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Blackwater security guards - Source: ONE News -
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Private security guards from Blackwater Worldwide participated
in some of the CIA's most sensitive operations, including raids on
suspected militants in Iraq and Afghanistan, the New York Times
reported.
Blackwater's role in Afghanistan began in early 2002 when the CIA
hired the private company to guard the perimeter around its station
in Kabul's Ariana Hotel, the newspaper reported.
Now known at Xe Services, Blackwater was also hired as security for
the CIA station in Baghdad after the US-led invasion of Iraq a year
later.
But the Times said Blackwater's role in both wars changed sharply
when its guards began providing security for CIA operatives in the
field, sometimes during offensive missions in conjunction with
Delta Force or Navy Seals teams.
Raids on suspected insurgents in Iraq, known as snatch and grab
operations, began happening almost nightly during the worst years
of the war between 2004 and 2006.
The Times quoted several former Blackwater guards as saying
operations to capture and kill militants in Iraq and Afghanistan
became so routine that Blackwater personnel sometimes became
partners in the missions rather than simply providing the security
for the CIA officers.
The Blackwater name burst into the headlines of the Iraq war after
a September 2007 shooting in which its guards allegedly killed 14
unarmed Iraqi civilians while escorting a convoy of US diplomats
through Baghdad.
One guard pleaded guilty to manslaughter in connection with the
shooting, which also wounded 20 people.
Five others were charged.
The Times reported in August the CIA also hired Blackwater
contractors for a secret program to track and assassinate senior al
Qaeda figures.
The program cost millions of dollars but never captured or killed any militants, the paper said.
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