The State Department's inspector-general announced Wednesday he would recuse himself from decisions involving security contractor Blackwater, after admitting his brother serves as an adviser to the company.
The FBI has not yet interviewed five "key" members of a Blackwater security team involved in the shooting deaths of 17 Iraqis, a Blackwater spokeswoman said Wednesday.
Donna Zovko walks to her son's grave. Tears stream down her face and she begins trembling amid a steady rain. She kisses her right hand and with it strokes her boy's headstone.
State Department investigators promised Blackwater guards immunity from prosecution for last month's deadly shooting of 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad, according to officials familiar with the matter.
No blanket immunity deal was offered to Blackwater guards for their statements regarding a shootout in Iraq last month that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead, two senior State Department officials told CNN Tuesday.
The State Department's chief of diplomatic security has resigned amid scrutiny of the use of private military contractors to guard the department's staff in Iraq, a spokesman said Wednesday.
A congressional committee investigating the performance of Blackwater USA questioned whether the private security firm may have evaded paying millions of dollars in taxes.
A panel recommended to the State Department that the U.S. create a "central command center" to improve coordination among agencies using private security contractors in war zones, senior State Department officials and others familiar with the review told CNN Monday.
The killing of 17 Iraqis by Blackwater contractors puts the spotlight on private security companies. Who are these guns for hire, and who pays when they mess up?
A State Department team is back in Washington after more than two weeks in Baghdad investigating diplomatic security practices, including the use of private security firms such as Blackwater USA, a department spokesman said.
The State Department's inspector-general announced Wednesday he would recuse himself from decisions involving security contractor Blackwater, after admitting his brother serves as an adviser to the company.
The FBI has not yet interviewed five "key" members of a Blackwater security team involved in the shooting deaths of 17 Iraqis, a Blackwater spokeswoman said Wednesday.
Donna Zovko walks to her son's grave. Tears stream down her face and she begins trembling amid a steady rain. She kisses her right hand and with it strokes her boy's headstone.
State Department investigators promised Blackwater guards immunity from prosecution for last month's deadly shooting of 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad, according to officials familiar with the matter.
No blanket immunity deal was offered to Blackwater guards for their statements regarding a shootout in Iraq last month that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead, two senior State Department officials told CNN Tuesday.
The State Department's chief of diplomatic security has resigned amid scrutiny of the use of private military contractors to guard the department's staff in Iraq, a spokesman said Wednesday.
A congressional committee investigating the performance of Blackwater USA questioned whether the private security firm may have evaded paying millions of dollars in taxes.
A panel recommended to the State Department that the U.S. create a "central command center" to improve coordination among agencies using private security contractors in war zones, senior State Department officials and others familiar with the review told CNN Monday.
The killing of 17 Iraqis by Blackwater contractors puts the spotlight on private security companies. Who are these guns for hire, and who pays when they mess up?
A State Department team is back in Washington after more than two weeks in Baghdad investigating diplomatic security practices, including the use of private security firms such as Blackwater USA, a department spokesman said.
Iraq's prime minister wants private military contractor Blackwater out of his country after an Iraqi probe found Blackwater guards randomly shot civilians without provocation in a Baghdad square last month, an aide said Tuesday.
Haythem could only recognize his oldest boy from his tall and slim physique as well as what was left of his shoes. His son's head had been blown away, his body charred beyond recognition. His wife of more than 20 years was torn apart.
The head of Blackwater USA on Sunday rejected a mounting series of reports suggesting the private contractor's security guards opened fire on innocent Iraqi civilians last month.
Survivors of a September 16 incident in which the Iraqi government accuses Blackwater USA security guards of fatally shooting 17 Iraqi civilians without provocation have told FBI investigators harrowing stories of their ordeals.
U.S. soldiers investigating a shooting by Blackwater guards that left 17 Iraqis dead found no evidence the security contractors were fired upon, a source familiar with a preliminary U.S. military report said Friday.
Private security firms have made news recently for killing civilians in Iraq and for an inquiry into their powers at a special hearing in the U.S. Congress.
A Philadelphia law firm filed suit against Blackwater USA on Thursday on behalf of the families of Iraqis killed and injured in last month's shooting in Baghdad's Nusoor Square.
The State Department may phase out or limit the use of private security guards in Iraq, which could mean canceling Blackwater USA's contract
An Australian security company that Tuesday fired on a car carrying two Iraqi women, killing them, said its team acted because they feared a suicide bombing attack.
The security convoy that on Tuesday fired on a car in Iraq's capital, killing two Iraqi women, was an Australian firm, Iraq's Interior Ministry said. The firm, Unity Resources Group, has offices in Dubai.
An Iraqi report on last month's shootings involving security contractor Blackwater USA called the incident "pre-meditated murder" and is calling for $8 million in compensation for each of the 17 Iraqis who died, a senior Iraqi government official said Monday.
