Blackwater: More Help Than We Thought?

"The news came out that CIA director Leon Pinetta rushed to notify Congress after learning of a secret CIA program to kill Al Qaeda leaders. We all knew there had to be something more to that."

"There are reports that the CIA hired employees of Blackwater in 2004 intending to have them help track down Al-Qaeda members." (MSNBC)

Blackwater is accused of doing the governments “dirty work.”  

Since 2004, Blackwater is responsible for operating drone bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan, tracking Al-Qaeda members, and protecting state department officials.  

Blackwater first brought attention to themselves in 2007. CBS has the story

“On this busy Baghdad traffic circle, Blackwater guards opened fire leaving 17 Iraqis dead.  The guards insisted they had been under attack but none of the official investigations American or Iraqi found any evidence of that.  

“Blackwater sent hundreds of heavily armed contractors to provide security for US state department officials and VIPs.  But they were often accused of being aggressive and heavy-handed.  Most infuriating of all the Iraqi’s, they were above the law.”

Recently, Blackwater has changed its named to Xe Services and The New York Times says its hand in military operations has grown even larger. The newspaper describes their involvement:

“The division’s operations are carried out at hidden bases in Pakistan and Afghanistan, where the company’s contractors assemble and load Hellfire missiles and 500-pound laser-guided bombs on remotely piloted Predator aircraft, work previously performed by employees of the Central Intelligence Agency.”

Now, the Blackwater controversy is centered on Dick Cheney and the Bush administration for allegedly hiding Blackwater from Congress.   

Jeremy Scahill an author of a book about Blackwater and its rise gives his perspective on MSNBC’s countdown with Keith Olbermann.

“Blackwater we now know served as a buffer between the executive branch of the government and accountability.  In other words what you have is the White House being able to have ultimate plausible deniability because you don’t have your own CIA guys doing it. You actually have firmed it out to a private company.  What this was effectively Keith was a hit squad that responded to one branch of government, the executive branch, at the expense of any oversight of the other two.  I would say this is unconstitutional.”

Also The New York Times reports Blackwater has not killed one Al Qaeda member in its existence.  

What do you think about the Government hiring private security companies to help?  Do you think Blackwater will continue to work with the State Department?