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Gandalf Grey
Guest
Blackwater Blues for Dead Contractors' Families
By Bill Berkowitz
Created Jul 1 2007 - 9:57am
Ten years ago, Erik Prince, the son of a conservative multi-millionaire,
founded the security consulting firm Blackwater USA.
The company has since grown into what journalist Jeremy Scahill terms "the
world's most powerful mercenary army," in his recently released book titled
"Blackwater."
Both Prince and his company prefer to avoid headlines. In March 2004,
however, four of Prince's U.S. contractors -- Jerry Zovko, Scott Helvenston,
Michael Teague and Wesley Batalona -- were killed in Fallujah while
escorting a convoy of empty trucks. They were ambushed, shot and overcome by
an angry mob. The men were burnt in their vehicles and then their charred
bodies were strung up from a bridge.
The horrific images of the dead men received worldwide media attention. That
incident was soon followed by a massive U.S. assault on Fallujah, an attack
that reportedly resulted in thousands of dead Iraqi civilians.
Erik Prince's Blackwater USA was no longer under the radar.
For the past three years, the families of the dead contractors have been
trying to find out what really happened that March day in Fallujah. And for
three years, they say they've been stonewalled by Prince.
In February of this year, relatives of the four slain Blackwater USA
contractors testified, at a House of Representatives hearing in Washington
held by California Democrat Rep. Henry Waxman, on the company's operations.
The families of the slain men, still unclear about what happened when their
loved ones were killed, sued Blackwater USA for wrongful death and "in the
hope that their questions will be answered," the Associated Press reported
in mid-June.
The lawsuit alleges that Blackwater sent the men on a job with inadequate
equipment and protection.
According to the suit, AP pointed out, "the men should have been traveling
in fully armoured vehicles and should have had a guard in each vehicle
acting as a rear gunner to protect them from attack."
The legal battle could have much broader implications. It "could prompt more
government oversight of security contracting companies and determine the
extent of their legal liability in the war zone," AP noted.
Blackwater has assembled a high-profile well-connected legal team to combat
the suit. They also filed a 10-million-dollar counterclaim. Blackwater's
legal dream team -- which once included Fred Fielding, now White House
counsel -- includes Kenneth Starr, the special prosecutor who investigated
the Monica Lewinsky and Whitewater scandals during the Bill Clinton
administration.
Blackwater maintains that since it was working for the government, it was
"subject to the same protections against lawsuits as the military, which
cannot be sued for the deaths or injuries of its troops," AP reported. The
company "argues that the four families' lawsuit 'unconstitutionally intrudes
on the exclusive authority of the military of the federal government to
conduct military operations abroad.'"
In the two years since the families filed suit, the case has bounced between
state and federal courts amid a jumble of claims and counterclaims. Last
month U.S. District Judge James Fox in North Carolina ordered the families
and Blackwater into arbitration, a non-public procedure that is designed to
resolve disputes without a trial. While the families are protesting that
decision, that is a desirable outcome for the company as it would continue
to secrecy for its operations.
That we know as much as we do about Blackwater USA is in part due to the
first-rate reporting of several journalists, including The Nation magazine's
investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill. In his bestselling book "Blackwater:
The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army" (Nation Books, 2007),
Scahill describes the company as "a sort of Praetorian Guard for the Bush
administration's 'global war on terror.'"
He maintains that Prince "has been in the thick of this right-wing effort to
unite conservative Catholics, evangelicals, and neoconservatives in a common
theoconservative holy war."
At the time the book was written, Scahill pointed out that the Moyock, North
Carolina-headquartered company had "more than 2,300 private soldiers
deployed in nine countries, including inside the United States. It maintains
a database of 21,000 former Special Forces troops, soldiers, and retired law
enforcement agents on whom it could call at a moment's notice... [It] has a
private fleet of more than twenty aircraft, including helicopter gunships
and a surveillance blimp division."
In addition, Blackwater had "train[ed] tens of thousands of federal and
local law enforcement agents... [as well as] troops from 'friendly' foreign
nations." Blackwater "operates its own intelligence division and counts
among its executives senior ex-military and intelligence officials."
The company, which has a facility in Illinois, is building one in
California, and has a jungle training facility in the Philippines, has
garnered more than 500 million dollars in government contracts. This "does
not include its secret 'black' budget operations for U.S intelligence
agencies or private corporations/individuals and foreign governments,"
Scahill notes.
