BBC News Links: Blackwater Security Expelled From Iraq By Iraqi Government

Hadn't heard about this story over the week-end, and only just read about it a few minutes ago on the BBC's site.

Apparently, several Blackwater Security personnel, who were escorting a convoy of State Department officials in Baghdad, Iraq, on Sunday, were involved in a fire-fight, during which several bystanders, including an Iraqi policeman, were shot to death, allegedly by the Blackwater guards.

Here are two links, the first to the story about Blackwater's personnel being expelled from Iraq by the Iraqi government at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6998788.stm, and the second about the State Department's pledge to conduct an "open and fair investigation" into the incident at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7000018.stm.

The first story was actually posted about around some six hours after the first, and contains a rather interesting additional story about how figures done by a UK-based survey group may indicate that some 1.2 million Iraqis may have died as a result of this war, rather than the between 60,000 to 100,000 generally agreed upon in Western circles.

Hope these prove to be of some interest out there.