October 1, 2007 (LPAC)--More devastating information on the operations of the British Empire style-mercenary Blackwater private military security firm was released today by Rep. Henry Waxman (Calif.), the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, in advance of the Oct. 2 hearing at which Blackwater CEO Erik Prince (straight from an appearance at the Council for National Policy) and three State Department officials are scheduled to testify.

The committee report shows that Blackwater has been involved in 195 "escalation of force" incidents since 2005, in most of which Blackwater fired the first shots. And in the vast majority of these incidents, says the report, "Blackwater is firing from a moving vehicle and does not remain on the scene to determine if the shots resulted in casualties."

The report describes a number of incidents, which have not been previously reported, such as incidents in which Blackwater personnel shot and killed civilian bystanders, and then tried to cover it up.

The State Department also worked to cover up Blackwater's unwarranted killings of civilians and others. In one case, a drunken Blackwater contractor killed the guard of Iraqi Vice President Adil Abd-al-Mahdi, and then the State Department whisked the contractor out of Iraq and recommended Blackwater pay off the guard's family to "avoid this thing becoming even worse."

Blackwater has also engaged in offensive military actions with U.S. forces -- a violation of U.S. law.

The report also notes how expensive it is to use private contractors instead of U.S. troops to protect diplomatic personnel. Blackwater charges the U.S. government $1,222 per day for the services of a private contractor -- more than six times the cost of an equivalent U.S. soldier.