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Employees of the CIA-connected private security corporation Blackwater diverted hundreds of weapons, including more than 500 AK-47 assault rifles, from a U.S. weapons bunker in Afghanistan intended to equip Afghan policemen, according to an investigation by the Senate Armed Services Committee. On at least one occasion, an individual claiming to work for the company evidently signed for a weapons shipment using the name of a “South Park” cartoon character. And Blackwater has yet to return hundreds of the guns to the military. A Blackwater subsidiary known as Paravant that until recently operated in Afghanistan acquired the weapons for its employees’...

The dismissed case against five American security contractors charged with committing manslaughter in Iraq illustrates the complexities of fighting an enemy that chooses to wage war among civilians. Worse, it exposes the equally dirty battles conducted by government agencies against our own warriors when bureaucrats respond to political pressure.

US Citizens Killed In Afghanistan Eight Americans have been killed in a suicide bomb attack in south-eastern Afghanistan, US officials say. The suicide bomber was wearing an explosive vest as he carried out the attack at a forward operating base in Khost province, CNN reported. Details about the attack are still emerging and it was not clear how many people had been injured. One unnamed US official was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying that all of those killed were civilians.

<p>It was reported this week that Holland native Erik Prince is severing ties to Blackwater, the controversial international security firm he founded, complaining that he had been "thrown under the bus."</p> <p>In that context, Vanity Fair's profile of Prince is a compelling read. Prince invited the magazine to tour the headquarters of Blackwater (now called Xe) in North Carolina and examine its operation in Afghanistan, presumably to clear the air.</p>

Navy SEALs have secretly captured one of the most wanted terrorists in Iraq — the alleged mastermind of the murder and mutilation of four Blackwater USA security guards in Fallujah in 2004. And three of the SEALs who captured him are now facing criminal charges, sources told FoxNews.com.

An American newspaper has revealed a new scandal committed by Blackwater (actually it was Armor Group - foreign 3rd world personnel) security guards protecting the American Embassy in the Afghan capital city of Kabul. The newspaper published a report titled ‘This is what our children are doing abroad’. The report said, “They are drinking vodka and peeing on themselves like animals. They intentionally run outside naked and then pour vodka over each other’s asses.” The newspaper wondered, “What makes the Pentagon deal with these ‘special companies’ that cause harm and kill in a criminal way?” The newspaper noted, “Their ‘gay...

The Justice Department prosecutor appointed this week to examine the CIA's interrogation program will revisit long dormant-cases of abuse by the agency's civilian contractors, bringing new attention to a little- known but controversial element of the Bush administration's war on terrorism. Civilian contractors used by the CIA at secret overseas facilities were said to be involved in a series of cases of detainee abuses and deaths in the years following the U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, but only one was ever prosecuted. The contractors also played a key but secret role in the CIA's brutal interrogations of suspected top...

he Nation is claiming to have information from informants that Blackwater founder Erik Prince is some sort of delusional latter-day Templar Knight, ordering murders to cover up his plot to wage war against the Islamic world. If it sounds a bit far-fetched … well, it should. Without going into the specific allegations being made in the consolidated civil cases, logic and factual errors in claims made in the article are troubling. See this claim from a man who claims to be a former member of the Blackwater management team, identified as John Doe #2: "Using his various companies, [Prince] procured...

The head of Blackwater and his employees may have killed or ordered the killing of people suspected of cooperating with federal investigators probing their activities, according to an anonymous affidavit filed in federal court Monday. The affidavit, one of two filed Monday, makes an extraordinary bundle of claims about the former Blackwater CEO, Erik Prince, and his employees. The existence of the documents was first reported by the Nation magazine Tuesday. They were filed as part of a civil suit against Prince and Blackwater by several Iraqis, which accuse the firm and owner of war crimes, wrongful death and more....

