It sure sounds like it.

As I recall Mutha came out with his pronouncements pretty much along the lines of the condemnation of Blackwater which sounds like this exerpt from the article below:

"The first U.S. soldiers to arrive on the scene after the incident told military investigators they found no evidence contractors were fired upon, a source familiar with a preliminary U.S. military report told CNN."

Don't you just love these anonymous sources taking to CNN or the NYTs or whoever.

Og yeah regarding Haditha, Murtha is just about to get his Big Fat Mouth & Big Fat A-- sued off by all the Marines at Haditha who had been exhonerated of the allegations made against them including reports that no one fired on them.

Yeah that's why there was a 4 hour firefight following the IED explosion because no one was shooting at the Marines and it was all a figment of their collective imagination.

==============================­=========

Blackwater chief: Guards were 'definitely' fired on

• Story Highlights
• Erik Prince: "There was definitely incoming small arms fire from insurgents"
  
• There was "no deliberate violence," he said, during September 16 shooting
  
• Iraqi government says Blackwater guards killed 17, fired without provocation
  
• AP: Blackwater may be expelled from Iraq within six months
  

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The head of Blackwater USA on Sunday rejected a mounting series of reports suggesting the private contractor's security guards opened fire on innocent Iraqi civilians last month.

"There was definitely incoming small arms fire from insurgents" in the September 16 incident in Baghdad, founder and CEO Erik Prince told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on "Late Edition."

There was no "deliberate violence," committed by Blackwater employees, he added.

Still, when asked whether it is possible someone with Blackwater "screwed up" in the incident, Prince replied, "Certainly it's possible."

He said he expects the FBI investigation to provide many answers.

Meanwhile, U.S. and Iraqi officials continue discussing Baghdad's demand that Blackwater be expelled from Iraq within six months, The Associated Press reported Sunday.

American officials are also coming up with ways to fill the security gap if Blackwater is forced to leave, AP reported.

Blackwater guards, protecting U.S. officials in Iraq, face dangerous circumstances every day and have navigated the vast majority of those situations without any violence, Prince told CNN.

The guards just try to do their jobs, and are "not trying to make any trouble," he said.

The Iraqi government accuses Blackwater guards of opening fire without provocation on civilians in a crowded area in Baghdad on September 16, killing 17 and wounding 27.

Survivors told FBI investigators Blackwater guards shot at civilians presenting no threat.

The first U.S. soldiers to arrive on the scene after the incident told military investigators they found no evidence contractors were fired upon, a source familiar with a preliminary U.S. military report told CNN.

The soldiers found evidence suggesting the guards fired on cars attempting to leave and found weapon casings on the scene matching only those used by U.S. military and contractors, the military source said.

But Prince on Sunday told CNN, "In the incident reports I've seen, at least three of our armored vehicles were hit by small arms fire, incoming, and one of them damaged, which actually delayed their departure from the traffic circle while they tried to rig a tow.

"So there was definitely incoming small-arms fire from insurgents."

He added, "I guarantee our guys weren't shooting at each other."

And he said the traffic circle is very big, so those first soldiers on the scene would have needed "almost a battalion to secure that entire area, to do a thorough crime scene type investigation."

"So the jury is still out. We'll see what the FBI report comes up with, but I'm confident that the kind of people we have out there are proven military professionals," Prince said.

Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh accused Blackwater of "a deliberate crime against civilians," and said the company "should be tried in court, and the victims should be compensated."

A Philadelphia law firm has filed suit in federal court against Blackwater on behalf of the families of three Iraqis killed and one wounded in the in the incident, which occurred in and around Baghdad's Nusoor Square.

The suit claims Blackwater "created and fostered a culture of lawlessness amongst its employees, encouraging them to act in the company's financial interests at the expense of innocent human life."

Prince called the lawsuit "politically motivated" for "media attention," and rejected the depictions of his company.

"In Baghdad, the most dangerous city in the world, to say that it was a callous, rampant, evil action, you know, when the guys get it right 99 out of 100 times and don't have to use any force or any violence at all, I think they are doing very well," he said.

Therefore it has no credibility. I choose to believe the Iraqi government.

Our soldiers are clearly lacking in training as to what to say when on a Nazi crusade!

Hence the need for Blackwater...

It's imperative that the 4th Reich's agenda be realised.....Why?......Well,Yo­u tell me!

...would be spending nearly all of his "Butt-time" defending the murder of unarmed non-combatant civilians!

PS: How did that "Freedom of Information Act" search go??? (Or did mommy hide her credit card again?)... HEAR BACK from the Sec of the NAVY yet??? .... BET you haven't even got up off of your lazy Neo-Ass yet to file those FEDERAL CRIMINAL CHARGES, have you???

