Blackwater chairman Erik Prince vigorously defended his private security company on Tuesday, rejecting charges that his staff acted like a bunch of cowboys immune to legal prosecution while protecting State Department personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“I believe we acted appropriately at all times,” Prince, a 38-year-old former Navy seal, told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

In written testimony, Prince insisted that his guards opened fire only after being shot at, but he never got the chance to say that because it is now a criminal case, reports CBS News national security correspondent David Martin.

The State Department has asked the FB…

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