Blackwater defends its operation in Iraq

    WASHINGTON, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) -- Blackwater, a U.S. private security company which was involved in a shooting incident last month leaving many Iraqis dead, defended its operation in Iraq on Tuesday.

    The company's chairman, Erik Prince, testified at a hearing in the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and vigorously disputed charges that his staff acted like cowboys when protecting U.S. State Department personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Blackwater Chief Executive Erik Prince testifies before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on security contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan on Capitol Hill in Washington, October 2, 2007.  (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
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    Prince credited his staff to courageously defend U.S. diplomats overseas, 30 of whom have been killed in action but no Americans have died under their protection.

    "We're the targets of the same ruthless enemies that have killed more than 3,800 American military personnel and thousands of innocent Iraqis," he said.

    To ease the tension with the Iraqi government following the shooting, the U.S. State Department and the Defense Department have respectively conducted investigations. Another separate investigation is also undergoing by a U.S.-Iraqi joint team.

    The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said on Monday that it will also send a team to Iraq to review the role of Blackwater at the request of the State Department and pursue possible criminal charges before referring the case to "the appropriate legal authority."

    Blackwater, established in 1997, is the biggest of the State Department's three private security contractors and has won government contracts worth more than 1 billion dollars since 2001.

Members of Blackwater scan Baghdad's city centre from their helicopter. (AFP File Photo)
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    Blackwater has been involved in 195 shooting incidents since 2005, or roughly 1.4 per week, according to a report by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee released on Monday.

    "In the vast majority of instances in which Blackwater fired shots, Blackwater is firing from a moving vehicle and does not remain at the scene to determine if the shots resulted in casualties," said the report.

    On Sept. 16, at least 11 Iraqis were killed in a shooting when Blackwater guards were trying to protect a U.S. diplomatic convoy in Baghdad.

    For its defense, Blackwater said its guards acted in self-defense after the convoy came under attack but Iraqi witnesses have denied any attack.