“WASHINGTON - Employees of Blackwater USA, the security contractor under scrutiny for its role in a deadly Baghdad shootout in September, have engaged in nearly 200 shootings in Iraq since 2005, in the vast majority of cases firing their weapons from moving vehicles without stopping to count the dead or assist the wounded, according to a new report from Congress.
In at least two cases, Blackwater paid victims' family members who complained, and sought to cover up other episodes, the congressional report said. It said State Department officials approved the payments in the hope of keeping the shootings quiet.
In one case last year, the department helped Blackwater spirit an employee out of Iraq less than 36 hours after the employee, while drunk, killed a bodyguard for one of Iraq's two vice presidents on Christmas Eve.”
http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_7059832
2007-10-02
03:22:26
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