Now I No Longer Think of Them as a Band of Lawless, Amped-Up Mercenaries

Via Danger Room, it appears the Blackwater private security company has gone in for a bit of cynical rebranding:

Blackwater Worldwide is abandoning its tarnished brand name as it tries to shake a reputation battered by oft-criticized work in Iraq, renaming its family of two dozen businesses under the name Xe.

The parent company’s new name is pronounced like the letter “z.” Blackwater Lodge & Training Center — the subsidiary that conducts much of the company’s overseas operations and domestic training — has been renamed U.S. Training Center Inc., the company said Friday.

Because no one who works for The Letter Z would ever open fire on a group of civilians around a Baghdad traffic circle, right? Is there a point at which something stops being cynical and just becomes pathetic? My hat is off to whatever consulting firm fleeced Blackwater to come up with this rebranding.