_***Erik Prince: former Daddy Bush insider and christian nutjob
	Now known as Xe, Blackwater has a sordid past history of genocide, murder rampant killing and outright vigilante mercenary behaviours in every theatre.

Coalition of the Billing - Blackwater

 

 

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Article By Steve Johnson First Published July 9th 2008

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BLACKWATER - YOU PAY WE KILL

 

Meet Blackwater, with its own military base, a fleet of twenty aircraft, and twenty thousand troops at the ready. Run by a "billionaire right-wing fundamentalist Christian" from a powerful Michigan Republican family. Erik Prince (below) neo- conservative who bankrolls President Bush and his allies, his personal armed forces are reportedly capable of overthrowing governments.

Blackwater USA consists of nine separate business units: Blackwater Training Center (the largest private firearms and tactical training center in the U. S.), Blackwater Target Systems, Blackwater Security Consulting, Blackwater Canine, Maritime Security, manufacturing of custom Armored Vehicles, Parachute Jump Team, Aviation, and Raven Development Group. They also have relationships with strategic partners, Aviation Worldwide Services and Greystone Ltd.

Private military security firm Blackwater Worldwide (as it is now known) was started in 1997

 

 

as Blackwater USA primarily by Prince along with Al Clark and Gary Jackson, ( former Navy SEAL.) Erik Prince is another former Navy SEAL, who attended the Naval Academy, and for a period of time he interned in the White House under President George H.W. Bush and campaigned for Pat Buchanan in 1992. .

Unlike the American Army and indeed the US Marine Corps whom maintain a very stringent standard code of conduct, Blackwater operate on a purely commercial principle of "guns for hire" to the highest bidder via a contract system of engagement, and the heirachy of command though based on the Military standard is not adhered to as strictly as would be under Dept of Defense standards.

According to the Founder Erik Prince: " We are not simply a "private security company." We are a professional military, law enforcement, security, peacekeeping, and stability operations firm who provides turnkey solutions. We assist with the development of national and global security policies and military transformation plans. We can train, equip and deploy public safety and military professionals, build live-fire indoor/outdoor ranges, MOUT facilities and shoot houses, create ground and aviation operations and logistics support packages, develop and execute canine solutions for patrol and explosive detection, and can design and build facilities both domestically and in austere environments abroad... "

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Perhaps not coincidentally, Prince is also a major financial supporter of Republican Party causes and candidates. Blackwater is often referred to as a mercenary organisation even though they also train Police, various US Dept agencies and some military units in urban tactical warfare tactics on their North Carolina compound. Boasting that they train up to 40,000 personnel a year, the training encompasses bodyguard training, personal security measures, guarding of installations, and both military style offensive and defensive strategies.

Some of the police forces trained by Blackwater have dismal records in civil rights and police brutality reports. Such Departments as:

1. Morganton, North Carolina Police

 

2. Maricopa County, Arizona Sheriff's Department

 

3. Matthews, North Carolina Police

 

4. Atlanta Police

 

5. Chillicothe, Ohio Police

 

6. Charleston, South Carolina Police

 

7. Port Chester, NY Police

 

8. Highland, Indiana Police

 

9. Unalaska, Alaska Police

 

10. Metropolitan Washington, DC Police

 

11. Charlottesville, Virginia Police

 

12. Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (Dulles and Reagan National Airports)

 

13. St. Louis County Police (Missouri)

 

14. Queen Anne's County, Maryland Police

 

15. Prince George's County, Maryland Police

 

16. FBI SWAT Team

 

17. Gloucester Township, New Jersey Police

 

18. Tempe, Arizona Police

 

19. New York Police Department

 

20. Yonkers, New York Police

 

21. Fairfax County, Virginia Police

 

22. Maplewood, New Jersey Police

 

23. Gastonia, North Carolina Police

 

24. Tampa Police

 

25. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)

 

26. DeKalb County, Georgia Police

 

27. Arlington County, Virginia Police

 

28. Baltimore Police

 

29. U.S. Coast Guard

 

30. Suffolk, Virginia Police

 

