[Peace-discuss] Blackwater founder implicated in murder
Wendy Edwards
wayward710 at gmail.com
Tue Aug 4 16:47:42 CDT 2009
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090817/scahill
A former Blackwater employee and an ex-US Marine who has worked as a
security operative for the company have made a series of explosive
allegations in sworn statements filed on August 3 in federal court in
Virginia. The two men claim that the company's owner, Erik Prince, may have
murdered or facilitated the murder of individuals who were cooperating with
federal authorities investigating the company. The former employee also
alleges that Prince "views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with
eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe," and that Prince's
companies "encouraged and rewarded the destruction of Iraqi life."
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Jeremy Scahill <http://www.thenation.com/directory/bios/jeremy_scahill>*:
* The private security company, facing charges in a US court for killing
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Brett Story <http://www.thenation.com/directory/bios/brett_story>*:* *The
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» More <http://www.thenation.com/sections/war_peace>
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Jeremy Scahill <http://www.thenation.com/directory/bios/jeremy_scahill>*:
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Russell Feingold <http://www.thenation.com/sections/russell_feingold>
Jeremy Scahill <http://www.thenation.com/directory/bios/jeremy_scahill>*:
* In an exclusive interview with *The Nation*, Sen. Russ Feingold defends
his lone vote to oppose the latest amendment to the Defense Authorization
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- Blackwater Seeks Gag Order<http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090803/scahill>
Blackwater <http://www.thenation.com/sections/blackwater>
Jeremy Scahill <http://www.thenation.com/directory/bios/jeremy_scahill>*:
* The private security company, facing charges in a US court for killing
and injuring Iraqis, is attempting to silence its victims and their lawyers.
In their testimony, both men also allege that Blackwater was smuggling
weapons into Iraq. One of the men alleges that Prince turned a profit by
transporting "illegal" or "unlawful" weapons into the country on Prince's
private planes. They also charge that Prince and other Blackwater executives
destroyed incriminating videos, emails and other documents and have
intentionally deceived the US State Department and other federal agencies.
The identities of the two individuals were sealed out of concerns for their
safety.
These allegations, and a series of other charges, are contained in sworn
affidavits, given under penalty of perjury, filed late at night on August 3
in the Eastern District of Virginia as part of a seventy-page motion by
lawyers for Iraqi civilians suing Blackwater for alleged war crimes and
other misconduct. Susan Burke, a private attorney working in conjunction
with the Center for Constitutional Rights, is suing Blackwater in five
separate civil cases filed in the Washington, DC, area. They were recently
consolidated before Judge T.S. Ellis III of the Eastern District of Virginia
for pretrial motions. Burke filed the August 3 motion in response to
Blackwater's motion to dismiss the case. Blackwater asserts that Prince and
the company are innocent of any wrongdoing and that they were professionally
performing their duties on behalf of their employer, the US State
Department.
The former employee, identified in the court documents as "John Doe #2," is
a former member of Blackwater's management team, according to a source close
to the case. Doe #2 alleges in a sworn declaration that, based on
information provided to him by former colleagues, "it appears that Mr.
Prince and his employees murdered, or had murdered, one or more persons who
have provided information, or who were planning to provide information, to
the federal authorities about the ongoing criminal conduct." John Doe #2
says he worked at Blackwater for four years; his identity is concealed in
the sworn declaration because he "fear[s] violence against me in retaliation
for submitting this Declaration." He also alleges, "On several occasions
after my departure from Mr. Prince's employ, Mr. Prince's management has
personally threatened me with death and violence."
In a separate sworn statement, the former US marine who worked for
Blackwater in Iraq alleges that he has "learned from my Blackwater
colleagues and former colleagues that one or more persons who have provided
information, or who were planning to provide information about Erik Prince
and Blackwater have been killed in suspicious circumstances." Identified as
"John Doe #1," he says he "joined Blackwater and deployed to Iraq to guard
State Department and other American government personnel." It is not clear
if Doe #1 is still working with the company as he states he is "scheduled to
deploy in the immediate future to Iraq." Like Doe #2, he states that he
fears "violence" against him for "submitting this Declaration." No further
details on the alleged murder(s) are provided.
