In 2007, Rep. Henry Waxman a vocal critic of the Iraq war, released details from Blackwater’s own reports of multiple incidents involving Iraqi casualties.

Reuters claims it contains reports of 195 shooting incidents from the start of 2005 until September 12 of this year, an average of 1.4 per week.

“In 32 of those incidents, Blackwater were returning fire after an attack while on 163 occasions (84 percent of the shooting incidents), Blackwater personnel were the first to fire,” Waxman said.
SOURCE

And the question that begs to be answered is where is the oversight of these contractors?

WASHINGTON, Nov 10 (Reuters) – Top Blackwater executives authorized about $1 million in payments to Iraqi officials to buy support and silence criticism of the private security firm after a deadly shooting in Baghdad in 2007, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.

In September 2007, Blackwater workers fatally shot at least 14 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad’s Nisour Square, an incident that provoked protests in Iraq and prompted the Iraqi government to deny Blackwater a license.

Four former executives said in interviews that Blackwater approved the payments in December 2007 but they did not know whether the cash was delivered to Iraqi officials or the identities of potential recipients, the Times reported.

Blackwater’s strategy, which would have been illegal under U.S. law, created a deep rift inside the company, the sources told the newspaper.

A spokesman for the company, now known as Xe Services, was not immediately available to comment on the report.

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