Blackwater USA and its founder Erik Prince

Hi;

Below is some interesting information from Wikipedia on Blackwater USA and its founder Erik Prince. Blackwater USA appears to be the front runner in the private fascist army business.

The links for this information are:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Blackwater_USA#Controversy_and_criticism

John P. Stoltenberg,P.E.
N8362 State Highway 67
P.O. Box 596
Elkhart Lake, WI
53020-0596
920-876-2184
jpstolten@verizon.net

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Erik Prince
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Erik Prince (born in 1969 in Holland, Michigan) is the founder and owner of the military support contractor Blackwater USA. A millionaire and former US Navy SEAL, after high school he briefly attended the United States Naval Academy before attending and graduating from Hillsdale College. After college, he earned a commission in the United States Navy after joining in 1992, and served as a Navy SEAL officer on deployments to Haiti, the Middle East and the Mediterranean, including Bosnia. When his father Edgar Prince unexpectedly died in 1995, he ended his Navy service prematurely. After Erik's mother, Elsa Prince, sold the family's automobile parts company, Prince Corporation, for $1.3 billion to Johnson Controls, Inc., Erik moved to Virginia Beach and personally financed the formation of Blackwater USA at the age of 27.

Prince is the brother of Betsy DeVos, a former chairman of the Republican Party of Michigan and wife of former Alticor (Amway) president and Gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos. Prince's first wife died of cancer in 2003, and he has since remarried and has six children. He now runs Prince Group, Blackwater's parent company, from an office in McLean, Virginia and also serves as a board member of Christian Freedom International, a nonprofit group with a mission of helping "Christians who are persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ".

Due to its controversial role as an independent, though US-supported, military entity, Blackwater USA and Erik Prince have been the target of several allegations. Among these allegations are claims of unethical hiring practices and war profiteering. [1] [2]

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Blackwater USA
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Blackwater USA

Type Private military company
Founded 1997
Founder Erik Prince
Headquarters Moyock, North Carolina, USA
Key people Gary Jackson
Bill Mathews
Chris Taylor
Industry Government Services
Divisions Blackwater Training Center
Blackwater Security Consulting
Blackwater Canine
Blackwater Armor & Targets
Blackwater Logistics
Blackwater Airships
Raven Development
Blackwater North(Illinois)
Subsidiaries Blackwater vehicles
Website blackwaterusa.com

Blackwater USA is a a private military company (PMC), and security firm founded in 1997 by Erik Prince and based in North Carolina. The company describes itself as a "military, law enforcement, security, peacekeeping, and stability operations company." Their services are for-hire.

Contents
[hide]
1 Corporate structure
1.1 Facilities
1.2 Training
1.3 Grizzly APC
2 History
3 Controversy and criticism
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Corporate structure
Blackwater USA consists of nine companies:

Blackwater Training Center
Blackwater Target Systems
Blackwater Security Consulting (Moyock, North Carolina)
Blackwater Canine
Blackwater Presidential Airways (PAWS)
Blackwater Airships, LLC
Blackwater Armored Vehicle
Blackwater Maritime
Raven Construction
Blackwater North (Illinois)
Blackwater's president, Gary Jackson, as well as Executive Vice President Bill Mathews and other business unit leaders are former Navy SEALs. Chris Taylor, VP for Strategic Initiatives is a former Force Recon Marine. Blackwater was founded and is owned by Erik Prince who is also a former Navy SEAL.

[edit] Facilities
Company literature claims the company runs "the largest privately owned firearms training facility in the nation". The facility, located in North Carolina, is composed of several ranges, indoor, outdoor, urban reproductions and has over 7000 acres (24 km²) of land spanning Camden and Currituck counties.

In November 2006 Blackwater USA announced it recently acquired an 80-acre (30 ha) facility 150 miles (240 km) west of Chicago, in Mount Carroll, Illinois to be called Blackwater North.

[edit] Training
Blackwater offers several open-enrollment courses periodically throughout the year, from hand to hand combat (executive course) to precision rifle marksmanship. Furthermore one could opt to enroll in Blackwater Academy, a program that will train recruits, provided they can meet strict background and criminal checks, physical fitness tests, and can pass a clinical psychological test. Blackwater may ask recruits to enter a rather restrictive contract that would place them exclusively in the service of the company.[citation needed]

[edit] Grizzly APC
Blackwater recently introduced its own line of Armored personnel carriers.[1]

[edit] History
Blackwater USA was formed in 1997 to provide additional support to military and law enforcement organizations. It was one of several private security firms employed following the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan .

