What this blog has been reading

Some Blackwater Mercenary Murderers Hopped up on Steroids

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Filed this week in U.S. District Court in Washington, the civil complaint also accuses North Carolina-based Blackwater of failing to give drug tests to its guards in Baghdad — even though an estimated one in four of them was using steroids or other "judgment altering substances."

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Blackwater and all other mercenary firms should be put out of business immediately

Blackwater thugs preparing to kill innocent human beings for big tax payer money

U.N. wants security guards in Iraq to face law

raq says there are more than 180 mainly U.S. and European security companies in the country, with estimates of the number of private contractors ranging from 25,000 to 48,000.

The U.N. urged governments to make sure private security contractors were accountable for any unjustified killings.

Many Iraqis see security companies as little more than private armies which act with impunity. Iraqi authorities have accused Blackwater of "deliberately killing" the 17 Iraqis in last month's shooting, but the security firm says its guards responded lawfully to a threat against a convoy it was guarding.

Blackwater Bilks American Taxpayer in Mnay Ways

Mohammed Hafiz, 37, holds pictures of his lost son Ali Mohammed, 10, as he describes how he died after 16 Sept. attack by Blackwater USA contractors

8 deadly days for Blackwater

Pentagon Rewards Murder and War Crimes: Issues Blackwater New $92 Million Contract

Blackwater force in 56 shootings

Blackwater, a large, privately owned security contractor based in North Carolina, has provided security to diplomats on 1873 convoy runs in Iraq so far this year, and its personnel fired weapons 56 times, according to a statement by Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte.

The State Department did not release comparable 2007 numbers for other security companies.

But the Blackwater numbers show a far higher rate of shootings per convoy mission than experienced last year by one of the company's main competitors, DynCorp International. DynCorp reported 10 cases in about 1500 convoy runs.

The New York Times reported on Thursday that Blackwater's rate of shootings was at least twice as high as the rates for other companies providing similar services to the State Department in Iraq.

We'll see. Iraq to end contractor 'immunity'

The new code would require contractors to be subject to Iraqi law and to be monitored by the Iraqi government.
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Correspondents say their behaviour has incensed Iraqis who view them as private armies acting with impunity on their soil.

The contractors are currently granted immunity from prosecution under Iraqi law by Order 17 of the Coalition Provisional Authority - the now-defunct interim body set up by the US-led coalition in the wake of the fall of Saddam Hussein.

The agreement was extended shortly before the CPA was disbanded in June 2004.

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Romney, Advised By Blackwater’s Vice Chairman, Stays Silent On Blackwater Shootings

Romney has a clear interest not condemning Blackwater. Cofer Black, vice chairman of Blackwater, currently serves as a Senior Adviser for counterterrorism and national security issues on the Romney campaign. From the April press release announcing that Black would be joining the campaign:

“I am pleased to welcome Cofer Black to our campaign. He has a long and impressive career dedicated to making America safer and more secure in the world,” said Governor Romney. “Our country faces a new generation of challenges and Black’s experience at the forefront of our nation’s counterterrorism efforts will be a tremendous asset.”

The recent incident was not the first violent episode that involved Blackwater in Iraq. Iraqi officials are now investigating “allegations about the security firm’s involvement in six other violent episodes this year that left at least 10 Iraqis dead.” The day before the Coalition Provisional Authority ceased to exist, L. Paul Bremer, then the chief American envoy in Iraq, issued an order that “granted American private security contractors immunity from prosecution in Iraqi courts.”

Black previously served as the CIA’s chief of counterrorism. In 2001, he infamously ordered an agent to “Capture Bin Laden, kill him and bring his head back in a box on dry ice.”

Iraqi Government Ban on Blackwater almost as much of a Joke as George Bush as president

American diplomats today resumed travel in Iraq in convoys escorted by Blackwater USA, the private American security contractor, less than a week after the Iraqi government banned the company following a shooting in which at least eight Iraqis were killed.

It was unclear, however, whether the Iraqi authorities had approved the decision to allow Blackwater to resume operations and what this resumption of convoy traffic means in the developing dispute between Iraqi and American officials over the use of private security contractors in Iraq. Mirembe Nantongo, a spokeswoman for the American Embassy, said a limited number of diplomats had traveled outside the heavily fortified Green Zone and were likely accompanied by Blackwater guards. “As a general rule, in a limited manner, Blackwater is operating,” she said.
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Blackwater Weapons Smuggling

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The News & Observer, citing unidentified sources, reported that the probe was looking at whether Blackwater had shipped unlicensed automatic weapons and military goods to Iraq without a license.

The paper's report that the company itself was under investigation could not be confirmed by the AP.

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