Congressional Memo Lays Out Problems With Blackwater
    WASHINGTON (CN) – After a drunken Blackwater contractor shot to death the bodyguard of Iraqi Vice President Adil Abd-el-Mahdi, the U.S. State Department let Blackwater spirit the killer out of Iraq within 36 hours. When the U.S. Charge d’Affaires suggested Blackwater pay the dead man’s family $250,000, the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service “said this was too much and could cause Iraqis to ‘try to get killed,’” so the family got only $15,000. This is one of many alarming allegations in a 15-page, Oct. 1 memo on letterhead of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which is holding hearings today on “Blackwater USA: Private Military Contract Activity in Iraq and Afghanistan.” The Bush administration has paid Blackwater more than $1 billion to provide security for State Department employees in Iraq - $594 million of it in FY 2006. “Blackwater has hired several former senior Bush Administration officials,” including J. Cofer Black, former CIA counterterrorism director; and Joseph E. Smith, former Inspector General for the Pentagon, now COO and general counsel for the Prince Group, Blackwater’s corporate parent.
    Blackwater’s contract demands it shoot only in defense, but Blackwater admits that in more than 80% of its shootings since 2005, it shot first. And in more than 80% of those 195 “escalation of force” incidents, Blackwater violated its contract by what it did, or failed to do, next.
    Today’s hearing was called “to address three key questions: (1) Is Blackwater’s presence advancing or undermining U.S. efforts in Iraq? (2) Has the State Department responded appropriately to shooting incidents involving Blackwater forces? And (3) what are the costs for U.S. taxpayers of the reliance on Blackwater and other private military contractors?” See the memo.

NHL Grab For NY Rangers' Web Site Sparks Federal Antitrust Complaint
    MANHATTAN (CN) – Madison Square Garden, owner of the New York Rangers, filed a federal antitrust complaint against the National Hockey League, claiming “the NHL has become an illegal cartel” that restrains trade. The Garden claims the NHL has illegally restricted “off-ice competition between and among the NHL member clubs,” by threatening “abusive and outrageous fines unless the Rangers and MSG capitulate to the League’s illegal demands”. The Garden says it has “no choice except litigation,” because “the NHL threatened to impose a $100,000 per day fine on MSG beginning on Friday, Sept. 28, unless MSG transferred to the League virtually complete control over the Rangers independently produced Web site, including the valuable ‘nyrangers.com’ address, which the League then planned to convert into one of 30 ‘cookie-cutter’ Web sites housed on ‘nhl.com’ and controlled by the NHL.” Rangers fans can buy tickets and souvenirs and watch video clips of games on the site. “The NHL has no competitive justification for seizing the Rangers Web site, which MSG today uses as a competitive tool to generate and maintain fan interest in the Rangers in competition with other NHL teams,” the suit states. Represented by Jones Day, the Garden demands an injunction and costs.

Oklahoma DA Claims John Grisham Defamed Him In Book
    MUSKOGEE, OKLA. (CN) – An Oklahoma district attorney and a former police officer claim John Grisham and his publisher conspired with two other authors and their publishers to defame them to drum up opposition to the death penalty. Plaintiffs William Peterson, DA of Pontotoc, Seminole and Hughes Counties, and Gary Rogers, a former Shawnee police officer and Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agent, claim Grisham and Doubleday Dell defamed them in Grisham’s book, “The Innocent Man." It concerns “the 1982 murder of Debbie Sue Carter and the subsequent investigation, prosecution, conviction and exoneration of Ron Williamson and (co-defendant) Dennis Fritz.” Grisham’s position on the board of The Innocence Project allegedly influenced his allegedly defamatory allegedly nonfiction book. Plaintiffs also sued Random House, publisher of “The Dreams of Ada,” by co-defendant Robert Mayer; and Seven Locks Press, publisher of “Journey Towards Justice,” also about Fritz; and Fritz’s attorney Barry Scheck, author of “Actual Innocence,” and a director of The Innocence Project. Plaintiffs are represented by Gary Richardson of Tulsa. See complaint.