Erik Prince: Christian Crusader or Murdering Mercenary

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• published: 11 Aug 2009
• views: 11518

The following is from The Daily Mail 10th August 2009 Two former Blackwater (Xe) employees - one a former U.S. Marine - have lifted the lid by accusing its founder, Erik Prince, of embarking on a 'crusade to eliminate Muslims'. They claim Blackwater guards routinely took mind-altering drugs and steroids, and used child prostitutes in the war-torn country they were supposedly helping to liberate. They also say Blackwater carried out deliberate killings and arms dealing. Prince himself is accused of smuggling illegal weapons into Iraq on his private aircraft, and allowing his guards to use illegal exploding bullets 'to inflict maximum damage on Iraqis'. In sworn affidavits lodged in the U.S. last week, the two former employees took the anonymous identities of John Doe No 1 and John Doe No 2 for fear of retribution. They claim Prince either murdered or had killed former employees cooperating with federal investigators looking into murky dealings at the company. Blackwater denies the claims and is contesting the lawsuit. So can it really be true that Blackwater operated above the law? And who is Erik Prince, a man who now possesses his own terrifyingly powerful global private army? Born into a wealthy family in Michigan on June 6, 1969, young Prince was brought up by his self-made billionaire father under a 'hard work, family and God' ethos. Prince obtained his pilot's license at 17, and served as an intern at the White House under the first President Bush, later saying: 'I saw a lot of things I didn't agree with - homosexual groups being invited in, the Clean Air Act, those kinds of bills.' He earned a commission in the U.S. Navy SEALS after joining in 1992, performing secret missions in Haiti and Bosnia. He served until the death of his father in 1995. The family then sold their company for $1.3 billion, giving Prince the money to set up Blackwater. In 1997, he bought 6,000 acres of the Great Dismal Swamp in North Carolina, where he set up a state-of-the-art training camp, located near SEAL and Delta Force bases. He named his company after the swamp's black bogs. Prince is a major donor to the Republican Party, prompting accusations he bought his way to big military contracts. His critics call him a Christian supremacist, and a book on Blackwater by Jeremy Scahill claims the company is run on a Christian agenda by 'extreme religious zealots'. Prince certainly possesses religious zeal, saying of Iraq: 'Everybody carries guns, like Jeremiah rebuilding the Temple in Israel, a sword in one hand, a trowel in the other.' Prince, who operates from an anonymous unnamed office in Northern Virginia, is now, of course, phenomenally wealthy. He wears sharp, bespoke suits, but still sports a military crew-cut. 'Murdering Iraqis under Christian supremacy' At a congressional hearing in October 2007, following the controversy related to Blackwater's conduct in Iraq and Afghanistan, he refused to discuss his company's finances, saying: 'We're a private company. There's a key word there - private.' He also objected to the use of the word 'mercenaries', a 'slanderous term' or an 'inflammatory term they use to malign us', saying he preferred to call his employees 'loyal Americans' who 'bleed red, white and blue'. That may be, but the John Doe No2 affidavit alleges that Prince likes to recruit men to Iraq 'who shared his vision of Christian supremacy, knowing and wanting these men to take every available opportunity to murder Iraqis'. In a statement, the company said it would respond 'to the anonymous unsubstantiated and offensive assertions put forward' in its brief, to be filed on August 17. A spokesperson added: 'It is obvious that plaintiffs have chosen to slander Mr Prince rather than raise legal arguments or actual facts that will be considered by a court of law. We are happy to engage them there. We question the judgment of anyone who relies upon an [reiterates] anonymous declarations.' Five Blackwater guards who pleaded not guilty to manslaughter charges are awaiting trial over the Nisour Square attack. A sixth guard pleaded guilty. For his part, Abu Suhad, a Baghdad local, has no time for company spokesmen and official statements. He lost his daughter in 2007 when she was driving her car near the Iraqi foreign ministry in central Baghdad. He says: 'Eyewitnesses told me that four white Blackwater cars went by her. They were already past when the last one shot her in the head at close range and killed her. The bullet came from the driver's window, which means that he got next to her when he shot her. 'The bullet entered from under the ear and left from the upper side of her skull. There were bits of her hair and skin on the car roof.' As he mourns his daughter, he is left wondering why a security company was supposedly allowed to act above the law by the U.S. government. It is a decision that might yet come back to haunt the American military.

