Assassinations, Weapons Smuggling, Wife-Swapping—The Latest Accusations Against Erik Prince and Blackwater
Did Blackwater/Xe founder Erik Prince knock off informants working with federal authorities investigating the company? These eye-raising allegations, among others, are contained in the anonymous declarations of two individuals claiming to be ex-Blackwater employees, which were filed in federal court yesterday and first reported by the Nation's Jeremy Scahill. (Find their sworn statements here and here.) According to one of the former employees, John Doe No. 2, "...Based on information provided to me 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." (He doesn't, however, provide any information about who the targets of these alleged hits were.) Explaining why he must remain anonymous, John Doe No. 2 says that "on several occasions after my departure from Mr. Prince's employ, Mr. Prince's management has personally threatened me with death and violence." He also charges that Prince, a devout Catholic, "views himself 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."
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Via Scahill's article:
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 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.'"
The declarations were filed in conjunction with a series of civil cases brought on behalf of Iraqi civilians suing the company for war crimes and wrongful death. Court documents filed by the plaintiffs have accused the company of a range of criminal activity, from murder and kidnapping to tax evasion and child prostitution.
According to John Doe 2's declaration, "Mr. Prince knowingly hired two persons who were previously involved in the Kosovo sex trafficking ring to serve at relatively high-levels within his company." He adds that "Mr. Prince's North Carolina operations had an ongoing wife-swapping and sex ring, which was participated in by many of Mr. Prince's top executives."
In the past, Blackwater/Xe has strongly denied any wrongdoing. Without knowing the identities of John Does 1 and 2, it's impossible to know whether any of these explosive charges hold any truth. I have an email in to Xe spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell Stacy DeLuke requesting a reponse to the allegations. I'll update this post if and when I hear back.
UPDATE: DeLuke emailed me the following statement this morning, which I'm reprinting in its entirety:
The proper place for this case to be litigated is in the Court, and we will respond fully in our reply brief (which will be filed on August 17) to the anonymous unsubstantiated and offensive assertions put forward by the plaintiffs. Because the plaintiffs have chosen inappropriately to argue their case in the media, however, we will also say this:
- The brief filed by Plaintiff includes two anonymous affidavits state that their "information" has been provided to the Justice Department -- we can gauge the credence given to those statements -- which hold no water. When the indictments were announced, the United States Attorney the United States Attorney made a point of stating that "[t]he indictment does not charge or implicate Blackwater Worldwide"; "[i]t charges only the actions of certain employees for their roles in the September 16 shooting." He emphasized that the indictment was "very narrow in its allegations": "Six individual Blackwater guards have been charged with unjustified shootings . . . not the entire Blackwater organization in Baghdad. There were 19 Blackwater guards on the . . . team that day . . . . Most acted professionally, responsibly and honorably. Indeed, this indictment should not be read as accusation against any of those brave men and women who risk their lives as Blackwater security contractors."
-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. We are happy to engage them there.
-We question the judgment of anyone who relies upon and reiterate anonymous declarations.
As DeLuke notes, Blackwater/Xe will be filing its reply on August 17. I'll parse it here.
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Comments
Catholic Nazi WIFE-KILLING
Catholic Nazi WIFE-KILLING Prince is following the example of never-excommunicated Catholic Inquisition/Crusader Hitler who exterminated "heretic" Jews and Serb Orthodox Christians for the pedophile Vatican and greedy banksters and insurance scamsters who sold life insurance and "safe" Swiss bank services to Jews, Serbs, etc. who were not expected to live to collect on their accounts. The Vatican STILL won't return stolen, melted-down gold teeth to death camp survivors. Vatican hierarchy, including then future Pope Paul VI, money laundered the stolen gold through Swiss banks. I hope this Satanic Prince is investigated for taking genocide orders from Opus Dei, the Nazi Knights of Malta, and Poop Nazinger.