31. Franklin City, Virginia Police

 

32. Milford, Delaware Police

 

33. University of Texas Police

 

34. Norfolk, Virginia Police

 

35. Ottawa-Carleton, Canada Police

 

36. San Bernardino County, California Sheriff

 

37. Plattsburgh, New York Police

 

38. Chicago Police Department

 

39. Oregon State Police

 

40. Los Angeles Police Department

 

41. Tonawanda, New York Police

 

42. Special Forces of Colombia

 

43. Jacksonville, North Carolina Police

 

44. Harvey Cedars, New Jersey Police

 

45. Elmira, New York Police

 

46. Department of Corrections, New Jersey

 

47. Lexington, Kentucky Police

 

48. Willimantic, Connecticut Police

 

49. Georgia Department of Law Enforcement

 

50. City of Fairfax, Virginia Police

 

51. Alexandria, Virginia Police Special Operations

 

52. Illinois State Police

 

53. Dallas, Texas Police

 

54. Hamilton, Ohio Police

 

It was not only Americans that Blackwater were training, In 2007 according to UnjustMedia: "Blackwater has a contract of training 15,000 commandos for Iraq. In 2003 the American Defense Department made a contract worth $7.35 million for the training of 10,000 commandos. The price for the remaining 5,000 will be set in June this year. Including Chile, Blackwater will engage young people from South Africa, Italy, Brazil, Afghanistan, and from some of the Central Asian countries. The company is also training naval personnel from Virginia, Texas, and California in combat, but it is still not clear where these commandos will be deployed."

 

Situated near the border of Virginia on a huge wetland area, the total area takes in almost 6000 acres of swamp land which has large amounts of a very prominent dark sludge on the property. This substance fittingly is where Blackwater draws its name.

The "need" for such a security contractor within the field in Iraq is argued with the point that the U.S. military is limited in size and that there have been difficulties in maintaining the elevated troop levels George W Bush requires to maintain his boots on the ground numbers across all current theatres . Enter Blackwater. A private company which was initially under no such "code of conduct" for military behaviour on a battlefield nor did it feel obliged by accepted "rules of engagement" under Geneva conventions.

 

 

In August 2003, Blackwater was awarded a $21 million no-bid contract to guard Paul Bremer, and U.S. agencies have been tapping the Blackwater well ever since. By 2006 the company had about 1,000 contractors in Iraq.

Between 2000 and 2006 Blackwater alone has won $505 million in publicly identifiable federal contracts, according to an online government database two thirds of those in unbidded contracts.

Other players also have rushed in to meet the demand. In early 2007 , the US Government estimated that there were at least 180 security companies operating in Iraq with more than 48,000 employees - the largest private military deployment in history.

 

In March 2004, whilst on patrol in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, four paid Blackwater mercenaries were set upon by Iraqi nationals, beaten and set ablaze and their bodies hung from a bridge over the Euphrates river. (left) When photos of this incident circulated the world, the outrage triggered the "pacification" of Fallujah by US Military forces, the result of which rendered some many hundreds of Iraqis dead in direct response and the brutal repression of some 500, 000 citizens of Fallujah. As the Nation pointed out: " Within days of the ambush, US forces laid siege to Falluja, beginning what would be one of the most brutal and sustained US operations of the occupation."

Although Blackwater is a US company there is a substantial legal grey area as to what if any US laws Blackwater are limited by whilst operating overseas both under contract from US Govt. and/or under contract by international entities. This legal area would be tested in September 2007.

In October 2007, George W Bush personally promised Blackwater immunity from litigations and legal challenges after they were found to have slaughtered up to seventeen unarmed Iraqi

citizens in cold blood and wounded twenty three the previous month on September 16th 2007. About the incident an Iraqi government spokesman said that the investigation had found "no evidence that the Blackwater convoy came under fire directly or indirectly.... It was not hit even by a stone," he said.

