Blackwater charged: Child prostitues, arms smuggling, murder

[SirNitram]

And so much More

The head of Blackwater and his employees may have killed or ordered the killing of people suspected of cooperating with federal investigators probing their activities, according to an anonymous affidavit filed in federal court Monday.

The affidavit, one of two filed Monday, makes an extraordinary bundle of claims about the former Blackwater CEO, Erik Prince, and his employees. The existence of the documents was first reported by the Nation magazine Tuesday.

They were filed as part of a civil suit against Prince and Blackwater by several Iraqis, which accuse the firm and owner of war crimes, wrongful death and more.

The men gave the affidavits as "John Doe" and "John Doe 2," saying they feared for their safety. "Mr. Prince's management has personally threatened me with death and violence," wrote Doe 2. He says also that others told him "Mr. Prince and his employees murdered, or had murdered" one or more people who had cooperated with the feds, or were planning to.

But allegations of murder just scratch the surface: the two men – one alleges he is an ex-Marine, the other says he shared his allegations with a federal grand jury – claim far more. John Doe 2 claims routine murderous violence against Iraqis, a wife-swapping sex ring, use of child prostitutes, gun-running and more by Blackwater employees. John Doe 2 describes Prince as viewing himself as "a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe," who intentionally sent like-minded mercenaries to Iraq "to take every available opportunity to murder Iraqis."

In a statement Tuesday, a spokeswoman for the firm – since renamed "Xe" - said the allegations were "unsubstantiated and offensive." Stacy DeLuke accused the plaintiffs' lawyers of having "chosen inappropriately to argue their case in the media." A lawyer for Prince and Blackwater, Peter Hugh White, declined to comment on the affidavits.

The company has been the target of at least four grand jury investigations and accusations of tax fraud, improper use of force, arms trafficking and overbilling. The firm has denied any wrongdoing.

In February, Blackwater changed its name to Xe. Prince stepped down as its president in March. He is still the company's owner and the chairman of its board of directors. The firm no longer enjoys a billion-dollar contract to protect State Department personnel in Iraq, as it once did, although it still provides aviation services for U.S. government personnel there. The Iraqi government has tried unsuccessfully to boot Blackwater personnel from operating in its country.

The victims on whose behalf the affidavits were introduced include Iraqis who died in the infamous 2007 Nisoor Square fiasco, in which Blackwater guards opened fire on Iraqi civilians and 17 people died. They are being represented in this suit by the Center for Constitutional Rights and the Washington, D.C-based lawyer Susan Burke. Both declined to discuss the affidavits. In his affidavit, "John Doe 1" alleges that Blackwater personnel routinely attacked and killed innocent Iraqis who posed no security threat, sometimes without informing the State Department of the incidents, and that they sometimes used powerful automatic weaponry that was barred by their State Department contract. He also said that Blackwater personnel destroyed videos that showed them conducting criminal acts of violence.

"John Doe 2" alleges that Blackwater personnel used hand grenades and grenade launchers, and that Prince obtained exploding bullets for his men to use. Such weaponry and ammunition were barred by the firm's contract with State.

"Doe 2" also claims that Blackwater executives at the company's North Carolina headquarters ran a "wife-swapping and sex ring," which caused so many interoffice disputes Prince ordered an internal investigation into the scheme. Additionally, he says that Blackwater personnel overseas used child prostitutes.

Both men allege that Prince and his employees smuggled illegal weapons into Iraq. "Doe 2" says that he did so using his subsidiary, Presidential Airlines, which continues to hold a State Department contract.
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"It is obvious that Plaintiffs have chosen to slander Mr. Prince rather than raise legal arguments or actual facts that will be considered by a court of law," said Xe's DeLuke. "We question the judgement of anyone who relies upon and reiterate anonymous declarations."

These folks, and gang-raping slavers of KBR, were not a good choice for mercenaries, if the assurances that there are sensible and responsible PSC's is true. But damn, looking at these two makes me lose faith in that.

[General Havoc]

Mercenaries don't change with the times, it would appear...

[The Cleric]

I am unsure about how Blackwater mercenaries using prostitutes overseas, child or not, is something you can come down on the management/company for. While a reprehensible practice, it's something you'd want to tackle on an individual basis. Unless, of course, they're the ones pimping them, in which case it IS a problem...

[General Havoc]

Honestly, I wouldn't be astonished if Blackwater WAS pimping them, or at least turning a blind eye.

[The Minx]

I don't think it's entirely fair to lump all mercenaries into the same class as Blackwater. They were associated with Cheney, for goodness sakes, what do you expect? It would be like assuming all government programmes and employees are corrupt due to Cheney's shenanigans. ;)

But this is really disgusting. Blackwater (or whatever they are calling themselves nowadays) really needs to be nailed to the wall.

[SirNitram]

I don't think it's entirely fair to lump all mercenaries into the same class as Blackwater.

It isn't. Not at all. But I'm admittably having irrational moments on this stuff.

[General Havoc]

Generally, I'd agree that it's unfair to lump all mercenaries together in the same bucket, except historically speaking, it actually is relatively fair to do so. For whatever reason you want to give, situations wherein mercs are involved always seem to wind up with the most horrific abuses like this. It has been that way since the ancient world.

