Blackwater contractor: 'Not a good shoot'

BAGHDAD, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- Some Blackwater employees in Baghdad believe the shooting of civilians last month was unjustified, The New York Times reported Thursday.

Times reporters interviewed four current employees and two former ones. Four of the interviews were face-to-face and two were conducted by e-mail.

"Some guys are thinking that it was not a good shoot, that it was not warranted," one contractor said. "I don’t think there was criminal intent involved. I just think it was the application of the use of deadly force gone horribly wrong."

Iraqi authorities said 17 civilians were killed and 26 wounded when Blackwater contractors escorting a U.S. government convoy opened fire Sept. 16. While Blackwater said the convoy was under attack, witnesses have said the only guns they saw were carried by the contractors.

Most of the contractors involved were former U.S. Marines in their 20s, one Blackwater employee said. Another said he had been told that half the guards with the convoy were begging the others not to shoot.