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Recent New Coverage - updated 5/27/2009
Xe is the Problem
Keeping the corporation formerly known as Blackwater out of Skunk Hollow.
By Jenny Tomkins
At first glance, it appears that 2009 didn’t start so well for the military contractor Xe, until February known as Blackwater Worldwide. In January, with multiple other lawsuits pending, six of its former employees went on trial for the death of 17 Iraqi civilians in September 2007 in Nisoor Square, Baghdad. And in March, its contract in Iraq, where it has so far made more than $1 billion dollars, was canceled. Read more
Blackwater gets new Iraq contract from U.S. Deal is renewed for a year while FBI investigates fatal shootings. The U.S. State Department has agreed to renew Blackwater USA's license to protect diplomats in Baghdad for one year while the FBI investigates a 2007 incident in which the company's guards are accused of killing 17 Iraqis. Read more
Senator Clinton Cosponsors Legislation to Ban Use of Private Security Contractors: A day after Jeremy Scahill’s story went live on The Nation.com, Senator Clinton, whose staff refused for a week to answer his questions about her position released this statement. The timing is interesting considering her do or die Tuesday coming up on the 4th. Read More:
Obama’s Mercenary Position: A senior foreign policy advisor to Barack Obama has told The Nation that if elected Obama will not “rule out” using private security companies like Blackwater. Read More:
Blackwater Probe Enters New Phase: The Associated Press reported on the 22nd of February that the U.S. authorities investigating Blackwater Worldwide are returning to Baghdad to revisit the scene of the September shooting. Read More:
Making A Living With A Gun: This article from the Fiji Times documents how since the 1970s the impoverished country of Fiji has positioned itself as a “discount-soldier surplus store. “Private armies became a viable commercial enterprise the moment America invaded Iraq,” says a retired Fiji colonel and director of Security Support Limited, the biggest of the country’s six mercenary employment agencies. Read More:
Erik Prince To Release Book This Summer: Erik Prince, the founder and CEO of Blackwater Worldwide will defend his company in a new book due out this summer. Tentative title: We Are Blackwater. Read More:
Blackwater Central To Upcoming Talks with Iraqi Ambassador: The Iraqi ambassador to the US, Samir Sumaidaie said that the role and status of private security firms like Blackwater will be central to upcoming talks between Washington and Baghdad. Read More:
Afghan Begin Crackdown On Private Security Guards: The government says it is trying to control illegal weapons and improve the regulation of an industry that has grown from nothing in 2001 to at least 60 companies employing almost 30,000 people. Read More:
Blackwater Protestors Released Judge Russell Duke allowed the seven protestors to make a statement during the sentencing hearing. Read more:
Steve Baggarly: My Words To the Judge This a link to the words spoken to the judge by one of the seven arrested in North Carolina protest at Blackwater this past October. Read more:
U.S. Cannot Manage Contractors In Wars, Officials Testify To Congress Now that there are more private contractors in Afghanistan and Iraq than U.S. military personnel the government can’t begin to keep up to do oversight. Jack Bell, deputy undersecretary of defense for logistics reported that there are now over 196,000 contractor personnel working for the Defense Department in Iraq and Afghanistan. Read more:
Unisys Predicts Five Security Issues Likely To Emerge Across Multiple Industries in 2008 This is a business article that gives you a view of one way the security business grows its market. Read more:
Blackwater Sues Wiley Rein for $30 Million Blackwater security filed a $30 million malpractice suit against Wiley Rein on Wednesday, alleging that the firm made costly missteps in a wrongful death case brought on behalf of four former Blackwater employees who were killed in Iraq in 2004. Read more:
A Look Into the Role of Blackwater, Triple Canopy, and DynCorp in Plan Colombia This article takes an in depth role into private military, security firms and Plan Colombia. Read more
Blackwater Employees Honored By the American Red Cross for their Blood Drives What can I say about this one. Just that life presents ironies that no one could even dream of. Read more:
Military Contractors Are Hard to Fire ITT Federal Services International, a defense contractor hired to maintain battle gear for U.S. troops in Iraq, repeatedly failed to do the job right while collecting $638 million since October of 2004. Read more:
U.S. To Insist Iraq’s Government Guarantee Civilian Contractors Specific Legal Protections 1/24/08 - The New York Times reports that the international mandate for the U.S. is about to expire in 11 months, but the Bush administration will insist that the government in Baghdad give the U.S. broad authority to conduct combat operations and guarantee civilian contractors protection from Iraqi law. Read more
Activists to Appear In Court to Appeal Conviction 1/24/08: The seven activists arrested in North Carolina during a protest at Blackwater headquarters are back in court to appeal their convictions. The protestors say they were denied their constitutional right to a public trial. Read more
ACLU of North Carolina Asks North Carolina Judicial Standards Commission To Investigate Protestors’ Trial 1/7/08: The North Carolina ACLU has asked for the investigation because the District Judge held a significant portion of the trial behind closed door. The judge cleared the courtroom of the public and AP reporters. ACLU NC legal director said if this is true than the protestors’ right to a public trial guaranteed by the 1st and 6th amendments to the Constitution was violated. Read more
To read the ACLU-NC’s letter to the North Carolina Judicial Standards Commission: Click here