In addition to Prince, "A number of Blackwater executives are deeply
conservative Christians, including corruption-smeared former Pentagon
Inspector General Joseph Schmitz, who is also a member of the Sovereign
Order of Malta, which Scahill describes as 'a Christian militia formed in
the eleventh century [to defend] territories that the Crusaders had
conquered from the Moslems,'" Chris Barsanti wote in a review of the book
for In These Times.
Blackwater had a visible, and financially lucrative, presence in the
immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina as the use of company contractors
cost U.S. taxpayers 240,000 dollars a day.
Blackwater USA is the brainchild of Erik Prince -- a former Navy SEAL and
son of Edgar Prince, a wealthy Michigan auto-parts supplier -- described by
Scahill as a "radical right wing Christian mega-millionaire" who is a strong
financial backer of President George W. Bush, as well as a donor to a host
of conservative Christian political causes.
In the 1980s "the Prince family merged with one of the most venerable
conservative families in the United States," when Erik's sister Betsy --
nine years his senior -- married Dick DeVos, whose father Richard, founded
the multilevel marketing firm Amway.
The two families exercised enormous political influence both inside and
outside Michigan. "They were one of the greatest bankrollers of far-right
causes in U.S. history, and with their money they propelled extremist
Christian politicians and activists to positions of prominence," Scahill
writes.
Prince, who keeps a relatively low profile, recently appeared at the North
Carolina Technology Association's "Five Pillars" conference. There, he put
in a plug for his company, saying that had the police had the kind of
training that Blackwater provides, they could have dealt with situations
such as the killings at Columbine and Virginia Tech much better.
"When I saw the Columbine tapes, I saw a lot of law enforcement officers
with really nice gear, equipment and weapons, but they had never really
trained together. They had never tested those assumptions," Prince said.
"The same with Virginia Tech -- they had never really trained or planned for
an active shooter."
_______
About author Bill Berkowitz is a longtime observer of the conservative
movement. His WorkingForChange column Conservative Watch documents the
strategies, players, institutions, victories and defeats of the American
Right.
--
NOTICE: This post contains copyrighted material the use of which has not
always been authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material
available to advance understanding of
political, human rights, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues. I
believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright
Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107
"A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their
spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their
government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are
suffering deeply in spirit,
and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public
debt. But if the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have
patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning
back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at
stake."
-Thomas Jefferson
By Bill Berkowitz
Created Jul 1 2007 - 9:57am
Ten years ago, Erik Prince, the son of a conservative multi-millionaire,
founded the security consulting firm Blackwater USA.
The company has since grown into what journalist Jeremy Scahill terms "the
world's most powerful mercenary army," in his recently released book titled
"Blackwater."
Both Prince and his company prefer to avoid headlines. In March 2004,
however, four of Prince's U.S. contractors -- Jerry Zovko, Scott Helvenston,
Michael Teague and Wesley Batalona -- were killed in Fallujah while
escorting a convoy of empty trucks. They were ambushed, shot and overcome by
an angry mob. The men were burnt in their vehicles and then their charred
bodies were strung up from a bridge.
The horrific images of the dead men received worldwide media attention. That
incident was soon followed by a massive U.S. assault on Fallujah, an attack
that reportedly resulted in thousands of dead Iraqi civilians.
Erik Prince's Blackwater USA was no longer under the radar.
For the past three years, the families of the dead contractors have been
trying to find out what really happened that March day in Fallujah. And for
three years, they say they've been stonewalled by Prince.
In February of this year, relatives of the four slain Blackwater USA
contractors testified, at a House of Representatives hearing in Washington
held by California Democrat Rep. Henry Waxman, on the company's operations.
The families of the slain men, still unclear about what happened when their
loved ones were killed, sued Blackwater USA for wrongful death and "in the
hope that their questions will be answered," the Associated Press reported
in mid-June.
The lawsuit alleges that Blackwater sent the men on a job with inadequate
equipment and protection.
According to the suit, AP pointed out, "the men should have been traveling
in fully armoured vehicles and should have had a guard in each vehicle
acting as a rear gunner to protect them from attack."
The legal battle could have much broader implications. It "could prompt more
government oversight of security contracting companies and determine the
extent of their legal liability in the war zone," AP noted.
Blackwater has assembled a high-profile well-connected legal team to combat
the suit. They also filed a 10-million-dollar counterclaim. Blackwater's
legal dream team -- which once included Fred Fielding, now White House
counsel -- includes Kenneth Starr, the special prosecutor who investigated
the Monica Lewinsky and Whitewater scandals during the Bill Clinton
administration.