"Mr. Prince feared, and continues to fear, that the federal authorities will
detect and prosecute his various criminal deeds," states Doe #2. "On more
than one occasion, Mr. Prince and his top managers gave orders to destroy
emails and other documents. Many incriminating videotapes, documents and
emails have been shredded and destroyed."
*The Nation* cannot independently verify the identities of the two
individuals, their roles at Blackwater or what motivated them to provide
sworn testimony in these civil cases. Both individuals state that they have
previously cooperated with federal prosecutors conducting a criminal inquiry
into Blackwater.
"It's a pending investigation, so we cannot comment on any matters in front
of a Grand Jury or if a Grand Jury even exists on these matters," John Roth,
the spokesperson for the US Attorney's office in the District of Columbia,
told *The Nation*. "It would be a crime if we did that." Asked specifically
about whether there is a criminal investigation into Prince regarding the
murder allegations and other charges, Roth said: "We would not be able to
comment on what we are or are not doing in regards to any possible
investigation involving an uncharged individual."
*The Nation* repeatedly attempted to contact spokespeople for Prince or his
companies at numerous email addresses and telephone numbers. When a company
representative was reached by phone and asked to comment, she said,
"Unfortunately no one can help you in that area." The representative then
said that she would pass along *The Nation*'s request. As this article goes
to press, no company representative has responded further to *The Nation*.
Doe #2 states in the declaration that he has also provided the information
contained in his statement "in grand jury proceedings convened by the United
States Department of Justice." Federal prosecutors convened a grand jury in
the aftermath of the September 16, 2007, Nisour Square shootings in Baghdad,
which left seventeen Iraqis dead. Five Blackwater employees are awaiting
trial on several manslaughter charges and a sixth, Jeremy Ridgeway, has
already pleaded guilty to manslaughter and attempting to commit manslaughter
and is cooperating with prosecutors. It is not clear whether Doe #2
testified in front of the Nisour Square grand jury or in front of a separate
grand jury.
The two declarations are each five pages long and contain a series of
devastating allegations concerning Erik Prince and his network of companies,
which now operate under the banner of Xe Services LLC. Among those leveled
by Doe #2 is that Prince "views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with
eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe":
To that end, Mr. Prince intentionally deployed to Iraq certain men who
shared his vision of Christian supremacy, knowing and wanting these men to
take every available opportunity to murder Iraqis. Many of these men used
call signs based on the Knights of the Templar, the warriors who fought the
Crusades.
Mr. Prince operated his companies in a manner that encouraged and rewarded
the destruction of Iraqi life. For example, Mr. Prince's executives would
openly speak about going over to Iraq to "lay Hajiis out on cardboard."
Going to Iraq to shoot and kill Iraqis was viewed as a sport or game. Mr.
Prince's employees openly and consistently used racist and derogatory terms
for Iraqis and other Arabs, such as "ragheads" or "hajiis."
Among the additional allegations made by Doe #1 is that "Blackwater was
smuggling weapons into Iraq." He states that he personally witnessed weapons
being "pulled out" from dog food bags. Doe #2 alleges that "Prince and his
employees arranged for the weapons to be polywrapped and smuggled into Iraq
on Mr. Prince's private planes, which operated under the name Presidential
Airlines," adding that Prince "generated substantial revenues from
participating in the illegal arms trade."
Doe #2 states: "Using his various companies, [Prince] procured and
distributed various weapons, including unlawful weapons such as sawed off
semi-automatic machine guns with silencers, through unlawful channels of
distribution." Blackwater "was not abiding by the terms of the contract with
the State Department and was deceiving the State Department," according to
Doe #1.
This is not the first time an allegation has surfaced that Blackwater used
dog food bags to smuggle weapons into Iraq. ABC News's Brian Ross
reported<http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=6254508&page=1>in
November 2008 that a "federal grand jury in North Carolina is
investigating allegations the controversial private security firm Blackwater
illegally shipped assault weapons and silencers to Iraq, hidden in large
sacks of dog food." Another former Blackwater employee has also confirmed
this information to *The Nation*.
