Alarms Were Sounded on Blackwater Well Before the 2007 Iraq Shooting

Stephanie Burnett @stephy_burnett 2:32 AM ET

Evan Liberty
Former Blackwater guard Evan Liberty, right, arrives at a federal court in Washington to stand trial
on June 11, 2014
Cliff OwenASSOCIATED PRESS
Documents on Blackwater reveal that a U.S. State Department official warned of the military
contractors poor oversight and arrogant attitudes weeks prior to the Nisour Square bloodbath

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A U.S. State Department official wrote of Blackwaters lack of oversight and its environment full of
liability and negligence well before Blackwater guards killed 17 civilians and injured 20 others in
Baghdads Nisour Square in September 2007, reports the New York Times.

Weeks prior to the shooting, the State Department had begun an investigation into the military
contractors operations in Iraq but the probe was aborted after Blackwaters top manager
threatened that he could kill the governments chief investigator and no one could or would do
anything about it as we were in Iraq, according to department reports obtained and published by
the Times.