I’ll bet somebody like Jerry Bruckheimer sees a movie in this article by Dana Priest.
During the Sadr militia’s Sunday attempt to seize the U.S. government headquarters in Najaf, the building was defended not by U.S. troops but by a small group of Blackwater Security Consulting “employees”. The Blackwater commandos, most of whom are former Special Forces troops, are on contract to provide security for the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Najaf. It turns out that the four men brutally slain Wednesday in Fallujah were also Blackwater employees.
In Sunday’s fighting, Shiite militia forces barraged the Blackwater commandos, four MPs and a Marine gunner with rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47 fire for hours before U.S. Special Forces troops arrived. A sniper on a nearby roof apparently wounded three men. U.S. troops faced heavy fighting in several Iraqi cities that day.
The Blackwater commandos, most of whom are former Special Forces troops, are on contract to provide security for the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Najaf.
With their ammunition nearly gone, a wounded and badly bleeding Marine on the rooftop, and no reinforcement by the U.S. military in the immediate offing, the company sent in helicopters to drop ammunition and pick up the Marine.
The identity of the Marine and two other wounded men could not be established, but their blood was still fresh hours later, when the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, and spokesman Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt arrived to survey the battle zone.
Without commenting at a news conference yesterday on the role of the Blackwater guards, Kimmitt described what he saw after the fighting ended. “I know on a rooftop yesterday in An Najaf, with a small group of American soldiers and coalition soldiers… who had just been through about 3 1/2 hours of combat, I looked in their eyes, there was no crisis.
Spectacularly interesting article about the standoff. Hey, if it was a movie, I’d definitely see it.