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The Pentagon has contracted up to 100,000 private security personnel to operate with effective impunity in Iraq, only in late 2007 did the US Congress pass a bill to subject their actions in Iraq to US law. Officially, the contractors do not take orders from the US military, so there is no accountability within the military set up.

Blackwater received $1 billion (employees earn $200,000 per year) of US government contracts per annum.

Blackwater's presence in Iraq was not widely known until 2004 when four operatives were captured, their corpses burned and hung from a bridge. In response, over 100 Iraqis were killed and 10,000 displaced in a military crackdown on Iraqi insurgents. Was this inappropriate?

Blackwater has been involved in Bush's Iraq war since 2003. Blackwater opened fire in Iraq on 195 occasions in the course of which 27 Iraqis were shot dead. Blackwater fired first in 84% of the shootings.

One incident stands out - a Blackwater operative shot dead a member of the Iraqi Prime Minister's personal guard- this operative was dismissed and sent back to the US. Blackwater are not responsible for the conduct of former employees. The Iraqi Government sought compensation of $250,000 for the Iraqi soldier, apparently US Defense Secretary Rumsfeld responded that every Iraqi would try to get themselves killed in order to secure their families' future. $15,000 was agreed and paid out. The Blackwater operative was drunk and is no longer sought by the Iraqi Justice Department.

A more serious incident involved a Blackwater operative shooting dead 11 Iraqis. This is fraught with legal and political difficulties and clearly implicates Blackwater as a terrorist organisation. Blackwater sacked this individual. Blackwater fully recognises the Iraqi Government has no jurisdiction over this murderer because he was returned to the United States fully in collusion with US Vice President Cheney's policy on how to run the war in Iraq. The Iraqi Government is ardently seeking the return of this individual to Iraq to face judicial proceedings.

Blackwater hires mercenaries and is replete with individuals from 10 countries, including the UK and South Africa, many with criminal records.

The US claims private security firms have firepower equivalent to an infantry company at only 15% of the manpower. 4 Blackwater operatives were killed and displayed on a bridge over the Euphrates, Baghdad in 2003. 4 men did not have sufficient firepower to stave off a crowd of 1,000 determined on revenge. This image is vividly imprinted on people's minds.

Shame on the US Government. Fighting fire with fire will end in tragedy.

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