“We cannot operate without private security firms in Iraq”

Strange but true. Patrick F. Kennedy, the Under Secretary of State for Management, provided that telling quote to Congress as part of his explanation for why Blackwater Worldwide recently had its contract to provide security for American diplomats in Iraq renewed for a least another year. According to Kennedy, “If the contractors were removed, we would have to leave Iraq.”

So how did Blackwater – the company with significantly more shootings per convoy mission than DynCorp and Triple Canopy (the other US private military companies operating in Iraq) get back to business as usual in Iraq, even after their involvement in a shooting in September that left 17 Iraqis dead, demands from the Iraqi government for Blackwater’s ouster from Iraq, a criminal investigation by the FBI, a series of internal investigations by the State Department and the Pentagon, and high-profile Congressional hearings? According to the New York Times, it was an “intense public and private lobbying campaign” that righted the Blackwater ship.

So, the lobbyists did it? Well, let’s take a look at what Blackwater’s lobbying campaign consisted of. The Center for Responsive Politics provides a look at the dollar figures involved. (Note: Blackwater USA changed the name of some of its operations to Blackwater Worldwide in October 2007, no doubt for the same reason that front companies for illegal arms traffickers change their names: bad publicity. However, Blackwater Worldwide’s website is www.blackwaterusa.com. Ergo, the change was only cosmetic.)

Blackwater USA spent nothing on Congressional lobbying activites until 2006, when they spent $160,000. They almost doubled their lobbying expenditures in 2007, when they spent $302,000. For the first quarter of 2008, they’ve already spent $90,000, which puts them on a pace to drop $360,000 for the year. Meanwhile, their alter ego, Blackwater Worldwide, spent nothing in 2006 (they hadn’t been created yet), dropped $90,000 in 2007, and spent $70,000 in the first quarter of 2008, which puts them on a pace to hit $280,000 for the year. Given that the two companies (USA and Worldwide) are, in reality, two halves of the same whole, we can combine their lobbying expenditures for the following totals: $160,000 for 2006; $392,000 for 2007; and $160,000 for the first quarter of 2008, which makes a projected 2008 total of $640,000.

There you have it. That’s the “intense public and private lobbying campaign” that keeps Blackwater operating in Iraq. From $160,000 (2006) to $392,000 (2007) to $640,000 (2008 projected). Money doesn’t talk in DC – it screams.