ADULTEROUS Eric Prince should also be ON DEATH ROW WITH SCOTT PETERSON for using several fetuses to retrigger fatal breast cancer in his unwanted first wife. Her first daughter triggered breast cancer that she barely survived. He cheated on her with several women, impregnated her 3 more times, and the last daughter was the killer charm that enabled him to marry one of his hos. He should be stoned to death for adultery, wife-killing, and genocide.
Anti-abortion SADISTS like Prince exist because no one will hold the pedophile Nazi Vatican accountable for centuries of looting, genocide, gynocide, and child abuse.
Tell me how you really feel!
Tell me how you really feel!
Blackwater is associated
Blackwater is associated with kidnapping, prostitution, tax evasion, gun running, weapons stockpiling, recruiting death squad paramilitary personnel from Latin America and defrauding US taxpayers. Blackwater operates without oversight, transparency or accountability. For more information visit http://xewatch.info
Strangest Story of My Lifetime
So much of the Blackwater story is so strange. These guys are literally just one small step from being comic book bad guys. It was always crazy, because even if you believed in Iraq with all of your heart these guys were much more expensive than simply recruiting more troops and they obviously did far more harm than good to W's cause over there. Ask, any Iraq vet.
I'm far, far more conservative than most posters here and I won't shed a tear for Saddam Hussien, but absolutely nothing that Blackwater is accused of is too far fetched to at least investigate. The most accomplished of these guys are incredibly well trained operators with the skills and background to pull off anything that the Mossad, the CIA, or KGB could do. Worse, a lot of them are far more cynical and less concerned about ethics than the guys from the gentle, caring organizations I just mentioned. Finally, they are led by a guy who truly believes that he is God's avenging angel and they were pumped up into a multi-billion dollar corporation almost solely by US government contracts. This is the plot of a Matt Bolden novel.
Hell, I voted for Regan and I can see that Blackwater was created by Bush and Cheney as an extra-legal military arm to do missions that the military and CIA wouldn't touch. So, nothing would surprise me and if I was going to testify against Mr. Prince or investigate Mr. Prince I would be very concerned for the safety of myself and my family.
No such thing
... as a semi-auto machine gun. All machine guns are full-auto.
Only an idiot saws off the barrel of a machine gun as it can adversely affect the functioning of the weapon.
Doe #2's cred just took a big hit.
A semi-auto fires one bullet
A semi-auto fires one bullet at a time, full auto fires a continuous burst. While some gun nuts insist that a semi-auto AK-47 (sold that way to comply with regulations) is not a machine gun, it is easily converted to full auto and is thus for all intents and purposes a 'machine gun'.
As for sawing off the barrel, that is done to make the weapon easier to conceal (underneath clothes) for example. The accuracy and range of the gun will go down, but accuracy was not a priority for blackwater goons.
Ahhhh... bullshit. You
Ahhhh... bullshit. You don't saw off the end of a rifle. Doe #2 is making it all up.
Umm, actually troops did
Umm, actually troops did pull the flash suppressors off of the M-60 machine guns in Vietnam to shorten them slightly making them better for close combat. I'm guessing there are machine guns out there that don't have an easily removed flash suppressor that can have a small portion of them sawed off. You obviously couldn't cut the barrel on a gas operated weapon before the gas return port.
OK, you're either
OK, you're either deliberately being disingenuous, or a complete idiot.
The M4 carbine is quickly becoming the standard issue weapon for much of the US Military. It is nothing more than an M16 with the barrel cut down, and a collapsing stock.
Covert operations used to rely on submachineguns for concealment and firepower. But now that body armor is so common and effective against calibers like the 9mm, many agencies are using weapons like the M4 for this role.
What do you know, brave men and woman in bearclaw uniforms
Wow, I suddenly have a lot more respect for blackwater, it turns out the had the kind of employees with the moral courage to testify against someone who knocks off witnesses!
I am sorry. I am sure working for blackwater cant be easy, and the smuggling sounds plausible, the religious stuff sounds bad but also like making more out of something that is skin deep in way to win sympathy. (I mean what mercenary cares about this stuff?) But the assassinations hearsay just sounds way too vague.