 

Sept 21st The WhiteHouse spokesperson Dana Perino says: "Go ask State Dept. about the ALLEGED incidents if they actually happened"

 

Then Iraqi President Nouri al-Maliki was outraged over such a unprovoked attack and declared the security company was guilty of a crime under the new Iraqi democratic law. There was even talk by the Iraqi Government that the Security licence would be revoked

which prompted immediate diplomacy action by the Whitehouse. This attention forced Erik Prince to testify to congress and such attention gave way to revelations he was in fact connected to the Neoconservative religious right and also the

 

political campaigns of Mitt Romney and Hillary Clinton. No charges were ever laid upon the private security contractors who killed the Iraqi civilians.

In fact a month after the Nisour Square massacre, on Oct. 20, a group of about 50 activists gathered outside Blackwater’s gates in Moyock, N.C. There, they reenacted the Nisour Square shooting and staged a “die-in,” involving a vehicle painted with bullet marks and blood. The activists stained their clothing with fake blood and dramatized the deadly shooting spree. For their trouble, protesters who re-enacted one of Blackwater’s worst civilian massacres in Iraq got jail time, while the real killers remain free.

A US congressional report released in October 2007 had pointed out Blackwater had been involved in at least 195 shooting incidents in Iraq since 2005.

It was shortly after this event in October 2007 that Blackwater USA changed their company title to Blackwater WorldWide and re-designed their symbol as less "threatening" by merely reducing the  actual size of their corporate logo .

Blackwater is currently the largest of the U.S. State Department's three private security contractors with at least 90 percent of its revenue comes from government contracts, two-thirds of which are no-bid contracts. Blackwater Worldwide is currently contracted by the United States government to provide security services in the Iraq region, including diplomat security, installation security and more and more encroaching on the traditional role of the Military within the invaded country of Iraq.

From May 2008 : Blackwater unlikely to face charges in Iraq shooting
The Associated PressPublished: May 9, 2008
WASHINGTON: Blackwater Worldwide, the security contractor blamed by an angry Iraqi government for the shooting deaths of 17 civilians, is not expected to face criminal charges — all but ensuring the company will keep its multimillion-dollar contract to protect U.S. diplomats.

 

Apart from patrolling the streets of New Orleans directly after the Katrina tragedy, Blackwater have also picked up contracts given by the Department of Defense Counter-Narcotics

 

Technology Program Office in a five-year contract for equipment, material and services in support of counter-narcotics activities. The contract is worth up to $15 billion. They have also had contracts to air-drop supplies to troops in the field in Afghanistan.

 

Blackwater USA has also been contracted by various foreign governments. In 2005, it worked to train the Naval Sea Commando regiment of Azerbaijan, enhancing their interdiction capabilities on the Caspian Sea. In Asia, Blackwater has contracts in Japan guarding AN/TPY-2 radar systems.

Since such incidents as the 2007 shootings of Iraqi civilians, there was a call by Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice in October 2007 to have Federal agents accompany Blackwater missions and cameras to be installed in vehicles.

There has been never the less questions raised about the validity of BLACKWATER and the influence from the steady rise of the "gaming generation" who are fixated by a glamorous view of mercenaries from their Playstation and X-Box gaming consoles. In an age where entertainment and reality is so blurred we start to see "1st person shootem -up" games take on a whole new perspective.

 

A case in point is the US$15 poster available from Blackwater Worldwide Enterprises which looks similar in nature to the X-BOX game cover: Mercenaries : Playground of Destruction.

 

Some young adults might find it difficult to distinguish which one is actually the game and which is the poster glamorizing the modern combat situation. As poignantly pointed out by NoCaption needed: "The only thing missing in this “mock” movie poster is the star power of a Bruce Willis or Keifer Sutherland."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The line between real life and Hollywood just got a little blurrier.

 

Apart from being punished for the obvious violations of human rights and breach of laws in the murders of the Iraqi civilians, in December 2007, company executives were actually given BONUSES in the ranges of $15,000 each:

"U.S. government officials who have overseen the controversial Blackwater security firm's activities in Iraq are slated to receive thousands of dollars in performance bonuses, despite controversy surrounding the company.

