Editor: Mark Schone

Updated: Today

Topic:

Iraq War

Tuesday, Oct 2, 2007 04:00 EDT

Blackwater by the numbers

A congressional memo looks into the private security contractor's activities in Iraq, the State Department's responses and taxpayer costs.

A shooting in Iraq involving private security contractors from the controversial Blackwater USA that left several Iraqi civilians dead has reawakened interest in Blackwater and security contractors in Iraq generally. The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform scheduled an Oct. 2 hearing on that subject, and staff for the Democratic majority released a memorandum to committee members, providing background information on Blackwater and its history in Iraq. Included is data on the company's federal contracts, its connections with the Bush administration, oversight of the company and other shooting incidents in which Blackwater employees were involved. Screen shots of selected pages from that memo follow. The whole document is available here.

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