The Nation — 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.”
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. 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.” 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.”
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.”
Disgruntled employees or an accurate account? RTFA.
I’m soooo surprised!….. Why the hell do you think this company was chosen in the first place. I mean they’re mercenaries, not rocket scientists. Who do you want protecting your ass underfire, some gun-ho, baby killing biggot, or some touchy feely diplomat that’s gonna let the enemy get close enough to IED you to FUBAR.
From private police forces to private armies. What could go wrong?
Mind boggling the amount of money “spent” on Black Water type operations.
Worse than fraud. REALLY CORRUPT and wrong headed.
As right wing as our country is tilting, I’m still surprised this fascist move by the Bush Admin didn’t bring out more public rebuke.===as stated, our whole country is tilting to the right.
figures the christian fascists would support the program.
That’s what happens when you outsource war. It’s done their way, not your way.
Lovely. The head in the sand-ers will never hear this, they are fully brainwashed by now that things like this never happen.
so?
Aw c’mon Bobo ain’t no such thing as a right headed war, and the politicians didn’t pick this one. The US is a vengeful society, the death penalty is a good example of this, so after 911 somebody had to pay. Seriously, doesn’t it strike you as odd that since the end of WWII the US always seems to have an enemy prepared. Never seeking peace, always prepared to interfere and agitate, abroad. The military industrial complex runs US foreign policy, politicians are just clowns.
Great! Another Christian bashing article with little or no facts to back it up. Here is a couple more for you. Southern Baptist church found eating babies. Methodist secretly organize to overthrow the Presidency. Run with it!
#7–amodedoma==Aw c’mon Bobo ain’t no such thing as a right headed war,/// of course there is. WW2 being renowned as such. Kosovo/Serbia==wasn’t that a good war? Gulf War One was a good one as well?
and the politicians didn’t pick this one. /// Huh? The Bush War of Choice was not picked by a politician? You are recharacterizing BushCo as a war profiteer of the Most Brazen sort rather than a mere Repuglican? OK, but I think most will disagree.
And so forth. But I sense we mostly agree once I ignore your inability to express yourself cogently. Makes me feel warm all over.
When the USA spends more on its military than all the other countries combined and Repubs complain its not enough to protect us, yes, something is unbalanced. Could clowns destroy a country so completely? I don’t think so. And thats how the Repuglicans get away with their theft. Red Herrings. Class Warfare. Religious Dissention. Any distraction from their theft of money is acceptable to them.
#9 Bobo – WWII perhaps was a reasonably justified war. Kosovo was nice but I’d hardly call it a war, plenty of genocide in africa goes ignored, but at least we helped stop it in Europe. Gulf war one was damage control, Saddam would never have become so powerful without US help. The clowns serve their masters, and while the impact of the issues they deal with is very real, the fallacy is in the belief that they have a choice.
#10–amadoddo==heh, heh. If you are going to play word games to avoid your incorrect statement: Kosovo and Gulf War were not “wars” then how can you maintain there are no more “good” wars?
War, conflict, interference, police action===liars begin with a quibble but move on. Idiots are stuck with a quibble.
Now, I almost mentioned our FAILURE to intervene/start AND FINISH a war in the Sudan as that Candadian General in Charge begged to do, but that was irrelevant to the subject you raised. Real knee slapper to see you bring it in support of your silly position, quite consistent.
Why the incessant need for absolutist positions? Is it your fascist god demanding black or white?
War is generally bad. It is the last choice. Diplomacy is preferred.
Rephrased: War is not always bad. War is the last resort. Sometimes diplomacy will not work.
See how not to think in absolute terms?
Try it: God can’t always be right and not be a tyrant. Just remember, god gave you free will for a reason. It doesn’t matter who is right, but rather whether you are free or not.
Not sure I trust the source, but its not particularly surprising either.
#12 – Somebody_Else
How about this source [PDF]?
Erik Prince being a crusader shouldn’t come as a surprise. He got away with it for way too long (much thanks to the Christian right voting in Bush Jr twice).
Poorly written. They say the accuser claimed Prince may have murdered…
That’s a pretty weak claim to make. The ‘may’ should be dropped.
Hey Periwinkle you dumb arse,
Christians don’t need to be bashed you moron, all you need to do is look at history. And I know of what I speak, having been raised as a Christian and studied Theology, Christians have killed way more people and caused an infinite amount more heartache and destruction than any other group in history. The fact that these freaks happen to be Christian is not surprising, killing in the name of Christ is modus operandi for this whole war.
