Changes

Academi is the latest in a series of rebranding efforts by a troubled private defense company, which has previously gone by the name [[Blackwater]] and [[Xe]]. Academi was deliberately chosen to sound "boring". <ref> Nathan Hodge [http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204319004577089021757803802.html Company Once Known as Blackwater Ditches Xe for Yet Another New Name ] The Wall Street Journal, December 12th, 2011. Accessed May 3rd, 2012 </ref>. This rebranding was necessary to shake the poor reputation Blackwater/Xe aquired following the Nisoor Square killings in Bagdad on September 16th, 2007, and their subsequent explusion from Iraq <ref> David Johnston and Josh M. Broder: [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/14/world/middleeast/14blackwater.html F.B.I. Says Guards Killed 14 Iraqis Without Cause] The New York Times, November 14th, 2007. Accessed May 3rd, 2012 </ref> as well as a host of other incidents including ethically suspect ties to CIA <ref> Max Fischer: [http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2009/12/how-close-are-blackwater-and-the-cia/26138/ How close are Blackwater and the CIA] The Atlantic Wire Monthly, December 11th, 2009. Accessed May 3rd, 2012. </ref> and accusations of widespread fraud <ref> Mark Mazetti: [http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/11/us/11suit.html 2 Ex-Workers Accuse Blackwater Security Company of Defrauding the U.S. for Years] The New York Times, February 10th, 2010. Accessed May 3rd, 2012.</ref>

[[Image:Blackwaterbear.jpg|left]][[Image:XE.png|XE Logo]]