“In September [16] 2007, employees of Blackwater USA (currently known as Xe Services LLC), a private contractor hired to provide armed security forces for the U.S., opened fire in Al Watahba Square in Baghdad, a crowded public area, and killed 17 people. In response to the shooting, the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to adopt a bill that brings all U.S. government contractors in the Iraq war zone under U.S. criminal jurisdiction. The law, which passed [on October 4, 2007], did not have retroactive authority over past conduct by contractors, but it required FBI investigation into incidents.”
– M. Cherif Bassiouni, The Institutionalization of Torture by the Bush Administration, Page 215