Badwater

Famous Mom, who keeps track of her boy through his posts, has been itching to see me crack the lid on the story behind Blackwater. Well, finally there's some dirt to spill.

The Iraqi government said Monday that it was revoking the license of the American security firm, who it accused of being involved in the deaths of eight civilians in a firefight that followed a car bomb explosion near a State Department motorcade. The Interior Ministry said it would prosecute any foreign contractors found to have used excessive force in the Sunday shooting.

It was the latest accusation against the U.S.-contracted firms that operate with little or no supervision and are widely disliked by Iraqis who resent their speeding motorcades and forceful behavior.

Blackwater is among the biggest and best known security firms, with an estimated 1,000 employees in Iraq and at least $800 million in government contracts. Tens of thousands of foreign private security contractors work in Iraq — some with automatic weapons, body armor, helicopters and bulletproof vehicles — to provide protection for Westerners and dignitaries in Iraq as the country has plummeted toward anarchy and civil war. But Blackwater has also taken fire for their methods.

"They're famous for being very aggressive. They use their machine guns like car horns. But it's not the goal to kill people," said Robert Young Pelton, an independent military analyst. "The Blackwater guys are not fools. If they were gunning down people, it was because they felt it was the beginning of an ambush."

However, that's not always the case. Last Christmas Eve, an inebriated Blackwater employee shot and killed a security guard for an Iraqi vice president, according to Iraqi and U.S. officials. The contractor made his way to the U.S. Embassy where Blackwater officials arranged to have him flown home to the United States. And in May 2007, a Blackwater employee shot and killed a civilian who was thought to be driving too close to a company security detail.

I guess they've gotten a little twitchy since four Blackwater employees were ambushed and killed in Fallujah in 2004, and their charred bodies were hung from a bridge over the Euphrates River.

Underscoring the seriousness of the matter (having unfettered access to oil, not the loss of civilian life), Condoleezza "Whiteface" Rice planned to call Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to express regret and assure him that the U.S. has launched an investigation into the matter to ensure nothing like it happens again. I think the same investigative bloodhounds in the Scooter Libby case will be reviewing it, which provides a happy ending for some...

The US embassy refused to answer any questions on Blackwater's status or legal issues, saying it was seeking clarification on the issue as part of the investigation, but the Iraqi government condemned the shooting by what they titled a "foreign security company", calling it a "crime."

"We have canceled the license of Blackwater and prevented them from working all over Iraqi territory. We will also refer those involved to Iraqi judicial authorities," officials said.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the United States had not been notified of any Iraqi government decision to revoke Blackwater's license, but that just shows what an incompetent moron he is. I read it off Yahoo! News and posted it here, and that was while I was at work. McCormack, you're nothing more than a useless waste of flesh parading around with security clearance.

Analysts note it is unlikely the United States would agree to abandon the security company, as it plays such a critical role in American operations in Iraq, which means there'll be more to this...