HRC's State Dept contracted w/Blackwater while BW was being prosecuted for Libya arms deals

[leveymg]

Last edited Sat Mar 26, 2016, 03:39 PM - Edit history (1)

According to a report by Matthew Cole and Jeremy Scahill in The Intercept, Hillary Clinton's State Department offered fresh rounds of federal contracts to Eric Prince's notorious Blackwater company at the same time that it was being prosecuted for crimes in Iraq and, it is now revealed, while Prince was being investigated for violations of State Department administered laws restricting international arms sales to Libya. https://theintercept.com/2016/03/24/blackwater-founder-erik-prince-under-federal-investigation/

It has long been known that DOS did business with Prince's company, Blackwater and its successor, Xe Services and Academi, despite the fact that several of its employees were prosecuted for crimes in Iraq related to unjustified use of deadly force and transfer of arms. What we now see is that the company was also under active investigation for violations of State Department International Traffic in Arms Restrictions (ITAR) laws in a scheme by Prince to arm Libyan factions, now revealed by The Intercept.

As you read the following, bear in mind that the initial emails on Hillary's servers that came to light in 2013 were emails with Sid Blumenthal concerned activities by Blumenthal and other unnamed American "businessmen" to provide arms to the post-Ghaddafi Libyan regime and various contesting militias. This is exactly what Prince endeavored to do at that time:

What began as an investigation into Prince’s attempts to sell defense services in Libya and other countries in Africa has widened to a probe of allegations that Prince received assistance from Chinese intelligence to set up an account for his Libya operations through the Bank of China.

. . .

“You push the buttons on the company, but the main bad guy gets away and does it again,” said an official who tried to prosecute Prince.

Prince has run up against ITAR in the past. In 2010, Prince sold most of his equity in the companies that fell under the Blackwater umbrella. Claiming that left-wing activists, Democratic politicians, and lawsuits had destroyed his companies, he left the United States and became a resident of Abu Dhabi. The remnant of his network was renamed Academi LLC. Federal prosecutors eventually attempted to prosecute Prince’s former companies, culminating in a 2012 deferred prosecution agreement to settle a lengthy list of U.S. legal and regulatory violations committed from 2005 through 2008 when Prince was in charge, including ITAR violations.

(NOTE: HRC’S STATE DEPT WAS THE FOLLOW-ON CONTRACTOR TO CIA CONTRACTS WITH BLACKWATER)

A senior official involved with the Blackwater-related litigation, who has since left the government, told The Intercept that the Obama administration’s continued willingness to award contracts to former Blackwater entities while the case was active was a fatal impediment to a successful prosecution. The official, comparing the former Blackwater empire to a drug syndicate, added that prosecutors could not get anyone under Prince to testify against him personally. “This is very much the concern,” the former official told The Intercept. “You push the buttons on the company, but the main bad guy gets away and does it again.”
No criminal charges were filed against Prince.

In federal court filings, Prince’s former companies admitted to providing — on numerous occasions during Prince’s tenure — defense goods and services to foreign governments without the required State Department licensing. In some cases, they admitted to providing services even after failing to obtain a license from the State Department.

As part of their settlement with the government, Prince’s companies ultimately agreed to pay nearly $50 million in fines and other penalties and to implement compliance procedures to ensure such illegal activities did not continue. In September 2015, the deferred charges were dismissed after the U.S. government certified that the companies had “fully complied” with all of its conditions.

At that point, Prince was already deep into creating new companies registered outside of the United States and appeared poised to return to the conduct that had marked his time at the helm of Blackwater.

For those interested in the background, I have a long bio on the Prince and his parallels with UBL as a CIA contractor, here:

Looks like I'll have to so some updating.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/12/4/810764/-

[berni_mccoy]

1. Holy shit! People better wake the fuck up to who HRC really is.

[grasswire]

3. I'm sure that Trump has it all ready to go.

BOOM

BOOM

BOOM

There is another option, of course. Dump the Clintons. We just can't afford this flawed candidate.

[yourpaljoey]

9. How much did Prince donate to the Opelousas' Charity Ball - i.e., the Clinton Foundation

Trump can use pure verifiable facts against her, again and again

[berni_mccoy]

12. Another good point that counters the fallacy that Hillary's been vetted

We ain't seen nothing yet.

[leveymg]

13. Good question, how much?

[yourpaljoey]

14. I'll bet Trump will let us know if they face in the General

Oooooooooooooooh how he'll howl with righteous indignation!
She will drop out for 'health' reasons.