Both individuals allege that Prince and Blackwater deployed individuals to
Iraq who, in the words of Doe #1, "were not properly vetted and cleared by
the State Department." Doe #2 adds that "Prince ignored the advice and pleas
from certain employees, who sought to stop the unnecessary killing of
innocent Iraqis." Doe #2 further states that some Blackwater officials
overseas refused to deploy "unfit men" and sent them back to the US. Among
the reasons cited by Doe #2 were "the men making statements about wanting to
deploy to Iraq to 'kill ragheads' or achieve 'kills' or 'body counts,'" as
well as "excessive drinking" and "steroid use." However, when the men
returned to the US, according to Doe #2, "Prince and his executives would
send them back to be deployed in Iraq with an express instruction to the
concerned employees located overseas that they needed to 'stop costing the
company money.'"
Doe #2 also says Prince "repeatedly ignored the assessments done by mental
health professionals, and instead terminated those mental health
professionals who were not willing to endorse deployments of unfit men." He
says Prince and then-company president Gary Jackson "hid from Department of
State the fact that they were deploying men to Iraq over the objections of
mental health professionals and security professionals in the field," saying
they "knew the men being deployed were not suitable candidates for carrying
lethal weaponry, but did not care because deployments meant more money."
Doe #1 states that "Blackwater knew that certain of its personnel
intentionally used excessive and unjustified deadly force, and in some
instances used unauthorized weapons, to kill or seriously injure innocent
Iraqi civilians." He concludes, "Blackwater did nothing to stop this
misconduct." Doe #1 states that he "personally observed multiple incidents
of Blackwater personnel intentionally using unnecessary, excessive and
unjustified deadly force." He then cites several specific examples of
Blackwater personnel firing at civilians, killing or "seriously" wounding
them, and then failing to report the incidents to the State Department.
Doe #1 also alleges that "all of these incidents of excessive force were
initially videotaped and voice recorded," but that "Immediately after the
day concluded, we would watch the video in a session called a 'hot wash.'
Immediately after the hotwashing, the video was erased to prevent anyone
other than Blackwater personnel seeing what had actually occurred."
Blackwater, he says, "did not provide the video to the State Department."
Doe #2 expands on the issue of unconventional weapons, alleging Prince "made
available to his employees in Iraq various weapons not authorized by the
United States contracting authorities, such as hand grenades and hand
grenade launchers. Mr. Prince's employees repeatedly used this illegal
weaponry in Iraq, unnecessarily killing scores of innocent Iraqis."
Specifically, he alleges that Prince "obtained illegal ammunition from an
American company called LeMas. This company sold ammunition designed to
explode after penetrating within the human body. Mr. Prince's employees
repeatedly used this illegal ammunition in Iraq to inflict maximum damage on
Iraqis."
Blackwater has gone through an intricate rebranding process in the twelve
years it has been in business, changing its name and logo several times.
Prince also has created more than a dozen affiliate companies, some of which
are registered offshore and whose operations are shrouded in secrecy.
According to Doe #2, "Prince created and operated this web of companies in
order to obscure wrongdoing, fraud and other crimes."
"For example, Mr. Prince transferred funds from one company (Blackwater) to
another (Greystone) whenever necessary to avoid detection of his money
laundering and tax evasion schemes." He added: "Mr. Prince contributed his
personal wealth to fund the operations of the Prince companies whenever he
deemed such funding necessary. Likewise, Mr. Prince took funds out of the
Prince companies and placed the funds in his personal accounts at will."
Briefed on the substance of these allegations by *The Nation*, Congressman
Dennis Kucinich replied, "If these allegations are true, Blackwater has been
a criminal enterprise defrauding taxpayers and murdering innocent
civilians." Kucinich is on the House Committee on Oversight and Government
Reform and has been investigating Prince and Blackwater since 2004.
"Blackwater is a law unto itself, both internationally and domestically. The
question is why they operated with impunity. In addition to Blackwater, we
should be questioning their patrons in the previous administration who
funded and employed this organization. Blackwater wouldn't exist without
federal patronage; these allegations should be thoroughly investigated,"
Kucinich said.
A hearing before Judge Ellis in the civil cases against Blackwater is
scheduled for August 7.
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