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January 29, 2009

Iraq Won’t Renew Blackwater License
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In other Iraq news, the Iraqi government has announced it will refuse to
renew the operating license for the private military firm Blackwater
Worldwide. Iraq says it also won’t allow Blackwater guards accused of
wrongdoing to work for other companies. An Interior Ministry
spokesperson said Blackwater will be ordered to leave Iraq as soon as
Iraqi and US officials complete a new set of rules governing private
contractors. The State Department employs Blackwater to guards US
officials and installations. In 2007, Blackwater guards killed seventeen
Iraqi civilians in an unprovoked massacre in Baghdad’s Nisoor Square.