Blackwater blamed for shoddy security in workers' deaths

WASHINGTON — A scathing report released Thursday on the 2004 slayings of four Blackwater contractors in Fallujah charges that the company rushed unprepared into a sloppy mission, skimped on security to save money and stonewalled when Congress tried to investigate.

Blackwater founder Erik Prince, seldom seen in public, is to testify Tuesday before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, whose Democratic staff issued Thursday's report. The committee is led by Henry Waxman, D-Calif.

According to the report, based on government reports and internal Blackwater documents:

• Blackwater, a for-profit company, opted to use unarmored vehicles to save money and cut essential personnel from the mission. An internal Blackwater report said Blackwater's contract paid for armored vehicles but "management in North Carolina ... made the decision to go with soft skin due to the cost."

• Blackwater ignored the warnings of a British security firm, which twice had turned down the same mission.

• Blackwater impeded the congressional investigation by claiming that key documents were classified. The documents weren't secret, despite an attempt by Blackwater's general counsel, the Pentagon's former top auditor, to try to persuade defense officials to classify them after the fact.

Images of the March 31, 2004, ambush were flashed around the world after a mob dragged the bodies of the contractors through the streets and hanged two charred corpses from a bridge over the Euphrates River. The attack set off the abortive first battle of Fallujah in April 2004, which ended with the deaths of 36 U.S. troops, some 200 insurgents and 600 civilians.

Fallujah became a haven for insurgents for seven months, until U.S. troops attacked and captured the city, at a cost of at least 51 Americans and 1,200 insurgents and Iraqi civilians killed.

In a statement, Blackwater spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell called the report a "one-sided version" of a tragic incident. She said the committee has documents that show the Blackwater team was "betrayed" and steered into "a well-planned ambush."

David Marin, the committee's Republican staff director, criticized the Democratic staff for reaching conclusions before the panel could dig deeper.

The families of the four slain contractors sued the company in January 2005, saying Blackwater's cost-cutting measures led to the deaths. That lawsuit is pending.