In the News

Iraq Contractor in Shooting Case Makes Comeback
New York Times - 5/10/2008
The State Department has just renewed its contract to provide security for American diplomats in Iraq for at least another year. Threats by the Iraqi government to strip Western contractors of their immunity from Iraqi law have gone nowhere. No charges have been brought in the United States against any Blackwater guard in the September shooting, either, and the F.B.I. agents in Baghdad charged with investigating whether Blackwater guards have committed any crimes under United States law are sometimes protected as they travel through Baghdad by Blackwater guards.

Blackwater Unlikely to Face Charges in Iraq Shooting
AP - 5/9/2008
Blackwater Worldwide, the security contractor blamed by an angry Iraqi government for the shooting deaths of 17 civilians, is not expected to face criminal charges - all but ensuring the company will keep its multimillion-dollar contract to protect U.S. diplomats.

Iraqi Alleges Abu Ghraib Torture, Sues US Contractors
AP - 5/6/2008
An Iraqi man sued two U.S. military contractors, claiming he was repeatedly tortured while being held at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison for more than 10 months.

Former Abu Ghraib Prisoner Accuses CACI, L-3 of Torture in Suit
Bloomberg - 5/6/2008
A blacksmith who claims he was tortured at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq sued CACI International Inc. and L-3 Communications Holdings Inc., which provide services to the U.S. military.

Blackwater Shooting Highlights a U.S., Iraq Culture Clash
Los Angeles Times - 5/4/2008
Relatives of those killed in September by U.S. contractors are insulted by the compensation offers. In their justice system, an apology comes first.

U.S. Seeks Contractors To Train Iraqi Military
Washington Post - 5/4/2008
U.S. commanders in Iraq are for the first time seeking private contractors to form part of the small military teams that train and live with Iraqi military units across the country, according to a notice for prospective bidders published last week.

Iraqis Accuse Blackwater of Shredding Documents
AP - 4/26/2008
Families of Iraqis who died in a shooting involving Blackwater Worldwide contractors accused the company Friday of shredding documents and destroying evidence.

Canadian Translator Assigned to U.S. Forces at Centre of Case Over Right to Prosecute Civilians
Globe and Mail, Canada - 4/18/2008
A Canadian charged by the U.S. forces in Baghdad after a knife fight with a colleague is expected to play a key role in a looming legal battle over the military's right to prosecute civilians.

U.S. Military Holds Hearing in First Contractor Case
Reuters - 4/15/2008
The U.S. military held a pre-trial hearing on Tuesday for an interpreter accused of a stabbing in Iraq, the first attempt to apply military law to civilian contractors working for U.S. forces in Iraq.

Contract Justice
The Nation - 4/6/2008
For the first time since 1968, the Pentagon has charged a civilian contractor under military law. But the individual in question is not one of the Blackwater "shooters" alleged to have gunned down seventeen Iraqi civilians in Baghdad's Nisour Square last September, nor is it the Blackwater contractor accused of shooting to death a bodyguard to the Iraqi vice president inside the Green Zone on Christmas Eve 2006. In fact, the contractor is not even a US citizen. Nor is he an armed contractor. And the crime in question was not committed against an Iraqi civilian.

Military Role Overseeing Contractors Tested in Iraq
New York Times - 4/6/2008
The lawyer for a civilian contractor charged with assault said on Saturday that he planned to challenge the American military’s jurisdiction over the case.

Iraqi Contractor Charged Under New Law
AP - 4/5/2008
A civilian contractor working for the U.S. military in Iraq was charged with aggravated assault under military law, the first such prosecution since the Vietnam War, the U.S. command said Saturday.

U.S. Charges Contractor at Iraq Post in Stabbing
New York Times - 4/5/2008
The American military has charged a contractor with assault in a case that may emerge as a major test of the military’s legal jurisdiction over civilians who accompany the armed forces into the field, military officials and legal experts said Friday.

State Extends Blackwater's Deal a Year
AP - 4/4/2008
Amid investigations into fatal shootings of civilians and allegations of tax violations, Blackwater USA's multimillion-dollar contract to protect diplomats in Baghdad has been renewed, the State Department said Friday.

Blackwater VP: Too soon to judge Baghdad shootings
Reuters - 4/3/2008
A top official in the U.S. private security firm Blackwater said on Thursday it was too soon to pass judgment on the killing of 17 Iraqi civilians by its employees last September and urged critics to await an FBI report.

Blackwater 'Blood Money' Angers Iraqis
ABC News - 3/20/2008
At least two Iraqi families of victims killed by Blackwater security guards in September tell ABC News they have refused compensation offered by the company.

Blackwater: US Security Firm in Iraq Shooting Claim Looks for Peace Work
Times Online, UK - 3/19/2008
Blackwater Worldwide, the private security company whose guards are accused of shooting dead 17 Iraqi civilians last year, is attempting to reposition itself as a peacekeeping force as work in Iraq begins to dry up.

