[Praxius]

Actually from the report I saw last night, the US has more contracted forces, then they do US troops in Iraq..... and if they were all removed from the scene, it would create a massive devistation on US plans in Iraq........

I'm for it.... the fact that internal investigations regarding Blackwater were delt with by US officials, and most information was blocked from the Iraqis up until now, even though they are the ones on the other ends of the barrels....

An additional Angle:
CTV.ca | Iraq investigates foreign security firms

The shootings have touched a nerve and raised scrutiny over what many Iraqis consider a mercenary force that runs roughshod over people in their own country. Blackwater is one of three private security firms employed by the State Department to protect its personnel in Iraq, and a decision to force it to pull out would create tremendous difficulties for the U.S. government. The two other firms, both of which are headquartered in the Washington, D.C., suburbs, are Dyncorp, based in Falls Church, Va., and Triple Canopy, based in Herndon, Va. Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said he understood the need for protection for Westerners and dignitaries but that preliminary findings showed Blackwater used excessive force. Citing Interior and Defense ministry initial findings, al-Dabbagh told CNN that more than 20 people were killed. Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf, however, said 11 were killed. The discrepancy could not be reconciled....... ..... Blackwater and other foreign contractors accused of killing Iraqi citizens have gone without facing charges or prosecution in the past, and it was unclear why the shooting Sunday drew such a fierce reaction by the Iraqi government. Al-Maliki, under political pressure, may have seen a straightforward way to gain political ground by lashing out at a practice unpopular with all Iraqis. Unlike many deaths blamed on foreign contractors, Sunday's shootings took place in a crowded area in downtown Baghdad with dozens of witnesses....... ........Al-Sadr called for all contracts of foreign securities firms to be annulled and blamed the government for failing to protect Iraqis, noting the shootings occurred on a busy square filled with Iraqi troops. "This aggression wouldn't have happened had it not been for the presence of the occupiers who brought these companies," al-Sadr's political committee said in a statement issued by his office in the holy city of Najaf......... .....Amid allegations that the foreign security contractors operate with impunity, al-Maliki's Cabinet held a meeting Tuesday and confirmed that "it is necessary to review the status of local and foreign private security companies working in Iraq according to what is suitable with Iraqi laws." Order No. 17, a law issued by the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq before the Iraqis regained sovereignty in June 2004, gave the companies immunity from Iraqi prosecution...... ....."There are reports that they were subjected to fire but this does not give them the right to kill innocent civilians," he said.

and in addition:

TheFilter.ca » Articles » Private Contractors Outnumber US Troops In Iraq

The number of U.S.-paid private contractors in Iraq now exceeds that of American combat troops, newly released figures show, raising fresh questions about the privatization of the war effort and the government’s capacity to carry out military and rebuilding campaigns. More than 180,000 civilians - including Americans, foreigners and Iraqis - are working in Iraq under U.S. contracts, according to State and Defense department figures obtained by the Los Angeles Times. Including the recent troop buildup, 160,000 soldiers and a few thousand civilian government employees are stationed in Iraq. The total number of private contractors, far higher than previously reported, shows how heavily the Bush administration has relied on corporations to carry out the occupation of Iraq - a mission criticized as being undermanned. “These numbers are big,” said Peter Singer, a Brookings Institution scholar who has written on military contracting. “They illustrate better than anything that we went in without enough troops. This is not the coalition of the willing. It’s the coalition of the billing.........”