Waxman v Blackwater

On the front page of today's LAT, reporter Peter Spiegel writes that investigators working for Congressman Henry Waxman believe that Blackwater has misbehaved in Iraq, threatening or killing Iraqis without justification and then paying off them or their families in order to avoid difficulties with the Iraqi government. The reporter suggests that Waxman's investigators found that the State Department serves as Blackwater's political protector in Iraq.

In a separate LAT article, reporter Alexandra Zavis writes that an Iraqi investigation concluded that Blackwater guards fired without provocation in the September 16th shoot-out that resulted in 11 Iraqi deaths following the explosion of a roadside bomb. But a roadside bomb is a provocation isn't it?

Who are Waxman's investigators and how did they get involved in investigating Blackwater? Isn't that a job for the FBI or the GAO? Who pays Waxman's investigators? Does each congressional committee chairman have a staff of investigators? Isn't the GAO Congress's investigative staff?