Clinton Would Ban Armed Private Military Contractors in Iraq
Bloomberg - 3/17/2008
Hillary Clinton, in a speech marking the five-year anniversary of the start of the Iraq War, said that if elected, she would pull armed private contractors from that country as well as U.S. troops.

U.N. Urges Iraq to Address Human Rights During Lull
New York Times - 3/16/2008
Among the concerns cited in the report were an increase in the number of juveniles held in detention, the so-called honor killings of women in the northern region of Kurdistan, the killing of civilians by private security contractors — among them, the shooting of 17 Iraqis by employees of Blackwater in Nisour Square in September — and “continuing reports of the widespread and routine torture or ill treatment of detainees, particularly those being held in pretrial detention facilities.”

Clinton Supports Bill to Ban Use of State Department Private Security Contractors
GovernmentExecutive.com - 3/3/2008
Sen. Hillary Clinton has signed on as the first co-sponsor of a bill that would ban the use of all State Department private security contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan. The bill could create a wedge issue with her chief rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., who does not support the measure.

Iraqi Shooting Witnesses Interviewed
AP - 2/29/2008
The Justice Department appears to be gathering testimony from Iraqi witnesses for a possible trial of Blackwater Worldwide security guards over a 2007 shooting in Baghdad that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead.

Iraq Rewards Trump Risks for Job Seekers
AP - 2/28/2008
Help wanted: possibly life-threatening risks, little freedom outside work, long hours but competitive pay. Must be willing to relocate to Iraq.

Blackwater Inquiry Turns to Baghdad
AP - 2/21/2008
Federal authorities investigating Blackwater Worldwide contractors are returning to Baghdad this week to revisit the scene of a deadly September shooting that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead.

German Arms Firm Ends Blackwater Deal After TV Report
Deutsche Welle, Germany - 2/19/2008
Weapons manufacturer Heckler & Koch said it would end its relationship with Blackwater after German media reported that the controversial US-run military firm was using its guns in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Miliband Urged To Regulate Private Military
Guardian, UK - 2/18/2008
David Miliband, the foreign secretary, today faces a legal challenge over the government's failure to introduce a law to regulate private military and security companies. The move, by lawyers acting for the charity War on Want, follows an increasing number of reports of human rights abuse by employees of foreign companies in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Foreign Guards in Iraq Work in Legal Grey Area
Reuters - 2/17/2008
Foreign private security companies in Iraq are operating in a legal grey area that means their victims have little recourse to justice despite U.S. steps to increase supervision, contractors and lawyers say.

Will Contractors Lose Iraq Immunity?
TIME - 2/13/2008
The days of legal immunity for civilian contractors in Iraq may be numbered, as Washington and Baghdad prepare to renegotiate a long-term bilateral security agreement. Ahead of negotiations on the issue, which could begin in two weeks, the Bush Administration is trying to hammer out its positions on key issues such as authority over combat operations and detentions, as well as other elements of the mission over the next 24 months and beyond. And top of the list of deal-breakers for the Iraqis, is contractor immunity.

CIA Likely Let Contractors Perform Waterboarding
Wall Street Journal - 2/8/2008
The CIA's secret interrogation program has made extensive use of outside contractors, whose role likely included the waterboarding of terrorist suspects, according to testimony yesterday from the CIA director and two other people familiar with the program.

Blackwater Key to US-Iraq Talks: Ambassador
AFP - 2/5/2008
The status and role of private security firms like Blackwater in Iraq is central to upcoming talks between Washington and Baghdad, Iraqi ambassador to the US Samir Sumaidaie said Tuesday.

Iraq Security Guards Getting New Rules
AP - 1/30/2008
Under pressure to exercise greater control over private security contractors in Iraq, Bush administration officials outlined stricter rules for these armed guards during a three-hour meeting Wednesday at the Pentagon with 20 companies.

U.S. Officials to Discuss Oversight
Wall Street Journal - 1/29/2008
In a sign that U.S. officials are taking a stronger hand in managing private security companies in Iraq, officials from the Pentagon and the State Department have called a meeting with top security company executives as part of a recent push to increase oversight and coordination.

Senators to Press for War Contract Panel
AP - 1/29/2008
Lawmakers say they will push ahead with a presidential commission designed to root out waste and fraud in military contracts despite President Bush's concerns that it could usurp his authority.

Iraq Contractors Tap Latin America's Needy
Los Angeles Times - 1/28/2008
In the United States, Calixto might be under treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder from his time in Iraq, receiving daily physical therapy and counseling. Here he's an unemployed street vendor, renting a spartan room and struggling to recover physically and emotionally from severe shrapnel wounds.

U.S. Cannot Manage Contractors In Wars, Officials Testify on Hill
Washington Post - 1/25/2008
With even more U.S. contractors now in Iraq and Afghanistan than U.S. military personnel, government officials told Congress yesterday that the Bush administration is not prepared to manage the contractors' critical involvement in the American war effort.

