Blackwater Hearing Part 12: Erik Prince Testimony (2007)

October 2, 2007 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/156858394X?ie=UTF8&tag=doc06-20&link... Watch the full program: http://thefilmarchived.blogspot.com/2010/09/blackwater-congressional-testimon...

There are a variety of ongoing controversies involving Blackwater Worldwide that are not in direct relation to their specific and individual operations for the U.S. government. However, their role in their work is the factor of these controversies. It has alternatively been referred to as a security contractor or a mercenary organization by numerous reports by the U.S. and international media. Critics consider Xe's self-description as a private military company to be a euphemism for mercenary activities. Jeremy Scahill points out that Chilean nationals, mostly former soldiers, whose country of origin does not participate in hostilities in Iraq, work for Xe in that country; thus, those Chileans meet the definition of "mercenary." At least 60 Chilean Blackwater employees were trained during dictator Augusto Pinochet's regime. Author Chris Hedges wrote about the establishment of mercenary armies, referring to Blackwater as an example of such a force, asserting its existence as a threat to democracy and a step towards the creation of a modern day Praetorian Guard in a June 3, 2007, article in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

On November 27, 2004 an aircraft operated by Presidential Airways and owned by its sister company, Blackwater AWS, crashed in Afghanistan; it had been a contract flight for the United States Air Force en route from Bagram to Farah. All aboard, three soldiers and three civilian crew members, were killed. Several of their survivors filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Presidential in October 2005.

In August 2009, Blackwater and Blackwater founder Erik Prince was accused of murder and of "failing to stop the use of prostitutes, including child prostitutes" by their men. These accustations were initially exposed in The Nation magazine by author and Blackwater critic Jeremy Scahill. The article reports that, in a civil suit filed on behalf of two anonymous men, the plaintiffs say they were former high ranking Blackwater employees who witnessed a variety of crimes.

In March 2006, Cofer Black, vice chairman of Blackwater USA, allegedly suggested at an international conference in Amman, Jordan, that the company was ready to move towards providing security professionals up to brigade size (3,0005,000) for humanitarian efforts and low-intensity conflicts. Critics have suggested this may be going too far in putting political decisions in the hands of privately owned corporations. The company denies this was ever said.

In December 2006, an Iraqi politician, Ayham al-Samarie, escaped from a prison in Iraq, where he was awaiting trial for 12 criminal corruption cases. Blackwater, which he had hired for protection before his arrest, allegedly helped him escape. He said from Dubai he would return to the United States as he hadn't broken any U.S. laws and had fled Iraq because he feared he would be killed or kidnapped. He arrived in Chicago on January 9, claiming that an Iraqi judge had ordered his release, he feared being killed if he stayed in jail, and U.S. officials had assured him he would not be extradited to Iraq.

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[nissaforyou]

Every time i see pics of eric prince, he seems to make the same kind of face. XD

[ObsenityofAtomicTech]

What in hell are they talking about . The whole war is ilgitamate. There was no threat to USA. There was no declaration of war. This whole operation was a profit taking move for the military industrial complex, You people in congress are perverted , monsters, you should all do the world a favor and hang yourself since you all know that if you voted to authorize this war that your guilting of mass murder. The congress are a bunch of phycopathic killers. You all are shamfull idiots.