Iraqis are furious at Blackwater USA over the incident involving them and several dead civilians, but the animosity did not start overnight. This rogue force (paid for by American taxpayers) was recorded to be in more firefights than any other "contractor" that provides similar services. There is no reason to believe that they are higher-priority targets than the rest of the mercenaries out there, so why are they so damn trigger happy?
From The New York Times:
The disclosure came as the Pentagon said Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates had sent a team of officials to Iraq to get answers to questions about the use of American security contractors there.
The State Department keeps reports on each case in which weapons were fired by security personnel guarding American diplomats in Iraq. Officials familiar with the internal State Department reports would not provide the actual statistics, but they indicated that the records showed that Blackwater personnel were involved in dozens of episodes in which they had resorted to force.
The officials said that Blackwater’s incident rate was at least twice that recorded by employees of DynCorp International and Triple Canopy, the two other United States-based security firms that have been contracted by the State Department to provide security for diplomats and other senior civilians in Iraq.
Since the information came through Bush Administration officials, we'll never learn why the statistics are so different between Blackwater and the rest. Blackwater officials obviously declined to comment as well.
The NY Times goes into more detail about their aggressive corporate culture, founder Erik Prince's ties to the Republican party and the subsequent lack of accountability. Blackwater employees get to do whatever the please without any repercussions. Of course nothing is 100 percent certain, but it seems that being a wealthy contributor to the Bushes and Republicans in general goes a long, long way towards getting whatever you want. Erik Prince certainly has learned that lesson quite well.
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