The State Department will not renew Blackwater Worldwide's contract to protect American diplomats in Iraq when it expires in May, a senior U.S. official said Friday. ...more

January 30, 2009

U.S. troops hunting for a suspected al-Qaida in Iraq militant raided a house Friday and killed seven people, including three women, drawing an angry protest from Iraqi officials that all the victims were civilians. ...more

September 20, 2008

The United States has spent $6 billion to $10 billion for private security guards and related services in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, according to a congressional report released Tuesday. ...more

August 13, 2008

House Democrats on Thursday accused Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice of grossly mismanaging diplomatic efforts in Iraq and concealing information from Congress, putting a visibly frustrated Rice on the defensive. ...more

October 26, 2007

Iraqi authorities want the U.S. government to sever all contracts in Iraq with Blackwater USA within six months. They also want the firm to pay $8 million in compensation to families of each of the 17 people killed when its guards sprayed a traffic circle with heavy machine gun fire last month. ...more

October 9, 2007

Blackwater USA, the private security company involved in a Baghdad shootout last weekend, operated under State Department authority that exempted the company from U.S. military regulations governing other security firms, according to U.S. and Iraqi officials and industry representatives. ...more

September 21, 2007

The United States on Tuesday suspended all land travel by U.S. diplomats and other civilian officials in Iraq outside Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone. ...more

September 19, 2007

For the mother of Scott Helvenston, the Iraqi government's decision Monday to banish security firm Blackwater USA came nearly four years too late. ...more

September 18, 2007