There are many who should be held responsible for this and all the other atrocities, from the merc in the vehicle who fired the first shots all the way up to Bush and Cheney and Erik Prince and all their various minions, enablers and apologists. They will probably never be held properly accountable in this life, but were I a "man of faith" I could at least rest assured that they have an eternity burning in Hell to look forward to. It's the least they deserve.

The crimes against Iraqis by Americans and other mercenaries appalls me. I am ashamed of these acts conducted in the name of the United States. The US Officials who have created this chaotic situation and those carrying these crimes out must be held accountable. Their punishment should reflect the severity of these crimes. Impeachment and then criminal indictment of the president and vice-president must be commenced. My heart goes out to the Iraqi people. I feel so frustrated and powerless. Blackwater should be disemboweled to prevent its cruelty and lawlessness from being forced upon legitimate nations and innocent people. Its immunity must be revoked. Thank you for reporting this story.

We grew up with the idea of progress, but this is the American 21st Century validation that human nature is murderous, and that human nature never changes.

Erik Prince is a dangerous, murderous creep, and his employees are monsters. Erik Prince! Can you imagine this thing happening in West Michigan, where you and I both grew up? I am glad you moved away. Please never come back.

the significant difference between the usa and nazi germany is, you can write, email, phone as many elected officials as you like, and demand that blackwater and similar organizations be put out of business, after being gutted by civil suits. it wouldn't hurt to send prince to the icc, either.

one of the similarities between usa and nazi germany is, your elected officials support blackwater, take corrupt money from it, and are not about to rattle this sewer pipe.

maybe the first thing you should do is back gravel's democracy thing. after the people are in charge of america, you can deal with blackwater, and everything else that stinks in public affairs.

This problem is unique to Blackwater, and is actually very predictable in city warfare. Holding hearings, and suing Blackwater, and holding them to account for the "incidents" will do nothing to stop this from happening again in this conflict and in others.

Insurgents use terrorism (bombings, asassinations, sniping etc...) to elicit over the top responses from the enemy/occupiers. They often use civilians to impliment the terror, so the line will be blurred between civilian and combatant. This forces the enemy/occupier to look on all civilians as potential enemies. It is inevitable... guaranteed... you can set your clock by it... that the occupier will indiscriminately kill civilians, rape civilians, massacre civilians and combatants, and treat prisoners poorly. Show me a conflict in which this isn't the case. You could have predicted Blackwaters actions long before the Iraq war.

Why is the media reactive and think the story is about a singular incident each time? The larger story is: knowing what we do about warfare, why do we allow contractors and soldiers to be pulled into this vortex every time? Lessons should be learned.

Where was Salon and it's oh-so-concerned reporting when four Blackwater men were hauled out of their car in Fallujah and their mutilated bodies were set afire and hung from the supports of a bridge?

I guess Salon is capable of getting outraged only when are Americans are the supposed bad guys.

Shame on you.

Dershin, That tragic Fallujah debacle was Blackwater management's fault, and Salon has written a lot about it. And, that was a million years ago. Blackwater and the USA and Iraq have gone far downhill since then.

..have ever balked at the full-steam-ahead effort to privatize every function previously handled by our military.

All privatization has done was enrich the CORPORATE GOP bloodsuckers. The excuses used to justify it don't hold water:

1. We don't have enough "volunteer" boots on the ground to handle all the jobs. (Rummy's efforts to do it on "the cheap" and leave his so-called "small footprint.")

2. What troops we have in theater are better used to "fight the enemy." Our own government has made US the enemy. The number of "insurgents" was negligible before our ineptitude violated every creed of this culture, giving even our early supporters reason to fight us to their death.

Blackwater, as a corporate entity, didn't even have a letterhead ten years ago. They have gone from Blackwater Security Consultants to Blackwater USA to Blackwater Worldwide in that time span, and all on the dime of the American taxpayer.

Sole-source, no-bid contracts need to return to the exception rather than the rule with full justification in writing, and that justification needs to stand up to audit.

Anyone who has the gall to still claim privatization of our military has saved the taxpayer money needs to be loudly and publicly discredited. The much larger issue, even with the billions of dollars lost to waste, fraud and abuse, is the fact that we may never be able to recoup our standing in the world based on the precepts of our Constitution and the Treaties we formerly were party to. The depth of the damage done by Republicans, in some cases with Democratic complicity, is still yet to be measured due to the lid of secrecy clamped on our "open" government by this administration.

No excuses. Haul them before a court, prosecute them for murder, life imprisonment or the death penalty. That they were playing soldier at the time makes no difference - murder is murder. The Iraqi government can't do anything because of the agreemnt? OK. Wait til they come home. Then slap the cuffs on them.

If we allow Americans to run around the world shitting on this country's name like this, we can kiss any shred of reputation we have left goodbye. When our citizen become criminals, they should be punished, no matter where the offense took place. Were they still Americans when they committed their crimes? Then suck it up and take it. Just like all those dead Iraqis and their families had to do.

No free lunch.