ABSTRACT

The company has had a one-year operating license from the Interior Ministry since 2005, but this is now totally outdated, although a new application has been made. It is not really surprising that, despite all of this exceedingly authentic training, a few of Blackwater’s private soldiers—part of the approximately 50,000 private soldiers in Iraq—have got into trouble. Because many of them are former Special Forces, Navy Seals, retired police and other security men, they are widely considered the most aggressive of the private contractors, known for at least half a dozen incidents in which Blackwater guards allegedly shot civilians. The 100 or so mostly American security firms operating in Iraq are actually under contract with the State Department. Under the original rules after the occupation, private security contractors were authorized by the Coalition Provisional Authority to work in Iraq but had to register their weapons.