Democrat all but accuses Rice of telling Blackwater to cover up

Nick Juliano
Raw Story
Wednesday, September 26, 2007

The US State Department is preventing a House committee from disclosing information that could "embarrass" Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki regarding an investigation of alleged corruption within his government, a lawmaker alleges in a letter to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice.

State also is meddling in a related investigation of private security firm Blackwater, which has come under fire this month after a Sept. 16 shooting involving armed guards employed by the firm in which 11 Iraqis were killed, the House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman says.

Blackwater asked committee members to avoid "asking questions ... that might reveal sensitive operational and technical information," such as how many guards were involved in the alleged massacre, the number of weapons they used and the types of munitions they had available.

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Waxman also says investigators on his committee cannot question State Department officials on matters "that could embarrass the Maliki government unless the Committee agrees to refrain from any public discussion of their answers.

"State Department officials explained that any information about corruption within the Maliki government must be treated as classified," Waxman continued in a letter to Rice released Tuesday, "because public discussions could undermine U.S. relations with the Maliki government."

The Oversight Committee's investigation into Iraqi corruption follows the disclosure of a report from the US embassy in Baghdad that found corruption is the "norm" in Iraq's government.

Waxman said the meddling by the State Department in his investigations was preventing a "breathtaking" amount of information about corruption in Iraq from emerging.

Along with protecting the fledgling Maliki government, State also is keeping information on Blackwater out of the public eye. The private contractor has been forbidden from sharing documents related to its mission in Baghdad, where Blackwater guards protect American officials and diplomats.

A State Department contracting officer told Blackwater not to hand over documents related to its Iraq contract "unless such disclosure has been authorized in writing."

In a letter released late Tuesday, the department clarified that position, saying Blackwater could provide unclassified documents to the committee, but concerns about sensitive privacy, security or proprietary data would need to be "properly handled and protected by Committee staff."