[NYTr] Int'l Media Blast Impunity of US Mercenaries in Iraq
 
Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2007 16:51:07 -0500 (CDT)

Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
Agencia Cubana de Noticias (ACN)
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International Media Blast Impunity of US Mercenaries in Iraq

Havana, Sept 19 (acn) The United States found itself forced to make an 
apology on Tuesday for the nine Iraqi civilians killed by mercenaries 
working for the Blackwater Security Company, one of the many parallel 
armies serving the occupation forces, reported Reuters.

DPA news service noted that the private security companies operating in 
Iraq take part in combat and suffer and cause deaths that usually go 
unmentioned by the media. Their actions take place outside the public 
eye and Iraqi laws.

According to Granma newspaper, at least 25,000 mercenaries have been 
hired by the private security industry, mostly in foreign hands.

Companies like Blackwater USA, with headquarters in North Carolina, are 
mostly contracted by the US Army in Iraq to compensate a troop 
shortage. The foreign firms are also hired to provide protection for 
top level officials, such as US ambassador Ryan Crocker, and to guard 
US Army installations and escort convoys.

Last May, a US Army Corps logistics and reconstruction executive 
informed that 132 mercenaries had died and another 416 have been 
wounded since 2004, although many believe the real figure is higher.

Meanwhile, violence once again ripped Iraq with 23 dead and 48 wounded 
on Tuesday including Abdala Yibara, the deputy governor of the province 
of Salahedin, attacked when driving to his office in Tikrit.
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