WASHINGTON — A Senate investigation accuses the Army of turning a blind eye when a Blackwater subsidiary hired violent drug users to help train the Afghan army and declared “sidearms for everyone” — even though employees weren’t authorized to carry weapons.
The findings by Democratic staff on the Senate Armed Services Committee paint a picture of lawlessness that contributed to the May 2009 shooting deaths of two Afghan civilians and fed anti-Western sentiment in the region.
“Blackwater operated in Afghanistan without sufficient oversight or supervision and with almost no consideration of the rules it was legally obligated to follow,” said Sen. Carl Levin, the committee’s chairman.
Mark Corallo, a spokesman for the company now known as Xe Services, said management was taking steps to address shortcomings in the program when the shootings occurred.
Former employees of the company’s subsidiary Paravant — Justin Cannon and Christopher Drotleff — have been charged with killing two Afghans and injuring a third.
Cannon and Drotleff were not supposed to be armed and had been drinking. They also probably shouldn’t have been hired by Blackwater at all. Drotleff’s lengthy criminal record included assault and battery, while his three-year career in the Marines ended after seven unauthorized absences and charges including assault.
Cannon had been discharged from the Army after going AWOL and testing positive for cocaine, although he later petitioned successfully to have his military records changed to an honorable discharge.
The Senate Armed Services Committee planned to convene a hearing today.