[grasswire]

29. watching her today, I think she probably does have health reasons.

I say that sympathetically, because she looked like she was feeling poorly. Her throat seems to be giving her a lot of trouble.

[yourpaljoey]

33. I thought so as well

[anothergreenbus]

105. It's tough, no doubt.

But the payoff can be Yuge!

[anothergreenbus]

104. And will.

[UglyGreed]

4. This is unbelievable

I rarely curse but this is getting fucking ridiculous......

[Fairgo]

11. I'm edging towards that thought.

The banality of this particular shade of evil leaves a tarry residue that will not wash...but it matches the blood stains on the hands.

[grasswire]

30. that was poetic :-)

Like something from Edgar Allen Poe.

[senz]

84. I just call it Bushian

plain and simple. (Though I appreciate Fairgo's excellent linguistic capabilities.)

[anothergreenbus]

102. "Out Damn'd Spot!" -- Lady Hillary

But then, she doesn't have much of a conscience:
"We came. We saw. He died. Hee, Hee, Hee. Oh, and by the way, you little people can pay to clean up around here." HRC

[RiverLover]

10. The fix is in with corporate media. There's not enough time to get the truth out to enough people.

Maybe...Unless we consider there's still a slim shimmer of hope that the internet & word of mouth opens people's eyes.

It would be such a miracle & affirmation of good in the world if Bernie gets the nom.

She's a manipulative dishonest war-profit-power hungry conservative DINO. She will never represent this FDR Dem.

[Samantha]

43. The fix may indeed be in but there seems to be a continual drip, drip, drip of information on this

and where exactly have we seen that before? Think about it for 2 seconds; the answer will come to you.

That kind of drip usually comes from a leak....

Sam

[yourpaljoey]

15. Let us hope it's not too late!!!!!

[CorporatistNation]

27. This May Help...

[840high]

77. Clinton supporters don't care.

[PufPuf23]

90. This is one face of Hillary Clinton.

[grasswire]

2. OMG

There is no end to the corruption.

[840high]

40. Each day new corruption is discovered.

[uponit7771]

5. More wingerish sounding noise, this kind immunizes her against the rest of the RW noise machine caus

... they'll be doing the same thing.

HRC Bit baby bunny rabbits on their butts!!! story at 9 !!!

[berni_mccoy]

19. Completely irresponsible response to a serious topic

But then again most of HRC supporters don't give a flying fuck about the truth.

[uponit7771]

20. I agree, its irresponsible to continue winger memes

[Nuclear Unicorn]

45. Calling out Blackwater is now RW?

Up is down. Black is white. Slavery is freedom. War is peace.

[leveymg]

51. Now that we know that Erik Prince was one of Hillary's buddies, it is. BFFF. Get with the program!

It wasn't just Shrub talking when he warned, "You're either with us or against us."

[Nuclear Unicorn]

52. This is insane. I'm only old enough to be voting in my 3rd presidential election this year but

I'm being asked by Hillary supporters to go against everything that drew me to progressive politics to begin with.

To hell with single payer. Hello corporatism. Pardon the wars of choice, we're just padding our resume. Taxes? You can't raise taxes because then taxes would be raised!

Now we're being asked to believe Blackwater has always been an integral part of the Democratic party and only RW partisans would dare to impugn that fact.

Somebody, please, remind me why I signed on with this party!

[leveymg]

54. You're being told to be a good German

of a 21st Century American sort. But, some of us find that difficult to do. Congratulations on retaining your sanity. Many haven't.

[nashville_brook]

79. it was my 3rd prez election when i voted for Clinton in 92

we didn't have the access to information that's available now -- nor did we have a primary as promising as this one. god i wish we did.

people bought the "new dem" sales pitch, hook-line-and-sinker.

[Marr]

94. +1

[G_j]

97. +1

[polly7]

57. This is all so unbelievably craven and disgusting.

Last edited Fri Mar 25, 2016, 02:52 PM - Edit history (2)

If she had not been allowed to illegally follow Blumenthal's advice - as Obama had not wanted her to - Libya might not be the ruin it is now, and IS may not have been able to get the majority of its recruits from there after yet another sovereign nation reduced to violence, hate and fear unchecked.

