Blackwater: A Brief History Of Slime

Blackwater: A Brief History Of Slime

When I initially started to do research on this post, I had intended to focus primarily on the use of private contractors in war zones in general. But, the more I read about Blackwater USA, the more troubled I became. What follows here is a condensed version of what I've come across. I say "condensed", because, quite literally, something new would come out about Blackwater every day. These are some of the things that I find interesting, and some things that I had never heard about at all. I didn't focus on the war crimes they have allegedly committed, as that would have been several posts in itself...

Blackwater USA's founder, Erik Prince, was born June 6, 1969 in Holland, Michigan. His father, Edgar D. Prince, was the founder of the The Prince Corporation, whose claim to fame(and fortune incidentally) was the lighted vanity mirror most of us have embedded in our car's sun visors. He also co-founded the radical, religious right's Family Research Council. In fact, Erik was among the first team of interns that Gary Bauer took on in Washington at the Family Research Council. The Prince family's ties to the Christian Fundamentalist right, cannot be understated. Prince's father was one of the primary bank rollers of Newt Gingrichs' 1994 "Republican Revolution". Young Erik and his family are also very close to James Dobson and his Focus on the Family Prayer Warrior Network. Over the years, Erik has contributed over $250,000 dollars to various Republican candidates. And also some Green Party candidates in 2006 to try to defeat Democrats in a few races. I think it's safe to say he's a staunch, and loyal Republican.

Prince attended the United States Naval Academy for a short period, before leaving and attending Hillsdale College as an economics major. After graduation Prince went to work as an intern for George H.W. Bush's administration, but this was cut short due to ideological reasons...he felt as though the administration was not "conservative enough for him". Prince was quoted in a local Michigan paper as saying, "I saw a lot of things I didn't agree with—homosexual groups being invited in, the budget agreement, the 'Clean Air Act', those kinds of bills". After leaving the Bush (41) administration, he served as an intern to California Republican Representative Dana Rohrabacher, former Reagan speech writer, denier of global warming, and most recently a staunch proponent of his good friend(and convicted felon), Jack Abramoff...

The Founding of Blackwater USA

Prince joined the United States Navy in 1992 where he served as a Navy Seal Officer. Some of his deployments included Haiti, parts of the Middle East and Bosnia. His tenure as a Navy Seal was cut short in 1995 with the unexpected death of his father. Upon returning home to be with his family, Prince's mother, Elsa, decided to sell the Prince Corporation for $1.4 billion. Damn. Lighted , vanity mirrors paid off quite well. Suddenly, Erik Prince found himself to be a billionaire. There are many published reports suggesting that he absolutely loathed leaving the military. So, what's an ex-Navy Seal billionaire to do with his time and money? Why, start his own paramilitary, of course. Mr. Prince moved to Virginia Beach in 1997 and personally financed Blackwater U.S.A, buying 6,000 acres of swampland in North Carolina to set up a school for "special operations operators". The monstrosity that has become Blackwater was born.

Blackwater East

So, what exactly does Blackwater do at this compound? The short answer is they train mercenaries and law enforcement agencies. Both domestic and foreign. Here is a short propaganda video of theirs that details some of the activities that are going on at the compound.



Oh, yea. This video fails to mention the life sized, mock Columbine High School they have on premises for training purposes. That creeps me out. So, what's wrong with a guy supporting his political party, as long as it's by legal means, and starting his own security firm? Absolutely nothing. Last time I checked this was America. The problem isn't owning a private security firm. The problem is when you cross the line from being a security firm, to being a well financed, fundamentalist ideology driven, small, formidable private army. Private army you say? Here's where it gets a little crazy...

Blackwater Aviation

Aviation Worldwide Services and Presidential Airways were founded in 1998 by Blackwater. This serves as their "aviation division". It currently consists of, approximately, 22 rotary and fixed-wing aircraft, including the CASA 212 cargo plane. However, the company has recently struck a deal with Brazil that will send, at least, five EMB-314 Super Tucano counter-intelligence, light attack aircraft. Blackwater aviation recently won an indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) type contract for $92 million to "provide all fixed-wing aircraft, personnel, equipment, tools, material, maintenance and supervision necessary to perform passenger, cargo and combi Short Take-Off and Landing air transportation services between locations in the Area of Responsibility of Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan". Incidentally, they were awarded this contract only days after Erik Prince testified before the Senate about the shooting by Blackwater personnel that resulted in the deaths of 17 Iraqi civilians. It is being reported that the FBI investigation into the matter has concluded 14 of the 17 shootings were unjustified...but I digress. There is another Orwellian-er, interesting "wing"(no pun intended) to Blackwater aviation. Blackwater Airships LLC is an ambitious effort that would make any super villain extremely proud.



