The four dead 'civilian contractors'

The four "civilian contractors" who were killed yesterday in Iraq -- shot, burned to a crisp, dragged through the streets and then hung off a bridge -- were employees of a private security firm called Blackwater USA, according to Reuters. Today Mother Jones reprinted a 2003 article about Blackwater. The more you read about them, the creepier it all becomes. Not that that makes their fate any less horrific.