31affiliates of Blackwater helped them get CIA contracts source
» Why this is bad: Blackwater is still managing to get federal money despite their rep cemented by that incident where a bunch of Iraqi civilians got killed. They’ve made $600 million from classified contracts, according to one government official, and just got another $100 million to provide security at Afghan bases. And they’re doing it in such a way as to stay low profile in hopes that nobody notices it’s the same company. Guess that didn’t work.
The U.S. plans to appeal the decision to clear Blackwater in a 2007 shooting. A few weeks ago, our boys at Blackwater (now called Xe to avoid self-created negative connotations) were cleared of any wrongdoing in a shooting that killed 17 innocent Iraqi citizens. The decision sparked controversy, and the U.S. government now plans to appeal it. The Iraqi government has not been happy about this entire situation, BTW. source
The goal: Kill al-Qaeda leaders in Iraq. Blackwater (now called Xe), which had a huge role in the Iraq conflict for years only to see it fall under the weight of criticism, apparently was involved in that secret CIA operation which freaked out Leon Panetta. The reason Panetta reacted the way he did was due to the fact that private company was involved. That’s right, the CIA had an agreement with American citizens (with no military ties) to find and kill al-Qaeda leadership. We had to write it out to make sure we understood the ramifications of that statement. source