Blackwater Security Consulting was formed in 2002 and initially operated by Jamie Smith, who became the first Director of Blackwater Security Consulting. Smith left in late 2002 and formed SCG International Risk. BSC is one of over 60 private security firms employed during the Iraq War to guard officials and installations, train Iraq's new army and police, and provide other support for occupation forces.[2]

On March 31, 2004, Iraqi insurgents in Fallujah ambushed a convoy containing four American private military contractors from Blackwater USA who were conducting delivery for food caterers ESS.[3] The four armed contractors, Scott Helvenston, Jerko Zovko, Wesley Batalona and Michael Teague, were killed with grenades and small arms fire, their bodies dragged from their vehicles, beaten and set ablaze. Their burned corpses were then dragged through the streets before being hung over a bridge crossing the Euphrates.[4]

Photos of the event were released to news agencies worldwide, causing a great deal of indignation and moral outrage in the United States, and prompting the announcement of an upcoming assault on Fallujah.

In April 2005 six Blackwater independent contractors were killed in Iraq when their Mi-8 helicopter was shot down. Also killed were three Bulgarian crewmembers and two Fijian gunners. Initial reports indicate the helicopter was shot down by rocket propelled grenades. The six Americans killed have been identified as:

Robert Jason Gore, of Nevada, Iowa[citation needed]
Luke Adam Petrik of Conneaut, Ohio[citation needed]
Jason Obert of Fountain, Colorado[citation needed]
Steve McGovern of Lexington, Kentucky[citation needed]
Erick Smith of Waukesha, Wisconsin[citation needed]
David Patterson of Havelock, North Carolina[citation needed]
The three Bulgarians have been identified as:

Lyubomir Kostov[citation needed]
Georgi Naidenov[citation needed]
Stoyan Anchev[citation needed]
Blackwater USA was employed to assist the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts on the Gulf Coast. According to a company press release, it provided airlift services, security services, humanitarian support services, and logistics and transportation services. Unofficial reports claim that the company also provided law enforcement services, such as securing neighborhoods and confronting criminals.[5]

On January 23, 2007, five Blackwater contractors were killed in Iraq when their Hughes H-6 helicopter was shot down. The incident happened in Baghdad, Haifa street. Three Iraqi insurgent groups claimed responsibility for shooting down the helicopter, however, this has not been confirmed by the US.[6] A US defense official has confirmed that four of the five killed were shot execution style in the back the head, but did not know whether the four were still alive when they were shot.[7] Robert Young Pelton (the only writer who has been allowed to live, work and travel with Blackwater in Iraq) broke the full details of the crash on his site. Pelton also met and flew with the Little Bird pilots.[8]

[edit] Controversy and criticism
In March 2006, Cofer Black, vice chairman of Blackwater USA, allegedly suggested at an international conference in Amman, Jordan, that the company is ready to move towards providing security professionals up to brigade size for humanitarian efforts and low intensity conflicts. Critics have suggested this may be going too far in putting political decisions in the hands of privately owned corporations.[9] The company denies this was ever said.[10]

Blackwater USA is sometimes chided by its critics for being "mercenaries" or "soldiers of fortune". In this sense, Blackwater often receives the labeling of being a disaster capitalism corporation. Private security contractors aroused anger in Iraq when it was claimed that they were made immune to Iraqi legal prosecution due to laws in effect dating from Iraq's Coalition Provisional Authority signed by L. Paul Bremer.[11]

The documentary film Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers suggests that the company has been partially responsible for the Abu Ghraib scandal.

