New charges filed against Blackwater Xe
New charges filed against private security contractor Blackwater accuse the company of murder, destruction of audio and videotaped evidence, distribution of controlled substances, tax evasion, child prostitution, and weapons smuggling.
The new charges were filed under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations Act (RICO) by several of the Iraqi civilians who were injured or who lost family members when Blackwater personnel opened fire in Nisoor Square in Baghdad in September 2007.
The lawsuit alleged that Blackwater “created and fostered a culture of lawlessness amongst its employees, encouraging them to act in the company’s financial interests at the expense of innocent human life.”
Katherine Gallagher of the Centre for Constitutional Rights, a member of the legal team bringing the suit, told IPS, “The plaintiffs are all Iraqis who were simply going about their daily lives when Blackwater opened fire in Nisoor Square,” she said. “They look forward to having their day in court against Blackwater and its founder, Eric Prince.”
The complaint alleges that Xe-Blackwater “created and fostered a culture of lawlessness amongst its employees, encouraging them to act in the company’s financial interests at the expense of innocent human life… and contrary to the interests of the U.S. military and State Department, and the nation of Iraq.”
Blackwater has changed its name and is now operating as Xe and other names under Eric Prince’s control.
[...] Eric Prince also went into detail about his company’s operations in Afghanistan. Blackwater has been in the country since at least April 2002, when the company was hired by the CIA. Since then, Blackwater has won hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts for the State Department, Defense Department and the CIA. “We built four bases and we staffed them and we run them,” … Forward Operating Bases (FOBs) … in the north, west, south (Spin Boldak), and east (FOB Lonestar is approximately 15 miles from the Pakistan border.) [...]
Insights on and from Eric Prince, founder of mercenary group Blackwater « Moral Outrage - May 5, 2010 at 9:18 am |