View Full Version : Blackwater...Xe...Triple Canopy?
And so it goes...;)
Richard's $.02 :munchin
Ex-Blackwater Workers May Return to Iraq Jobs
Rod Nordland, NYT, 3 Apr 2009
Late last month Blackwater Worldwide lost its billion-dollar contract to protect American diplomats here, but by next month many if not most of its private security guards will be back on the job in Iraq.
The same individuals will just be wearing new uniforms, working for Triple Canopy, the firm that won the State Department’s contract after Iraqi officials refused to renew Blackwater’s operating license, according to American diplomats, private security industry officials and Iraqi officials. Blackwater — viewed in Iraq as a symbol of American violence and impunity — lost the contract after being accused of excessive force in several instances, particularly an apparently unprovoked shooting in downtown Baghdad in 2007 in which 17 civilians were killed.
Despite the torrent of public criticism against Blackwater, American officials say they are relieved that the old guards will stay on. Otherwise, Triple Canopy, they say, would not be able to field enough qualified guards, with the proper security clearances, before the new contract goes into effect in May.
“There is just no other way to do it,” said one Western diplomat, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he is not permitted to discuss the issue publicly.
Critics of Blackwater said they worried that the same people might perpetuate what they believed was a corporate culture that disregarded Iraqis’ lives.
“They’re really all still there, and it’s back to business as usual,” said Susan Burke, an American lawyer who has filed three civil rights lawsuits against Blackwater on behalf of Iraqi civilians alleged to be victims of it.
An unresolved question is whether Blackwater, recently renamed Xe (pronounced zee), or any affiliated company will profit from the deal. Speculation inside the industry and the Iraqi government has focused on whether Triple Canopy might hire as a subcontractor a company called the Falcon Group, identified in a lawsuit brought by Ms. Burke as a Blackwater affiliate.
A Blackwater spokeswoman, Anne Tyrell, said that Blackwater had no relationship with Falcon Group, whose Web site describes it as an Iraqi-owned company with interests in security and reconstruction. “The people who provide security services abroad are independent contractors,” Ms. Tyrell said. “When their 60- to 90-day contracts with us expire, they can seek employment with whomever they choose.”
A Triple Canopy spokesman, Jayanti Menches, declined to respond to the subcontractor issue. “We will staff this contract with qualified, vetted and trained personnel,” Ms. Menches said.
The Western diplomat said that even if most of the bodyguards remained Blackwater veterans, there would be dramatic changes in their rules of engagement. One former Marine Corps colonel who worked closely with Blackwater summed up the previous rules: “No compassion for the locals who had to use the roads with the Blackwater vehicles or convoys, shoot if in doubt and keep driving, etc.”
The new rules of engagement, the diplomat said, would require staff members to behave less aggressively. They had already started to take effect, he added, with Blackwater escorts ordered to negotiate traffic courteously.
After Iraq refused to renew Blackwater’s contract, the State Department awarded it to Triple Canopy, one of two other firms, including DynCorp, already doing some State Department security contracting in Iraq. The five-year State Department contract, awarded March 31, is worth $977 million and goes into effect May 7. That amount represents a large proportion of Blackwater’s previous worldwide business.
American officials said replacing Blackwater from scratch in just over a month would be difficult. The firm maintains a force of 600 armed men based in Baghdad’s Green Zone to protect embassy and other United States government civilian employees. Their work requires security clearances when they accompany diplomats on sensitive missions, involving lengthy background checks. It is particularly difficult for non-Americans to get such clearances.
Blackwater also maintains a quick reaction force, and has a civilian air wing with helicopters, surveillance drones and other aircraft. The contract for their air operations remains in force, expiring in September.
Although Triple Canopy is an American company, most of its Iraq-based employees are former members of the military from countries with low wage scales, like Peru and El Salvador, with a much lower level of training or expertise than Western employees, and little likelihood of getting security clearances.
Many American diplomats have defended Blackwater. At least six American State Department employees have been killed since the occupation of Iraq, and Ms. Tyrell said that 27 Blackwater personnel members were killed defending their charges. “A certain number of our people are here today because Blackwater guards have been killed protecting them,” said an official familiar with security arrangements for American diplomats, who did not want to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the news media.
The Iraqis now seem prepared to accept the prospect that many or even most of the former Blackwater employees will remain on the job as Triple Canopy employees. “It doesn’t matter who they are, what their names are, or what uniform they wear,” said Brig. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf, spokesman for the Iraqi Interior Ministry, “as long as they are subject to Iraqi law and their company follows Iraqi laws.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/04/world/middleeast/04blackwater.html?_r=1&ref=global-home
its the new way........
...dont punish the individual.
Punish the evil corporate devils that make to much money.
greenberetTFS
04-04-2009, 12:29
its the new way........
...dont punish the individual.
Punish the evil corporate devils that make to much money.
Right on,BLb . It's really incredible how this s**t works in the Capital isn't it? :rolleyes:
GB TFS :munchin
I just ran across this:
Blackwater Founder Implicated in Murder
By Jeremy Scahill
August 4, 2009
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.
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 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.
This is from Triple Canopy's website in the about section...