Former Blackwater Employees Sentenced 1/10/08: Two former Blackwater employees were sentenced to probation on gunrunning charges. They were granted leniency because they have been helping federal investigators for more than a year. Read more
French President Negotiates With Saudi Arabia On Behalf of French Security Contractors 1/14/08: Sarkozy talked with Saudi leaders about defense contracts for French companies worth 10 billion euros to monitor Saudi Arabia’s borders. Read more
Obama Investigates Blackwater Using Tear Gas on U.S. Troops 1/15/08: Senator Obama sent a letter to Defense Secretary Gates calling on him to respond to the NY Times report that Blackwater guards had used CS gas on civilians and U.S. troops at a checkpoint in 2005. Click onto read more for a copy of the letter as well. Read more
Justice Department Running into Legal Obstacles with Blackwater Case 1/16/08: Justice Departments says it is running into “serious legal difficulties” in pursuing criminal prosecutions of Blackwater security guards involved in the Sept. shooting of Iraqi citizens. No surprise here however it is further verification of what we had thought all along. Read more
Human Rights First Finds Will to Prosecute Contractors Lacking 1/17/08: The executive director of Human Rights First said, “The biggest obstacle is not law, but political will.” Isn’t that the truth! Read more: http://www.newsobserver.com/917/v-print/story/886015.html
NY Times Names One of the Blackwater Shooters 1/18/08: Paul Slough, 28, of Dickens Texas has been identified as the “turret gunner No. 3” of the Sept. shooting of Iraqi citizens. Less than a month after the shooting friends saw him at a tailgate party outside a Texas Tech football game in Lubbock. Read more
AP Exclusive: Repairs to Blackwater Convoy Vehicles Could Complicate Baghdad Inquiry. January 13th : " Blackwater Worldwide repaired and repainted its trucks immediately after a deadly September shooting in Baghdad, making it difficult to determine whether enemy gunfire provoked the attack..." The article also says that Anne Tyrell said "any repairs would have been done at the government's direction." The state department would not comment on whether it ordered the repairs to the vehicles involved in the shooting. Read More
NY Times: 2005 Use of Gas by Blackwater Leaves Questions: January 10th, 2008: US.S. soldiers report that on a May day in 2005 at a Baghdad checkpoint into the Green Zone, a Blackwater helicopter threw a canister of CS gas down onto the checkpoint. The CS gas dropped is a riot-control substance the American military in Iraq can use only under the strictest conditions and with approval of top military commanders. 25 American soldiers were affected as well as many Iraqi citizens. The only provocation was the convoy Blackwater was guarding was being held up in the crowded traffic at the check point. Read More:
Christian Science Monitor: Private Security Contractors Look To Africa For Recruits: January 8,2008: Namibia kicked out two top officials of an international American security group that had plans to recruit thousands of former Namibian soldiers to work in Iraq and Afghanistan. The company, Special Operations Consulting-Security Management Group (SOC-SMG) has the US Army and Marine Corps among its clients. Read More
National Journal: Private Military Industry Continues To Grow: January 9, 2008: This article in addition to describing how PMSCs cause threats to sovereignty it also gives a good overview of the history and rise of private armies. One section is entitled "Private Armies, Private Wars" It ends with this thought provoking quote by Deborah Avant, political science professor and director of international studies at the US of California at Irvine, " The big risk is not what the companies are going to do in and of themselves. The big risks are what the consumers are going to ask them to do." Avant is the author of The Market For Force. She has been invited to the conference in Madison at the end of this month. Read More:
Human Rights Watch: Iraq: Pass New Law Ending Immunity For Contractors: January 9,2008. This is a press release calling on Iraq's parliament to approve legislation to end immunity for foreign private security contractors. Human Rights Watch also urged the US government to prosecute American security contractors in US courts. Read More:
Institute For War & Peace: Private Security Firms Flooding Afghanistan: January 8, 2008: There are currently 60 private security companies in Afghanistan, employing between 18,000 and 25,000 men. But according to the Afghan government "many of these firms, often unlicensed and unregulated, are guility of some of the very crimes their clients hired them to protect them from, including armed robbery, kidnapping and murder." The ministry has shut down 10 private security firms and has conducted raids on several more in recent days. Read More:
Past Coverage
Chicago Tribune Exclusive - July 31, 2007
Blackwater -University of Illinois Tie
Tom Dempsey is under scrutiny for a link to military trainers
By E.A. Torriero and Jodi S. Cohen
The Virginian-Pilot - July 25, 2007
Blackwater Supports Inquiry Into Fatal Shooting
Bill Sizemore
Chicago Tribune - July 23, 2007
Anti-War Activists, Locals Are Wary About Military Contractor's New Training Site
E.A. Torriero,Tribune staff reporter
Jeremy Scahill
Presentation to residents of Elizabeth, Illinois in Jo Daviess County
You Tube
The Virginian-Pilot - May 20, 2007
Suit against Blackwater over contractor deaths moves to arbitration
Interviews with Jeremy Scahill
YouTube
At Center Network
ABC7Chicago - Wednsesday, May 2, 2007
Blackwater Rising
The world's most controversial security service is now open for business in Illinois. But is Blackwater, Inc. looking to make Illinois an outpost for what has been called the world's largest private army?
Freeport Journal Standard April 25, 2007
Residents organize to oppose Blackwater
Jeremy Scahill's Democracy Now Interview with Amy Goodman - Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army
