Sol Invictus
08-09-2009, 03:12 PM
Muriel Kane
The Raw Story
August 8 2009
Journalist Jeremy Scahill, who earlier this week revealed charges by two former employees of security contractor Blackwater (now Xe) that range from murder to providing child prostitutes for its employees in Iraq, is now taking aim at the US government’s continued use of Blackwater’s services.
The State Department announced last January that it would not be renewing Blackwater’s contract for security services in Iraq when it expired in May. According to Scahill’s latest article in The Nation, however, the Obama administration has just extended the contract through September 3. A State Department official explained, “They are still there, but we are transitioning them out.”
Although it does not include the most recent figures, fedspending.org provides information on Blackwater contracts through the first few months of 2008. It shows the firm receiving an astonishing total of $1.2 billion for fiscal years 2005, 2006, and 2007 alone.
Full Article (http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/08/07/scahill-blackwater-still-getting-millions-in-federal-contracts/)
The Raw Story
August 8 2009
Journalist Jeremy Scahill, who earlier this week revealed charges by two former employees of security contractor Blackwater (now Xe) that range from murder to providing child prostitutes for its employees in Iraq, is now taking aim at the US government’s continued use of Blackwater’s services.
The State Department announced last January that it would not be renewing Blackwater’s contract for security services in Iraq when it expired in May. According to Scahill’s latest article in The Nation, however, the Obama administration has just extended the contract through September 3. A State Department official explained, “They are still there, but we are transitioning them out.”
Although it does not include the most recent figures, fedspending.org provides information on Blackwater contracts through the first few months of 2008. It shows the firm receiving an astonishing total of $1.2 billion for fiscal years 2005, 2006, and 2007 alone.
Full Article (http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/08/07/scahill-blackwater-still-getting-millions-in-federal-contracts/)