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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| Tycoon, Contractor, Soldier, Spy |
| 2009-12-04 |
| Erik Prince, recently outed as a participant in a C.I.A. assassination program, has gained notoriety as head of the military-contracting juggernaut Blackwater, a company dogged by a grand-jury investigation, bribery accusations, and the voluntary-manslaughter trial of five ex-employees, set for next month. Lashing back at his critics, the wealthy former navy seal takes the author inside his operation in the U.S. and Afghanistan, revealing the role he's been playing in America's war on terror. I put myself and my company at the C.I.A.'s disposal for some very risky missions," says Erik Prince as he surveys his heavily fortified, 7,000-acre compound in rural Moyock, North Carolina. "But when it became politically expedient to do so, someone threw me under the bus." Prince--the founder of Blackwater, the world's most notorious private military contractor--is royally steamed. He wants to vent. And he wants you to hear him vent. Erik Prince has an image problem--the kind that's impervious to a Madison Avenue makeover. The 40-year-old heir to a Michigan auto-parts fortune, and a former navy seal, he has had the distinction of being vilified recently both in life and in art. In Washington, Prince has become a scapegoat for some of the Bush administration's misadventures in Iraq--though Blackwater's own deeds have also come in for withering criticism. Congressmen and lawyers, human-rights groups and pundits, have described Prince as a war profiteer, one who has assembled a rogue fighting force capable of toppling governments. His employees have been repeatedly accused of using excessive, even deadly force in Iraq; many Iraqis, in fact, have died during encounters with Blackwater. And in November, as a North Carolina grand jury was considering a raft of charges against the company, as a half-dozen civil suits were brewing in Virginia, and as five former Blackwater staffers were preparing for trial for their roles in the deaths of 17 Iraqis, The New York Times reported in a page-one story that Prince's firm, in the aftermath of the tragedy, had sought to bribe Iraqi officials for their compliance, charges which Prince calls "lies ... undocumented, unsubstantiated [and] anonymous." (So infamous is the Blackwater brand that even the Taliban have floated far-fetched conspiracy theories, accusing the company of engaging in suicide bombings in Pakistan.) Lenghty balance at the link. Sez he's going to "teach high school." I suspect that won't last more than a week or two. Good luck to the lad, whatever fork he takes. Suzanne Simons writes about Blackwater (now Xe) and Prince in "Master of War." Pretty damn good read. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #4 See also PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > ERIK PRINCE, FOUNDER OF BLACKWATER AGENCY, WAS A "CIA OPERATIVE". D *** NG IT, weren't we all, at PENN STATE, + FBI + NSA, etal - DOES DIANE + ZARKEY/ZHARQHAWI KNOW [why yes, they do and did - you know, know nuthin' they tells ya]! |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2009-12-04 19:14 |
| #3 Xe's training piece was or is it's original product line and hallmark. Fortunately or unfortunately, the original business model rooted them in North Carolina, an easy half day drive from the Beltway. The Bush years were for the most part, very user friendly for Xe. The current trend requires to further explanation. As the old saying goes, it is what it is. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-12-04 16:25 |
| #2 Long ago I suggested that Blackwater (Xe) needs to get out of CONUS. They are no safer in the US from lawfare than they were in Iraq from warfare. While they can keep administrative offices in the US, the bulk of their operations should be on their own island in the Caribbean. The advantages of doing so are enormous. First of all, they can recruit top soldiers who are not US citizens. Second, they have no restrictions on their movements, their weaponry, or anything else. All their operations would be by contract, and would include clear protections from both national (US and whatever country) and international (ICC) law. They would no longer exclusively work for the US government, or be inclined to provide information on friendly nation contracts to the US government. They could willingly task org to other armies, arranging for non-NATO standard interoperability as well, if needed. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2009-12-04 16:15 |
| #1 ...many Iraqis, in fact, have died during encounters with Blackwater. Usually the result of firing upon Blackwater employees or their employer. But don't let a little thing like that stop your two minutes of hate. It's like reporting Iraqi deaths and not reporting that most of it was done by the terrorists. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2009-12-04 13:08 |