But that is what Dems and their friends in the lib media do. They move from one assault to another attacking the good people helping the USA win the war in Iraq.

The Dems are desperate to lose and will do anything to cause the USA harm in Iraq. This is something we all know.

My name is BLACKwater Drive-by. I am a soldier. Let me relate to you what happened to me one fateful day in June of '05.

My unit is part of the the 101st Chairborne Division. We were patrolling the message boards on Iraq when the latest news broke. It was not good. A story from the AP reported that Bush's approval rating was at 42% and dropping.

In a matter of minutes, the libbies came at us with their attacks on our leader George Bush. My Commanding Officer messaged me, "Libbies on thread 1270!" His name was libbies_suck_cock -- he was with me on IM.

I fired a shot off at the traitor on thread 1270. "You look French!" I wrote. BAM! That's one less libbie to ever threaten America again. "Cheese-eating surrender-monkey!" I told another. There's another notch for my keyboard!

My CO called in an airstrike. "While I may disagree with what you say, I would fight to the death for your right to say it!" he wrote. There goes a nest of libbies!

But they kept coming -- they were everywhere, swarming the whole message board. I was typing furiously: "Michael Moore is fat! Bush won! Why do you hate America!" The keyboard was stained orange with powder from the damned Cheetos, but there was no time to wash my hands.

And then one libbie replied, "The military is facing a recruitment shortfall, and the existing forces are being stretched to the limit. Since you support this war so much, and since you have such disdain for those who oppose it, why don't you show your support by joining the army in their time of need? 1-800-GOARMY"

Despite being so well-trained in trash talk, we were left speechless. He had inflicted a mortal wound to everyone in my unit. I watched as one by one, my brothers slinked away in shame. Humiliated, I reached for the ignore button. The libbie's name was democrats_are_patriots.

Though defeated, I lived to troll another day. I may not bear any physical scar from the battle, but the psychological trauma will be with me for the rest of my life. One day, I might even tell the tale to my grandchildren. That is, if I ever meet a girl and get laid.

In the meantime, I'm still waiting for a reply from my senator. I wrote to him asking that I be recommended for the Congressional Medal of Honor.

reminisces!

Perhaps you can explain why a thorough search of the scene conducted by the US military 20 minutes after the incident was over failed to produce a single shell casing from a weapon other than the ones carried by Blackwater's men.

Or, perhaps you can explain the entire series of eyewitness accounts that flatly contradict the company's claims.

Or, you can explain why Blackwater is makeing the opposite claim but refusing to offer any evidence to support it.

Or maybe, you'd care to discuss the dozens of other similar incidents involving Blackwater.

No?

It takes a real American to celebrate torture.

A real American to celebrate a company that hires men from Latin American death squads to do America's fighting for it.

It takes an American like you who beleives so fervently in the war in Iraq that he can support renting an army to fight it for him.

Congradulations.

I prefer to trust the word of the US Army and its soldiers who say Blackwater is rogue and a menace.

as was Murtha's initial verbal assault on the Marines.

Murtha will pay dearly for his misstep. He'll have to give a depostion and testify and if they can impeach him in either his political career is over not to mention he will be bankrupt to and have to play games like OJ is playing to shhield his assets probably by his lobbyist brother who Murtha made rich.

Maybe they'll snag his brother too in this mess and clean all that crap up!

Here's hoping!

I notice the cowardly con (that would almost certainly be Mandate, in his current iteration as NCMusucian) gave me a minus one, but didn't even try to refute anything I posted.

While he ranted at length about Valarie Plame (falely), about the LA Times (again falsely) and about CBS (falsely again), when confronted with facts (which are documened) that flatly conradict what he's saying about Blackwater, he runs and hides.

..."Idiots" & "Phonies" like YOU, Tin Soldier!!!!

You LOVE ta’ BEAT THOSE WAR DRUMS while you sit NICE and SAFE behind you computer keyboard, RIGHT???

STILL spending nearly all of your "Butt-time" defending the murder of unarmed non-combatant civilians AS WELL AS the TOTAL INCOMPETENCE of your "Boy George"!!!

PS: How did that "Freedom of Information Act" search go??? (Or did mommy hide her credit card again?)... HEAR BACK from the Sec. of the NAVY yet??? .... BET you haven't even got up off of your lazy Neo-Ass yet to file those FEDERAL CRIMINAL CHARGES, have you???

*** FOUR WEEKS.... and counting! ***

Does Blackwater Play By Its Own Rules in Iraq? An arrogant attitude only adds fuel to the criticism. By Rod Nordland and Mark Hosenball Newsweek

Oct. 15, 2007 issue - The colonel was furious. "Can you believe it? They actually drew their weapons on U.S. soldiers." He was describing a 2006 car accident, in which an SUV full of Blackwater operatives had crashed into a U.S. Army Humvee on a street in Baghdad's Green Zone. The colonel, who was involved in a follow-up investigation and spoke on the condition he not be named, said the Blackwater guards disarmed the U.S. Army soldiers and made them lie on the ground at gunpoint until they could disentangle the SUV. His account was confirmed by the head of another private security company. Asked to address this and other allegations in this story, Blackwater spokesperson Anne Tyrrell said, "This type of gossip has led to many soap operas in the press."

