A couple weeks ago, a congressional committee issued a report on Blackwater. Started before the mid-September shooting that has landed the company in so much trouble, the report detailed all sorts of misdeeds and got all sorts of attention. The NYT had a Page One story on it. Mentioned briefly in that piece was this:

Contrary to the terms of its contract, Blackwater sometimes engaged in offensive operations with the American military, instead of confining itself to its protective mission, the [report] found.

Moreover, contrary to the terms of its contract, Blackwater sometimes engaged in offensive operations with the American military, instead of confining itself to its protective mission

The report -- by the Democratic majority staff of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

The report also says that Blackwater gunmen engaged in offensive operations alongside uniformed U.S. military personnel in violation of their State Department contract, which states that Blackwater guards are to use their weapons only for defensive purposes.

The report cites two instances in which Blackwater gunmen engaged in tactical military operations. One was a firefight in Najaf in 2004 during which Blackwater employees set up a machine gun alongside U.S. and Spanish forces. Later that year, a Blackwater helicopter helped an U.S. military squad secure a mosque from which sniper fire had been detected.