I cant imagine someone who actually knows facts about witnesses getting killed testifying. That either takes principles you don`t expect to see in a mercenary or idiocy too strong for even a cowboy mercenary sprouting rumors.
If you have a company
If you have a company murdering witnesses then the best thing to do is to go to the police before they attack you. And if they won't act, you file a civil suit pronto so that the suit is on record.
In this case the allegation is only being used to justify keeping the identity of the plaintif under seal. Which it is almost certainly going to be good enough for.
My hands are tied (behind my back)
Well put.
But let the mercenary with principles and the cowboy wrestle off to the side, off the mat.
Let us turn our attention towards some verdict from Eric Holder regarding whether or not, in light of the current contracts the federal government still honors with Blackwater, some timely suspension might be in order, given the gravity of the allegations. I mean, afterall, the use of suspension is used often by legal authorities to maintain safety and escape the infamy of not showing good sense common cause caution.
Or is the corporate camp able to stand off the Attorney General's Office, implying that corporations answer only to corporate law? Do the contracts that corporation lawyers create supersede anything Holder can draw from the laws of the land? Do the faux religious trappings protect them from the sword of the old-timey type American justice?
Eric the UnBold.
Has anybody seen Eric Holder? Does anyone know where he is?
I hope he stands at the grave of Bobby, hoping to draw inspiration and guidance of prededent, of just what is expected of him when he decides to put on the sacred armor given him and fight the good fight. Lord knows his silence regarding the escalating public disruptions at town hall meetings is turning into a painful peal. If America has ten sacred things in terms of heritage, town hall meetings are one of them. One already destroyed--our political heritage spelled out in debates--is dead; Dubya killed it when he the Decider decided to rewrite the presidential debates format before our very eyes.
Eric?
Eric?
ERIC!
Erik Prince and a Corporate/Christian/war profiteering nightmare
Wow, what a disturbing bit of news. What could be worse than the USA under the thumb of Neo-Conservatives, Republican Party, Corporate bottom lines, Christian Fundamentalism and Erik Prince (of darkness)
I SUGGEST the reader find one of these churches close to you that subscribes to the FICTIONAL “Left Behind” series of books. I’ve seen a LOT of things in my life but few are as disturbing as watching so-called Christians work themselves into a righteous frenzy, jumping for joy and HOPING for the APOCALYPSE to come right #*~/ NOW! They all watched the movie “Megito”, ON Ann Coulter’s book mailing list and listened for years to Pastor Haggee on the BROADCASTS… Brainwashed by a constant barage of fundamentalism and prophetic DOOMSDAY preaching. Y’know, the delusory RAPTURE culture that started in 19th Century England with John Nelson Darby. Back then good ole Darby named HIS bull$#!~ dispensationism.
During the MADNESS of the Bush/Cheney Administration (for research purposes) I attended these kind of Christian gathering all over the nation… And I’ve concluded all the Christians who put George W. Bush in the Whitehouse had ONE goal in mind: If we give enough wealth and power to the Republicans they’ll work hard to hurry along Armageddon… (LOL)
I HEARD RUMORS that the right-wing fanatics and Conservative wackos want to make an 11th Commandment… “Thou shalt not be critical of Reagan, Bush, Bush Jr.”
jinnbad.blogspot.com
New Amendment
Sorry, it's the current Administration that is going to create the amendment that says that shalt not be critical of MaObama, the annointed one.
Sorry back
uhhh actually it was the *previous* administration that illegally revealed the identity of a CIA operative, despite the harm that did to what was supposedly their pet project; the hunt for WMDs, because someone dared to criticize the Supreme Commander, and point out their lies.
What do you know, brave men and woman in bearclaw uniforms
Wow, I suddenly have a lot more respect for blackwater, it turns out the had the kind of employees with the moral courage to testify against someone who knocks off witnesses!
I am sorry. I am sure working for blackwater cant be easy, and the smuggling sounds plausible, the religious stuff sounds bad but also like making more out of something that is skin deep in way to win sympathy. (I mean what mercenary cares about this stuff?) But the assassinations hearsay just sounds way too vague.