As someone once said. Mercenaries practice the world's second-oldest profession, one that has much in common with the first.

[Cynical Cat]

Let's take a look at the conditions in Iraq for mercenaries

-Legal blackhole with no accountability
-no oversight
-wild west atmosphere
-power of life and death over the locals
-priority of the job was to keep VIPs safe, killing civvies uninvestigated and unpunished
-Lots of money involved
-Culture of contempt directed at the locals

This is pretty much the perfect storm of potential abuse situations. This isn't the inner scumbag creeping out, this is a taking the inner scumbag for a limo driven tour of the red light district with never ending hookers, booze, and blow. Of course shit went down.

Now, I'm not going to take a shot at them because they are mercenaries because while mercenaries have behaved atrociously in the past. Well behaved armies is a pretty modern phenomena. In the sixteenth century you didn't want any army near you and, on the flip side, Ghurkas wouldn't do this shit.

[General Havoc]

Ghurkas however, are mercenaries only by an overly strict definition of the term. They do not operate under the auspices of a for-profit company, PMC, or whatever you call it. They are not some private army for the benefit of a board of directors. They're a group of men who have historically served in specialized, elite units of the British (and Indian) armies. They operate under regular military command & control. None of the factors cited above regarding Blackwater apply in their case. Gurkhas wouldn't do this shit, because Gurkhas aren't really mercenaries in the full sense of the word.

Now I'm not trying to say that all mercenaries will behave like this, it takes all kinds after all. I am however saying that even back in the day, prior to the advent of (relatively) well-behaved armies, mercenaries were still considered an abberation in terms of their brutality and callous indifference to civilian life. That's partly because they were easier to blame when shit went bad ("It was the Mercs that did it! Not our virtuous soldiers! It was all the evil mercenaries!"), but not entirely. But all I'm saying is that Blackwater is a modern descendant of the Condotierri private armies from Renaissance Italy. We should not be surprised to learn that they act like it.

[Cynical Cat]

That's unfair to the condotieri and overly generous to the professional armies of the period, although in many cases it would be hard to tell one from the other. Armies of that period were often horrific. I mentioned Gurkhas because they are mercenaries and operate under completely different conditions than Blackwater, that Havoc went and listed in his post.. Blackwater's institutional culture is appalling callous with regards to the lives of their own contractors and rapaciously greedy.

People are getting overly focused on the word "mercenary." Ignore that for a moment. The problem is the people and the conditions. The total lack of accountability and control over people who are encouraged to treat the Iraqis with disrespect and kill them if they have any suspicions while being boned by the greedy company that is listing its profit margin as an expense on government invoices. That'll turn even a slightly bruised apple rotten to the core.

[LadyTevar]

Also note that they were raping THEIR OWN COWORKERS, not just the local populous, and still Blackwater did nothing to those responsible. They went as far as to fire and otherwise punish the women who spoke up.

That is what makes Blackwater fully contemptible.

[SirNitram]

Also note that they were raping THEIR OWN COWORKERS, not just the local populous, and still Blackwater did nothing to those responsible. They went as far as to fire and otherwise punish the women who spoke up.

That is what makes Blackwater fully contemptible.

Honey, that was KBR. Remember, KBR is the gang-raping slavers, Blackwater is the crusaders with kiddie sex.

Let's keep our atrocities correctly assigned.

[General Havoc]

Who is KBR?

[SirNitram]

Who is KBR?

It was originally simply a part of Halliburton offering PSC services. It was spun-off into a subsidiary to deflect criticism. It is another mercenary outfit in Iraq, and has noticably engaged in slavery for construction, and several women have come forward alleging gang-rape.

[frigidmagi]

As a historical note when you get to around the early 1600s, there is almost no difference in a professional army and a mercenary one. The big difference being that in a professional army most of the officers come from the same country and are expected to speak the same language. It's not until the 1700/1800s that what we would consider a properly organized and set up army really comes into being. Even then by our standards they were disgusting in their behavior.

Alot of the "national" armies of the 1600s were made up of mercenary "contractors" and alot of the mercenaries were boys who were "impressed." Which in the 30 year war was a really gentle term for "had my house burned down, my family slaughtered, my goods looted and was told I had signed up at gun point"."

Not that there weren't a fair share of thugs and outright monsters running loose in these mercenary units who joined up voluntarly for loot and the chance to commit crime Scot-free. Usually wearing officer or NCO tabs.

[LadyTevar]

Not that there weren't a fair share of thugs and outright monsters running loose in these mercenary units who joined up voluntarly for loot and the chance to commit crime Scot-free. Usually wearing officer or NCO tabs.

Why do I think Blackwater kept up that 'fine tradition'.

I've noticed B4 is quiet here. Blackwater was scouting him for a job once, and he turned them down.

[Cynical Cat]

Blackwater has a slimy way of not giving their contractors the support and conditions they signed for and its gotten a bunch of them killed, including those guys in Felujah.

KBR is short for Kellog, Brown, and Roote which is a subsidiary of Halliburton that does PSC and military support work.