From Al Jazeera English:
Wired.com reports that while neither Xe nor Blackwater appear on the list of eight firms hired for the Worldwide Protective Services contract (a group of contracts combined into one), one of the company's fronts, International Development Solutions LLC (IDS) is on the list.
In total, the contract for all eight companies is worth $10 billion.
Two former Blackwater employees are currently on trial in the US on charges of murdering Afghan civilians and keeping human remains as trophies. The charges stem from a 2009 incident in Kabul.
In 2008, five Blackwater guards were charged in the deaths of 17 Iraqi civilians, who were shot in Baghdad's al-Nisoor Square in 2007. Those charges were ultimately dismissed.
Another employee of Triple Canopy - another contractor included in the new Worldwide Protective Services contract - was charged with killing at least one Iraqi after he fired into a civilian vehicle for "sport."
In August, Blackwater agreed to pay $42m in fines for weapons export violations.
Sad thing is, I know a young man freshly de-mobbed from the Iraq-then-Afghanistan occupation. After some months, guess where his only job offer came from? Yep, those folks formerly known as Blackwater. At least I hear Iraq is throwing them out.
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