Judge rips State Dept’s handling of Blackwater shootings in IraqA US federal judge has rebuked the State Department for delaying the prosecution of US security contractors charged with shooting unarmed Iraqi civilians in 2007. The guards, formerly employed by the Blackwater private security company that policed US military zones, are accused of shooting 14 Iraqi civilians without justification and in violation of deadly-force rules that pertained to American security contractors in Iraq at the time.