WASHINGTON — The Democratic chairman of a House watchdog committee said Monday that Blackwater USA violated tax laws and may have defrauded the government of millions of dollars, a charge the security firm said is groundless.
U.S. and Iraqi officials are negotiating Baghdad’s demand that Blackwater be expelled from the country within six months, spurred by a September shooting involving Blackwater guards that left 17 Iraqis dead.
Rep. Henry Waxman, who chairs the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, released a letter from the Internal Revenue Service that states the company’s classification of a security guard as an independent contractor, instead of company personnel, was “without merit.”
Under U.S. law, companies must pay Social Security and other federal taxes on their employees. But unlike other security companies operating in Iraq, Blackwater says guards it trains, equips and deploys are independent contractors hired directly by the federal government.
Waiver to build border fence
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff on Monday invoked his power to bypass certain laws to restart construction of a fence on the Arizona-Mexico border. Chertoff’s action allows construction to go forward on about seven miles of fence in the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area near Naco, Ariz.
A deal on spy program is alleged
Senate Judiciary Committee members Monday angrily accused the White House of allowing the Senate Intelligence Committee to review documents on its warrantless surveillance program in return for agreeing that telecommunications companies should get immunity from lawsuits for complying. Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said any such agreement would be “unacceptable.”
Early GOP primaries punished
Republican Party leaders on Monday recommended punishing states for shifting their nomination contests earlier, moving to strip New Hampshire, Florida, South Carolina, Michigan and Wyoming of half their delegates. The proposal now goes to the full Republican National Committee.
N.Y.: Possible felony for nooses
The Legislature on Monday moved to make it a felony to display nooses in a threatening manner. The bill also covers etching, drawing or painting the symbol. Sen. Dean Skelos, a Republican who sponsored the measure that passed Monday in the Senate, said that as in the case of Nazi symbols and burning crosses, an intent to threaten or harass would be part of an anti-noose law.
Louisiana: New Orleans deluge
Heavy rains lashed flood-prone New Orleans on Monday, inundating areas that had only recently recovered from Hurricane Katrina and leading the Army Corps of Engineers to close a gate on a suburban canal. More than 8 inches of rain fell on parts of New Orleans by late afternoon.
Missouri: Guilty in removing fetus
A woman whose attorneys had argued that she was suffering from delusions when she killed an expectant mother, cut the baby from her womb and took the infant home was convicted Monday. Jurors convicted Lisa Montgomery, 39, of kidnapping resulting in death in the 2004 attack on 23-year-old Bobbie Jo Stinnett in Skidmore. Jurors deliberated for about four hours before rejecting Montgomery’s insanity defense. Attorneys are to start arguing today whether Montgomery deserves the death penalty.
Oklahoma: 2 days in upended car
A 78-year-old driver ran off the highway and was trapped and injured in her overturned car for nearly two days before a trooper saw skid marks and found her. Betty McCord was hospitalized in fair condition after being pulled from the wreckage off a state highway near Oklahoma City.
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