Blackwater founder Erik Prince

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 TS 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.

Read The Nation’s Jeremy Scahill’s complete story about Blackwater
Read the document archive of the cases against Blackwater

President Barack Obama

President Obama continues to make the same mistake over and over again. From bankers, to members of Congress and even the American people, Obama keeps hoping everyone will just get along and find common ground.

While Obama keeps waiting for everyone do to the right thing, unemployment continues to go up, small businesses are struggling or failing, people are dying from lack of health care, the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and bailed out investment bankers are rolling in taxpayer dough.

It’s time for Obama to stop his audacity of hope campaign – what we need is action, leadership and some asses kicked (I’m looking at you Goldman Sachs and AIG).

Perhaps critics of candidate Obama were right when they said he lacked experience. He’s been in the White House for nine months and he’s accomplished nothing.

Health care reform continues to flounder in Congress.

The war in Iraq is still sucking the US Treasury dry and snatching the lives of American soldiers and Iraqi civilians.

In Afghanistan, Obama is thinking about sending more troops, but he appears to be hemming and hawing over that decision.

When the banking industry, which created the current financial mess we’re in thanks to laissez-faire regulation, was on the ropes Obama didn’t take that opportunity to force regulation down their throats, but rather he handed them billions and billions of taxpayer money and hoped that they’d play nice and be cool with regulatory changes later. Wrong.

Before Congress started debating health care reform, the president should have laid out his requirements for a bill he would sign. Obama should have started out with single-payer and made the case for it. There’s a good argument to be made for single-payer, but Obama didn’t even try. Instead, he left it all up to Congress to run wild with and boy did they. Now we’re looking at heavily compromised bills that will likely result in a lot of people paying too much money for health insurance that doesn’t cover anything. Thanks, but no thanks.

And what has he done to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? Nothing. We can’t win either of these wars because there is no definition of victory. No one has ever conquered Afghanistan, and neither will the US. And what’s the exit strategy in Iraq? Hope?

Obama’s hope machine has run out of gas. Hope is great, we all need a little bit of it from time to time, but it’s no excuse for inaction. This is politics. It’s partisan.

The time for leadership is now, because let’s face it, pretending that partisan politics is something that can, or should, be avoided is no recipe for success. Obama needs to stop his wishful thinking. Conservatives and liberals will not march on Washington, DC hand-in-hand singing Kumbaya – it’s not going to happen. Wake up or step aside in 2012 to make room for a real leader.

Blackwater founder Erik Prince

On Sept. 9, 2009, another civil case was filed against Blackwater founder Erik Prince for allegedly masterminding a holy war campaign in Iraq to kill Iraqis.

The plaintiffs allege the on Sept. 9, 2007, a Blackwater employee Evan Liberty recklessly drove through the streets of Baghdad firing his weapon without reason or regard to who he was shooting. As a result, one of the defendants was shot in the head, another in the leg and the other two claim “assault by gunfire.”

The complaint states that “Mr. Prince is personally responsible for the assaults on Plaintiffs because Mr. Liberty’s egregious misconduct was not an isolated or aberrational act. Rather, as will be shown by reasonable discovery, Mr. Prince personally directed and permitted a heavily-armed private army, including but not limited to Mr. Liberty, to roam the streets of Baghdad killing innocent civilians.”

This is just one of many cases filed in the US District Court for Eastern District of Virginia. I’ve compiled a reasonably complete archive of the court documents pertaining to these civil cases here.

Regardless of the allegations of murder, conspiracy to commit murder and Prince’s alleged holy war against Islam, President Obama continues to employ Blackwater in Iraq under the name Xe. Here’s a story about that.

A complete listing of all Blackwater related stories is here.

The Courthouse News has a story about the latest here.

The Nation’s Jeremy Scahill’s book “Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army“

Private security guards who worked for Blackwater repeatedly shot wildly into the streets of Baghdad without regard for civilians long before they were involved in a 2007 shooting episode that left at least 14 Iraqis dead, federal prosecutors charge in a new court document. Read the entire New York Times story.

Here’s an Alternet story about the media’s unwillingness to press the issue of Blackwater’s war on Islam.

There’s a separate case against Blackwater in Virginia that alleges Erik Prince is waging his own personal crusade against muslims. Here are the court documents relating to the case.

President Obama is ratcheting up the war in Afghanistan with more troops and more money. What the hell is he doing?

There was a story the other day in the Portland Daily Sun about a young soldier killed in Afghanistan. What did he die for? Does Obama really think he’s going to be able to do what Russia couldn’t do when they killed a couple million Afghanis before heading home in 1989 with their tail between their legs?

Bob Herbert said in his column today that the Bush administration screwed up the war in Afghanistan from the get-go and no amount of money and troops is going to salvage it.

Why do we keep doing this? Why do we keep repeating the mistakes of Vietnam? I mean, it wasn’t so long ago that we should have forgotten it already. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have claimed the lives of more than 5,000 US soldiers, hundreds of thousands of civilians and more than a trillion dollars.

