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Blackwater Security booted from Iraq for killing civilians? Not likely because Blackwater Security can count on Condi Rice to save the day. You see, Blackwater Security Consulting has an exclusive contract to protect State Department employees in Iraq.

Of course, Condoleezza Rice was her usual effective self in handling the explosive Blackwater Security consulting situation. She actually promised to make a telephone call!

You’ve gotta love a Secretary of State with a military fashion flair!

A spokesman for the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, said she wanted to ensure that everything was being done to avoid the loss of innocent life and to make sure this kind of incident never happened again.

She is also expected to telephone Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki to reassure him that the US had launched its own investigation into the latest Blackwater Iraq fiasco.

Blackwater is reputed to have a contract worth $300m with the State Department to protect its diplomatic staff and equipment in Iraq.

Blackwater USA, whose personnel have no combat immunity under international law if they engage in hostilities, has so far refused to comment on the shootings.

Blackwater Security story as reported by the BBC:

The convoy carrying officials from the US state department came under attack at about 12:30 local time on Sunday as it passed through Nisoor Square in the predominantly Sunni neighbourhood of Mansour.

The Blackwater security guards “opened fire randomly at citizens” after mortars landed near their vehicles, killing eight people and wounding 13 others, interior ministry officials said.

Most of the dead and wounded were bystanders, the officials added. One of those killed was a policeman.

A spokeswoman for the US embassy in Baghdad later confirmed there had been an incident in which state department security personnel reacted to a car bomb “in the proximity”, and that they had been shot at.

“We are taking it very seriously indeed,” she told the BBC, adding that discussions were still taking place about Blackwater’s status now that they had been ordered to leave.

When asked if Blackwater was complying with the order, the spokeswoman said she could not comment because the investigation into the incident was still in progress.

Check out this video on Blackwater USA:

Blackwater Security Consulting

The Nation’s Jeremy Scahill describes the rise of Blackwater USA, the world’s most powerful mercenary army.

Blackwater Security situation from the Associated Press:
Robert Young Pelton, an independent military analyst who spent a month with a Blackwater team in Baghdad while researching his book, “Licensed to Kill,” said Blackwater contractors No. 1 priority is keeping their high-value clients alive.

“The Blackwater guys are not fools,” Pelton said. “If they were gunning down people it was because they felt it was the beginning of an ambush.”

It wasn’t immediately clear if the Iraqi action against Blackwater was temporary or permanent. But if Blackwater is forced to leave Iraq, where it has at least $800 million in government contracts, the privately held company based at a 7,000-acre compound in tiny Moyock, North Carolina stands to lose a huge piece of its burgeoning business.

Blackwater, America’s Private Army

Inside Blackwater Security, America’s private army with extended bonus scenes from Robert Greenwald’s documentary “Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers” Footage of Eric Prince, Blackwater’s milionaire owner.

BLACKWATER USA FACTS

• Founded in 1997 by three former US Navy SEALs
• Headquarters in North Carolina
• One of at least 28 Private Security Companies in Iraq
• Employs 744 US citizens, 231 third-country nationals, and 12 Iraqis to protect US state department in Iraq (May 2007)
• Provided protection for former CPA head Paul Bremer
• Four employees killed by mob in Falluja in March 2004

Blackwater USA Triple Canopy

Lots of live Iraq action footage in this behind the scenes look at Blackwater’s role in Iraq, including sniper footage. Forty cents of every dollar spent by the US in Iraq goes to private security firms like Blackwater.

Blackwater USA is comprised of five companies; Blackwater Training Center, Blackwater Target Systems, Blackwater Security Consulting, Blackwater Canine, and Blackwater Air (AWS).

Blackwater’s founder is a right-wing Christian whose paramilitary contractors may be operating outside constitutional restrictions imposed on the police and military.

Meanwhile, back In Iraq:

And of course, Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr had to get in on the act and pull his support from Iraq Prime Minister Nouri Maliki’s coalition.

The withdrawl of the radical cleric’s support will only destabilize Iraq even further.

So, now who in their right mind in the State Department would want to lose Blackwater’s services now?

Certainly not our Condi Rice, Blackwater’s biggest cheerleader in the Bush administration!

And there you have it, all the latest from the Iraq quagmire exemplified by Blackwater Security.

Tags: blackwater, blackwater security, condaleeza rice

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