Alden Pyle lives: “I hope we can put this unfor­tu­nate matter behind us quickly.”

So said a State Depart­ment offi­cial in response to the murder of an inno­cent Iraqi bystander by a Black­wa­ter USA “operator.” The offi­cial sug­gested that Black­wa­ter pay the victim’s family $5,000 to hasten the putting.

(Quoted in a new report on Black­wa­ter by the House Com­mit­tee on Over­sight and Gov­ern­ment Reform, which also includes this indictment:

The Black­wa­ter and State Depart­ment records reveal that Blackwater’s use of force in Iraq is fre­quent and exten­sive, result­ing in sig­nif­i­cant casu­al­ties and prop­erty damage. Black­wa­ter is legally and con­trac­tu­ally bound to only engage in defen­sive uses of force to pre­vent “imminent and grave danger” to them­selves or others. In prac­tice, how­ever, the vast major­ity of Black­wa­ter weapons dis­charges are pre­emp­tive, with Black­wa­ter forces firing first at a vehi­cle or sus­pi­cious indi­vid­ual prior to receiv­ing any fire.

Thanks to the data included with the report, “vast majority” can be spec­i­fied exactly: Black­wa­ter shot first 163 out of 195 times, or 84%.)