Whatever else Blackwater is or isn't guilty of—a topic of intense interest in Washington—it has a well-earned reputation in Iraq for arrogance and high-handedness. Iraqis naturally have the most serious complaints; dozens have been killed by Blackwater operatives since the beginning of the war. But many American civilian and military officials in Iraq also have little sympathy for the private security company and its highly paid employees. With an uproar growing in Congress over Blackwater's alleged excesses, the North Carolina-based company is finding few supporters.

Responsible for guarding top U.S. officials in Iraq, Blackwater operatives are often accused of playing by their own rules. Unlike nearly everyone else who enters the Green Zone, said an American soldier who guards a gate, Blackwater gunmen refuse to stop and clear their weapons of live ammunition once inside. One military contractor, who spoke anonymously for fear of retribution in his industry, recounted the story of a Blackwater operative who answered a Marine officer's order to put his pistol on safety when entering a base post office by saying, "This is my safety," and wiggling his trigger finger in the air. "Their attitude was, 'We're f---ing security; we don't have to answer to anybody'."

Congress disagrees. Until now, private security contractors working for the State Department, as Blackwater does, have effectively not been covered by either U.S. or Iraqi law, or military regulations. A bill that overwhelmingly passed the House last week would close that loophole. But the law would also require the FBI to establish a large-scale presence in Iraq in order to investigate accusations against private contractors. Law-enforcement officials worry that this would draw valuable resources away from FBI efforts to combat terrorism in the United States. Also, whenever FBI agents venture into Iraq now they are guarded by ... Blackwater operatives. The bureau has sent a team to Baghdad to investigate the Sept. 16 shooting in Nasoor Square, in which Blackwater guards are accused of killing as many as 17 Iraqi civilians. In order to avoid "even the appearance of any conflict [of interest]," according to an FBI spokesman, the agents will be defended by U.S. government personnel.

It is not an idle concern. Blackwater's staunchest defenders tend to be found among those whom they guard. U.S. officials prefer Blackwater and other private security bodyguards because they regard them as more highly trained than military guards, who are often reservists from MP units. A U.S. Embassy staffer, who did not have permission to speak on the record, said, "It's a few bad eggs that seem to be spoiling the bunch." Late last week the State Department announced that it would increase oversight of Blackwater in particular, installing cameras in its vehicles and having a Diplomatic Security Service officer ride along on every convoy. But another State Department official, also speaking anonymously, says that DSS agents in Baghdad have not been eager to rein in the contractors in the past: "These guys tend to close ranks. It's like the blue wall."

Testifying before Congress last week, 38-year-old Blackwater chief Erik Prince vigorously defended his company's "dedicated security professionals" who "risk their lives to protect Americans in harm's way overseas." Prince probably had no reason to be as smug as he seemed to many observers. In deflecting questions about a drunken Blackwater operative who allegedly shot and killed a bodyguard for Iraqi Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi in the Green Zone on Christmas Eve last year, Prince said that the employee, later identified as Andrew Moonen, had been fined and fired. But on Friday House Oversight Committee chairman Rep. Henry Waxman released a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recounting evidence that Moonen was able to return to Iraq and worked there for another company. Moonen's attorney, Stewart Riley, told NEWSWEEK his client denies wrongdoing and is not facing criminal charges. Blackwater is no doubt in for further fire fights.

With Larry Kaplow in Baghdad and Michael Hastings in Washington

Oh well! .... But.... then again... THIS is the "Brand" of SOP that the Hardcore Right-wing Bush-Loyal are VENOMOUSLY DEFENDING each & every DAY, now isn’t it?

As I’d written:

Is this REALLY the way that the United States and its current LEADERSHIP want to "Endear" themselves to the unarmed "Iraqi Civilian Population"???

The EVIDENCE is ABUNDANT that in the case of "Blackwater Security" mission operations, protocol and restraint with non-combatant IRAQI CIVILIANS has CLEARLY "Not been FOLLOWED" time & time AGAIN!!!

THE BUSH LOYAL keep chanting, "This is A-OK" and "this brand of 'Policy' is going to WIN over the current 'Insurgency'!!!"...... (riiiiiiight!)

.....(All I can say is:).....

***Sorry, NEO-BOTS!***

.... But it's clear that this will only serve to push the main population of IRAQ to fight even HARDER against those that are currently occupying "Their" country!