Thursday, February 25, 2010
Has South Park’s bad boy Eric Cartman pulled off his ultimate stunt? According to an investigation by the Senate Armed Services Committee into the not-so-funny antics of security contractor Xe (formerly Blackwater) in Afghanistan, the company has committed numerous violations of U.S. defense protocol, including the diversion of 500 assault rifles by a subsidiary employee who used the alias “Eric Cartman” when signing out the weapons from an American bunker. The Senate investigation found the Blackwater subsidiary, Paravant, used the AK-47s for “personal use,”
Committee chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) does not consider the Cartman or other controversies attributed to Xe a laughing matter. “In the fight against the Taliban, the perception of Afghans is crucial,” Levin told the media. “If we are going to win that struggle, we need to know that our contractor personnel are adequately screened, supervised and held accountable, because, in the end, the Afghan people will hold us responsible for their actions.”
Levin also said that Blackwater, without authorization, gave Paravant pistols from a Lockheed Martin contract, and that another defense contractor, Raytheon, complained to the U.S. Army that Paravant employees were carrying weapons without authorization.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Blackwater Took Hundreds of Guns From U.S. Military, Afghan Police (by Spencer Ackerman, Washington Independent)
Committee Probe Finds Blackwater Disregarded Rules In Afghanistan (by Roxanna Tiron, The Hill)
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