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From Countdown Aug.7, 2009.

Olbermann: For the last three nights we have been quoting the sworn declaration of a former executive for Xe, X E, the company formerly called Blackwater, in which that executive describes the nearly global enterprise shot through with criminality, arms dealings, fraud, tax evasion, child prostitution, murder, all of which Xe denies, even in cases where its employees have already pleaded guilty.

One motive for all of this as the four year executive claims was greed. Tonight, in our third story, the other motive was god. Jeremy Scahill first wrote this story for The Nation magazine, he wrote the definitive book on Blackwater, in which he details some of the theocratic connections of founder Erik Prince. Now that former Blackwater executive known only as John Doe #2 who claims that Prince did more than subscribe to a fundamentalist Christian ideology, he used Xe to advance it.

"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. 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 opportunity to murder Iraqis. Many of these men used signs based on the Knights of the Templar, the warriors who fought the crusades."

Keith goes on to list the Christian organizations Prince has used either his family's or Blackwater's profits to fund.

•Prison Fellowship Ministries

•Focus on the Family

•Family Research Council

•Christian Freedom International

•Council for National Policy

And it just gets uglier from there. I'll add the full transcript once MSNBC gets it up. Prince and his employees need to be sitting in a jail cell instead of getting any new contracts or continuing business as usual in Iraq or anywhere else. I'm happy to see it looks like the Justice Department is finally dealing with them in the manner they should be. Given this man's family and political ties, I'm not holding my breath for any convictions.

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Keith Olbermann reports on the latest criminal charges being made against Erik Prince and Blackwater, now known as Xe. TPM Muckraker has the list or charges and more:

• The murder charge: The former Blackwater employee, identified only as "John Doe Number 2," claims that, "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." John Doe 2 adds that "on several occasions after my departure from Mr. Prince's employ, Mr. Prince's management has personally threatened me with death and violence." The former Marine, identified as "John Doe Number 1," refers to "suspicious circumstances" under which informants have been killed.

• The destruction of evidence charge: John Doe 2 claims:

On more than one occasion, Mr. Prince and his top managers gave orders to destroy emails and other documents. Many incriminating videotapes, documents and emails have been shredded and destroyed.

• The religious charge: John Doe 2 claims that Prince "views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe," and that 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."

• The prostitution charge: John Doe 2 claims that Prince "failed to stop the ongoing use of prostitutes, including child prostitutes," during his visits to Blackwater's camp in Iraq.

• The weapons smuggling charge: John Doe 2 claims:

Using his various companies, [Prince] procured and distributed various weapons, including unlawful weapons such as sawed off semi-automatic machine guns with silencers, through unlawful channels of distribution.

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Keith talks to Jeremy Scahill about the latest revelations implicating Blackwater in murder and gun smuggling and for having a radical right, neo-crusader agenda in Iraq.

Olbermann: As horrific as all of this sounds, it's just part of what you describe in the piece today. Flesh it out for us.

Scahill: Well, I mean obviously to hear the term murder and Blackwater in the same sentence is no great surprise, particularly to people who've been following the history of this company. It's been at the center of some of the worst violence in Iraq. Killing civilians repeatedly. Five of its men are going to be tried on manslaughter charges for the Nisoor Square massacre in Baghdad in September of '07. Another one plead guilty. The Congress is investigating. The IRS is investigating. This is a scandal plagued company.

What is explosive about what's happened here, and you just went through some of the most explosive of these details is that you have two former Blackwater officials, I have learned from sources that John Doe #2 was actually in Blackwater management and was privy to some of the inner workings of the company.

Erik Prince, the owner of Blackwater remains the sole owner of the company no matter that he stepped down as CEO and the founder of the company. He micro-manages every aspect of Blackwater's operations and that's well known. On the Christian supremacists angle, let's remember that Erik Prince used Blackwater as a neo-crusader force and has from the beginning. This is a guy who comes from one of the power-house families of the radical religious right.

His father was a major bank roller, and gave the seed money to Gary Bauer to start The Family Research Council, James Dobson, Focus on the Family. And then we have his forced deployed in Iraq as part of a war against a Muslim nation that George Bush characterized as a crusade.

What we have here Keith is a confirmation from insiders at Blackwater that in face Erik Prince did have a neo-crusader agenda, and most explosively, may have murdered or facilitated the murder of individuals that were intending to or did cooperate in the investigation of Blackwater. This is deadly serious.

Scahill also appeared on Democracy Now to discuss Blackwater.

Continue reading »

(h/t Andy K)

Erik Prince's company Blackwater (now known as XE) has been embroiled in controversy for years. Company employees have posted videos online of their own ruthless behavior and abuses against Iraqi citizens, and can be heard laughing off camera. We're now finding out that this brutality most likely came from the top, down from Prince himself -- former employees are finding their consciences and telling horrifying stories about their former boss:

A former Blackwater employee and an ex-US Marine who has worked as a security operative for the company have made a series of explosive allegations in sworn statements filed on August 3 in federal court in Virginia. The two men claim that the company's owner, Erik Prince, may have murdered or facilitated the murder of individuals who were cooperating with federal authorities investigating the company. The former employee also alleges that Prince "views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe," and that Prince's companies "encouraged and rewarded the destruction of Iraqi life."

In their testimony, both men also allege that Blackwater was smuggling weapons into Iraq. One of the men alleges that Prince turned a profit by transporting "illegal" or "unlawful" weapons into the country on Prince's private planes. They also charge that Prince and other Blackwater executives destroyed incriminating videos, emails and other documents and have intentionally deceived the US State Department and other federal agencies. The identities of the two individuals were sealed out of concerns for their safety.

These allegations, and a series of other charges, are contained in sworn affidavits, given under penalty of perjury, filed late at night on August 3 in the Eastern District of Virginia as part of a seventy-page motion by lawyers for Iraqi civilians suing Blackwater for alleged war crimes and other misconduct. Read on...

AP via YahooNews:

Blackwater Worldwide is still protecting U.S. diplomats in Iraq, but executives at the beleaguered security firm are taking their biggest step yet to put that work and the ugly reputation it earned the company behind them.

Blackwater said Friday it will no longer operate under the name that came to be known worldwide as a caustic moniker for private security, dropping the tarnished brand for a disarming and simple identity: Xe, which is pronounced like the letter "z."

It's a rare surrender for a company that cherished a brand name inspired by the dark-water swamps of northeastern North Carolina, one that survived another rebranding effort about a year ago, following a deadly shooting in Baghdad's Nisoor Square. The decision to give it up underscores how badly the Moyock-based company's brand was damaged by that incident and other security work in Iraq.[..]

Blackwater acknowledged last year in an interview with the The Associated Press the damage to its reputation had persuaded the company to focus on lines of business other than private security contracting.