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Neocon Nuttery See other Neocon Nuttery Articles Title: Blackwater security staff in Iraq involved in 'at least 195 shootings' A new report into Blackwater, the US security firm operating in Iraq, shows the contractors have been involved in at least 195 shootings since early 2005. The company is being investigated jointly by the US and Iraq after a gun fight in Baghdad that left eight civilians dead. The "escalated incidents" now detailed include several previously unreported killings of Iraqi civilians, according to a new congressional account of State Department and company documents. Based on more than 437 Blackwater documents and "a limited number of incident reports and documents from the State Department," Blackwater personnel had participated in 195 incidents in which they discharged firearms, with Blackwater firing first in more than 80 percent of them. At least 16 Iraqi casualties resulted. In one of the killings, according to a State Department document, Blackwater personnel tried to cover up what had occurred and provided a false report. In another case, involving a Blackwater convoy's collision with 18 civilian vehicles, the firm accused its own personnel of lying about the event. The State Department pressured the company into paying financial compensation to the families of the dead, the documents show, but did little else to hold Blackwater personnel accountable. In a case involving a drunken Blackwater employee who killed a security guard to one of Iraq's vice presidents last Christmas Eve, US government personnel helped negotiate a financial settlement and allowed the employee to depart Iraq. Details of these and other incidents were released yesterday by the chairman of the US House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, after the committee's staff examined hundreds of internal Blackwater and State Department documents. Erik Prince, Blackwater's chairman, and David M. Satterfield, the State Department's Iraq coordinator, are to testifying at a hearing before the committee. On the eve of the hearing, the FBI announced that it will send a team of agents to assist the State Department in investigating the alleged killing of at least 11 Iraqi civilians by Blackwater personnel on September 16. That incident caused the Iraqi Interior Ministry to demand that Blackwater cease operations and turn over those responsible for trial. But the ministry was later overruled by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who accepted a joint US-Iraqi government investigation. In total, the documents indicate, Blackwater has terminated 122 employees under its State Department contract. The company is said to have about 1,000 employees in Iraq. The company, in a statement released yesterday evening, said it promised full cooperation with the FBI investigation into the incident. "Blackwater USA has always supported strong contractor accountability and this latest step is a positive move," it said. Erik Prince, Blackwater's chairman, said in his prepared testimony that his company operates under "dangerous and challenging" circumstances and its work ensures that "more American service members are available to fight the enemy." He said the company "complies with all relevant contractual terms and conditions" and applicable laws, and has been the subject of "negative and baseless allegations reported as truth."
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