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Renamed Blackwater/Xe mercs returning to Iraq
In Print: Wednesday 14 December 2011
Washington plans to send mercenaries of an infamous security firm back to Iraq with a new name, according to the latest reports.
New York-based USTC Holdings, the investment group that bought Xe Services, which was formerly known as Blackwater, in December 2010, announced on Monday that the firm had been renamed ACADEMI, AFP reported.
On the same day, U.S. President Barack Obama met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to discuss the next phase of relations between the two countries after the withdrawal of U.S. troops.
“We have had a year of extraordinary changes that have resulted in a new, better company," ACADEMI president and chief executive Ted Wright said in a statement.
In an interview published on Monday, Wright said he would like to take ACADEMI back to Iraq and added that the firm had hired an outside company to help it apply for an operating license in the country.
"I think eventually, we're going to get a license; we're going to do business in Iraq," he said.
Blackwater adopted the name Xe Services after Iraqi authorities announced in 2009 that they would not renew the security firm's contract because of a deadly incident in 2007 in which guards protecting a U.S. diplomatic convoy opened fire in a busy district of Baghdad, killing 17 civilians.
Iraqi officials could not sue the Blackwater mercenaries since they had immunity from local prosecution and were not subject to Iraqi law.
The U.S. State Department had announced in August 2010 that the Pentagon would replace US troops based in Iraq with private mercenaries, who call themselves private security firms or security contractors.
The deployment of ACADEMI mercenaries is likely to cause outrage in Iraq, where its predecessor Blackwater Worldwide was allowed to kill civilians with impunity during their time in the country.
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