Disinfo: U.S. Government Hires Contractors To Investigate Contractors

Spurred by outrage over an incident in which Blackwater employees killed 17 Iraqi civilians, the State Department has finally decided to investigate the behavior of sleazy U.S. government-hired private contractors in Iraq. And who will be providing the long-needed oversight? Other contractors. The State Dept. has outsourced the investigation to a private company called USIS. Doing so is actually a clear violation of fundamental federal law, which prohibits hiring contractors for "inherently governmental functions" like "the direct conduct of criminal investigations."