Blackwater: You Want Us to Supervise Our Guys? It’ll Cost You

The Senate Armed Services Committee’s Blackwater-in-Afghanistan hearing is just getting underway, but here’s an early highlight, courtesy of the committee’s chairman, Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.). When Raytheon, the contractor that hired a Blackwater arm called Paravant as a subcontractor to train Afghan troops, objected to Blackwater guards’ drunken firing on Afghan motorists in May 2009, this was the response, received via email:

“If [Raytheon] believes that Paravant has an obligation to supervise all subcontractor personnel at all times… Paravant will need to submit a request for equitable adjustment for the additional personnel, security, and other costs of providing such ’24-7′ supervision throughout Afghanistan.”

This is quite literally saying that it will cost Raytheon money to ensure Blackwater doesn’t shoot civilians. There’s a line from ‘Goodfellas’ that captures that attitude perfectly.