Blackwater

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Blackwater Shield of Silence Crumbling Amid Probe

Deadly force went 'horribly' wrong: guard

(Newser) - A flood of federal investigators are beginning to pierce the armor of silence surrounding Blackwater guards at their Baghdad encampment, with some seriously questioning the justification of last month's shooting deaths of 17 Iraqis. “Some guys are thinking it was not a good shoot," one guard told the...

Rice Sets New Rules for Guards
Rice Sets New Rules for Guards
Oct 24, 2007 3:11 AM CDT

Rice Sets New Rules for Guards

But Blackwater may still get the ax

(Newser) - Private security contractors in Iraq will operate under tougher controls and tighter supervision, according to new State Department rules approved by Condoleezza Rice today, but they won't be supervised by the military, as Defense's Robert Gates had proposed. Measures include investigative "go teams"' that will respond quickly to...

Audits Rip Fed Oversight of Security Firms, Costs

Lax controls, slopping accounting

(Newser) - A State Department internal review of its own security practices in Iraq is sharply critical of the lack of oversight of private contractors Blackwater, DynCorp International and Triple Canopy. A second report due today says officials can't say what the government got for $1.2B paid to DynCorp since 2004,...

Iraqi Doc: Blackwater Murdered my Wife and Son

Mercs 'sprayed bullets' as she cried for help

(Newser) - An Iraqi doctor whose wife and 20-year-old son were the first of 17 civilians killed by Blackwater guards on Sept. 16 talks to CNN about his loss, saying a storm of bullets blew apart his loved ones—his wife, a doctor, and his son, a medical student. They were going...

Iraq to Blackwater: Get Out
Iraq to Blackwater: Get Out
Oct 16, 2007 3:43 PM CDT

Iraq to Blackwater: Get Out

Official probe finds civilian shootings unprovoked; US investigations ongoing

(Newser) - The Iraqi government has determined that last month's shooting of civilians by Blackwater guards was unprovoked and random, and the government is "insisting" the company leave the country, CNN reports. An adviser to Nouri al-Maliki said today the PM asked the US to withdraw the contractors. The FBI and...

Embattled Blackwater Maneuvering to Expand Role

Seeks new contracts despite massacre

(Newser) - Blackwater, the private security firm under fire for controversial shootings in Iraq, is preparing expansion plans to develop a bigger role as an arm of the US military. Company founder Erik Prince wants to make Blackwater a one-stop shop for all kinds of operations to which Washington won't commit US...

How Blackwater Came to Be
How Blackwater Came to Be
Oct 13, 2007 1:49 PM CDT

How Blackwater Came to Be

(Newser) - Erik Prince, the politically savvy CEO of Blackwater USA, took advantage of a confluence of events—a rise in terrorism coupled with military cutbacks and an administration committed to outsourcing—to create one of the fastest-growing US contractors of the past decade. The Washington Post investigates the extraordinary rise of...

Blackwater Shot Fleeing Iraqis, US Soldiers Say

First on scene found no evidence private guards were in danger

(Newser) - Some of the Iraqis killed by Blackwater guards in the Baghdad shootings last month were "fleeing the scene when they were engaged," say the first US soldiers on the scene in an Army report obtained by the Washington Post. Worse, says one commander, there was no indication that...

Iraqis Bring US Lawsuit Against Blackwater

Shooting victims accuse security firm of promoting 'lawlessness'

(Newser) - Saying the security firm committed "extrajudicial killings and war crimes" in a Baghdad firefight, one injured man and the relatives of three other Iraqis killed last month are suing Blackwater in US federal court. An advocacy group filed the suit today, Reuters reports, seeking compensatory and punitive damages while...

Blackwater Owes $136M: Iraq
Blackwater Owes $136M: Iraq
Oct 8, 2007 8:32 PM CDT

Blackwater Owes $136M: Iraq

Demands firm pay millions to victims

(Newser) - Today Iraq told Bush to cut ties with Blackwater and then demanded that the firm pay $8 million for each victim in a recent shooting, the AP reports. Al-Maliki’s government also wants Bush to deliver Blackwater mercs to face possible justice in Iraq. Today’s demands stem from an...