To see that she was associated with Prince and his sick, sadistic ways just cements her position as a warmonger equal to Bush, Cheney and the rest of them. She previously and absolutely supported PNAC, all those countries on that hit-list are still on hers. The 'success'!!! (in her words, as a money-making opportunity) of Iraq and her 'advisers' - Kissinger, Kagan et al taught her a lot about how to destroy a nation and reap the profits. She will lead this world into WW111 imo - Russia, China and Iran have been holding war exercises for years together now - they aren't stupid. They've seen her enthusiasm for destroying Ukraine and wanting to get in with fracking there, Iran being able to emerge as a powerhouse without sanctions is one of her worst nightmares - it will be back on the list the second she gets in, imho.

[leveymg]

61. If you really want to be appalled, read '07 Salon article by Blumenthal about Blackwater in Iraq.

There's nothing as disgusting as selective outrage and hypocrisy by those who condemn the players and then turn around and join the game at first opportunity. That is exactly what Sid appears to have done when Hillary created the opportunity for contractor fun and profit in Libya. Hillary's message to him, "Keep it coming."

Thursday, Oct 4, 2007 07:08 AM EST

http://www.salon.com/2007/10/04/private_military_in_iraq/

Red, white and mercenary in Iraq

Under the cloak of freedom, the U.S. exempted Blackwater and other contractors from Iraqi law -- and destroyed its own democratic credibility.
Sidney Blumenthal


On June 27, 2004, the day before the United States was to grant sovereignty to a new Iraqi government and disband the Coalition Provisional Authority, L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. proconsul, issued a stunning new order. One of the final acts of the CPA, Order 17 declared that foreign contractors within Iraq, including private military firms, would not be subject to any Iraqi laws — “all International Consultants shall be immune from Iraqi legal process,” it read. “Congratulations to the new Iraq!” Bremer said moments before flying out. His memoir, “My Year in Iraq,” neglects to mention Order 17.
The author of Order 17 was a CPA official named Lawrence Peter, who oversaw the Iraqi Ministry of Interior. As soon as the CPA was dissolved, the Private Security Company Association of Iraq hired Peter to act as its liaison and lobbyist there. The new Iraq included a revolving door.

Thus, in the process of granting Iraq sovereignty, the Bush administration eviscerated it. Order 17’s grant of immunity to contractors guaranteed that more than half of the foreign presence on the ground — for U.S.-paid contractors outnumber U.S. military personnel — would operate for all intents and purposes beyond the law. Order 17 also undercut the authority of the U.S. military, frustrating command and control of the battlefield and upsetting sensitive counterinsurgency strategies. Order 17 meant that the monopoly of violence was fractured and outsourced to those not subject to the law. By unilateral fiat Order 17 uniquely created a red zone of impunity covering the entire country.

A radical break with U.S. policy, such an order had never been promulgated before. Order 17 should not be confused with a Status of Force Agreement negotiated with sovereign nations such as South Korea. Those agreements are subject to complex bargaining and mutual assurance. Nor are contractors subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice because, after all, they are not in the U.S. military. Nor has the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act of 2000 been brought to bear on contractors in Iraq. That act applies only to those working for the Department of Defense and is rarely used, if at all. The contracts for private military firms have been funneled through the State Department, thereby exempting them from the MEJA. (The only case brought under the MEJA against a contractor in Iraq was for one who had raped a U.S. reservist in her trailer.)

Of the mercenary companies, Blackwater has earned a special status as one of the least controllable and most aggressive, ferrying through the battle space without coordination with U.S. forces. Time and again, Blackwater has triggered incidents undermining U.S. strategies and endangering military forces. In 2004, four Blackwater men brazenly drove through the insecure city of Fallujah, were quickly cornered by a mob, were killed and burned, and their charred bodies hung from a bridge. In the ensuing outcry, U.S. forces were ordered to encircle the city, attack, withdraw and attack again, eventually leveling it. In 2006, a drunken Blackwater mercenary murdered a bodyguard for the Iraqi vice president, and was spirited out of the country with U.S. Embassy complicity, paid off and never prosecuted. Under Order 17, no law applied.

[polly7]

62. Thanks for this, leveymg.

I have hated Blackwater since they first were allowed in to commit their atrocities unchecked in Iraq ... what they were allowed to do is absolutely horrible.

How anyone got away this all of this against a people who did nothing to them just baffles me.

[leveymg]

64. Blackwater and Prince are even worse than you may think. Read this

when you have some time: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/12/4/810764/-

We know why Bush was doing business with them. Blackwater became the old spook home for CIA officers exposed and disgraced during the Bush/Cheney presidency. Reward for services rendered and for keeping mouths shut.

But, the question we should be asking ourselves is, why did Secretary Clinton keep the Dept of State gravy flowing into Prince's pockets when she had every reason to shut it off, particularly since Blackwater was under criminal investigation for violating the ITAR laws the Department itself administers? After shelling out billions in contracts, why did DOS settle with Blackwater for a relatively small fine in 2012?