Founded in January 2006, With a mission statement "to build a remotely piloted airship vehicle (RPAV). Although seemingly different from the traditional Blackwater mission, this new venture to provide a persistent surveillance capability is fully consistent with the Blackwater goal of offering solutions which help to protect our forces wherever they are deployed and support our homeland security." Blackwater seems to want to get in on some of the multi-billion dollar blimp action that the Pentagon has recently announced it is adamantly seeking. Blackwater owns an airport in Camden County, Virginia which includes a 6,000-foot-long, 80-foot-wide runway, another perpendicular airstrip 2,550 feet long and a 20,000-square-foot hangar, according to county records. The airport also contains a 66,569-square-foot, two-story metal building with nearly 300 rooms. Now Blackwater has it's own small air force, and a surveillance blimp division.

Blackwater Spy Agency

Total Intelligence Solutions, LLC was launched in February of 2007. Erik Prince hired Cofer Black, former CIA Director's Special Assistant for Counter-terrorism as well as the National Intelligence Officer for counter-terrorism, to oversee the venture. Mr. Black was made (in)famous by his installation of the "extraordinary rendition program", or the sending of prisoners to countries in which we know they will be tortured during interrogation. I don't think I'll be sending him a Christmas card this year, how about you?. Using the C.I.A. connections he's made over the years, Mr. Black has amassed, and still is amassing, a "mini-C.I.A." of retired "spooks". T.I.S. states, "Total Intel is the answer to those complex and often fast-breaking requirements. We provide a one-stop service able to meet all the intelligence, operational and security needs required by today's global business environment." They are targeting Fortune 1000 companies, supposedly. Now Blackwater has a subsidiary that basically gives them their own, small, highly trained and highly "connected" spy network...Do I see a pattern here?

Blackwater Maritime

Blackwater Maritime Security Solutions with a mission statement stating they "Will also provide international anti and counter-piracy, and anti and counter-terrorism security programs led by the world’s finest maritime special operations and security professionals. BMSS will soon offer its complete tactical maritime security training services aboard fully operational maritime platforms. This capability allows BMSS to conduct real-world tactical training for maritime force protection units while underway, at anchor, or in port". Hmm...do I smell a small fleet of "training ships" in the near future. Blackwater is soon to have it's own "mini-navy".

Blackwater Armored

Blackwater is even venturing into the armored vehicle market with, "The Grizzly". An armored vehicle designed to withstand roadside bombs...and haul ass. Seriously.




Hurricane Katrina

Immediately after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, and I do mean immediately...180+ Blackwater workers where on the ground in Louisiana less than 36 hours after the levee's broke...without a contract from the U.S. government. A short time after however, Blackwater landed a $73 million contract to protect FEMA staff helping with the Katrina recovery operation. This was Blackwater's first foray into domestic operations.



Blackwater West and North

If you thought Blackwater USA was just going to relegate itself to North Carolina and Virginia, I have a surprise for you. They're coming to a town near you! They are trying to build an 824 acre compound about 45 miles East of San Diego, near the rural community of Potrero. This will be "Blackwater West" Although, the local townspeople are in fierce opposition to the idea. This also happens to be part of the area that was recently affected by the wild fires in California. "But I live up North", you say?. Never fear-er...wait...scratch that, for they have Blackwater North. An 800+ acre swath of land about 100 miles outside Chicago, and about 25 miles from Mount Carroll, IL. But wait...there's more...Blackwater has also applied for operational licenses in every coastal state in the United States.

"Liberal" Ties, as well?

