The firm sparked an international row on the 16th of September when it was involved in a shootout that left 11 Iraqis dead.
Defending his company’s actions, founder Erik Prince said his staff were skilled and dedicated, and that they had acted appropriately in Iraq.
But one committee member accused Blackwater of taking a careless approach to operations in the lawless country.
“Why are we privatising our military to an organisation that has been aggressive and in some cases reckless in the handling of their duties?” New York Democrat Carolyn Maloney asked.
Blackwater has been involved in 195 shooting incidents in Iraq since 2005, according to the committee’s written report. In 80 per cent of cases, it revealed, Blackwater had opened fire first.
Democratic committee members brought attention to an incident in which an allegedly drunk Blackwater employee shot and killed a bodyguard of one of Iraq’s vice-presidents. He has not faced criminal charges and eventually paid US$15,000 to the victim’s family.
Prince, a former Navy Seal, said Blackwater had fined and fired the man and that, as a private company, it could do little else.
“We can’t flog him. We can’t incarcerate him,” he said.
He then drew attention to the fact that 30 of its employees had died while protecting US diplomats, and that all of its clients had been protected.
“There is no better evidence of the skill and dedication of these men,” he claimed.
Risky business it may be, but there is money to be made. Blackwater has earned more than $1bn in US government contracts since 2001.
But Committee chairman Henry Waxman questioned whether the private contractor was ‘helping or hurting’ American efforts in Iraq.
“The question for this hearing is whether outsourcing to Blackwater is a good deal to the American taxpayer,” he said.
Estimates suggest there are around 50,000 private security guards working in Iraq on behalf of several companies, with no clear chain of command.