Erik Prince: Christian Crusader or Murdering Mercenary

• Report rights infringement
• published: 11 Aug 2009
• views: 11518

The following is from The Daily Mail 10th August 2009 Two former Blackwater (Xe) employees - one a former U.S. Marine - have lifted the lid by accusing its founder, Erik Prince, of embarking on a 'crusade to eliminate Muslims'. They claim Blackwater guards routinely took mind-altering drugs and steroids, and used child prostitutes in the war-torn country they were supposedly helping to liberate. They also say Blackwater carried out deliberate killings and arms dealing. Prince himself is accused of smuggling illegal weapons into Iraq on his private aircraft, and allowing his guards to use illegal exploding bullets 'to inflict maximum damage on Iraqis'. In sworn affidavits lodged in the U.S. last week, the two former employees took the anonymous identities of John Doe No 1 and John Doe No 2 for fear of retribution. They claim Prince either murdered or had killed former employees cooperating with federal investigators looking into murky dealings at the company. Blackwater denies the claims and is contesting the lawsuit. So can it really be true that Blackwater operated above the law? And who is Erik Prince, a man who now possesses his own terrifyingly powerful global private army? Born into a wealthy family in Michigan on June 6, 1969, young Prince was brought up by his self-made billionaire father under a 'hard work, family and God' ethos. Prince obtained his pilot's license at 17, and served as an intern at the White House under the first President Bush, later saying: 'I saw a lot of things I didn't agree with - homosexual groups being invited in, the Clean Air Act, those kinds of bills.' He earned a commission in the U.S. Navy SEALS after joining in 1992, performing secret missions in Haiti and Bosnia. He served until the death of his father in 1995. The family then sold their company for $1.3 billion, giving Prince the money to set up Blackwater. In 1997, he bought 6,000 acres of the Great Dismal Swamp in North Carolina, where he set up a state-of-the-art training camp, located near SEAL and Delta Force bases. He named his company after the swamp's black bogs. Prince is a major donor to the Republican Party, prompting accusations he bought his way to big military contracts. His critics call him a Christian supremacist, and a book on Blackwater by Jeremy Scahill claims the company is run on a Christian agenda by 'extreme religious zealots'. Prince certainly possesses religious zeal, saying of Iraq: 'Everybody carries guns, like Jeremiah rebuilding the Temple in Israel, a sword in one hand, a trowel in the other.' Prince, who operates from an anonymous unnamed office in Northern Virginia, is now, of course, phenomenally wealthy. He wears sharp, bespoke suits, but still sports a military crew-cut. 'Murdering Iraqis under Christian supremacy' At a congressional hearing in October 2007, following the controversy related to Blackwater's conduct in Iraq and Afghanistan, he refused to discuss his company's finances, saying: 'We're a private company. There's a key word there - private.' He also objected to the use of the word 'mercenaries', a 'slanderous term' or an 'inflammatory term they use to malign us', saying he preferred to call his employees 'loyal Americans' who 'bleed red, white and blue'. That may be, but the John Doe No2 affidavit alleges that Prince likes to recruit men to Iraq 'who shared his vision of Christian supremacy, knowing and wanting these men to take every available opportunity to murder Iraqis'. In a statement, the company said it would respond 'to the anonymous unsubstantiated and offensive assertions put forward' in its brief, to be filed on August 17. A spokesperson added: 'It is obvious that plaintiffs have chosen to slander Mr Prince rather than raise legal arguments or actual facts that will be considered by a court of law. We are happy to engage them there. We question the judgment of anyone who relies upon an [reiterates] anonymous declarations.' Five Blackwater guards who pleaded not guilty to manslaughter charges are awaiting trial over the Nisour Square attack. A sixth guard pleaded guilty. For his part, Abu Suhad, a Baghdad local, has no time for company spokesmen and official statements. He lost his daughter in 2007 when she was driving her car near the Iraqi foreign ministry in central Baghdad. He says: 'Eyewitnesses told me that four white Blackwater cars went by her. They were already past when the last one shot her in the head at close range and killed her. The bullet came from the driver's window, which means that he got next to her when he shot her. 'The bullet entered from under the ear and left from the upper side of her skull. There were bits of her hair and skin on the car roof.' As he mourns his daughter, he is left wondering why a security company was supposedly allowed to act above the law by the U.S. government. It is a decision that might yet come back to haunt the American military.