Even though Erik Prince has an incredibly strong bond with extreme right wing Conservatives, the old adage still rings true. If you want to know the truth, just follow the money. The first two Federal contracts Blackwater ever received were during the Clinton administration. In February 2000, Blackwater wins its first federal contract. The company is entered into the General Services Administration contracting database for government-approved goods and services. This enables it to compete for larger, longer-term federal contracts. October 12, 2000, the attack on the USS Cole in Yemen...Blackwater gets its first long-term federal contract to train sailors for the U.S. Navy. By 2001, Blackwater's federal contracts totaled $736,906. Thanks Bill. Another recent incident has been all over the news lately, the shooting of 17 Iraqi's by Blackwater employees in September. It seems a couple weeks before Mr. Prince was scheduled to testify before the Senate concerning this event he hired a PR firm to do damage control(like any corporation would). Mr. Prince chose the services of Burson-Marsteller. Their CEO is Mark Penn. And Mark Penn just happens to be Hillary Clinton's Chief Political Strategist. Her Karl Rove, if you will. Coincidences? Maybe so, but there's one thing I'm sure of. No matter who wins the '08 election, be it Democrat or Republican, Blackwater will still be around for a long time. It's not just a Republican/Religous Right issue.

My Thoughts

Well, like I said before, I did not intend to specifically focus on Blackwater in this post. I just became, more and more concerned the more I read. My concerns are really two-fold. One, it obviously doesn't take a rocket scientist to connect the dots and see what's really going on here. Having a private security firm is one thing. But, having a small, private army is quite another. I look at it like this. I remember after the OKC bombing, there was a push to come down on some of the private militias in the US. Do you think the Federal government would allow any one of these groups to attain the kind of weaponry Mr. Prince has acquired-much less assemble his own spy network staffed by ex-CIA employees? I think not. Whether it is an insane, skinhead militia, or an insane Christian fundamentalist corporation, I believe it's dangerous for a group like this to have an obscene amount of weaponry at their disposal. That's how coup's happen. Not only that, but if a company like Blackwater knows that they are likely to get multi-million dollar contracts after terrorist attacks, or natural disasters(fires...maybe a levee breaking?), it wouldn't take a great stretch of the imagination to consider the possibility of them carrying out attacks themselves, just for business. That's just putting to much power in the hands of a few. Keep in mind I'm totally for the Right to Bear Arms. I just don't believe the founding fathers meant for it to cover jets, armored personnel carriers, nor a spy network.

Second, is the whole private contractor issue itself, and this is a pretty straight forward reason I believe. Anyone who has read my posts, or listened to my music, know that I oppose the war in Iraq. There are somewhere between 160,000-180,000 private contractors carrying out work in Iraq right now. We(the US) have around 160,000 soldiers in Iraq. When we have more private contractors than we do troops on the ground, something has been seriously fucked up somewhere down the line. Granted, not all the contractors over there are like Blackwater. There are people over there doing legitimate work to help rebuild Iraq, they are not all mercenaries trying to destroy anything that moves. But, my thinking is this. If we have more private corporation contractors over there than we do troops, it seems only logical to say if we didn't have those private contractors over there, we wouldn't be fighting a war in Iraq right now. It would take a military draft to have enough troops to occupy the country any further. And that would be political suicide given the popularity of the war at this stage. Right? Or am I a fucktard? So, there you go. That's my advice on how to bring our troops home. Pass legislation severely limiting the use of private contractors. But that will never happen, as the private contractors are made up of old friends in Washington and huge political donors. It's a thought though. I sure don't hear any of our politicians with any rock solid plans for getting us the hell out of Iraq.

The Most Evil, Powerful, MoFo You've Never Heard Of

Ready to hear about a real life Kaiser Soze? A man who has nearly single handedly supplied the majority of weapons for most conflicts, worldwide, since the fall of the Soviet Union. A man who has worked for The U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. State Department, and FedEx among others-as recently as 2006. A man who is an International fugitive wanted by numerous governments, the U.N., and Interpol. Yet, the U.S. Government still employs him and, possibly, helps him evade prosecution??...

