Levin: Pentagon should reconsider deals with Xe

A senior Senate Democrat says that the Pentagon should reconsider awarding contracts to military contractor XE, formerly known as Blackwater.

In letters to Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Attorney General Eric Holder, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin said that the Pentagon should consider Blackwater's past "deficiencies" in deciding whether to award a new contract worth as much as $1 billion to the company to provide Afghan national police with training.

"As you know, a series of incidents in Iraq ... led many to conclude that Blackwater was not a suitable contracting partner for the US government and contributed to the company's decision to change its name," Levin wrote to Gates.

"The inadequacies in Blackwater's performance appear to have contributed to a shooting incident that has undermined our mission in Afghanistan," Levin added.

Levin also said the firm may have misappropriated government weapons and carried arms without authorization.

Levin went on to say that Blackwater may have hired unqualified personnel with backgrounds that included drug and alcohol abuse.

The Pentagon has so far ruled out any prohibitions regarding the company's ability to compete for US contracts.

Following a 2007 shooting, Blackwater guards have been accused of murdering Iraqi civilians in cold blood.

In January, two US security contractors working for Paravant LLC, a unit of Xe, which was previously known as Blackwater Worldwide, were arrested in Afghanistan on charges they murdered two Afghans in Kabul and wounded a third.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120071§ionid=3510203.