Security outfit Blackwater is changing its name from Blackwater Worldwide to Xe to repair its badly damaged reputation, following a serious shooting in Iraq and the loss of it's State Department contract for providing diplomats protection in and around Iraq.
The shooting incident left a dozen Iraqi civilians dead and caused Iraq's government to request that they leave Iraq. It was one of several incidents that Blackwater was involved in and the straw that broke the camel's back. Five Blackwater employees were charged in the shooting, which prosecutors say was not justified.
Xe will not actively seek new security contracts and is focusing on it's other lines of business that are not under public scrutiny the way that it's security operations in Iraq were.
The State Department contract was worth $300 million to Blackwater/Xe; they took in a little over a billion dollars last year from contract work around the world.
The entire system of using mercenaries to do government work in war zones needs to be examined closely. If it is determined that the services provided are necessary, then they need to be subordinate to both the U.S. military and the Iraqi military. They seemed to ride roughshod over U.S. military units, which was a big distraction for U.S. combat forces who didn't like being told what to do by a company not in their chain of command.
I'm not sure if this name change will change much of anything. It's their actions that people will be watching, not their packaging.
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