State Department To Blackwater:

Drop dead:

The State Department will not renew the contract of security contractor Blackwater Worldwide when it expires in May, a senior State Department official said Friday.

The decision was made after the Iraqi government refused last week to renew the firm's operating license because of a 2007 incident in which the Iraqi government says security guards -- then employed by Blackwater -- fired on and killed 17 Iraqis.

However:

Officials said the State Department is talking with security firms DynCorp International and Triple Canopy, which share the Iraq contract with Blackwater, about picking up Blackwater's duties.

Neither of which are much better than Blackwater. DynCorp, in particular, has in the past protected employees engaged in a child sex-slave ring in Bosnia.

Lovely.

And as Zacary Roth noted yesterday, the State Department's decision might be little more than an inconvenience:

Sure, Blackwater as a corporate entity probably won't be roaming the streets of Baghdad or Mosul for much longer. But the individual mercenaries who've been working for years in Iraq, serving as a Praetorian Guard for the State Department's diplomats — those guys likely will be able to stay.

The State Department has a contract for "worldwide personal protective services" with three firms: Blackwater, DynCorp, and Triple Canopy. If Blackwater is no longer allowed to operate in Iraq, a lawyer steeped in the field tells Danger Room, there's no legal reason why the other two firms can't scoop up Blackwater's employees. "State simply issues a new task order to DynCorp or Triple Canopy, who turn around and hire some or all of Blackwater's employees," he says.

On the other hand, the thought of all those murderous psychopathic mercenaries walking around unemployed gives me the heebie-jeebies.

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