Blackwater is currently being sued by the families of the four contractors killed in Fallujah in March, 2004. The families allege that they are not suing for financial damages, but rather for the details of their sons' and husbands' deaths. They claim that Blackwater has refused to supply these details, unless the families sue. Four family members testified in front of the House Government Reform Committee on February 7, 2007. They asked that Blackwater be held accountable for future negligence of employees' lives, and that Federal legislation be drawn up to govern contracts between the Department of Defense and the defense contractor. [2]

On April 19, 2006, The Nation magazine published an article titled, "Blood Is Thicker Than Blackwater", concerning the lawsuit against Blackwater brought by some of the families of the four deceased employees.[12] The article discussed the removal of the word "armoured" from already-signed contracts, and other allegations of wrongdoing. The author of the article, investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill, has reported more extensively on these issues and others in his book, Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army (2007).[13]

[edit] References
^ Blackwater Product Page
^ Role of security companies likely to become more visible
^ The High Risk Contracting Business
^ 'Residents hang slain Americans' bodies from bridge' - CNN.com
^ Overkill: Feared Blackwater Mercenaries Deploy in New Orleans
^ U.S. crew of downed helicopter shot at close range -- CNN.com
^ 4 Americans in Iraq Crash Shot in Head -- WTOP.com
^ Pelton, Robert Young: "Licensed to Kill, Hired Guns in the War on Terror", Crown, August 29, 2006
^ Blackwater USA says it can supply forces for conflicts
^ Inside America's Private Army (continued)
^ War, Profits, and the Vacuum of Law: Privatized Military Firms and International Law
^ [1]
^ published by Nation Books, New York; ISBN 1560259795

[edit] External links
The external links in this article may require cleanup to comply with Wikipedia's content policies.
Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links. Please remove this tag when this is done. (talk)

Blackwater USA's official website*
Blackwater USA's Terrorism Research Center*
Unofficial video of a 2004 Blackwater rescue mission at the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) Headquarters in Al Najaf, Iraq
A news story about the 2004 CPA Headquarters rescue mission and video*
Washington Post article on the 2004 CPA Headquartes rescue mission*
The Spy Who Billed Me author R.J. Hillhouse's national security blog, focusing upon the outsourcing of the War on Terror and regularly covering the latest developments with Blackwater USA.
The News & Observer series on the rise of Blackwater USA and the deaths in Fallujah.
FRONTLINE documentary on private military contractors, Private Warriors, first aired June 21, 2005. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/warriors/view/ Includes piece on Blackwater USA contractors.
[3] Robert Young Pelton's article in Popular Mechanics about his month spent with Blackwater running Route Irish between the Green Zone and Baghdad International Airport.
AP: NC firm was providing security for food delivery in Iraq
Alternet story on Blackwater, Mercenaries 'R' Us, March 24, 2004
New York Times article describing the company's role in the Iraq War
New York Observer article describing the company's role in the Iraq War
Company press release describing its role in the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts on the Gulf Coast
Washington Post article describing the company's role in the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts on the Gulf Coast
The Nation article "Blackwater Down" about Blackwater USA's time in New Orleans
Barry Yeoman, Soldiers of Good Fortune, Mother Jones
Blackwater: Inside America's Private Army
Blackwater in the Crosshairs: The Families of Four Private Security Contractors Killed in Fallujah File a Ground-Breaking Lawsuit - Democracy Now! coverage April 20, 2006
Our Mercenaries in Iraq: Blackwater Inc and Bush's Undeclared Surge - Democracy Now! coverage January 26, 2007
Scahill, Jeremy. The Nation Mercenary Jackpot: US Pays Blackwater $320 Million in Secretive Global 'Security' Program August 11, 2006
Hemingway, Mark. "Warriors for Hire: Blackwater USA and the rise of private military contractors." The Weekly Standard 012, no. 14 (2006)
Jeremy Scahill, "Bush's Shadow Army" -- from The Nation: March 15, 2007
Radio Interview: Journalist Scahill Charts the Rise of Blackwater USA -- from NPR.org: March 19, 2007
Stories by Jeremy Scahill, many of them on Blackwater USA -- from AlterNet.org
Blackwater discussion at CombatContractor.com
Interview with Jeremy Scahill about his book 'Blackwater' on the Daily Show
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackwater_USA"
Categories: Articles with unsourced statements since April 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | Wikipedia external links cleanup | Private military contractors | Security companies | Companies based in North Carolina | Companies established in 1997 | Irregular military | Militias

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Submitted by John Stoltenberg on Sat, 2007-04-21 06:34.

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About Me

Hi Darlene;

I am the third generation of a German-American family. Both of my grandfathers were socialists. My father was a member of the Socialist Labor Party (SLP) in the 1930s and 1940s. I am not a socialist, but I am well acquainted with the SLP's platform. I consider the SLP to be the only socialist party that is advocating true socialism and not capitalism with some reforms tacked on.

