Blackwater mercenary chief threatened to kill a State Department investigator in Iraq

The mercenary group Blackwater has long been a target for criticism — but when a investigator from the State Department started looking into reports of fraud and abuse, Blackwater’s top manager threatened to have him killed. A deep investigation by the New York Times’ James Risen has turned up evidence of widespread wrongdoing by the company, including systematic fraud and abuse of power against the local population. Even more troubling is how powerless the government was to stop the company, paralyzed by embassy connections and administrative secrecy. Read the full report here.