Blackwater maintains that since it was working for the government, it was
"subject to the same protections against lawsuits as the military, which
cannot be sued for the deaths or injuries of its troops," AP reported. The
company "argues that the four families' lawsuit 'unconstitutionally intrudes
on the exclusive authority of the military of the federal government to
conduct military operations abroad.'"
In the two years since the families filed suit, the case has bounced between
state and federal courts amid a jumble of claims and counterclaims. Last
month U.S. District Judge James Fox in North Carolina ordered the families
and Blackwater into arbitration, a non-public procedure that is designed to
resolve disputes without a trial. While the families are protesting that
decision, that is a desirable outcome for the company as it would continue
to secrecy for its operations.
That we know as much as we do about Blackwater USA is in part due to the
first-rate reporting of several journalists, including The Nation magazine's
investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill. In his bestselling book "Blackwater:
The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army" (Nation Books, 2007),
Scahill describes the company as "a sort of Praetorian Guard for the Bush
administration's 'global war on terror.'"
He maintains that Prince "has been in the thick of this right-wing effort to
unite conservative Catholics, evangelicals, and neoconservatives in a common
theoconservative holy war."
At the time the book was written, Scahill pointed out that the Moyock, North
Carolina-headquartered company had "more than 2,300 private soldiers
deployed in nine countries, including inside the United States. It maintains
a database of 21,000 former Special Forces troops, soldiers, and retired law
enforcement agents on whom it could call at a moment's notice... [It] has a
private fleet of more than twenty aircraft, including helicopter gunships
and a surveillance blimp division."
In addition, Blackwater had "train[ed] tens of thousands of federal and
local law enforcement agents... [as well as] troops from 'friendly' foreign
nations." Blackwater "operates its own intelligence division and counts
among its executives senior ex-military and intelligence officials."
The company, which has a facility in Illinois, is building one in
California, and has a jungle training facility in the Philippines, has
garnered more than 500 million dollars in government contracts. This "does
not include its secret 'black' budget operations for U.S intelligence
agencies or private corporations/individuals and foreign governments,"
Scahill notes.
In addition to Prince, "A number of Blackwater executives are deeply
conservative Christians, including corruption-smeared former Pentagon
Inspector General Joseph Schmitz, who is also a member of the Sovereign
Order of Malta, which Scahill describes as 'a Christian militia formed in
the eleventh century [to defend] territories that the Crusaders had
conquered from the Moslems,'" Chris Barsanti wote in a review of the book
for In These Times.
Blackwater had a visible, and financially lucrative, presence in the
immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina as the use of company contractors
cost U.S. taxpayers 240,000 dollars a day.
Blackwater USA is the brainchild of Erik Prince -- a former Navy SEAL and
son of Edgar Prince, a wealthy Michigan auto-parts supplier -- described by
Scahill as a "radical right wing Christian mega-millionaire" who is a strong
financial backer of President George W. Bush, as well as a donor to a host
of conservative Christian political causes.
In the 1980s "the Prince family merged with one of the most venerable
conservative families in the United States," when Erik's sister Betsy --
nine years his senior -- married Dick DeVos, whose father Richard, founded
the multilevel marketing firm Amway.
The two families exercised enormous political influence both inside and
outside Michigan. "They were one of the greatest bankrollers of far-right
causes in U.S. history, and with their money they propelled extremist
Christian politicians and activists to positions of prominence," Scahill
writes.
Prince, who keeps a relatively low profile, recently appeared at the North
Carolina Technology Association's "Five Pillars" conference. There, he put
in a plug for his company, saying that had the police had the kind of
training that Blackwater provides, they could have dealt with situations
such as the killings at Columbine and Virginia Tech much better.
"When I saw the Columbine tapes, I saw a lot of law enforcement officers
with really nice gear, equipment and weapons, but they had never really
trained together. They had never tested those assumptions," Prince said.
"The same with Virginia Tech -- they had never really trained or planned for
an active shooter."
_______
About author Bill Berkowitz is a longtime observer of the conservative
movement. His WorkingForChange column Conservative Watch documents the
strategies, players, institutions, victories and defeats of the American
Right.
--
NOTICE: This post contains copyrighted material the use of which has not
always been authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material
available to advance understanding of
political, human rights, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues. I
believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright
Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107
"A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their
spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their
government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are
suffering deeply in spirit,
and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public
debt. But if the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have
patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning
back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at
stake."
-Thomas Jefferson