Blackwater by Numbers: A Statistical Index

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In a rare appearance before Congress yesterday, Blackwater founder and CEO Erik Prince answered questions about his company’s operations in Iraq; by mutual agreement, details of the September 16 shootings in Baghdad, which reportedly left 17 Iraqis dead and another 24 wounded, were not discussed. The following statistics were culled from Prince’s testimony, as well as from various internal Blackwater documents obtained by Congressional investigators.

Total number of Blackwater “movements” (i.e. protected convoys) In Iraq since 2005: 16,000

Number of movements in 2006: 6,058

Number of times Blackwater operators fired their weapons in anger: 38

Number of reported movements so far in 2007: 1,873

Number of times Blackwater operators fired their weapons in anger: 56

Percentage increase: 400

Number of Blackwater operators killed in Iraq: 27

Number of Blackwater-escorted dignitaries killed in Iraq: 0

Number of warnings given before Blackwater operators shoot to kill oncoming drivers: 7 (lights, sirens, air horns, hand signals, pen flares, shots to oncoming car’s radiator, “spider web” shot to windshield)

Average compensation paid by U.S. military to families of Iraqis killed by mistake: $3,000

Compensation paid by Blackwater for “random death” of an “innocent Iraqi citizen” in 2005: $5,000

Extra compensation: $2,000, “given the nature of the incident,” followed by the fact that the Blackwater operator “failed to report the incident, causing the family additional pain.”

Compensation paid to family of an Iraqi vice presidential guard killed by a drunken Blackwater operator in the Green Zone last Christmas Eve: $20,000

Penalty exacted on Blackwater operator: Termination of employment, cost of plane ticket back to U.S. ($1,630), and forfeiture of outstanding pay ($7,067), of Fourth of July bonus ($3,000), and of Christmas bonus ($3,000)

Total financial penalty for killing Iraqi vice presidential guard: $14,697

Compensation originally suggested by a State Department official in response to Blackwater’s accidental killing of an Iraqi bystander in December 2006: $250,000

Compensation actually paid: $15,000

Blackwater’s reasoning: “A sum this high will set a terrible precedent. This could cause incidents with people trying to get killed by our guys to financially guarantee their family’s future.”

Number of security companies now operating in Iraq: 170

Value of Blackwater’s federal contracts in 2001: $736,906

Value in 2002: $3.4 million

Value in 2003: $25 million

Value in 2004: $48 million

Value in 2005: $352 million

Value in 2006: $593 million

Total value of all Blackwater contracts at the end of 2006: $1 billion

Percentage growth since 2001: 80,453

Current number of Blackwater’s federal contracts, according to Erik Prince: “More than 50.”

Percentage of Blackwater holding company Prince Group’s revenue derived from federal contracts: 90

Number of Blackwater helicopters downed in Iraq in 2006: 3