U.S. and Iraqi officials met Sunday to kick off a review stemming from a deadly September firefight -- involving a Blackwater USA security detail -- that reportedly left 17 people dead.
The Democrats' top investigator in Congress reacted angrily Friday to a CNN report that the former Blackwater USA employee accused of killing an Iraqi vice presidential guard was hired by another U.S. contractor weeks later.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice ordered the implementation of three steps to bolster the accountability of private security firms in Iraq, including the Blackwater USA.
A Blackwater USA employee who was fired after he allegedly shot and killed an Iraqi security guard on Christmas Eve last year was hired by another private contractor to work in the region less than two months later.
The FBI has assumed the lead from the State Department on the investigation into last month's Baghdad shootings involving contractors from the U.S. security firm Blackwater USA, the State Department said Thursday.
The Bush administration said Wednesday it opposes a bill that would bring private military contractors overseas under U.S. law, warning it would have "unintended and intolerable consequences" for national security.
The founder and chief executive of Blackwater USA defended his company against allegations that his contractors were trigger-happy mercenaries Tuesday, saying that his personnel have distinguished records and have never intentionally killed civilians.
In Baghdad, you can always pick out the Blackwater security guys. They're the burly Americans wearing dark green fatigues, wrap-around Oakleys and enough weaponry to take over a small country. They keep to themselves, throw big parties and are universally despised - and sometimes genuinely feared - by their rival security contractors.
A 2004 crash that killed everyone on board -- three crew members and three U.S. troops -- was caused by pilots from a Blackwater plane taking a low-level run through a mountain canyon in Afghanistan, testimony revealed Tuesday.
An Iraqi police officer who was directing traffic at Baghdad's Nusoor Square on September 16 said Blackwater guards "became the terrorists" that Sunday afternoon when they opened fire on civilians, an incident the Iraqi government said was unprovoked.
Katy Helvenston never wants Blackwater or America to forget her boy. Scott Helvenston was a decorated Navy man who, at age 17, became one of the youngest Navy SEALs in U.S. history.
Erik Prince, the chairman and CEO of Blackwater USA, appeared Tuesday before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
The State Department's initial report of last month's incident in which Blackwater guards were accused of killing Iraqi civilians was written by a Blackwater contractor working in the embassy security detail, according to government and industry sources.
The chairman of military contractor Blackwater is defending his company from "negative and baseless allegations" surrounding a bloody day in Baghdad, telling a House committee that its guards responded properly to an insurgent attack last month.
One group of Blackwater USA contractors was involved in two separate shootings on September 16, according to a senior Iraqi National Police official who contributed to a report detailing the second shooting.
Blackwater USA guards have used deadly force weekly in Iraq and have inflicted "significant casualties and property damage," according to a congressional staff report released Monday that cites internal company and State Department documents.
The security company's chief will tell a House committee that it is effective in a difficult climate. Will Democrats buy it?
Private military contractor Blackwater USA "delayed and impeded" a congressional probe into the 2004 killings of four of its employees in Falluja, Iraq, the House Oversight Committee said Thursday in a report.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday he wants closer oversight of Pentagon contractors in Iraq and has dispatched a team there to review military procedures.
The Iraqi government said it will file criminal charges against employees of security firm Blackwater USA who were involved a gun battle in Baghdad in which civilians were killed, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said Sunday.
Allegations that Blackwater USA -- whose operations were suspended after 20 Iraqi civilians were shot to death last weekend -- was "in any way associated or complicit in unlawful arms activities are baseless," the company asserted Saturday.
The security firm Blackwater USA is starting to resume normal operations in Iraq after a hiatus sparked by concerns among Iraqi and U.S. government officials over its actions.
A joint U.S.-Iraq commission will focus on security contractors in Iraq after an uproar over a Baghdad firefight involving Blackwater USA, the U.S. State Department announced Wednesday.
It was last Sunday in western Baghdad. Helicopters circled overhead while armed guards, privately hired by the U.S. government, were conducting an ordinary mission to protect U.S. State Department employees.
Private security firm Blackwater USA has issued the following statement in response to accusations leveled at it about an incident Sunday in Baghdad, Iraq:
Ground movements of American civilians in most of Iraq were on hold Tuesday after an uproar over a Baghdad firefight involving American security firm Blackwater USA.
Iraqi officials Monday condemned the weekend killings of eight civilians during a Baghdad street battle involving American security contractors and said they would shut down Blackwater, the company involved.
A manager for a private security contractor warned executives that he lacked proper equipment in Iraq a day before four of its employees were killed and two were left hanging from a bridge, a House committee disclosed Wednesday.
Seven Blackwater USA employees, all Americans, died Thursday in Iraq, the company said.
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