5 August 2009

A sends:

I think you will find the following documents on Blackwater very interesting.

First, there is a background article, written by Jeremy Scahill on the topic, which was published by "The Nation" two days ago:

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090817/scahill

Here are the mentioned documents. They are from the consolidated civil pretrial proceedings from the US District Court in Alexandria. The introduction to the "Plaintiffs’ Opposition to Motion to Dismiss" is just priceless:

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

http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/legal/2009-1/20090803.pdf

“[…] 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. […]”

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

http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/legal/2009-1/20090729.pdf

“[…] 1. I am an American citizen. The information set forth below has been provided in grand jury proceedings convened by the United States Department of Justice.

“2. I was employed by Erik Prince and his web of companies for approximately four years.

“3. I am providing this Declaration as ‘John Doe No. 2’ because I fear violence against me in retaliation for submitting this Declaration. On several occasions after my departure from Mr. Prince’s employ, Mr. Prince’s management has personally threatened me with death and violence. In addition, based on information provided to me by former colleagues, it appears that Mr. Prince and his employees murdered, or had murdered, one or more persons who have provided information, or who were planning to provide information, to the federal authorities about the ongoing criminal conduct. […]

“[…] 9. Mr. Prince is motivated to engage in misconduct by two factors: First he views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe.

“10. To that end, Mr. Prince intentionally deployed to Iraq certain men who shared his vision of Christian supremacy, knowing and wanting these men to take every available opportunity to murder Iraqis. Many of these men used call signs based on the Knights of the Templar, the warriors of the crusade.

“11. Mr. Prince operated his companies in a manner that encouraged and rewarded the destruction of Iraqi life. For example, Mr. Prince’s executives would openly speak about going over to Iraq to ‘lay Hajiis out on cardboard.’ Going to Iraq to shoot and kill Iraqis was viewed as a sport or game. Mr. Prince’s employees openly and consistently used racist and derogatory terms for Iraqis and other Arabs, such as ‘ragheads’ or ‘hajiis.’

“13. Second, Mr. Prince is motivated by greed. He sought every opportunity to deploy men to Iraq in order to earn more money from the United States government. Mr. Prince and his top manager Gary Jackson knew the men being deployed were not suitable candidates for carrying lethal weaponry, but did not care because deployments meant more money. […]

“[…] 16. Mr. Prince obtained illegal ammunition horn an American company called LeMas. This company sold ammunition designed to explode after penetrating within the human body. Mr. Prince’s employees repeatedly used this illegal anmunition in Iraq to inflict maximum damage on Iraqis.

“17. Mr. Prince made available to his employees in Iraq various weapons not authorized by the United States contracting authorities, such as hand genades and hand grenade launchers. Mr. Prince’s employees repeatedly used this illegal weaponry in Iraq, unnecessarily killing scores of innocent Iraqis. […]”

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

http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/legal/2009-1/20090727-1.pdf

“[…] 1. I am an American citizen. All information set forth below has been provided to the Department of Justice. I served in the United States Marines until I was honorably discharged as a result of an injury.

“2. I joined Blackwater and deployed to Iraq to guard State Department and other American government personnel.

“[…] 4. I am providing this Declaration as a ‘John Doe’ because I fear violence against me in retaliation for submitting this Declaration. I am scheduled to deploy in the immediate future to Iraq. I have learned from my Blackwater colleagues and former colleagues that one or more persons who have provided information, or who were planning to provide information, about Erik Prince and Blackwater have been killed in suspincious circumstances. […]

“[…] 7. I personally observed multiple incidents of Blackwater personnel intentionally using unnecessary, excessive and unjustified deadly force.

“8. The first incident occurred in Ba’Qubah near the street colloquially referred to as ‘RPG Alley’. Our convoy had pulled over to fix a flat tire on one of the vehicles. The other vehicles in the convoy formed a defensive circle around the vehicle with the flat tire. An Iraqi civilian with a single passenger happened to be driving near us in a small black car. The driver was not heading directly towards us.

“9. Despite the fact that car was not heading directly towards us, a Blackwater employee named Brad Elmer (who is known as ‘Snoop’ because he is a dog handler) motioned to the driver, and almost immediately began firing directly into the car. From my vantage point, it was clear that Elmer was clearly injuring and likely killing the passenger and likely injuring the driver as well. Blackwater failed to stop and see whether either man was alive and in need of urgent medical care.

“10. Blackwater failed to report the incident to the Iraqi authorities.

“11. Blackwater failed to report the incident to the State Department as was required by contract. […]”