Blackwater under spotlight over Fallujah incident

By Sue Pleming

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. security contractor Blackwater, under investigation in the shooting deaths of 11 Iraqis this month, came under criticism again on Thursday over an ambush in 2004 in which four of its staff were killed.

A report by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform detailed a chaotic run-up to the March 31, 2004 incident in Fallujah when four Blackwater employees escorting a convoy were killed and their charred bodies hung from a bridge.

Gruesome photos of their mutilated bodies were published in major newspapers and the incident turned American public opinion sharply against the war. A few days later, the U.S. military launched a major offensive in Fallujah.

The report by Democrat Rep. Henry Waxman's committee criticized Blackwater for ignoring "multiple warnings" of the dangers of going into Fallujah and of sending staff into the "hottest zone in Iraq in unarmoured, underpowered vehicles."

Blackwater rejected the conclusions of the report, calling it a "one-sided version of this tragic incident."

"What the report fails to acknowledge is that the terrorists determined what happened that fateful day in 2004," the company said in a statement.

"The terrorists were intent on killing Americans and desecrating their bodies. Documents that the committee has in its possession point out that the Blackwater team was betrayed and directed into a well-planned ambush," it added.

But Waxman said the committee's research showed that leading up to the incident, Blackwater was an "unprepared and disorderly organization" operating in a hostile environment.