It makes no sense. Obama should be ashamed of himself. Every death is on his hands now. He has no excuse. This isn’t change we can believe in. Hope? Whatever.

The State Department has extended a contract with controversial private security firm Blackwater, ABC News has learned. The contract was due to expire this month.

Blackwater founder Erik Prince

Sources say the department has agreed to temporarily continue using the subsidiary known as Presidential Airways to provide helicopter transport for embassy employees around Iraq until a new contract with another security company, Dyncorp International, is fully implemented. Presidential Airways is an arm of U.S. Training Center, which is a subsidiary of the company Xe, formerly and still commonly known as Blackwater.

Read this entire story at ABC News

Last Updated Sept. 15, 2009

On Sept. 9, 2009 another civil case has been brought against Erik Prince and his Blackwater corporate mercenary empire. In this case, like the others, Prince is accused of willfully murdering Iraqis for sport. It’s alleged that Prince hires people who will kill for him, essentially waging his own private crusade and murdering innocent Iraqis as part of his war against Islam.

On Aug. 12, 2009, Erik Prince’s lawyer Peter H. White of Mayer Brown LLP, filed a motion to change the defendants in the case from Erik Prince and his Blackwater corporate entities with the US government. The argument is based on the Westfall Act that prevents employees of the federal government from being sued for doing bad things while working for the government. It’s not clear that Blackwater will qualify as an employee of the government since it’s a contractor and not a person. Here’s an analysis of the Westfall Act and whether employees of the government can be held responsible for their actions. Of course, it’s not clear whether Blackwater is considered an employee.

Court Documents Available for Your Review

Please note that most of these are document collections, not just one document. Use the icons at the bottom of the viewer to examine the other associated documents. I tried to put the most important stuff first, but the exhibits and supporting documents are necessary for the complete picture.

Sept. 9, 2009 court documents related another civil case against Prince.

Aug. 12, 2009 motion to make the defendants in this case the US government rather than Prince and his corporations.

Here are some more documents related to the Aug. 12, 2009 court date. This is an updated version of Prince’s motion to dismiss which includes the expert testimony of HAIDER ALA HAMOUDI.

On Aug. 5, 2009 Prince’s lawyer filed this document with the court.
REPLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF THEIR MOTION TO ENJOIN EXTRAJUDICIAL STATEMENTS REGARDING THIS LITIGATION

Here’s the original complaint filed against Erik Prince and his various companies. Also included are the civil cover sheet and a receipt for the $350 filing fee. The plaintiff is listed as the “Estate of Husain Salih Rabea.”

Here are the documents relating to the defendant’s motion to dismiss.

Here’s a memorandum supporting the motion to dismiss the case. Please remember to use the icons at the bottom of the document viewer to see all of the documents.

Here are the documents The Nation published regarding Monday’s declarations by John Doe #1 and John Doe #2. Here’s John Doe #1’s declaration.

Here’s John Doe #2’s declaration.

Update: The judge has ruled against Erik Prince’s motion to stop the plaintiffs’ from speaking about this case publicly.

According to court documents filed by Peter H. White – the lawyer representing Erik Prince and Blackwater -  he continues to push the argument that the plaintiffs’ lawyer should shut up.

The campaign by plaintiffs’ counsel to try this case in the media, and the resulting prejudicial impact on potential jurors, continues apace: in just the 16 days since the filing of defendants’ motion.

White claims Susan L. Burke, the plaintiffs’ lawyer, is trying to try this case in the court of public opinion, with the help of The Nation.

Moreover, the conduct of plaintiffs’ counsel here exhibits precisely the sort of “collaboration between counsel and the press” that the Supreme Court described as “highly censurable and worthy of disciplinary measures” in Gentile. The article in The Nation entitled “Blackwater Seeks Gag Order,” for example, relies almost exclusively on commentary by plaintiffs’ counsel for its one-sided analysis of the motion to seal the WPPS contracts and of this motion by defendants to prohibit extrajudicial statements.

This motion to put a lid on the plaintiff is the latest document filed in this case, you can view it here.

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Blackwater Gate represents a growing threat to our republic.

The lawsuits developing around Erik Prince and Blackwater could turn into a huge story – much bigger than the lawsuits themselves which involve murder, gun smuggling and a crusade against Islam. If covered effectively by the press, this story could result in real policy change. However, if the press drops the ball again and Pres. Obama takes the path of least resistance, the consequences could be catastrophic.

You see the scariest part of this story isn’t that Prince is waging his own personal crusade against Islam and using Iraq and Afghanistan as his own personal battlefield against Muslims. The most frightening aspect of this story is scarier than the thought that this really isn’t Prince’s “personal” crusade, but rather a widespread conspiracy involving fringe elements of the Catholic church (e.g. The Knights of Malta) and high-ranking members of our own government (e.g former Pres. Bush) to wipe Islam off the planet.