[polly7]

72. Thanks again, I will definitely read this. I'm pretty sure I know 'why' to your questions but

I'd probably get banned for stating it.

[anothergreenbus]

106. She is blood thirsty and it was on display at AIPAC

as she tossed red meat to the crowd.

[CorporatistNation]

83. FACTS? TRUTH? JUDGEMENT? Who Cares?

I DO! So do a whole hell of a lot of Americans. Alas, the Corporate /Oligarchy Owned And Controlled Media is managed such that ZERO FACT/TRUTH EVER REACHES THE MAJORITY OF AMERICANS!

What is that defined as?

http://www.rense.com/general37/char.htm

Pay particular attention to # 6,7,9,13 and 14...
Fourteen Defining
Characteristics Of Fascism
By Dr. Lawrence Britt
Source Free Inquiry.co
5-28-3


Dr. Lawrence Britt has examined the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia) and several Latin American regimes. Britt found 14 defining characteristics common to each:

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.

2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights - Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause - The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.

4. Supremacy of the Military - Even when there are widespread
domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.

5. Rampant Sexism - The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.

6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.

7. Obsession with National Security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.

8. Religion and Government are Intertwined - Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.

9. Corporate Power is Protected - The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.

10. Labor Power is Suppressed - Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.

11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.

12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.

13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption - Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.

14. Fraudulent Elections - Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

[840high]

41. Wait till Trump starts. Now go away.

[Fumesucker]

44. I'm so old

I can remember when literal mercenary corporations were considered a bad thing on DU.

[nashville_brook]

80. ah yes. the good old days.

ibowrdi

(it's bad only when Rs do it)

[Armstead]

55. So now long-respected journalists like Jeremy Scahill are wingers and Blackwater is good?

yes we rea;lly have entered Orwellian territoty.

I'm not going to comment or the merits or not of the allegations in the OP.

But you have have done a great job of Up is Down here.

[Marr]

93. It seems like your definition of 'right-wing' is

'anything that reflects poorly on Hillary Clinton'.

[Jitter65]

6. Most of this stuff was long before Hillary was SOS..Bush Cheney stuff. Carry over to Clinton SOS.

Once again, Hillary is blamed for something she actually had little of nothing to do with.

[leveymg]

7. No, these contracts with the State Dept continued under Hillary while BW was under new criminal

investigation for arms dealing schemes in Libya. That didn't happen until the regime change in 2011-12, in which Hillary also had a major role. Please read the article and come back.

[uponit7771]

21. "continued under..." so they did start before her right? tia

[panader0]

37. Are you really defending this stuff?

HRC's campaign is dependent upon the ignorance of it's supporters.

[leveymg]

53. Prince's Libya ITAR problems started under Clinton, who created the opportunity for BW to play there

That's what she and Petraeus actually did when they pushed through series regime change across the MENA region, create opportunities for American military contractors. As Hillary's emails show, Sid Blumenthal jumped on it and was the liaison with the Secretary of State for a group of American "businessmen" including private military contractors who had swooped into Libya. Erik Prince's Blackwater (Xi, Academi, whatever name it took) was already a State Dept. contractor and was awarded new contracts under Clinton despite his company's multiple criminal violations of State Department arms trafficking and other laws.

This is serious stuff.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

46. Clinton was not obligated to continue employing BW and she certainly wasn't obligated to

give them new contracts.

[anothergreenbus]

103. Since she is not responsible for anything,

maybe she should be running as a Republican?

[NWCorona]

8. And of course the founder of blackwater is under investigation for spying for the Chinese

Edit: didn’t see the link

[EndElectoral]

16. More of HRC's foreign policy experience.

[Ash_F]

17. This is the outfit that has been involved in child sex trafficking in Afghanistan

http://www.publicintegrity.org/2010/07/17/2609/despite-allegations-no-prosecutions-war-zone-sex-trafficking

[polly7]

24. Good god .... I think I'm going to be sick. nt.

[Ash_F]

25. A similar organization, Dyncorp, did the same. Leaked by Chelsea Manning

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/dec/02/foreign-contractors-hired-dancing-boys
But hey they gave her 35 years.


No consequences for politically connected slavers though.

[polly7]

58. Thanks for that link Ash_F. I had read of Dyncorp's escapades, but always learn

something new and disgusting.

'Why do they hate us'?

