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(Oct. 1) -- It was a taste for indiscriminate force that got the private security firm Blackwater into deep trouble with the U.S. and Iraqi governments, especially after its guards killed 17 civilians in a Baghdad square in 2007. But according to a report in Wired, the firm also has the subtle guile necessary to worm its way back into the State Department's coffers.
Spencer Ackerman reports that Blackwater, now known as Xe Services, has used a "blandly named cut-out," International Development Solutions, to grab a piece of the State Department's $10 billion, five-year Worldwide Protective Services contract. There is no indication the company seeks to play a direct role in Iraq, where the use of outsourced private security forces is expected to increase as U.S. military leaves.
But there's always Afghanistan. The Kabul government has registered 52 private security companies but wants to ban them out of concerns over their accountability. Earlier this week, a mistrial was declared in the trial of two employees of an Xe affiliate, Paravant, after jurors couldn't agree on a verdict in second-degree murder charges for the 2009 killing of two civilians in Kabul.
Hillary Clinton pledged in her 2008 presidential campaign to keep Blackwater away from federal contracts, and a Senate Armed Services Committee launched a probe into the company's excesses. But Wired reports that "federal contracting authorities have never suspended or debarred Blackwater."
Read more at Wired.
Blackwater Remnant Gets Piece of State Dept. Contract
Oct 1, 2010 – 4:00 PM
Tagged: afghanistan, blackwater, hillary clinton, hillary clinton - united states of america - world leader, iraq, kabul, kabul government, mercenaries, private military companies, senate armed services committee, spencer ackerman, u s state department, us, xe services
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