Iraqi authorities have detained five U.S. citizens in connection with the death of an American contractor in Baghdad, officials said Sunday, in what could be the first case of Americans facing local justice under a joint security pact that took effect this year. The body of Jim Kitterman, who was reportedly bound, blindfolded and stabbed, was found in his car last month in the protected Green Zone where his small construction company was based. It was an unprecedented slaying in the sprawling district and occurred at a time when blast walls are coming down and Iraqi forces are assuming greater...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraqi forces detained five U.S. security contractors in connection with the killing of a fellow American contractor last month in Baghdad's Green Zone, an Iraqi government spokesman said on Sunday. Major General Abdul-Karim Khalaf, the Interior Ministry spokesman, said the five men were being held at an Iraqi police station in the capital's heavily-fortified central district while a joint Iraqi-U.S. committee investigated. The detainees could become the first Americans to face local justice since a bilateral security pact came into force at the start of this year making U.S. contractors subject to Iraqi law. "There are no...

As the secrets about the CIA's interrogation techniques continue to come out, there's new information about the frequency and severity of their use, contradicting an 2007 ABC News report, and a new focus on two private contractors who were apparently directing the brutal sessions that President Obama calls torture.

BARROW, UK: BAE Systems workers today celebrated delivery of the 500th M777 howitzer to the US military. Weighing in at less than 4200kg, the revolutionary M777 is the world's first artillery weapon to make widespread use of titanium and aluminum alloys, resulting in a howitzer which is half the weight of conventional 155mm systems. BAE Systems Global Combat Systems' facility at Barrow-in- Furness is responsible for the prime contract management of the M777 programme, including direct customer liaison and acceptance of the weapon system in the US, control of the UK and US supply chain, engineering design authority and manufacturing...

Days after the Baghdad government decided it no longer wanted the company then known as Blackwater in Iraq, the State Department signed a $22.2 million deal in February to keep the embattled contractor working there through most of the summer, contract records show. The decision keeps Blackwater - since renamed Xe - in Iraq months longer than anyone has suggested publicly, while raising questions about why the U.S. would pay a contractor for work in Iraq if it may not be able to operate there legally. The State Department has been under pressure from Blackwater critics, including several in Congress,...

Former Marine Killed in IraqLast Edited: Friday, 06 Mar 2009, 10:38 PM EST Created On: Friday, 06 Mar 2009, 10:37 PM EST Ron Savage RIVERVIEW, Mich. - A former Marine from metropolitan Detroit is killed in Iraq. 25-year-old Justin Pope was working for a U.S. contractor. Friday night, he was remembered as a kind and brave man who wanted to serve his country. A crowd of more than 100 people gathered to celebrate his life. The Riverview police and fire departments also joined the vigil. It was an evening of prayers, candles and crying. Pope served two tours of duty...

WASHINGTON, (AP) -- A senior U.S. official says the State Department will not renew Blackwater Worldwide's contract to protect American diplomats in Iraq when it expires in May.

Iraq said Thursday it will bar Blackwater Worldwide from providing security protection for U.S. diplomats because its contractors used excessive force, sanctioning a company whose image was irrevocably tarnished by the 2007 killings of 17 Iraqi civilians. The move will deprive American diplomats of their main protection force in Iraq. The decision not to issue Blackwater an operating license was due to "improper conduct and excessive use of force," ...

Iraq will not allow Blackwater Worldwide to continue providing security protection for U.S. diplomats in the country, Iraqi and U.S. officials said Thursday. (snip) The decision not to issue Blackwater an operating license was due to "improper conduct and excessive use of force," said Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf.

BREAKING NEWS CNN (January 22/2009) 3:55pm EST: KBR, formally Halliburton, a private contractors, through shoddy work caused electrocution deaths of U.S. soldiers in army bases in Iraq.

<p>WASHINGTON, D.C. -- When the nation’s in pain, Washington often gains. Whether it’s a buildup of Civil War troops, Depression-era bureaucrats or defense contractors after Sept. 11, the region has prospered in times of crisis. Today, the financial meltdown is delivering a jolt of its own.</p>