

[Ed. note: Blackwater is a subsidiary of Halliburton, on whose Board Lynne Cheney sits, through whom the Vice President still profits from stock holdings and to whom he will probably return after his term in office]



Blackwater security firm banned from Iraq



BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — Iraq’s Interior Ministry has revoked the license of Blackwater USA, an American security firm whose contractors are blamed for a Sunday gunbattle in Baghdad that left eight civilians dead. The U.S. State Department said it plans to investigate what it calls a “terrible incident.”

In addition to the fatalities, 14 people were wounded, most of them civilians, an Iraqi official said.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has expressed regret for the weekend killings, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s office said late Monday.

Sunday’s firefight took place near Nusoor Square, an area that straddles the predominantly Sunni Arab neighborhoods of Mansour and Yarmouk.

The ministry said the incident began around midday, when a convoy of sport utility vehicles came under fire from unidentified gunmen in the square. The men in the SUVs, described by witnesses as Westerners, returned fire, the ministry said.

(Original Article)