I cant imagine someone who actually knows facts about witnesses getting killed testifying. That either takes principles you don`t expect to see in a mercenary or idiocy too strong for even a cowboy mercenary sprouting rumors.
The $64,000 question: Was
The $64,000 question:
Was Blackwater/Xe Cheney's Executive Assassination Ring? Did Cheney order assassinations of foreign nationals and Americans -- be they US Soldiers in Iraq or Civilians in the homeland -- and contract the killings out to Blackwater/Xe?
There's no way this could have been done in house with the government or the CIA. This might explain why the program Cheney authorized didn't seem to exist.
Connect Blackwater and
Connect Blackwater and Prince with the 'Family'/'Fellowship' and David Coe and you've got a lot of religious 'rot' through govt. and the military (re 'the military', there's also a push to get evangelicals in the military: funding to building mega-churches on bases, a evangelical cadre of military chaplins, and runing folks out of the academies if they're not of that outlook).
Why go to Afghanistan to firght religious zealots who 'hate our freedom'? We've got plenty of such home-grown and closer at hand.
One More
Just one more incident that shows GWB & DC eroded the morality and ethics that The USA holds near and dear ! It seems as if these people are direct operatives of the Bush / Cheney cabal.
I know that it would be more detrimental to the health of America but, I'd sure like to see those two psudo-christian charlatons behind bars !
Now we get to the good stuff...
..the part about the sex rings... which of course explains why Blackwater is not shutdown... because some congress folk are probably blackmailed into this
Why does Blackwater now have a Chinese sounding name?
Xe?
Not Chinese - German. "Xe"
Not Chinese - German.
"Xe" is pronounced the same as the last syllable in Nazi.
Tripp
Minor correction to Doe#2 - Presidential Airways
re #2's "...Mr. Prince's private planes, which operated under the name Presidential Airlines" - I believe it's Presidential _Airways_, or at least Google seems to think so.
-Easy Criminal Control
-Easy Criminal Control Procedure-
1. Washington backs Blackwater's smuggling of arms operation.
2. Public scrutiny and media coverage is minimal, topic becomes a gray issue & unnoticed, the operation carries on.
3. Iraqis, Al-Queda, Taliban, Terrorists will have a constant source of weapons
4. The continuation of the war on terror persist and will not end for men are replacable, weapons are unlimited & blind nationalism is a rampant mental disease.
5. The flow of money is consistent to WA & Military Industrial Complex, the manipulation of foreign & domestic power is natural.
6. Power corrupts
interdenominational political frothing
I think it is high time (no pun intended) that the Pope, current trends prevailing, be shouted down on his balconey:
HEY! First Mel truly unhinged Gibson
no comment
THEN Father O'foaming on the talk shows
no comment
NOW Prince the Catholic Avenger . . .
no comment
Explain please.
GW, DC & Blackwater
All you people can badmouth GW, DC & Blackwater all you want. But if it wasn't for patriots like them who believe in getting the job done no matter what it takes, you probably would be in line to have your heads sawed off with a ginsu knife by some raghead. You really need to stand back and let the men around here take care of the dirty business that you and others like your liberal ilk have no stomach for. And if it means stepping on some toes or breaking a few laws or even ruining a few lives, remember this: You are still free to write your little blogs on here thanks to people like them without fear of getting your head sawed off. So God bless GW, DC & Blackwater for doing what needed to be done. We are forever in your debt.
Jawohl, Herr Doctor X Hitler!
You are so busy quaking in your pajamas in fear of some imaginary, invisible boogy-man, that you'd gladly give up your freedoms and the bill of rights to cow-tow to whatever "strongman father figure" you imagine will protect you.
