Dirty Wars Page #3

One, two, three.

Good morning.

The subcommittee

will come to order.

The subject is

national security.

HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE

WASHINGTON, DC

If my esteemed friend,

the gentleman from Michigan,

wishes to continue

with this hearing,

I think that's fine.

He is the chairman.

But next year,

when this committee is

under new management,

we won't be looking

at the calendar

of last year or two years ago.

Thank you.

Far from discussing

the distant past,

I'd like to share

with this committee

part of my investigation into

deadly U.S. night raids...

Sensenbrenner walked out,

but no one else even

bothered to show up...

Just Chairman Conyers

and his staffers.

In closing, Mr. Ohairman,

I told these families

that I'd bring their cases

before the U.S. Congress

and ask that they

be investigated

and that those responsible

be held accountable.

On behalf of those families...

It didn't surprise me

that Washington wasn't

interested in Gardez.

As an investigative reporter,

you rarely have

people's attention.

More often than not,

you work alone,

and the stories you labor

over fall on deaf ears.

But sometimes a story

strikes a nerve,

and you're thrown into

the public arena.

It happened to me once before.

During its time in Iraq,

Blackwater has regularly

engaged in firefights

and other deadly incidents...

It was 2007,

and I was reporting

on Blackwater,

a shadowy mercenary company,

and suddenly it was

front-page news.

A frequent contributor

to The Nation magazine,

his new book is

called Blackwater.

Jeremy Scahill, who authored

the book Blackwater...

Who's come to us from London...

Joining me now is

Jeremy Scahill.

I quickly discovered

that the world of

talk show television

is less a meeting

place for ideas

and more like a boxing ring.

That is hooey.

$700 million

for a colonial

fortress in Pakistan.

The whole thing

feels like a game.

But every time you

step into the ring,

there's a chance your

story can have an impact.

Journalists have done nothing

to hold the White House

accountable now,

Chuck, or under Bush.

Let me get to the story-

- Why are you still alive?

Are you paranoid?

No, I'm serious. I'm serious.

I mean, it's an amazing

book that you've written,

and I'm curious that-

"Oh, that guy had a"-

"Remember that guy

we did Maher with?"

"Oh, he's dead. "

"What happened?"

"He had an

accident. " I mean...

And here are the-

Residents are being

picked up, abducted...

Congress wasn't going

to investigate

the raid in Gardez.

And my Freedom of

Information requests

were bounced all

over the military,

ending up in an unnamed

agency awaiting review.

I reached out to everyone

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