You say Kosovo was to stop a genocide, but they couldn’t even convict Milosevic for it. He ended up committing suicide after the trial went on way longer than expected. Based on information that I’ve seen, and what people involved have told me, this was done by Erik Prince, or he had it done.
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090817/scahill
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.”
Didn’t we basically create the Taliban, formerly known as the islamic mujahideen resistance when Russia was at war with Afghanistan.
So that didn’t go well, why not create another army to come back around full circle to bite us in the ass someday. Hopefully Blackwater doesn’t decide someday that they need to take over America.
Love the graphic and caption by the way!
Sounds like a sound plan to me. If you gotta go with a religion anything is better than Islam.
I wonder what Eisenhower would say about the privatization of US Wars.
Erik Prince like so many in the Radical Religious Righties think life is cheap then find out lawyers… very expensive
…former US Marine… odd term if you have known many honorably discharged Marines there is nothing (former) about there since of duty and honor to the US and if they swear to tell the truth that’s what you will get.
Mr. Prince is going down looks like the loyal Bushies will leave a man behind.
#11 Bobbo (no really it was a fruedian typo) Personally, I still don’t see any ‘good’ wars – however I do concede there are things worth fighting to defend (NOT flags, god, lifestyle, standard of living, or anything like that). I understand that wars exsist and what the justifications are, it just seems foolish, ignorant and at times even criminal. I guess that makes me absolutist. In any case – take my advice – when war comes your way, run. Better to be a refugee, than to have to kill or worse, die.
Also it seems to me evolution has a plan and it’s not just survival of the most violent. Perhaps war is a function of evolution, there to cull the herd, to remove violence gradually from the genepool.
Nothing is going to come of this. It will all be blown over and end up like nothing happened.
The Obama Administration has already shown more than a hesitancy to delve into Bush’s illegalities and has even defended some.
#22
It’s already in the Courts they can take a back seat on this.
lets bet if Fox can cover this story in a fair and balanced way
# 5 Li,
Head in sand? Are you trying to make me believe our forever Holy Roman Emperor George W Bush could do wrong by citing some facts? Anyone can site facts.
The man is perfect. He can do no wrong. As MC Rove can rap so is the GW just a wonderful and perfect man.
#21–amodedoma==you are a nice guy. I’m not trying to bait you, but when I reread my own post(s) to you I think: “The devil made me say that!” (smile!).
So, now that we have straightened out and started using the dictionary definition of WAR, we can move on to the dictionary definition of GOOD.
Good: done for the right or honorable reasons. As in, defending one’s homeland, protecting innocent third parties.
That doesn’t mean EVERYTHING about war is good. Just more of that absolutist mind set in operation.
“There never was a good war or a bad peace.”
Ben Franklin.
9 bobbo
Gulf war one was the classic bait and switch against a foreign nation by the US. It is common knowledge that Iraq sought clarity from the US that they would not protest an invasion of Kuwait. Iraq was told the US.had np interest in their regional dispute. Bait and switch. But, if you believe the unnecessary slaughter of innocents and then the systematic depravation of an entire country for twelve years is a “good” war, well I guess it was.
I’m no fan of Blackwater or any other mercenary group, but this quote alone gives me serious doubt about the accusations:
sawed off semi-automatic machine guns with silencers
“Sawed off”?
And how can you have a “machine gun” that is “semi-automatic”>
And how would one attach a “silencer” (not the proper military term) to a “sawed-off” barrel?
#23, Crusader,
It’s already in the Courts they can take a back seat on this.
It is a civil trial. These statements are in defense of a Motion to Dismiss. Because the case refers to Blackwater’s killing of Iraqi civilians, the court might give deference to the statements, but I fully expect the case will end up under pressure from the Obama Administration to be disposed of.
This is one of those times when I truly hope I am very wrong, but I don’t have any faith that the Holder DoJ will be on the side of Justice.
#8, #12
The Nation is nothing more than a mouthpiece for left-wing radicals like Bill Ayers and David Corn. Somehow it’s not surprising that an editor here would reference it.
Blackwater’s mercenaries have a like-minded leader I suppose but it’s clearly a hit piece on religion instead of a hit piece on this man’s hypocracy.