Time magazine: Evidence backs Blackwater's version of Nisoor Square shootout

Evidence is backing up Blackwater's version of the September 16 Nisoor Square incident in Baghdad, where 17 Iraqi civilians reportedly died.

The Iraqi Ministry of Interior (MOI) led a propaganda campaign to accuse Blackwater guards firing unprovoked into a crowd of innocent people - a theme echoed on Capitol Hill by Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA) - but Time magazine reports that physical evidence is backing up Blackwater's original insistence that the diplomatic convoy under its protection had been fired upon.

"One observer close to the investigation told TIME that U.S. authorities have examined a log from a command post, or Tactical Operations Center (TOC), showing that Blackwater guards radioed repeatedly that they were under attack from persons wearing police uniforms. Photographic evidence of Kalashnikov shells scattered around the site of the shooting could also suggest that the Blackwater convoy did come under hostile fire," Time reports on January 23.

Time writers and editors chose to bury the information deep in the story, showing their bias by emphasizing that, regardless of the outcome of investigations, the controversy could cost the security company its contract protecting American diplomats in Iraq.