NYT vs Blackwater, brought to you by Michael Vick.

Post by **weemadando** » 2007-12-19 02:57am

News.com.au wrote:Blackwater guards shoot NY Times' guard dog

[I swear to god, you can't get a better headline than that]

From correspondents in Baghdad

December 19, 2007 08:14am
Article from: Reuters

THE US embassy in Iraq is investigating another deadly shooting incident involving its Blackwater bodyguards - this time of the New York Times' dog.

Staff at the newspaper's Baghdad bureau said Blackwater bodyguards shot Hentish dead last week before a visit by a US diplomat to the Times compound.

Blackwater spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell said the dog had attacked one of Blackwater's bomb-sniffer dogs while a security team was sweeping the compound for explosives.

"The K-9 handler made several unsuccessful attempts to get the dog to retreat, including placing himself between the dogs.

When those efforts failed, the K-9 handler unfortunately was forced to use a pistol to protect the company's K-9 and himself," she said in an email to Reuters.

The US embassy employs about 1000 armed Blackwater staff to protect American diplomats in Baghdad.

The firm's role became a serious issue in Iraqi-US relations when its guards opened fire on a Baghdad street in September, killing 17 people. Blackwater says its employees acted lawfully in that incident, which is under investigation.

State Department investigators had made two follow-up visits to the Times compound to investigate the shooting of Hentish, correspondent Alissa Rubin said.

"They were very solicitous and I thought took the incident very seriously," Rubin said. "It's not a dog that everyone's close to in the compound.

"But it's a dog that's been around a long time. It lived its whole life there."

Post by **weemadando** » 2007-12-19 02:58am

Its a shitty situation, but the sheer absurdity of the headline makes me laugh. Even though I wish that it had been the NYT coming out on top.

Flagg · Post by **Flagg** » 2007-12-19 03:15am

If the handler account is true, then it sounds justified.

But I have to wonder why he didn't try to get one of the Time's staff people to get Hentish under control...

Molyneux · Post by **Molyneux** » 2007-12-19 09:00am

Flagg wrote:If the handler account is true, then it sounds justified.

But I have to wonder why he didn't try to get one of the Time's staff people to get Hentish under control...

Bullshit. He's never heard of the "bucket of cold water" approach?

Flagg · Post by **Flagg** » 2007-12-19 10:10am

Molyneux wrote:
Flagg wrote:If the handler account is true, then it sounds justified.

But I have to wonder why he didn't try to get one of the Time's staff people to get Hentish under control...
Bullshit. He's never heard of the "bucket of cold water" approach?

He's carrying around a bucket of cold water while guiding a bomb sniffing K9?

The Spartan · Post by **The Spartan** » 2007-12-19 10:13am

Flagg wrote:If the handler account is true, then it sounds justified.

But I have to wonder why he didn't try to get one of the Time's staff people to get Hentish under control...

This is just speculation of course, but perhaps the guard dog was not tied up or had broken free?

Otherwise, yeah, what the hell?

Sidewinder · Post by **Sidewinder** » 2007-12-19 10:35am

How did the New York Times get a dog in Iraq? Did some jackass reporter buy an Iraqi dog to keep him/her company while he/she was in country? Did the jackass bring his/her own dog to Iraq? And why would a reporter need to bring a dog to wherever he/she was stationed? (The article at least explained why Blackwater needed dogs in Iraq.)

Flagg · Post by **Flagg** » 2007-12-19 10:37am

Sidewinder wrote:How did the New York Times get a dog in Iraq? Did some jackass reporter buy an Iraqi dog to keep him/her company while he/she was in country? Did the jackass bring his/her own dog to Iraq? And why would a reporter need to bring a dog to wherever he/she was stationed? (The article at least explained why Blackwater needed dogs in Iraq.)

It's a guard dog according to the headline.

Covenant · Post by **Covenant** » 2007-12-19 01:03pm

Sounds like blackwater isn't very good with dogs. I can't imagine a situation in which a handler had to SHOOT A DOG. Not only couldn't he see the fight coming, but he couldn't stop it once it started, and had to resort to using a gun on a dog in the middle of a dogfight? He's lucky he didn't shoot his own. The explination sounds completely bogus to me.

Flagg · Post by **Flagg** » 2007-12-19 01:15pm

It sounds like the other dog wasn't leashed and was attacking the Blackwater handlers K9, or attempting to. The guy did all the right things according to the article. He got between them and tried to ward the NYT dog off, but it kept going for his K9.

I don't know if you've ever tried to seperate 2 dogs in the middle of a fight, but it's not a smart or easy thing to do. The best way to get them to disengage is to spray them with a hose and get one of the dogs indoors or behind a fence where the other dog can't reach it.

Barring some glaring error in the article, I'm thinking the BW guy was in the right, here. His responsibility was the safety of his partner and it looks like he upheld that responsibility.

If it turns out he had other options easily available to him, then that would change, of course. Like someone who could have grabbed the NYT dog without being attacked or pepper spray.