A State Department document obtained by ABC News shows Diplomatic Security officials Kevin Barry and Justine Sincavage will receive between $10,000 and $15,000 for their "outstanding performance." Barry and Sincavage, who managed Blackwater's contract for the department, recently received promotions as well, ABC News reported in October"

The CEO andd founder Erik Prince went on the defensive as well citing to write a book entitled "We are Blackwater" which is due out any day now (July 2008)

 

 

 

Although they have kept relatively quiet and out of the headlines since the turmoil surrounding events in 2007, there has certainly been strong criticism and vocal support building against Blackwater and none more vocal than thenation columnist and author: Jeremy Scahill

His recent release: Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army , has gone to one of New York's bestseller lists.

This is the unauthorized story of the epic rise of one of the most powerful and secretive forces to emerge from the U.S. military-industrial complex.

Jeremy has been one of THE most vocal critics and outspoken jouranlists against the Blackwater mercenary phenomenons to date.

As Jeremy points out in his June article :

"If there is one quality that is evident from examining Blackwater's business history, it is the company's ability to take advantage of emerging war and conflict markets. "

This article appeared in the June 23, 2008 edition of The Nation.

http://www.amazon.com/Blackwater-Rise-Worlds-Powerful-Mercenary/dp/1560259795

 

 

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080623

 

 

In this video, Jeremy explains what BLACKWATER are All about...

 

 

 

In this video, George W Bush avoids answering a very intelligent question about Blackwater legalities by acting very stupid.

 

 

 

 

 

Jeremy Scahill talks about Blackwaters beginnings Part 1...

 

 

 

 

Jeremy Scahill talks about Blackwaters beginnings Part 2...

 

 

 

 

 

Interview with Jeremy Scahill on DemocracyNow.org TV

 

 

 

Jeremy Scahill recalls the New Orleans - Katrina tragedy and Blackwater involvement

 

 

 

An extract from theNation article: " In the two weeks directly following Nisour Square, Blackwater signed more than $144 million in contracts with the State Department for "protective services" in Iraq and Afghanistan alone and, over the following weeks and months, won millions more in contracts with other federal entities like the Coast Guard, the Navy and the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center."

Blackwater's Iraq contract was extended in April, but the company is by no means betting the house on its long-term presence there. While the firm is quietly maintaining its Iraq work, it is aggressively pursuing other business opportunities.

In September it was revealed that Blackwater had been "tapped" by the Pentagon's Counter Narcoterrorism Technology Program Office to compete for a share of a five-year, $15 billion budget "to fight terrorists with drug-trade ties." According to the Army Times, the contract "could include antidrug technologies and equipment, special vehicles and aircraft, communications, security training, pilot training, geographic information systems and in-field support." A spokesperson for another company bidding for the work said that "80 percent of the work will be overseas."

Pursuing "other business opportunities" indeed.

BLACKWATER have branched out into making handgun Firearms

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As well as that they have launched their own "security + Police range" of equipment for sale in Paris. France!!

 

 

 

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MORE RESEARCH:

 

WHAT IS BLACKWATER ?

http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-wK0SX_k7dK5WgkkX01QOYwuwFxzFNQ--?cq=1&p=2020

DYNCORP & BLACKWATER MURDERING AROUND THE WORLD FOR MONEY

BLACKWATER THESE ARE THE GUYS THE GOVERMENT IS GOING TO USE TO COME
GET THOSE OF US WHO REFUSE TO BOW TO THE GOVERMENT.BLACKWATER WILL BE
THE ONES MAKING THE 3AM WAKE UP CALL DRAGGING US OUT OUR HOUSE OR
APARTMENTS GET READY FOLKS IT'S COMING!


A Very Private War ACTUAL COUNT 140,000BLACKWATER BEING USED
There are 48,000 'security contractors' in Iraq, working for private
companies growing rich on the back of US policy. But can it be a good
thing to have so many mercenaries operating without any democratic
control?
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/08/01/2896/

CSC and DynCorp Combine to Create Federal IT Powerhouse
http://www.csc.com/features/2003/163.shtml

BACK IN IRAQ: THE 'WHORES OF WAR'
http://www.sundayherald.com/news/heraldnews/display.var.1724225.0.0.php

 

IRAQI Civilians treated as "target practice" by Security Contractors.

