Despite a public and government outcry, US security company Blackwater was back on the streets of Baghdad four days after being grounded over a fatal shooting incident. Blackwater guards, whom a furious Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki wanted replaced after they opened fire in Baghdad killing 11 civilians, were protecting US personnel. The shooting has incensed Iraqis who regard the tens of thousands of security contractors working in the country as private armies that act with impunity. Blackwater, wuich has grown into what US investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill describes as the “world’s most powerful mercenary army,” holds at least 109 million dollars worth of State Department contracts in Iraq and is authorized to use deadly force. Jose Luis Gomez del Prado, head of a UN workgroup on the use of mercenaries in Iraq, estimates that at least 160 such companies are in the country, employing between them 35,000 to 40,000 people.
BLACKWATER BACK ON BAGHDAD STREETS
Despite a public and government outcry, US security company Blackwater was back on the streets of Baghdad four days after being grounded over a fatal shooting incident.