Viktor Vasilevich Bout was born on January 13, 1967 in Tajikistan to Russian parents. Although, even this is disputed. As with all cunning super-villains, little is known about Bout before his military career. He is known simply as "Viktor B" by International investigators, because he goes by so many different aliases. Regardless, we do know that he graduated from the Institute for Military Interpreters in Moscow in 1991 and is said to be fluent in six languages. He held several positions in the Soviet military before being stationed in Angola as a translator. His KGB career would be short-lived however, as the collapse of the Soviet Union left Bout unemployed. This would also be short-lived...

After leaving the KGB in 1993 Bout founded an "air transport service", Transavia Export Cargo, in Belarus. It was during this time he utilized some of the contacts he had made while in the Soviet military. He began acquiring planes destined for the scrap heap, including a trio of old Antonovs, Soviet-made cargo planes that could carry upward of 20 tons—for $40,000 apiece. According to Bout associates, his senior contacts in the GRU(the secretive Soviet military intelligence network) were critical for his start-up. He then began supplying weapons which aided Belgian soldiers in Somalia. The Belgians were not his only customers at this point in time however. Another of his early customers was the Islamic State of Afghanistan, whom later became known as the Northern Alliance(remember them? our "allies" in Afghanistan). It is estimated that between late 1992 and 1995, Bout had supplied $50 million+ in arms to various Afghan warlords. Chump change by no means. In 1995 Bout founded the "Trans Aviation Network Group", in the Belgian city of Oostende, and continued to supply the Islamic State of Afghanistan with weapons. That is, until the Taliban overthrew the government in Kabul, and drove the remaining members to a few Northern provinces...oh snap! Now they suddenly become known as the Northern Alliance(witty huh?). In May of 1995 the Taliban intercepted one of Bout's shipments to the Northern Alliance, capturing plane and crew. Russian diplomats tried for several months to procure the release of the men and plane, to no avail. Then, out of the blue, in August of 1996, the men "escaped" captivity and flew out of Afghanistan in their plane...and Bout had a new arms customer. The Taliban.

Ok. Where are you going with this, you say? Stay with me...

After several years of living a luxurious lifestyle in Belgium, in 1997 the Belgian press began reporting on Bout's shady dealings. Under the pressure of an investigation by the Belgian authorities, Bout decided to set-up shop in the United Arab Emirates. This would become his "main base of operations". This same year he founded "Air Cess", which would later become synonymous with his dark deals. Air Cess was based in Equatorial Guinea, and registered in Liberia(and had headquarters in Miami, Florida until 9/11). Air Cess would go on to supply arms to nearly every conflict around the Continent of Africa-continuing until present day. He personally supplied weapons, more often than not, to both sides of conflicts in Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Libya, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland and Uganda...to name a few. Viktor Bout had established himself as the "Pablo Escobar" of the gun trafficking industry. He hired unemployed soldiers of Russia's eviscerated air force and arms industry, building a loyal outfit of about 350 employees which included daredevil pilots, ground crews adept at keeping the decaying planes aloft(his fleet, which grew to nearly 60 aircraft by 2000, often carried legitimate wares such as flowers and fish), weapons suppliers, financial advisers, and even a gem expert who flew along on African sorties to inspect the blood diamonds Bout was sometimes paid with. Bout, by this point, was notoriously known for delivering weapons anywhere, anytime, and to anyone willing to pay. Of course, like all criminals, you can't do business forever without attracting attention. By the late 1990's Bout was on the radar of International authorities for his arms deals from Africa to Columbia to Lebanon, and anyplace in between with enough cash to afford his services.

During the last years of the Clinton White House, factions inside the CIA and the NSC were both well aware that Bout's air fleet and global infrastructure rivaled those of many NATO nations—and wanted him targeted for arrest. But, the effort fizzled out in the first months of the Bush administration. In an effort to underscore the urgency to apprehend Bout, Lee Wolosky, who was the top NSC official leading the effort to nab Bout, briefed Condoleezza Rice's national security team in the summer of 2001. They then scheduled a pre–presidential briefing meeting for September 11, 2001. Needless to say, apprehending Viktor Bout was pushed to the proverbial back burner. That is until associates of his approached the U.S. Government with an offer they couldn't refuse...

Here's were it gets very interesting(in a fucked up, shady kind of way)...

