Blackwater is one of the largest and most conspicuous security firms in Iraq
with about 300 employees there.
Blackwater is staffed largely by retired U.S. Military,
including former members of the Special Forces.
Scotty was told that he would be doing security for Paul Bremer, the ambassador, that he would
just go everywhere Paul Beemer went and they would be uh, usually like three 8
hour shifts, and that was fine with Scotty ‘cause he didn’t go over there to hurt
anyone, he was there to, to protect people.
Watch out now, I don’t want you to get underneath me when
I’m climbing, you might get hurt.
Hey, Kelsey!
He just had an incredible way with sports, even
as a small child he was the best swimmer on the swim team, he was amazing.
First time
he ran away from home I think he was six months old and somehow he’d gotten the front
door open and he was in his walker.
And I’m getting ready for work and he’s hauling
tail down this hill, heading for the playground.
(LAUGHS) And it just totally stunned me.
And he, he was like that for the rest of his
life, he was always running.
Scotty went into the Navy on his 17th birthday.
He loved being a SEAL.
Woo, oh, what’s this falling down business?
As far as Scotty going to Iraq, he chose
Blackwater because they had a two month contract and uh, Scotty wasn’t gonna have to
be away from his kids very long.
He needed to make some money.
My son called me and he told me that he was going to Kuwait with
Paul Beemer the um, ambassador in Iraq.
I still have little soldiers in a shoebox
That he used to play with.
Those uh, were his favorite toys.
There are the boys.
What?
This is Jerry and this is Tommy.
That’s my favorite picture, por-, I took
it, that’s uh, four or five-- And Jerry always carried it with him, always.
Wherever Jerry went he had a pic-, that picture with him.
That
was my Jerry.
Then came my Tommy, then my niece Anita, then my nephew (Yura?), then
Lydia--
Notice everything’s my Tommy and my Jerry.
I love that.
Well, he was um, yeah, he was the first born uh, uh, everything I
knew about kids I learned with him.
You know, and for him.
The news came out on the radio and uh, it said that there was an
incident in Fallujah.
Breaking news story tonight.
The four American civilians were ambushed
and killed in Fallujah, and they’re believed to be from a local company called Blackwater
Security Counseling.
There are four families uh, in this world today that are gonna get
knocks on the doors, and you don’t want to be on either side of that door when it
happens, either hearing the news or delivering the news.
Reality didn’t check in, I didn’t want to believe it.
I still don’t want
to believe it, but the fact is, he’s not walking the earth, I need to pray for his
soul.
I um, I, I miss him.
I was so angry.
I was so unbelievably angry, and I didn’t even know what had happened,
but I was just angry that my son had died.
The people that did this horrible thing, these
Iraqi insurgents or maybe they were just kids on the street, they were taught hatred for
anyone that didn’t represent what they had been
taught to believe in.
And I found it so hard to hate them, but when I found out what
Blackwater did, that’s when I started really feeling real --
I, I, I don’t know how to say it.
The vehicles should’ve been armored and they also should’ve had, h-, s-,
saws, which, heavy, belt fed machine guns in each vehicle, which they didn’t have.
There were supposed to be three individuals in each car, they pulled off two guys to do,
from what I was told, clerical work-- Paperwork--
So they sent them out, short two men.
Their contracts list that they were to know
where they’re going, and they were to know people that they’re working
with-- And uh, and had been there before--
And had been there before, so they--
Because, if they had had an armored vehicle, if
they had had the rear gunman, he was the one that was gonna protect them.
My son is not walking the earth because people that he trusted and
worked for did not care about him.
It was the mighty dollar, that’s all that they
cared about.
They know, knowingly skimped on the mission.
They cut corners left and right.
Shame for country, shame for Blackwater, shame for you, Blackwater.
What happened to them while they were with this company, company,
not the American military, this company, had responsibilities that they didn’t live up
to.
And our family members died be-, because of that.
The most dangerous city on earth, no rear gunner, no armored vehicles, not even a map.
That’s, to me, negligent homicide.