the killings of at least 16 Iraqis, turned a helicopter into an air ambulance Wednesday after bombs wounded the Polish ambassador to Iraq and members of his staff.

The helicopter evacuated Ambassador Edward Pietrzyk and three security guards to a U.S. military hospital.

Witnesses said the explosives were planted on both sides of the narrow side street where the Polish embassy is. About 1,000 Polish troops are in Iraq.

The diplomat's convoy had left the embassy and was about to pull onto a main road about 200 yards away when the first bomb detonated.

Mohammed Kadhim, 32, a worker performing maintenance in a house across the street from the embassy, said he'd been near a window and was blown onto the floor amid shattered glass.

Then came a second, louder explosion. Police and Iraqi army officials on the scene said the second explosion was two bombs wired together. Some witnesses also reported small-arms fire.

Kadhim and other workers ran outside and saw the convoy's badly damaged vehicles. Two of the armored Toyota Land Cruisers were nearly destroyed.

more...

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/20198.html

[Dark]

1. Why didn't they do that for the 16 Iraqis they murdered? n/t

[babylonsister]

2. Hell, I didn't know they were flying around there. nt

[Dark]

5. They were.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5ijw_6KyudCz3QqatYpG9MKkbadXA

Iraqi investigators believe that some of the gunfire also came from Blackwater helicopters which arrived overhead after the shooting began, a point which the company has denied.

[Bobbieo]

3. They were just doing their job. No kudos there!

[Dark]

4. Isn't that ALWAYS the excuse? n/t

[Booster]

6. Nothing more than a publicity stunt to show they are the good guys.

[babylonsister]

7. I never even considered that; I thought they were not even supposed

to be operating over there, in deference to the Iraqis who don't want them.
Though I have read that they are...

[tekisui]

9. And why does the State Dept. call them instead of Our Guys?

[babylonsister]

10. Thanks - exactly. nt

[gratuitous]

8. Yeah, and we get to pay for it

I'm sure there's a hazardous duty enhancement that will make this little medical evacuation cost the American taxpayer upwards of six or seven figures. Whaddya think?

[babylonsister]

11. Either way, it's costing all of us. But to hire Blackwater to do this is

shoving their omnipotence in our faces. It really makes me mad. x(

[lpbk2713]

12. And then they helped a little girl get her kitty out of a tree.

Please.