Blackwater Accused of Murder in 'Crusade to Eliminate Muslims'

[SWJED]

Blackwater Accused of Murder in 'Crusade to Eliminate Muslims' - Tim Reid, The Times

A series of allegations including murder, weapons smuggling and the deliberate slaughter of civilians have been levelled against the founder of Blackwater, the security company being investigated for shooting deaths in Iraq.

The accusations, including a claim that the company founder Erik Prince either murdered or had killed former employees co-operating with federal investigators, are contained in sworn affidavits lodged at a Virginia court on Monday night.

The company was the most prominent of an army of private security companies employed by the Pentagon and State Department to protect military convoys and guard US diplomats in Iraq.

The accusations against Mr Prince are being made by two former employees, including a former Marine, who have sworn them anonymously as John Doe No 1 and John Doe No 2, because they said they feared for their lives if their identities were revealed...

[IntelTrooper]

My gut reaction is, "Didn't Mommy and Daddy show you enough attention when you were a child?"

Having people murdered? Come on...

[jmm99]

Go slow and wait. The DoJ's "neither confirm nor deny" should be taken literally. An indictment would be another story - and a big one.

[Courtney Massengale]

Will religion become the new sexual harassment?

Sure looks like things are heading that way.

[jenniferro10]

Reaction 1: Um...yeah? Surprised? Maybe you should be paying more attention. Then, calming myself a little, and trying to be more objective...
Reaction 2: Well, it seems like the murder of whistleblowers would have come out before now...could they really be that evil? Then,
back to reaction 1.

[goesh]

- another book in the making either way -

[Uboat509]

So, according to this article Blackwater has committed virtually every possible heinous crime known to include, apparently child prostitution (no regicide yet but give it time). Additionally, apparently Prince has been running the organization like a weird "crusader" mafia like army, wherein informants and random Muslims are routinely murdered. All of this has been going on essentially under the DOS's nose for years but we just now found out about it. Riiiiight.

This thing reads like movie written by Michael Moore and directed by Oliver Stone. They tried so hard to pack so much evil in there that it is almost laughable. I don't doubt that there has been wrong doing by Blackwater in Iraq and elsewhere, but I am not prepared to give Blackwater or Erik Prince enough credit for competence to have engaged in this kind of high level conspiracy. Most of the guys I know who have worked for the various PMCs tell me the same thing. Competent operators avoid Blackwater like the plague. Prince got greedy and took on more contracts than he had competent operators to fill. In order to meet his obligations he started hiring almost anyone. The competent guys don't want to deploy with these guys so they start to find other employment so Blackwater has to hire more of the lower quality operators and so on. I would be inclined to believe that whatever wrongdoing has been committed by Blackwater members has more to do with the policy of hiring guys who probably shouldn't be allowed access to sharp objects much less guns than it has to do with a "crusader" conspiracy.

SFC W

[SWJED]

Originally Posted by goesh

- another book in the making either way -

You’re kidding - more like a "reality show" on an island or a remote track of NC countryside - this time the word survivor will take a whole new meaning.

[bourbon]

Explosive Allegations: Blackwater Founder Implicated in Murder, by Jeremy Scahill, The Nation. Posted August 4, 2009.

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.

Gotta get me one of them.

[William F. Owen]

Originally Posted by Uboat509

I don't doubt that there has been wrong doing by Blackwater in Iraq and elsewhere, but I am not prepared to give Blackwater or Erik Prince enough credit for competence to have engaged in this kind of high level conspiracy. Most of the guys I know who have worked for the various PMCs tell me the same thing. Competent operators avoid Blackwater like the plague. Prince got greedy and took on more contracts than he had competent operators to fill. In order to meet his obligations he started hiring almost anyone.

Concur. 2 years hanging out in certain bars Bangkok, I met more than a few PMCs contractors, and "Blackwater" were bottom of the Sh*t list, as concerns competence. Horror stories abound, but how many were true, I don't know.

[bourbon]

Courtesy of Cryptome, in PDF:

August 3rd, 2009 - Plaintiffs’ Opposition to Motion to Dismiss

July 29th, 2009 - Declaration of John Doe No. 2

July 27th, 2009 - Declaration of John Doe No. 1

[jmm99]

especially your last links to the original court pleadings. IIRC, Blackwater's responsive reply is due 17 Aug.

Let's all keep in mind that this case is a private civil case, where the standard of "rigour" (we might say) can be much lower than that in a Federal criminal prosecution. While one side of this case has Blackwater personnel emerging out from under their rocks, that cuts both ways. That is, the affidavits are from Blackwater personnel - are they also emerging out from under their rocks ?