Only days after the attacks of September 11th, associates of Bout's were meeting with U.S. intelligence officials. These agencies were interested enough to allow Bout to fly to the United States on at least two occasions for face-to-face discussions of his sales pitch. One month later Bout made three flights to Afghanistan. The cargo? U.S. Special Forces and CIA operatives. Michael Scheuer, former head of the NSC's Bin Laden unit, made this comment concerning the event, "Bout could not have done what he did without the help of Princes, Kings, and Presidents". I couldn't agree more, sir. But, as it turns out, these three flights were only the beginning of a budding relationship between the U.S. Government and Viktor Bout. Bout began providing weapons, helicopters, trucks and communications to the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance, according to U.S. documents and officials. At the same time he was still arming the Taliban and Al-Qaida. Bout's connections with the Taliban didn't end with their overthrow in November 2001. Following the collapse of the Taliban, Bout's airlines were used to ferry Taliban and Al-Qaida gold out of Afghanistan to Karachi, Iran, the UAE, and Khartoum. If we've learned one thing about this asshole, it's that he will sell anything to anyone willing to pay.

In 2002 both Belgium and Interpol issued warrants for Bout's arrest. He decided it might be a good time to move back to Moscow...where they do not extradite to other nations. All while the U.S. turned a blind eye. Some European officials suggest that the U.S. has even helped Bout evade arrest. As the Interpol warrant began circulating around the world, European intelligence agents developed intel that Bout was going to be flying to Greece from his new hub in Moldova. When Bout's plane left the runway, British agents sent out an encrypted message notifying their superiors in London to prepare for his imminent arrest in Athens. But shortly after the encrypted message was sent, the aircraft suddenly went off its flight plan, disappearing into mountainous terrain. 90 minutes later the plane reappeared on radar screens, and when it landed in Athens, Greek and British special forces stormed the aircraft, only to find it empty except for the pilots and a few passengers. "There were only two intelligence services that could have decrypted the British transmission in so short a time," says one European intelligence official familiar with the operation. "The Russians and the Americans. And we know for sure it was not the Russians."

When the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003, Bout's air-freight services were used by the U.S. military and by Halliburton, its subsidiary KBR, Federal Express and other contractors delivering everything from munitions, grenades, tents, to mail for the troops, according to flight records and U.S. military and civilian officials who monitored the flights. Oh, and remember the shipment of 200,000 AK-47's that the U.S. Department of Defense "lost" this past summer? You got it, the plane carrying that shipment was owned by none other than Viktor Bout. Or, how about the CIA "rendition" flights of prisoners to various unsavory countries that love to use torture? Once again, Vikot Bout's planes were involved in the vast majority of known flights. See a pattern here?

In 2004, the Bush administration began to press for Bout to be left off of planned UN sanctions, in spite of French efforts at the UN in March 2004 to freeze his assets and enforce an outstanding Interpol warrant for his arrest. Under pressure from the International community, Bush signed an executive order in July 2004 that made it illegal to do business with Bout or any of his companies. In May 2005, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control froze the assets of Bout, three of his associates and 30 of his companies, again making it explicitly illegal to do any business with him. But while the Treasury and State departments, as well as parts of the Pentagon, tried to shut off Bout's access to U.S. tax dollars, portions of the military and intelligence communities kept feeding him business...for almost two years after such contacts became a direct violation of a presidential directive. During which time his companies flew, literally, hundreds of flights for the Pentagon...costing the American taxpayers $60,000+ per flight.

These days, international initiatives to hunt down Bout have been mostly abandoned, confined to sporadic efforts by the U.N. and U.S. Treasury Department to freeze his assets. The CIA no longer has analysts specifically assigned to monitor his flights and follow his activities. "They're all working on counterterrorism now," says a U.S. official. So what does Viktor Bout, a man who has blood on his hands from arming countless wars, do nowadays? According to intelligence sources who have followed his activities for years, Bout is living in a luxury apartment complex in Moscow, where he is occasionally spotted eating at an upscale sushi bar he favors. Meanwhile, the Russian government denies he has committed any crime, and therefor refuses to honor any International warrants for his arrest.

Over the past year, Bout's aircraft have been discovered delivering weapons to the radical Islamic regime in Somalia, and to Hezbollah in Lebanon, where he was sighted during last summers conflict with Israel.

Ummm...shouldn't we do something about this fucker? Maybe it's just me.