Blackwater Usa

He refused to take the Americans' blood money. Mohammed Hafidh Abdul-Razzaq had been summoned by U.S. Embassy officials who wanted to make amends for the killing of his 10-year-old son. The boy died during a shooting involving employees of Blackwater Worldwide, the U.S. security firm. Deputy Chief of Mission Patricia A. Butenis told him that she was sorry for what had happened, Abdul-Razzaq recalled. She gave him a sealed envelope. It had his name written on it. Abdul-Razzaq pushed it away.

Blackwater Worldwide said Monday that it planned to shift away from the security contracting business that earned it millions of dollars and made it a flash point in the debate over the use of private security companies in war zones. "The experience we've had would certainly be a disincentive to any other companies that want to step in and put their entire business at risk," company founder and Chief Executive Erik Prince said. Blackwater executives said the company would continue to guard U.S.

Attorneys for five Blackwater Worldwide security guards charged in a 2007 shooting that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead accused the government Saturday of engaging in unfair second-guessing of decisions in a combat zone. The five guards -- a sixth is in plea negotiations -- were indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury in Washington in the 2007 Baghdad shooting, according to several sources familiar with the case. The indictment was sealed, and the exact charges are not known.

With its isolation and rustic ambience, this sparsely populated hamlet in eastern San Diego County offers the privacy and quiet its residents crave. "It's perfect: nobody here but us rural souls," Will Lee said as he headed to the Potrero General Store on a recent afternoon. But Lee's solitude and sense of being far from the madding crowd may soon be ruffled.

American officials scrambled to head off a potential crisis Monday after irate Iraqi authorities canceled the license of the controversial American security firm Blackwater USA, whose guards were accused of shooting to death eight civilians while protecting a U.S. State Department motorcade.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki on Wednesday demanded that the U.S. Embassy here replace the private security company Blackwater USA because of its involvement in a weekend shooting incident that reportedly left 11 Iraqis dead. Embassy officials, who are guarded by Blackwater personnel when they venture out of the heavily protected Green Zone, rebuffed the suggestion, saying Blackwater's fate would be resolved only after an investigation was completed.

Habib Sadr was sitting at his desk when the shots rang out. A sniper had just shot three security guards outside his office at the government-run Iraqi Media Network. With the fatally wounded guards lying by their checkpoint, a security convoy rolled into the neighboring Justice Ministry compound. Sadr believed the sniper was with them. The incident, he said, was a brutal introduction into the world of private security contractors.

baghdad -- The security company Blackwater USA was approved Friday to resume escorting American officials in Baghdad, just days after the fatal shooting of 11 Iraqis galvanized the Iraqi government over the company's conduct and the immunity its employees enjoy from Iraqi law. The decision by the U.S.

An Iraqi official conceded Sunday that expelling a private U.S. firm accused in the deaths of at least 11 Iraqi civilians would leave a "security vacuum" and said the two countries would look at ways to better regulate companies that protect Western personnel and facilities in Iraq. A joint U.S.-Iraqi commission was expected to hold its first meeting within days, the American Embassy said.