No, what’s so frightening about Blackwater Gate is that this scandal is an indicator that the privatization of our military could be the greatest threat to our democracy today.

It’s possible I’m overstating the threat to our republic, but before you make up your mind that hiring private companies to fight our wars is a great idea, think about the ideology and the people who support privatization.

Outsourcing our military started back when Dick Cheney was the secretary of defense during the 80s. Of course, defense contractors have for years built planes, tanks, guns and bullets, but under Cheney’s direction, they started performing combat duties that used to be done by soldiers.

It’s not difficult to see why Cheney would support the privatization of the military, he undeniably seeks the privatization of every task the government does. Cheney’s rhetorical argument for supporting private businesses over public entities is that the government is incapable of doing anything right – just look at how they bungled 9/11, Katrina, the war in Iraq, Afghanistan and Wall Street. Of course, to buy this argument you have to forget that Cheney was the vice president overseeing all of these debacles.

My cynical side tells me that Cheney couldn’t care less about the efficiency of government compared to corporate america; what Cheney wants to do is move as much money from the public sector to the private sector. Cheney’s not stupid, he knows that money is power and money in the hands of private companies that share his ideology is better than in the hands of a government that probably won’t be as rigidly neo-conservative as he would like. And putting that cash into the bank accounts of a private fighting force is even better.

The war in Iraq is a perfect example Cheney in action. If you think the war is about oil or Saddam Hussein, you’re not paying attention to the details, and you’re not following the money. The war in Iraq will go down in history as the greatest pillaging of the US treasury ever. We’re talking about trillions of dollars, and it’s not going into the wallets of privates and corporals on the front line. For Cheney, “support the troops” really is just a slogan.

In 2007, The Hill reported:

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that one of the issues he’s most concerned about is the way that private contractors in Iraq lure away active-duty members of the military with promises of much higher salaries — often to do more or less the same stuff they’re doing in uniform.

It’s not just about money though. Think about how powerful it would be to have a well-trained fighting force that can gather intelligence and perform combat missions around the globe. To get the US military to wage war requires too much diplomacy and too many members of Congress for Cheney, but a private company like Blackwater, that’s almost too easy.

What’s also cool about hiring mercenaries is that the law governing them is sketchy at best. In Iraq, according to Prince’s motion to dismiss the case against him in the US District Court in Virginia, private contractors have “total immunity.” So it looks like mercenaries don’t have to worry about that annoying Uniform Code of Military Justice, the Geneva Convention or any of those stupid international laws prohibiting torture and violating human rights. Just outsource it.

Well that’s Cheney’s excuse – what’s Obama’s? Why does Obama continue to support the privatization of the military? Why does his administration continue to award Blackwater contracts in Iraq?

Maybe Obama agrees with Cheney, that it’s better to have wars sponsored by corporations that profit from perpetual fighting. These corporations are not held accountable to the people, politicians or anyone. What they chose to do in Iraq, Afghanistan and around the globe is done in our name and at our expense. But to what end?

I know, Obama’s job is difficult and reversing course on privatizing the military is not going to be easy, but so what. He was elected by a landslide campaigning on a message of “change.”

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Jeremy Scahill’s book “Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army”
Corporate Warriors: The Privatized Military and Iraq
Uniform Code of Military Justice
Blackwater Wiki

Here’s a video by The Nation’s Jeremy Scahill explaining how Bush and Erik Prince, the owner of Blackwater, were working together in Iraq to wage a 21st century crusade against Islam. The video is called “Blackwater: Shadow Army.” You can watch it here.

Scahill also documents in his book “Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army” compelling connections between Prince and shadow elements of the Catholic church such as the Knights of Malta. The Knights of Malta evidently were key players in the original 11th century crusades and supposedly they only answer to the Pope.

Now if we assume that Scahill is correct in his assertion that Bush and Prince were working together, using the “war on terror” as a conduit to wage a modern-day crusade with Prince’s shadow army of mercenaries killing Muslims at will for the purpose of total Christian rule of the planet, what’s Obama’s excuse? Why is Blackwater still operating in Iraq, despite the fact that their contract was not renewed?

Perhaps Obama has allowed Blackwater to continue to operate in Iraq because he too is aligned with Opus Dei Catholic soldiers-of-doom analogous to a character from David Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code.”

Unfortunately I don’t have access to Obama, so I can’t ask him that question, perhaps someone in the White House press corps will, but something tells me I doubt it.

With all the allegations of murder, tax evasion and charges of war crimes flying at Prince and his company, it’s surprising that Obama keeps paying him to put boots on the ground in Iraq, but he does.

Scahill’s most recent story about Blackwater court case in the US District Court in Virginia
Here’s the latest on The Center for Constitutional Rights’ case against Prince and Blackwater.

Wikipedia on Blackwater some of the information here is sketchy.
The Knight of Malta Wikipedia page
Here’s the video of Bush getting laughs for calling the “war on terror” a “crusade”
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