Blackwater May Lose License in Iraq

The rumblings are that Christianist controlled (Erik Prince's momma was a huge donor supporting Proposition 8) Blackwater USA which is based in Moyock, North Carolina, may lose its gravy train contract in Iraq. I suspect that but for Prince's Christianist ideology and the big dollar amounts that Prince's family has given to the GOP over the years, Blackwater would not otherwise have received the contract in the first place. With the Chimperator's regime, what was best for cronies and political contributors was always more important than anything else. My view of this development is good riddance. Here are some highlights from the Washington Post:

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WASHINGTON -- An internal State Department report says Blackwater Worldwide may lose its license to work in Iraq and recommends that the agency prepare alternative means to protect its diplomats there. . . . It is not clear how the State Department would replace Blackwater. It relies heavily on private contractors to protect its diplomats in Iraq, as its own security service does not have the manpower or equipment to do so. The report suggests that one way to fill the void would be for the State Department's Diplomatic Security Service to beef up its presence in Iraq.

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The official said later that such a recommendation would not be made until after an investigation of last September's incident in Baghdad's Nisoor Square in which Blackwater guards killed 17 Iraqis is complete. Five guards have been indicted on manslaughter and other charges stemming from that incident.

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Terminating the North Carolina-based company's Iraq contract will be difficult for incoming Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton because no other private security contractor has its range of resources, particularly its fleet of helicopters and planes.

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Blackwater spokeswoman Anne Tyrell declined to comment, saying the company has not yet seen the report. The company has said in the past, though, that it plans to largely get out of the security contracting business to concentrate on training and other projects. Blackwater has won more than $1 billion in government contracts under the Bush administration, a large portion of which has been for work in Iraq, where among its duties is protecting diplomats based at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

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U.S. investigators have linked Blackwater guards to 70 shooting incidents involving civilians before Nisoor Square and only two since then.