Blackwater

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Iraqi Nixes Blackwater Settlement Offer

'We won't accept such an amount' for Baghdad massacre, he says

(Newser) - An Iraqi injured by the US private security firm once known as Blackwater today rejected a compensation deal for injuries he suffered after company employees opened fire in a crowded Baghdad square. "We have rejected the settlement because it is a small amount. We won't accept such an amount,...

Blackwater Guards Indicted in Afghan Killings

Contractors face murder charges in Kabul shootings

(Newser) - A Virginia jury has indicted two former Blackwater guards on second-degree murder charges for their actions during confrontation in Kabul last year that left two Afghans dead and another wounded. The men, both employed as trainers by Blackwater subsidiary Paravant, opened fire on a vehicle at an intersection after their...

Blackwater Settles Iraqi Civil Suits

But two former contractors arrested in Afghanistan

(Newser) - Blackwater—now known as Xe—has settled a group of civil lawsuits with Iraqis that accused the firm of creating a cowboy culture that led to civilian deaths. The firm will pay $30,000 to injured victims and $100,000 to families of people who died in a number of...

Al-Qaeda Claims Afghan CIA Attack

7 Americans killed included 2 Blackwater contractors

(Newser) - Al-Qaeda became the latest terrorist organization to claim responsibility for the blast that killed eight operatives at a CIA base in Afghanistan last week, with a statement on the al-Qaeda website identifying the bomber as Abu Dujana, a prominent Islamist author and staple on jihadi websites, CNN reports. US intelligence...

Iraq Will Sue Blackwater Guards

Dismissal of manslaughter charges leaves Baghdad irate

(Newser) - Outraged by an American judge's dismissal of manslaughter charges against five security contractors accused of massacring 17 Iraqi civilians in 2007, Iraq plans to sue the former Blackwater Worldwide security guards. "We were expecting that American justice system is fair and independent," an Iraqi lawyer tells CNN . "...

Judge Dismisses Charges in Blackwater Shooting

He blasts Justice Department's handling of the case

(Newser) - A federal judge today dismissed charges against five Blackwater guards accused of manslaughter in a Baghdad shooting that left at least 14 people dead. The judge criticized how the Justice Department handled the high-profile case from 2007, saying that prosecutors violated the guards' rights by coercing testimony "under a...

CIA Terminates Blackwater Deal
 CIA Terminates Blackwater Deal 
Dec 11, 2009 9:37 PM CST

CIA Terminates Blackwater Deal

Security firm helped load killer drones in Afghanistan, Pakistan

(Newser) - The Central Intelligence Agency has severed ties with private security firm Blackwater, whose employees helped load the drone aircraft tasked with killing targets in Afghanistan and Pakistan. CIA chief Leon Panetta killed the contract, a rep tells the New York Times , which was instrumental in revealing the firm’s ties...

Blackwater Helped CIA With Covert Raids
Blackwater Helped CIA
With Covert Raids
updated
Dec 11, 2009 5:46 AM CST

Blackwater Helped CIA With Covert Raids

Guards took part in missions against suspected insurgents

(Newser) - The ties between Blackwater and the CIA just keep getting deeper. A new series of interviews by the New York Times with former employees and intelligence officials spells out how Blackwater guards took part in almost nightly covert raids with the CIA against suspected insurgents in Iraq, blurring the separation...

Blackwater's Erik Prince Is 'Graymailing' the CIA

The strategy: Don't prosecute me, or I'll spill sensitive details

(Newser) - Blackwater founder Erik Prince talks in "remarkable" detail about his work with the CIA in his recent Vanity Fair interview, writes Jeremy Scahill. Why now? Scahill thinks he's using the strategy of "graymail" as an "insurance policy against possible future criminal prosecution." It's a warning shot...

Blackwater Founder: CIA 'Threw Me Under the Bus'

Erik Prince's story raises security issues

(Newser) - Erik Prince says he and Blackwater—the defense contractor now known as Xe—got a raw deal from the government. "I put myself and my company at the CIA's disposal for some very risky missions," the firm's founder tells Vanity Fair . "But when it became politically expedient...

After Nabbing Terrorist, Navy SEALs Face Assault Rap

Iraqi accused in '04 incident got bloody lip from US captors

(Newser) - After capturing one of the most wanted terrorists in Iraq, three of the Navy SEALs involved in the operation now face assault charges for giving Ahmed Hashim Abed a bloody lip, military sources tell Fox News . Abed is said to have masterminded the 2004 murder and public mutilation of four...

Blackwater Waging 'Secret War' in Pakistan

Mercenaries doing CIA dirty work, plotting killings

(Newser) - An elite team of Blackwater operatives have been doing the CIA's dirty work in Pakistan, a Nation investigation finds. The team plans operations, including "snatch-and-grab" assassinations and drone strikes from a secret base in Karachi run by US Joint Special Operations Command, according to a senior source with direct...

Blackwater OK'd $1M Bribe Fund After '07 Iraq Shooting

Money was destined for officials critical after 17 killed

(Newser) - Security firm Blackwater set aside $1 million for secret payments to critical Iraqi officials after the 2007 Baghdad shootout that left 17 civilians dead. With Blackwater fearing it could lose its lucrative operating license in the country, former executives tell the New York Times , then-president Gary Jackson authorized the bribe...

Contractor Bought Guns on Black Market: Ex-Employees

Triple Canopy accused of funding insurgents

(Newser) - Triple Canopy, the company that succeeded Blackwater as the top US security contractor in Iraq, bought its weapons on Iraq’s black market, former employees allege in court documents obtained by ProPublica. “We’re spending a lot of money on these rifles, millions of dollars—where do you think...

CIA Uses Blackwater to Help Run Drone Attacks

(Newser) - The CIA has relied on a secret division inside the company once known as Blackwater for its drone operations in Pakistan and Afghanistan, private employees and government officials tell the New York Times. The for-profit company assembles and loads Hellfire missiles and quarter-ton bombs on secret CIA bases on both...

CIA Hired Blackwater to Help Plan al-Qaeda Killings

(Newser) - We knew the US outsourced a lot of its work in Iraq to Blackwater, but this takes the cake: The CIA hired the infamous military contractor in 2004 to help it figure out how to track down and kill al-Qaeda operatives, reports the New York Times. The move to hire...

Blackwater Founder Linked to Investigators' Murders

(Newser) - Two former Blackwater employees accused company founder and CEO Erik Prince of murder in statements filed in federal court this week, the Nation reports. The former guards, including an ex-Marine, say Prince may have either killed or facilitated the killing of operatives probing the security contractor's Iraq operations. The investigators...

Blackwater Bilked US Out of $55M for Iraq Security: Audit

Company didn't provide enough workers

(Newser) - The US overpaid Blackwater by $55 million for its security work in Iraq, a government audit has found. The company, since renamed Xe, didn't employ enough guards, medics, and other personnel to protect high-level officials but still collected full payment from the State Department, the Wall Street Journal reports. "...

Blackwater's Iraq Contract Ends

Virginia firm takes over security duties

(Newser) - Blackwater’s turbulent term in Iraq ends today with the expiration of its contract, CNN reports. The US opted not to renew the firm’s security services deal in January after Iraqi officials denied it a renewed operating license in the wake of a 2007 shooting in a public square....

Banned Blackwater Still Working in Iraq

(Newser) - Washington refused to renew Blackwater's contracts in Iraq, and Baghdad told the company to get out—but that doesn't mean it's actually left, the AP reports. The private mercenary firm, now called Xe, still runs ground operations and provides air security for US convoys, and may continue doing so until...

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