Blackwater involved in 56 major shooting incidents

There are more contractors in Iraq than US soldiers -- 180,000 contractors to be exact.  Blackwater, a company that is part of a scandal involving the shooting deaths of innocent civilians, has a long history of close encounters:

The State Department said Thursday that Blackwater USA  security personnel had been involved in 56 shootings while guarding American diplomats in Iraq  so far this year. It was the first time the Bush administration had made such data public.

This comes amid a report from the Brookings Institution that faults US contractors for a number of setbacks in Iraq:

The United States' use of mercenary contractors like Blackwater in Iraqhas led to unnecessary violence against civilians, inflamed Iraqisentiment towards the United States and jeopardized military strategiesto defeat the insurgency...

These contractors cost between two and ten times as much as US soldiers and do not follow the same rules of warfare -- yet are doing so much damage to our military's reputation.

Comments

[bob]

Who Pays Blackwater? Is the money part of the defense budget? In other words Is Blackwaters greedy hands taking the Troops monies?
Bottom line how much is Blackwater costing the USA?