Iraqis Vow to Prosecute Blackwater
Iraqis Vow
to Prosecute Blackwater
Oct 8, 2007 1:19 AM CDT

Iraqis Vow to Prosecute Blackwater

Blackwater deaths called 'deliberate killings'

(Newser) - A spokesman for the Iraqi government continued to escalate the rhetoric on the Blackwater shootings yesterday, charging that security guards "deliberately killed" 17 Iraqi civilians in last month's massacre in Baghdad. Ali al-Dabbagh said the Iraqis intend to take legal action, despite a US ruling in 2004 that the...

US Ignored Blackwater Warnings
US Ignored Blackwater Warnings
Oct 7, 2007 8:02 PM CDT

US Ignored Blackwater Warnings

Immunity for guards was 'a bomb that could go off at any time'

(Newser) - The White House ignored signals about Blackwater and other private mercs for years, rejecting the idea that they were "a bomb that could go off at any time," the Los Angeles Times reports. One official says that contract guards blatantly smashed property and scared Iraqis, then argued that...

Rice Orders Blackwater Chaperones
Rice Orders Blackwater Chaperones
Oct 5, 2007 12:55 PM CDT

Rice Orders Blackwater Chaperones

Convoys will also be monitored with video cameras, radio logs

(Newser) - Condoleezza Rice has ordered all private security convoys in Iraq to be accompanied by at least one US diplomatic security agent. The Secretary of State acted on an internal review sparked by the recent Blackwater shooting incident that left 17 civilians dead. Contractors will also be monitored by video cameras...

Blackwater at Fault, US Military Finds

Military version of events differs radically from Prince scenario

(Newser) - The US MIlitary isn't backing security contractor Blackwater's version of the events that lead to the Nisour Square shooting spree that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead and 24 injured last month, the Washington Post reports. The Post compares a military report which finds no evidence that the Blackwater guards were...

House Bids to Put Contractors Under US Law

Landslide passage for bill to bring private firms into civilian courts

(Newser) - The House of Representatives passed a bill today that would make private security firms accountable to US civilian courts; the vote was 389 to 30, with opposition coming only from Republicans. The White House and Pentagon want contractors kept under military jurisdiction, but if the Senate passes similar legislation by...

Maliki Again Takes Aim at Blackwater

Security firm no longer ‘valid’ in Iraq in wake of incidents, PM says

(Newser) - Iraqi PM Nuri al-Maliki has stepped back into the Blackwater fray today, saying the influx of accusations against the security contractor “do not make it valid to stay in Iraq.” One day after Blackwater's CEO appeared before a Congressional committee, Maliki signaled he wouldn't sitting on his hands...

Blackwater Death Toll Up to 17
Blackwater Death Toll Up to 17
Oct 3, 2007 9:02 AM CDT

Blackwater Death Toll Up to 17

Investigators, witnesses, say attack was unprovoked

(Newser) - As details continue to emerge on the Blackwater shooting in a busy Baghdad square earlier this month, the death toll is up to 17 and the wounded to 24. Piecing together more eye-witness accounts, the New York Times reports that the first shots fired killed a man driving his mother...

CEO Defends Blackwater
CEO Defends Blackwater
Oct 2, 2007 5:25 PM CDT

CEO Defends Blackwater

Prince tells Congress company behaved well in 'complex war zone'

(Newser) - Blackwater USA's CEO testified before Congress today that his company was misjudged by an oversight committee that determined Blackwater employees show a pattern of reckless civilian shootings. Erik Prince maintained his personnel reacted normally to "a complex war zone" on Sept. 16 when they were involved in an incident...

Blackwater CEO Thick as Thieves With Bush, Christian Right

Prince's ties date to White House internship

(Newser) - The CEO of embattled Blackwater USA has deep ties to the GOP and the religious right, beginning with a college internship in the first Bush White House. Erik Prince’s security firm's federal contracts have grown from under $1 million in 2001 to over $1 billion today, and he's made...

195 Blackwater Shootings Bared
195 Blackwater Shootings Bared
Oct 2, 2007 6:44 AM CDT

195 Blackwater Shootings Bared

Guards fired first in 80% of incidents since 2005

(Newser) - Private security firm Blackwater USA has been involved in shooting incidents nearly every week since 2005, according to an investigation by the Democratic congressional staff. While Blackwater is contracted to use force only defensively, company guards used force at least 195 times, firing first 80% of the time, the report...

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