Blackwater Never Goes Away

Blackwater now called Xe services has been a stain on America with its criminal behavior especially in Iraq yet they continue to receive contracts from the U.S. government.

At a covert forward operating base run by the US Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, members of an elite division of Blackwater are at the center of a secret program in which they plan targeted assassinations of suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives, “snatch and grabs” of high-value targets and other sensitive action inside and outside Pakistan, an investigation by The Nation has found. The Blackwater operatives also assist in gathering intelligence and help run a secret US military drone bombing campaign that runs parallel to the well-documented CIA predator strikes, according to a well-placed source within the US military intelligence apparatus.

The source, who has worked on covert US military programs for years, including in Afghanistan and Pakistan, has direct knowledge of Blackwater’s involvement. He spoke to The Nation on condition of anonymity because the program is classified. The source said that the program is so “compartmentalized” that senior figures within the Obama administration and the US military chain of command may not be aware of its existence.

Lawyer Hassan Jabi

was stuck in traffic when he heard Blackwater USA security contractors shout ‘Go, Go, Go.’ Moments later bullets pierced his back, he said Thursday from his hospital bed. Jabir was among about a dozen people wounded Sunday during the shooting in west Baghdad’s Mansour neighborhood. Iraqi police say at least 11 people were killed. […] ‘No one fired at them,’ Jabir said of the Blackwater guards. ‘No one attacked them but they randomly fired at people. So many people died   in the street.

An innocent man along with many others who were killed or wounded all because they were in the path of a Blackwater convoy.

Then there is the case of a Blackwater who shot and killed an Iraqi security guard in the Green Zone in December of 2006

The private security company Blackwater admitted on Tuesday for the first time that one of its employees shot and killed an Iraqi guard inside the Green Zone in December. Blackwater removed its worker from Iraq on the next day before criminal charges could be filed. The case raises new questions about whether contractors can be held legally accountable for misconduct. Congressman Dennis Kucinich questioned Blackwater’s general counsel Andrew Howell during a Congressional hearing on the role of private  contractors in Iraq.

The covert JSOC program with Blackwater in Pakistan dates back to at least 2007, according to the military intelligence source. The current head of JSOC is Vice Adm. William McRaven, who took over the post from Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who headed JSOC from 2003 to 2008 before being named the top US commander in Afghanistan.

The most infamous incident involving Blackwater and its security guards is the Noor plaza killings

Estate of Himoud Saed Abtan, et al. v. Prince., et al.  was filed against Blackwater, the private military contractor whose heavily armed personnel opened fire on Iraqi civilians in Nisoor Square in Baghdad on September 16, 2007 by Iraqi citizens injured or the estates of those killed in Nisoor Square. The Defendants include Blackwater founder Erik Prince, U.S. Training Center, Inc. (formerly Blackwater Lodge and Training Center, Inc.), Blackwater Security Consulting LLC, GSD Manufacturing LLC (formerly Blackwater Targets Systems), Raven Development Group LLC, Greystone Limited, The Prince Group LLC, Total Intelligence Solutions LLC, and Xe Services LLC (formerly EP Investments LLC   Blackwater Worldwide).

One of the concerns raised by the military intelligence source is that some Blackwater personnel are being given rolling security clearances above their approved clearances. Using Alternative Compartmentalized Control Measures (ACCMs), he said, the Blackwater personnel are granted clearance to a Special Access Program, the bureaucratic term used to describe highly classified   “black” operations.

JEREMY SCAHILL of the Nation is the person most responsible for exposing Blackwater for what it really is a mercenary army contracted out to the U.S. government to help fight the supposed War On Terror when in fact they seem to be involved in illegal activities  with little or no recourse for their victims.