The US security firm formerly known as Blackwater is facing damaging new allegations about its behaviour in Iraq.
Two former employees have filed testimony claiming their bosses encouraged the murder of Iraqis.
The company has denied any wrongdoing, but allegations could be severe enough to do damage to their business activities.
Al Jazeera’s Sebastian Walker reports.
US Still Paying Blackwater Millions
By Jeremy Scahill, The Nation, August 7, 2009
Just days before two former Blackwater employees alleged in sworn statements filed in federal court that the company’s owner, Erik Prince, “views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe,” the Obama administration extended a contract with Blackwater for more than $20 million for “security services” in Iraq, according to federal contract data obtained by The Nation. The State Department contract is scheduled to run through September 3. In May, the State Department announced it was not renewing Blackwater’s Iraq contract, and the Iraqi government has refused to issue the company an operating license.
Blackwater or Murder, Inc.?
Jeremy Scahill of The Nation talks to Countdown’s Keith Olbermann about his explosive story on Blackwater’s murder and arms smuggling.
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