Blackwater Takes Tax Dollars, Produces No Results

The New York Times reports we paid Blackwater to help rub out al-Qaeda honchos:

The Central Intelligence Agency in 2004 hired outside contractors from the private security contractor Blackwater USA as part of a secret program to locate and assassinate top operatives of Al Qaeda, according to current and former government officials.

Executives from Blackwater, which has generated controversy because of its aggressive tactics in Iraq, helped the spy agency with planning, training and surveillance. The C.I.A. spent several million dollars on the program, which did not successfully capture or kill any terrorist suspects [Mark Mazzetti, "CIA Sought Blackwater's Help in Plan to Kill Jihadists," New York Times, 2009.08.19].

Gee, I guess the private sector doesn't outperform government.

NYTimes also notes that Blackwater has changed its name to XE Services. Nothing like fixing your problems by changing your name.