K-Atalay

pantslessprogressive:

Gawker has obtained a 4,500 page report detailing the violent activity of Academi - formerly known as Xe Services and best known as Blackwater - in Iraq between 2005 and 2007.

In Iraq, Blackwater’s “protective services” consisted in large part of preemptively shooting any car that drove near its convoys. Page after page of the reports feature drivers (and occasionally boat pilots) who were fired upon simply because they drove “aggressively,” attempted to pass, or didn’t heed warnings to keep their distance. There was no routine mechanism for following up with the drivers to determine if they were injured or were actually hostile. Blackwater (and DynCorp and Triple Canopy) guards roamed Iraqi cities and highways, ignoring traffic rules and shooting at other drivers literally at will, and driving on.

And we’ve paid a lot for their “worldwide protective services”: the State Dept dished out $1 billion to Blackwater from 2004 to 2009.

Read more about the report here.