"We were founded in Chicago in 2003 by U.S. Army Special Forces veterans."
http://www.triplecanopy.com/triplecanopy/en/about/
stu
Scahill is a douche bag w/ an agenda. I don't have time to pick apart all these accusations, there are just too many holes, inconsistancies, hearsay, and rehashment of old allegations.
x/S
Team Sergeant
08-05-2009, 10:21
Scahill is a douche bag w/ an agenda. I don't have time to pick apart all these accusations, there are just too many holes, inconsistancies, hearsay, and rehashment of old allegations.
x/S
I agree, this Scahill individual is nothing more than an idiot with a keyboard. The above article is full of holes. I'm sure the morons that are accusing Erik Prince would say just about anything for leaner jail sentences. Blackwater has a long history of hiring idiots and now they are biting back.
HowardCohodas
08-08-2009, 20:19
I'm saddened. :(
greenberetTFS
08-09-2009, 02:08
I can't understand WTF is going on to give this entire company, knowing what's going on another contract.........:rolleyes: Almost a billion $$$ dollars,I wonder who these people are that will be receiving the kickbacks from getting this contract awarded to Triple Canopy........:confused: This is a real cluster f**k deal........ :mad:
Big Teddy :munchin
Scahill is a douche bag w/ an agenda. I don't have time to pick apart all these accusations, there are just too many holes, inconsistancies, hearsay, and rehashment of old allegations.
x/SScahill ranks right up there with that Michael Ware character from CNN. "Two hyperbole-drama news pushing MFers!" SOBs NEVER mention positive stuff we do.:mad:
Stay safe.
Source is here (http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/PrinterFriendly.cfm?story_id=14291547).
Photo of Mr. Prince is here (http://www.economist.com/images/na/2009w34/ErikPrince.jpg).
The CIA / Blackwater relationship is detailed and discussed elsewhere on this BB <<LINK (http://professionalsoldiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24047)>>.
Private security contractors
Blackwater's dark heart
Aug 21st 2009 | WASHINGTON, DC
From Economist.com
New revelations about an American private-security contractor
THE “war on terror” has left many blots on America’s reputation—weapons of mass destruction, Abu Ghraib prison, Guantánamo Bay—and one stain continues to darken with time. This week the New York Times reported that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had once hired Blackwater, a private-security contractor, in connection with a plots to assassinate al-Qaeda operatives. It was the latest in a string of controversial news. This month Erik Prince, Blackwater’s founder and chairman, was accused of facilitating or committing murder. Blackwater released a statement calling the allegations “unsubstantiated and offensive”.
Blackwater is not the only security contractor in the Middle East. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that America spent between $6 billion and $10 billion on the services of these firms from 2003 to 2007. But Blackwater is the most prominent. In 2004 insurgents in Fallujah killed four of its employees, burned their bodies and hung two from a bridge over the Euphrates. The sight of charred American bodies caused uproar at home. Marines stormed Fallujah days later. By 2007 Blackwater was accused of being a perpetrator. The company’s employees opened fire on a busy square in Baghdad, killing 17 Iraqis, claiming they were ambushed. The incident strained America’s relations with Iraq. Blackwater exemplified an American effort gone terribly wrong.
The latest revelation is that the CIA hired Blackwater in 2004 for a multimillion-dollar plan to locate and kill members of al-Qaeda. In June a horrified Leon Panetta, the new director of the CIA, called an emergency meeting to brief Congress on the programme, which had been kept secret. According to the New York Times, Blackwater helped with training, planning and surveillance. It is unclear whether the CIA intended to use Blackwater to carry out the assassinations—no suspected terrorists were killed under the auspices of the programme. But the scheme adds to doubts over the role of private-security firms in the war and efforts to hold contractors accountable.
A case in court in Washington, DC, may eventually shed some light on the way the company works. In December 2008 federal prosecutors charged five Blackwater employees with manslaughter for the Baghdad shootings in 2007. A sixth employee has already pleaded guilty.
In the meantime, Blackwater faces some of the most serious allegations yet. A group of Iraqis, aided by the Centre for Constitutional Rights, a New York-based human-rights pressure group, is suing Blackwater for war crimes, wrongful death and more. In sworn statements submitted for the case on August 3rd, two former employees allege that Mr Prince may have helped to murder at least one person who had divulged, or was about to divulge, damning information to the government. He denies the claims. The affidavits also claim that Mr Prince smuggled weapons into Iraq and that he “views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe”.
With these cases plodding through America’s courts, security contractors continue to work abroad. Blackwater no longer has an operating licence in Iraq—local officials refused to renew it—and the firm has lost a big contract to defend diplomats. But many former employees of Blackwater are now working for the new holder of that contract, Triple Canopy. And Blackwater has rebranded itself as Xe Services.
As the number of contractors in Afghanistan grows, the mistakes of Iraq may be repeated. Training for Afghanistan’s security contractors is weak and efforts to monitor them are disjointed, according to a report released in June by the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan, a bipartisan group set up by Congress. Four Xe employees are under investigation for the death of an Afghan man in May. Critics may be gladdened to learn that there is at least some semblance of oversight. The main body charged with supervising contractors in Afghanistan is also a contractor.
I'd not mind it one bit if Blackwater and other private security firms were audited.