More of our tax dollars are going to Blackwater

While I think Hillary Clinton is doing a fine job in general as Secretary of State, I'm very disappointed in one recent development: On June 18, the State Department awarded the mercenary group Blackwater (now renamed to "Xe Services") a new $120 million contract to guard U.S. officials in Afghanistan.

When Clinton was still a senator and running for president, she had co-sponsored the Stop Outsourcing Security (SOS) Act to end the use of private contractors in U.S. war zones. Why then is her department now giving Blackwater more work?

After all, this is the same Blackwater that is infamous for its massacres of innocent civilians.

Jeremy Scahill, writing for The Nation, summarizes Blackwater's sins as follows:

"The new security contract was awarded to one of Blackwater's alter egos, the United States Training Center, despite the indictments of five senior company officials on bribery, weapons and conspiracy charges. Its operatives in both Afghanistan and Iraq have been indicted for killing innocent civilians. The Senate Armed Services Committee has called on the Justice Department to investigate Blackwater's use of a shell company, Paravant, to win training contracts in Afghanistan. Despite these and numerous other scandals, the State Department once again awarded the company a lucrative contract."

This is not an acceptable (nor ethical) use of our tax dollars.

And, as if that $120 million State Department gig isn't enough of an insult to the American taxpayers, the CIA is now rumored to have just given Xe/Blackwater an additional $100 million contract.

Where is the change I can believe in?