Blackwater

Private Warriors

In September 2007, a convoy of armored vehicles belonging to the major defense contractor Blackwater entered Baghdad’s upscale Nisour Square. While accounts differ about how the fight started, Blackwater’s mercenaries started driving the wrong way down a one-way street. In minutes, the convoy opened fire on civilian cars, killing 17 people and wounding more than 20.

That June, Blackwater employees’ violent acts already had drawn the attention of U.S. and Iraqi military and intelligence officials. But as complaints escalated, the officials got word that Blackwater worked for the State Department, and the investigations stopped. A drunk Blackwater contractor killed an Iraqi official’s bodyguard and was never charged. He was taken out of the country and his security clearance was revoked. Within weeks, another contractor hired him and sent him back to the Middle East. With the Nisour killings, as with other attacks involving Blackwater personnel, no one was prosecuted. The day after the shootings, the State Department ordered noncombat personnel, including Blackwater employees, to stay in the “safe” Green Zone. But within four days, Blackwater was back...