Kelly Capeheart was part of the Blackwater security team that helped keep Ambassador John Negroponte alive in Iraq. Capeheart was in the war zone for seven months in 2004-05. He lives in Atlanta and works for a company that supplies orthopedic devices.

Capeheart, 37, says the public has the wrong perception of his old profession.

Some of his thoughts and observations:

"Everyone has the idea that we went looking for trouble. That couldn't be further from the truth. I don't care what anyone tells you. No one wants to get shot."

"The guys who do this are not money-hungry pigs. They're not gun-toting cowboys, or guys who shoot first and ask questions later. Believe me, if a Blackwater guy shoots somebody, he's going to answer to somebody."


Comment: That's just not true. These guys are deliberately killing people, driving through town with their guns pointed at human beings and when those guns do go off, they try to cover up what happened. Disgusting.


"We were bigger than life to a lot of the military guys. You could see it in their eyes when they looked at us - or whispered about us. A lot of them were very jealous. They felt like they were doing the same job but getting paid a lot less.

"People complaining about the pay are usually sitting at home, pointing at the TV."

"I can't see why someone would point a finger at me and say I'm a bad guy for what I did. They do, though. I've had some very heated conversations ..."


Comment: Perhaps the reason he can't see it is because he might be lacking the ability empathize with another? A trait that is found to be lacking in psychopaths.


"You see these pictures in the media of Blackwater guys loaded to the hilt with pistols and M-4s and their hand out grabbing the camera. There's a reason for that. I don't want my face on Al-Jazeera. Sorry."

"We had prices on our heads over there. We all knew it."

"Every day I consider going back. But I have a job here now, and it pays more. And nobody's after me. But you know what? I'd still go back if it wasn't for my family. I'd go back in a heartbeat."


Comment: Of course it pays more. The guys who do the killing are not money hungry pigs.