U.S. Asking Iraq for Wide Rights on War
New York Times - 1/25/2008
With its international mandate in Iraq set to expire in 11 months, the Bush administration will insist that the government in Baghdad give the United States broad authority to conduct combat operations and guarantee civilian contractors specific legal protections from Iraqi law, according to administration and military officials.

Blackwater Hits Wiley Rein With $30 Million Malpractice Suit
Legal Times - 1/24/2008
Blackwater Security filed a $30 million malpractice suit against Wiley Rein on Wednesday, alleging that the firm made costly missteps in a wrongful death case brought on behalf of four former Blackwater employees who were killed in Iraq in 2004.

Will Blackwater Be Rehired?
Time - 1/23/2008
Regardless of the outcome of various legal proceedings against Blackwater, the controversial security firm potentially faces a massive business setback this coming May. That's when its State Department contract to protect U.S. diplomats in Iraq comes up for renewal, and its hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for the company are no longer a sure thing in light of the legal and political repercussions of two recent incidents in which Blackwater guards allegedly killed Iraqis.

Contractor Abuses Rarely Punished, Groups Say
IPS, Italy - 1/21/2008
Out of the dozens upon dozens of reports of abuses by private contractors as part of the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, only one prosecution of a contractor has taken place. This, says a new report from Human Rights First, epitomises the woefully insufficient response by the U.S. government to hold private contactors accountable for abuses against local nationals.

US Gives Immunity to Guards Who Killed 17 Iraqis
Herald, UK - 1/21/2008
Mercenary guards who killed 17 Iraqi civilians when they opened fire on traffic in a busy Baghdad square last September are likely to escape trial or prosecution because of loopholes in US law.

From Texas to Iraq, and Center of Blackwater Case
New York Times - 1/19/2008
Today, Mr. Slough, 28, is at the center of a federal investigation into the Sept. 16 shooting deaths of 17 Iraqis in Baghdad by a convoy of Blackwater security guards. Authorities have refused to talk about the inquiry, except to say it has focused on one guard, identified only as “turret gunner No. 3.”

Human Rights group: End 'Culture of Impunity' for Security Contractors
GovernmentExecutive.com - 1/18/2008
A human rights organization is calling for the expansion and implementation of laws to hold private security contractors accountable in war zones. Human Rights First issued a report this week making recommendations on how to end what it called a "culture of impunity."

Politics Shielding Contractors, Rights Group Says
Detroit Free Press - 1/17/2008
An international human-rights group said Wednesday that a lack of political will, not a fuzzy legal framework, was primarily to blame for the dearth of prosecutions of private security contractors accused of abuses in Iraq.

Group Seeks Prosecution of Contractors
The Hill - 1/17/2008
An independent human rights group is criticizing the Bush administration for failing to hold private security contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan criminally responsible for acts of violence and abuse.

Report Says Iraq Contractors Operate With Impunity
Voice of America - 1/17/2008
A report issued by a U.S.-based human rights group is criticizing the Justice Department for failing to hold private security contractors operating in Iraq and Afghanistan responsible for acts of violence.

Report: US Fails At Enforcing Prosecution of Contractors
Guardian Unlimited, UK - 1/16/2008
The US government has the legal authority to prosecute private contractors for crimes they commit in Iraq but often declines to use it, according to a report released today by a leading human rights group.

Justice Dept. Cites Obstacles in Blackwater Case
New York Times - 1/16/2008
Justice Department officials have told Congress that they face serious legal difficulties in pursuing criminal prosecutions of Blackwater security guards involved in a September shooting that left at least 17 Iraqis dead.

FBI finds Blackwater trucks patched
AP - 1/13/2008
Blackwater Worldwide repaired and repainted its trucks immediately after a deadly September shooting in Baghdad, making it difficult to determine whether enemy gunfire provoked the attack, according to people familiar with the government's investigation of the incident.

Ex-Blackwater Employees Sentenced
AP - 1/10/2008
Two former employees of Blackwater Worldwide, the beleaguered contractor whose practices in Iraq are under federal scrutiny, were sentenced to probation Thursday on gunrunning charges.

2005 Use of Gas by Blackwater Leaves Questions
New York Times - 1/10/2008
Suddenly, on that May day in 2005, the copter dropped CS gas, a riot-control substance the American military in Iraq can use only under the strictest conditions and with the approval of top military commanders. An armored vehicle on the ground also released the gas, temporarily blinding drivers, passers-by and at least 10 American soldiers operating the checkpoint.

Private Security Contractors Look To Africa For Recruits
Christian Science Monitor - 1/8/2008
Human rights activist Phil ya Nangolo started hearing rumors in the fall about an American security group opening shop here, with plans to recruit thousands of former Namibian soldiers to work in Iraq and Afghanistan.