From my perspective we are on a long slow evolutionary path that involves the capitalist economic system eventually evolving into some other economic system. Also, it involves the culture that presently supports capitalism, and makes it possible, evolving into another culture that will be able to support the new economic system.
All of this will take place over many generations and will involve many small steps. The steps in the evolutionary process are the small reforms being made to capitalism to make capitalism more bearable for the working class. These reforms have the effect of slowly changing capitalism into some other economic system, and/or changing the culture that supports capitalism into a culture that will support the new economic system.
The fact that this is a slow evolutionary process is a positive. It gives society the time to experiment, and to learn what works and what does not work.
I do not know what the new economic system will be and I really don't care. This will be determined after generations of experimenting.
In the mean time, in my generation, I am dedicating myself to preserving our constitutional political democracy, our civil rights, the rule of law and the separation of church and state so that the evolutionary process can take place. In other words, I am concentrating on fighting the ascendancy of fascism in America.
John Stoltenberg, P.E.
N8362 State Highway 67
P.O.Box 596
Elkhart Lake, WI
53020-0596
920-876-2184
jpstolten@verizon.net
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From: Darlene Denis
To:jpstolten@verizo.net
Sent: Saturday, March 31, 2007 8:52
Subject: What is the Alternative?

"The best solution would be to replace the American capitalist economic system with an economic system that would not exploit people, destroy cultures, corrupt governments, plunder resources, etc. Of course, this is not going to happen in our lifetimes and, perhaps, for many lifetimes."
As long as the majority of people believe this to be true then it will be a self fulfilling prophecy. It is this kind of attitude that prevents our country from realizing universal equality, freedom & peace.
The only solution is to form & institute an entirely new government that does not exploit people, destroy culture, plunder recourses, corrupt/terrorize other governments, and respects the rights of all individuals to govern their own existence without any interference so long as they harm none but themselves.
Why is this the only solution? Because no two humans hold the exact same perspective, personal principles, values or beliefs, however, all humans should be allowed to govern their existence according to these elements without interference from others so long as no others are harmed.
But as long as people like you insist that it can never be, then it probably never will be.
Why do you believe we can not see this in our lifetimes. I will be 40 years old this summer, I have seen plenty of changes in the 40 years I have existed so far, I prefer to think that I may well around for another 40 years.......is 40 years not enough time to form & institute a new government that addresses & corrects for the above stated issues and failings of the current government?
If there are really that many people who truly want universal equality, freedom & peace, and end to war and violence, and end to discrimination, and so much more then why do we not take upon ourselves the one action that is virtually guaranteed to provide these things and so much more? My guess......FEAR & INSANITY!
FEAR of the current governments illusion of power to punish us when we oppose them with a real non-violent threat to their power.
INSANITY because we continue to allow this current government the power they need to accomplish the crimes they perpetrate against us and other nations, despite the proof that they lie, deceive, commit fraud against and ignore the will of the people
We have only ourselves to blame for the ongoing blood shed, wars & corporate/government corruption we see all around us, whatever injustice and inhumane action we see perpetrated/allowed by our government is ultimately our fault as we the people have allowed those committing these actions to remain in power. It is more than obvious to me that it is an exercise in futility to continue trying to force this government to do "the right things" by voting, protesting, petitioning calling emailing, writing, rallying etc. How long will it be before Americans understand that whether democrat, republican or other.....this democratic republic form of government is never going to solve all the problems our country faces, nor will it completely endorse universal equality, freedom & peace to all it's people & it will continue to wage wars & contribute to terrorism & insecurity as long as it remains in power.
Where do you think that the current government administration gets its power from? Do they have some "magic" potion, pills or spell that gives them this power? Are they "special", so special in fact that no average American could ever even hope to stop them? NO!
They derive their power from the people, people like you who are convinced that there is no way to stop them from continuing their path of destruction and enslavement! And they derive their core power from a core group of people who have unified for a common cause. Can't you see that if we did the same thing we would deprive them of this critical & vital necessary source of power and shift it to the people where it belongs!, where it has always belonged!!
Please reconsider your position that we can not see an alternative reality in our lifetimes and start acting to create that reality.
You can start by going here!
and uniting with us.
Respectfully Optimistic,
Dar
Awaken Me! website
Awaken Me! group
Co-creator, co-owner, moderator & manager

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