WAKE UP! WE ARE NOT FREE because "people like them" (that is, fascist corporate criminals) are being paid bags of money by a corrupt administration to create a private army which is designed to act outside the law (by definition, an enemy or potential enemy of the freedom of every citizen on earth)
NOR ARE WE FREE because "men take care of the dirty business" by "breaking a few laws and ruining a few lives" - that's ludicrous! By definition, allowing a private army to act in a lawless manner, ordered about by a secret agency (and not by congress), AND ASSASSINATING WITNESSES TO A GOVERNMENTAL INVESTIGATION destroys any notion of "freedom" in which the government is controlled and run by and for the populace. And by "ruining a few lives" - what of the "freedom" of those "few" whose lives are illegally "ruined" by these corporate gunslingers? Americans - witnesses - allegedly murdered by Prince to cover up crimes?
In fact you've got it backward - You are a moral coward, YOU are the enemy of freedom - its made you into an authoritarian-loving fascist boot-licker, willing to give up not only your own freedoms, but all of our freedoms. Its made you willing to throw away the bill of rights, abdicate your place as a citizen (who is, under the constitution, supposed to be the true sovereign in our society). Instead, you agree to bow down to a bunch of corporate brown-shirts and a law-breaking dictator/ president who still has you quivering in fear of an imaginary boogie-man. Don't flatter yourself. How was your head going to get "sawed off", as you sleep in some stupid little farm town in Iowa (or where ever you are from)? I guarantee that you, and every quivering U.S. citizen who imagines Al-Queda evil-doers are hiding under the bed, will never get your "head sawed off" by a terrorist. You are 500,000 times more likely to die of an American-made cigarette than that. Get real.
You are little more than a scared, hero-worshiping, starry-eyed, Bush/Cheney-adoring goose-stepper. Hey, I got an idea - Go snuggle up to your hero, Erik Prince, and maybe he'll let you watch as he has sex with your wife. I can hear her now: "Oh, yass... Erik, you rag-head killer stud you!" Just make sure you wear your military combat boots, a Blackwater hat and a US Rangers jock-strap, I hear Erik Prince and Karl Rove (or was it GWB? or maybe DC?) love kinky swapper-sex like that: "Jeff Gannon style!"
THIS "liberal" hereby
THIS "liberal" hereby challenges you to a duel. Jr. was too much of a CS to accept.
Why they are waiting to prosecute Eric Prince
Xe; self proclaimed "Knights of the Templar" Skull and Bones; self proclaimed"Knights of the Templar" Wolfe Blitzer(C.N.N.) Gave a one time one line report on the Situation Room news program; The Bush Administration changed national policy in order to allow them to "combat the anti-christ" Kidnapping,rape,multiple murders were used to try to drive their target or targets to commit suicide(to ensure they would "go strait to hell" as the bible requires. Paid
career criminals for the murders. Where is Russel Ferstandig and Paula Gough? The situation has been complicated by national security issues. i.e. the use of a classified technology to achieve their goals. (Mobius Project) Google DARPA/pg 11-Mind Kontroll Projects.
Eric Prince/Why haven't they charged him?
Xe;self proclaimed Knights of the Templar Skull and Bones;self proclaimed Knights of the Templar Wolfe Blitzer(CNN) reported a one line one time report. The Bush administration changed national policy in such a way to enable them to"combat the anti-christ". Situation complicated by the use of a classified technology vital to national security. Where are Russel Ferstandig and Paula Gough? Dr. Ferstandigs company Mobius Research(1980's) is a key component.
I'll take Blackwater/Xe over
I'll take Blackwater/Xe over it's opponents anyday! ... So the watch dog pi**es on the floor, and sometimes chews on a old pair of boots. He barks & bites when he's expected to. To sand with the neighbors who complain, they won't come running to help if there's trouble. but they'll "sue" if the dog barks too loud!
his group is corrupt. they
his group is corrupt. they drug you or kill you if you are a BAD person. they play God. Blackwater is Black Ops. i cannot figure out who is who?! His sex rings? Funny, now look at Tiger. Tiger's Gang was running a prostitution ring actually. But yet, Prince had his hooker spies, so did Tiger. Prince is a swinger, so is Tiger. Is this a cover up? Another battle with the Feds for Prince because they caught Tiger doing BAD things? Who is working for who?
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