Blackwater Guards Tied To Covert Raids by the C.I.A. ---NYTimes calls it breaking news

[Mira]

Private security guards from Blackwater Worldwide
participated in some of the C.I.A.'s most sensitive
activities -- clandestine raids with agency officers against
people suspected of being insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan
and the transporting of detainees, according to former
company employees and intelligence officials.

The raids against suspects occurred on an almost nightly
basis during the height of the Iraqi insurgency between 2004
and 2006, with Blackwater personnel playing central roles in
what company insiders called "snatch and grab" operations,
the former employees and current and former intelligence
officers said.

Several former Blackwater guards said that their involvement in the operations became so routine that the lines supposedly dividing the Central Intelligence Agency, the military and Blackwater became blurred. Instead of simply providing security for C.I.A. officers, they say, Blackwater personnel at times became partners in missions to capture or kill militants in Iraq and Afghanistan, a practice that raises questions about the use of guns for hire on the battlefield.


Read More:
http://www.nytimes.com?emc=na

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. Well, no wonder Cheney was protecting them so strongly.

and pushed so hard for immunity.
An "off the books" hit squad.
A Christian one at that.
That does wonders for our image on so many levels.

K&R

[glitch]

2. I guess the NYT will tell us what Blackwater/Xe is doing right now in Pakistan

in about, what, 3-5 years? All the news that's fit to print... later.