Blackwater Founder Implicated in Murder
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By Jeremy Scahill
The Nation
Sunday, Aug 9, 2009
Founder and CEO of Blackwater Worldwide Erik Prince stands in the company's offices in North Carolina. (Photo: AP)
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.
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