Blackwater contracts 'awarded for political reasons' ... $500M in contracts were awarded without proper competition

Webb: Blackwater contracts 'awarded for political reasons' | Greg Wasserstrom and Mike Aivaz | Published: Monday October 8, 2007 | By Mike Aivaz

The security contracts awarded to Blackwater USA in Iraq were done so for primarily political reasons, Senator Jim Webb of Virginia told Joe Scarborogh today on MSNBC's Morning Joe. In an extensive discussion about US foreign policy, Webb brought up the controversy over Blackwater's actions in Iraq and the attempt by congress to bring them under US law. "With respect to Blackwater, we've allowed mercenaries to actually conduct combat operations, and we've never done this before," Webb said. "And they're doing this with no legal structure over them."

... Webb added. "That's something like half a billion out of their nearly billion dollar contracts were awarded without proper competition, according to the house committee report last year."