The flavor of this case comes to the fore in the first paragraph of the Plaintiff's Opposition:

Plaintiffs respectfully request that this Court deny Defendants’ Motions To Dismiss and permit Plaintiffs’ claims to proceed to discovery and trial. Defendants mislead the Court by portraying Plaintiffs as challenging the State Department’s policies. As explained below, nothing could be further from the truth. Plaintiffs are challenging Mr. Prince’s callous scheme to kill, repeatedly, innocent Iraqis. This scheme was implemented without the knowledge or consent of the State Department. This scheme was motivated by Mr. Prince’s greed and his racist Christian supremacist views. Mr. Prince and his Blackwater companies deceived the State Department, and destroyed evidence that might have led to the detection of the scheme. Mr. Prince’s actions, and those of his alter ego companies, should not evade judicial review. No statutory or decisional law supports Mr. Prince’s claim that he is immune from the rule of law.

It is one thing to allege it; it is quite another thing to prove it.

Just something to keep in mind.

PS: See pp.92-124 of the Opposition for a good example of how to prove foreign law (in this case, Iraqi law). In the usual case involving domestic laws (Federal or state), the judge simply takes judicial notice of the applicable laws. Where foreign law is concerned, it technically has to be proved by a foreign law expert (sometimes the parties simply agree to handle it like domestic laws). So, Blackwater could come back with its own Iraqi law experts; and so on. The court could, if it wished, appoint its own Iraqi law experts. Just a point of in-courtroom legal trivia, for true devotees.

[IntelTrooper]

Most of the accusations seem pretty vague and unprovable. I'm interested in hearing more from former CFO Roy Mettinger, though.

[Dayuhan]

Blackwater IS the Templars. The Vatican is secretly in charge; they formed Blackwater and sent them to Iraq to get rid of Muslims and recover a mysterious relic with infinite power. The CIA is involved,and oil companies, and aliens, and Elvis. Blind affidavit #1 was filed by a gorgeous chick, and when the Templars come to silence her she will be rescued by the guy who filed blind affidavit #2, a manly man with perfect hair and lots of liposuction, who has a gun that shoots 437 rounds without reloading and knows kung-fu and ninjutsu. In 120 minutes they will save the day, recover the relic, kill the sinister corporate stooge at the core of the conspiracy, discover cold fusion, save the whales and the ozone layer, and we will all live happily ever after.

If you don't believe me, wait for the trailer... coming soon to a cinema near you!

[William F. Owen]

Originally Posted by Dayuhan

B#2, a manly man with perfect hair and lots of liposuction, who has a gun that shoots 437 rounds without reloading and knows kung-fu and ninjutsu.

Oh thank G*d! I was beginning to think I was the only guy like that!

[marct]

Originally Posted by Dayuhan

If you don't believe me, wait for the trailer... coming soon to a cinema near you!

Shush! It's a SECRET!!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwXdHej3B-o

[Greyhawk]

...but can't help but notice the repeated efforts in the linked piece to depict State as another victim of Dr Evil's diabolical scheme.

[jmm99]

Bourbon reported the pleadings in this case in opposition to the defense motion for summary judgment.

That motion was denied as reported by this article in the Nation:

Judge Refuses to Dismiss War Crimes Case Against Blackwater
By Jeremy Scahill
October 22, 2009

On Wednesday, a federal judge rejected a series of arguments by lawyers for the mercenary firm formerly known as Blackwater seeking to dismiss five high-stakes war crimes cases brought by Iraqi victims against both the company and its owner, Erik Prince. At the same time, Judge T.S. Ellis III sent the Iraqis' lawyers back to the legal drawing board to amend and refile their cases, saying that the Iraqi plaintiffs need to provide more specific details on the alleged crimes before a final decision can be made on whether or not the lawsuits will proceed. .... (more in article).

The opinion by Judge T.S. Ellis III is here (56 pp.).

It is well to keep in mind that the standards required to decide this type of motion are that all allegations made by the plaintiff are held to be true (even if the defendant makes contrary allegations), and the judge does not decide questions of fact between the contrary positions. In short, this kind of motion is suited for a case where the facts are conceded by both parties; and one of the parties is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.

Nonetheless, viewing the present allegations most favorably to the plaintiffs, the judge found that the plaintiffs had not stated valid Federal law claims; but allowed them to re-plead those claims to the extent it would not be futile.

As to the non-Federal law claims (based on Iraqi law), the judge stayed his hand until the plaintiffs re-pleaded their claims.

So, in effect, this is a decision non-decision.