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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: contractors

contractors stories: 31 news summaries

21 - 31 of 31 Stories | << Prev 1 2

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Audits Rip Fed Oversight of Security Firms, Costs

Lax controls, slopping accounting

Oct 23, 07 7:20 AM CDT
(Newser) - A State Department internal review of its own security practices in Iraq is sharply critical of the lack of oversight of private contractors Blackwater, DynCorp International and Triple Canopy. A second report due today says officials can't say what the government got for $1.2B paid to DynCorp since 2004,... More »

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Iraq • Afghanistan • Pentagon • Condoleezza Rice • State Department • Blackwater • contractors • Triple Canopy • convoys • DynCorp • audit • security practices

How Blackwater Came to Be

Oct 13, 07 1:49 PM CDT
(Newser) - Erik Prince, the politically savvy CEO of Blackwater USA, took advantage of a confluence of events—a rise in terrorism coupled with military cutbacks and an administration committed to outsourcing—to create one of the fastest-growing US contractors of the past decade. The Washington Post investigates the extraordinary rise of... More »

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Blackwater • contractors • September 11 • Erik Prince

Iraqis Bring US Lawsuit Against Blackwater

Shooting victims accuse security firm of promoting 'lawlessness'

Oct 11, 07 5:07 PM CDT
(Newser) - Saying the security firm committed "extrajudicial killings and war crimes" in a Baghdad firefight, one injured man and the relatives of three other Iraqis killed last month are suing Blackwater in US federal court. An advocacy group filed the suit today, Reuters reports, seeking compensatory and punitive damages while... More »

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Blackwater • contractors • lawsuit • Iraq violence • security firms • Nisoor Square • shooting

US Ignored Blackwater Warnings

Immunity for guards was 'a bomb that could go off at any time'

Oct 7, 07 8:02 PM CDT
(Newser) - The White House ignored signals about Blackwater and other private mercs for years, rejecting the idea that they were "a bomb that could go off at any time," the Los Angeles Times reports. One official says that contract guards blatantly smashed property and scared Iraqis, then argued that... More »

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Iraq • Green Zone • Condoleezza Rice • State Department • Blackwater • contractors • diplomat • immunity

Blackwater Blamed for Fallujah  Bloodshed

Murder of unprepared patrol sparked battle

Sep 28, 07 4:05 AM CDT
(Newser) - Blackwater, the private security firm under investigation for a dozen civilian deaths in Iraq last week, is now being faulted for actions that led to a 2004 battle in which 36 US soldiers and 600 civilians were killed.  Blackwater is charged with sending a disorganized, unprepared four-man team into... More »

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Iraq • insurgents • Henry Waxman • State Department • Blackwater • contractors • Fallujah • David Marin • Donna Zovko • Wesley Batalona • Michael Teague • Scott Helvenston • House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

US-Iraqi Panel to Probe Private Contractors

Private military contractors get second look following the Blackwater USA incident

Sep 19, 07 8:03 PM CDT
(Newser) - In the wake of the shooting deaths of 10 Iraqi civilians at the hands of private security firm Blackwater last weekend, the US and Iraq are forming a joint panel to probe the war's private security contractors. Rather than conduct forensic field studies of the incident, officials say, the committee... More »

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Iraq • security • Blackwater • contractors • United States • Iraq war

Blackwater Ban Puts US Military
in a Bind

With a rep for brutality, the security firm has enjoyed 'carte blanche'

Sep 18, 07 7:03 PM CDT
(Newser) - The Iraqi crackdown on Blackwater, the private security firm implicated in Sunday’s killing of 8 civilians in Baghdad, draws attention to the lack of control the US military exerts over the 20,000 contractors who work for them in the country.  Blackwater guards are the most feared of... More »

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Iraq • security • Nouri al-Maliki • Blackwater • contractors • immunity

Contractor Armies Thrive in Iraq

180,000 civilians working in legal limbo

Jul 18, 07 5:49 AM CDT
(Newser) - A private army of occupation in Iraq—mechanics, construction workers, translators, bodyguards, and other civilian contractors—is increasing in numbers keeping pace with the troop surge, the Christian Science Monitor reports. As many as 180,000 private contractors in Iraq, most of them not US nationals, currently work in legal... More »

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Iraq • David Petraeus • contractors • surge • US Army • Iraq war

Corporate Donors Snub McCain

It's payback time for a career as Senate ethics reformer

Jun 18, 07 5:49 AM CDT
(Newser) - John McCain is lagging far behind his GOP primary rivals in fundraising, in part because he's alienated so many big corporate donors in his Senate career. All that straight talk about minimizing the influence of money on politics has taken its toll, the New York Times notes. One defense industry... More »

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John McCain • campaign finance • contractors • McCain Feingold • Armed Services Committee • Chris Dodd • campaign fundraising • donor • snub

US Intelligence In Private Hands

Billions a year spent on private intel contracts—but where's the money going?

May 31, 07 8:00 AM CDT
(Newser) - Since 9/11, the US government has been upping spending on private intelligence contractors, doling out cash that is often classified and impossible to trace, Salon reports. 70% of all classified intelligence spending goes into private hands, making waste and corruption serious concerns. More »

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intelligence • outsourcing • contractors • intelligence spending • money • privatization • secrecy

Contractors in Iraq Trigger Two Shootings

Two incidents ignited by Blackwater
raise questions about quasi-miliary role

May 27, 07 6:52 PM CDT
(Newser) - Contractors from private security firm Blackwater USA set off two firefights in Baghdad in as many days last week. On Thursday, a Blackwater guard shot and killed an Iraqi driver who trailed a convoy suspiciously, and Wednesday a Blackwater convoy escorting State Department officials was ambushed—sparking a battle between... More »

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Iraq • military • insurgents • Baghdad • Blackwater • coalition forces • contractors • Iraq war

21 - 31 of 31 Stories | << Prev 1 2


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