 

 

REPORT SAYS FIRM TRIED COVER-UPS AFTER SHOOTINGS
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D04EFDA1039F9

31A35753C1A9619C8B63&sec=&spon=

A Very Private War
There are 48,000 'security contractors' in Iraq, working for private companies growing rich on the back of US policy. But can it be a good thing to have so many mercenaries operating without any democratic control?
http://www.november.org/stayinfo/breaking08/Blackwater.html

Posts Tagged `Blackwater' What exactly is an Operator?
http://www.att-tactical.com/blog/?tag=blackwater

OK, so you say you're a former Jar-Head and you now wear multicam for
a Department of State Security Contractor: but why do you call
yourself an Operator?
As a buzzword, the title of "Operator" is being thrown around as if it
means something more important that it is. "I'm an Operator for the
defense department" he said.
"Operator of what?" I asked. "What are you, some kind of smart-ass? I
kill people for a living" he answered. Holly shit, then you're nothing
more than a glorified assassin" I continued. "No, I only kill those
who need to be killed" came in response.
I'm at a private security contractor firearms training school upstate
near Valhalla. The individual I'm conversing with is wearing enough of
the obligatory 5-11 queer gear to have been the centerfold of the
latest catalog.
"So, you've been in the shit. Have you a lot of bodies on your soul?"
I queried. "I've killed my fair share" he piped up. "So are you
shipping out soon?" I offered. "One more week of wake-up and I'm off
to the sand box." I had enough, turned and walked away.

Where Military Rules Don't Apply
Blackwater's Security Force in Iraq Given Wide Latitude by State Dept.
http://www.pulitzer.org/year/2008/international-reporting/works/fainaru05.html

Blackwater's loopholes
Prosecuting private security contractors for shooting Iraqi civilians
might be impossible
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-scahill15nov15,0,5359110.story?coll=la-opinion-rightrail

DYNCORP OWNS BLACKWATER
Hit the Bench Blackwater, DynCorp is Stepping Up to Bat
http://npoma.wordpress.com/2007/11/01/hit-the-bench-blackwater-dyncorp-is-stepping-up-to-bat/

Worker Goes After Blackwater Mercenaries
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/84418

Blackwater's Lethal Contract Renewed
http://bravenewfilms.org/blog/34856-blackwater-s-lethal-contract-renewed

Following is some available information about the security companies
in Afghanistan: Aegis, Armorgroup, Blackwater, Dyncorp, Gardaworld,
Global Strategies, Khawar, Olive, Mallat, Olympus, Paul Grimes,
Saladin, SOC-SMG, SIG, USPI, Watan and Caps.

MERCENARIES WITHOUT BORDERS, the "dogs of war" of financial
globalization By Karel Vereycken
http://www.williambowles.info/empire/mercs_without_borders.html

The Mercenary Revolution: Flush with Profits from the Iraq War,
Military Contractors See a World of Business Opportunities.
http://www.indypendent.org/2007/08/10/the-mercenary-revolution-flush-with-profits-

from-the-iraq-war-military-contractors-see-a-world-of-business-opportunities/

Blackwater Runs Red
http://iraqforsale.bravenewfilms.org/blog/344-blackwater-runs-red

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DYNCORP:

CSC/ DynCorp
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?list=type&type=18


Real Deal: CSC DynCorp & the Economics of Lawlessness
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0304/S00158.htm

DynCorp handles secure data transfer and information for the
Department of
Justice, the Security and Exchange Commission, The Treasury
http://www.dyncorp.com/idiq/tipss.htm , the IRS, The Centers for Disease
Control, Federal Communication Commission and much of our military.
http://www.dyncorp.com/idiq/GSA-CZ.htm
http://www.dyncorp.com/idiq/r2csr.htm
http://www.dyncorp.com/idiq/gsaschedule.htm