AP: State Dept. may phase out Blackwater, other contractors in Iraq

AP: State Dept. may phase out Blackwater, other contractors in Iraq

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-10-10-contractors_N.htm

WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department may phase out or limit the use of private security guards in Iraq, which could mean canceling Blackwater USA's contract or awarding it to another company in line with an Iraqi government demand, The Associated Press has learned.

Such steps would be difficult given U.S. reliance on Blackwater and other contractors, but they are among options being studied during a comprehensive review of security in Iraq, two senior officials said.

The review was ordered after a Sept. 16 incident in which Blackwater guards protecting a U.S. Embassy convoy in Baghdad are accused of killing 17 Iraqi civilians.

The shooting has enraged the Iraqi government, which is demanding millions in compensation for the victims and removal of Blackwater in six months. It also has focused attention on the nebulous rules governing private guards and added to the Bush administration's problems in managing the war in Iraq.

And it prompted Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to order the top-to-bottom review from a commission headed by Patrick Kennedy, one of the State Department's most experienced management officials.
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Seems like Blackwater is under the State Dept???
Iraq is ticked

I'll believe it when I see it.

half of the forces in Iraq are mercenaries so what are they going to do send in more troops as they bring the mercenaries back.

War profiteering is the main reason for this disaster to continue for the next umpteen years. Smoke and mirrors.