[riderinthestorm]

18. The Republicans are sitting on a mountain of Hillary oppo research

There's going to be a shit storm erupting weekly.

Big K&R!

[AzDar]

22. Damn.

[Uncle Joe]

23. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, leveymg.

[peacebird]

26. Yep, yet ANOTHER reason I will NEVER vote for HRC. If younguys push her to be our nom, then

Trump or Cruz is totally on YOU.

You have the chance to vote for an honest, trustworthy man with integrity, and you CHOOSE to foist Hillary on us. The least trustworthy pol around.

[AtomicKitten]

28. Jumping Jeezus. k/r

[grasswire]

31. Is anyone on our Democratic side keeping an index of the corruption?

It's getting hard to keep track.

I'm sure the GOP has a thick binder of them all.

[VulgarPoet]

63. Me. nt

[think]

32. Hmm...

[amborin]

34. K&R and let's hope this gets wide exposure!

[Octafish]

35. Wish the Inspector General was able to look into that except there was no IG to look...

The author helped put the S&L crooks behind bars in the 1990s as a regulator and forensic economist for the SEC. Black helped Iceland put its banksters behind bars, but for some reason, the Federal government failed to call on him for help in the great Bankster Bailout of 2008. He knows a bit about Inspector Generals and Control Fraud.

The Clintons Have Not Changed: The Clintonian War on the IGs

By William K. Black
February 23, 2016 Bloomington, MN

Secretary Hillary Clinton is asking Democratic voters to believe that she has experienced a “Road to Damascus” conversion from her roots as a leader of the “New Democrats” – the Wall Street wing of the Democratic Party. When exactly this conversion occurred is never stated, but an interesting fact has emerged that demonstrates it did not occur during her service as the Secretary of State. A Wall Street Journal story provides the key facts, but none of the analysis.

Newly released emails indicate that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her top staff were involved in the selection process for the State Department’s internal watchdog, a position that ultimately went unfilled throughout her four-year tenure.

The WSJ’s angle is that such involvement in the selection of the Inspector General (IG) is a threat to the IG’s vital independence. True, and also true as the story notes that Hillary was far from rare as an agency or department head in seeking to select behind the scenes the supposedly independent IGs.

The function of the IG is to “speak truth to power.” Naturally, “power” hates IGs with a purple passion. Government leaders are most likely to hate having its abuses made public by IG when the government leader is secretly acting in concert with immensely powerful private leaders for their mutual benefit at the expense of the public.

What the WSJ missed is that the Clinton’s, for decades, have sought to destroy the independence and effectiveness of the IGs precisely because of the threat that they pose of blowing the whistle on these abuses. The Obama administration, of course, is famous for its prosecutions of those who blow the whistle on such abuses. The real story is not that Hillary attempted to select a lap dog as IG – the real story is that for her entire tenure as Secretary, four years, she left unfilled the leadership position of the only institution in the State Department dedicated to maintaining integrity and preventing the abuse of public power to aid cronies. That aid, of course, comes with the clear expectation that the cronies will make the head of the State Department wealthy as soon as she or he steps down. There is no possible defense for that, and it does not happen accidentally. The primary blame goes to President Obama, who made no nomination for the position for the entire four years. It wasn’t Republican intransigence that explains this scandal.

CONTINUED...

http://neweconomicperspectives.org/2016/03/clintons-not-changed-clintonian-war-igs.html#more-10101

For those new to the subject: Bill Black is one of "those" economists who won't play ball with the money crowd. Why? He. Has. Integrity.

[grasswire]

38. that deserves to be an OP, Octa. nt

[840high]

42. Yes.

[Octafish]

68. IG Clouseau

"I did not know the bank was being robbed because I was engaged in my sworn duty as a police officer."



http://www.democraticunderground.com/12511413818

[Octafish]

67. Thanks, grasswire! It was a few weeks back...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12511413818

I follow the First Tenet of Classic Journalism:

"Don't avert your eyes; plagiarize."

[amborin]

65. this keeps getting worse by the minute

[think]

66. Thanks for the additional information /nt

[nashville_brook]

81. yes, this should be an OP

[amborin]

36. he has a long bad history:

http://www.thenation.com/article/lawmakers-ask-hillary-clinton-explain-erik-princes-mercenaries-uae/

 Lawmakers Ask Hillary Clinton to Explain Erik Prince’s Mercenaries in the UAE

“The implications of allowing a US citizen to assemble a legion in any foreign country, and especially in a combustible region like the Middle East, are serious and wide-ranging,” they allege.
By Jeremy ScahillTwitter
May 23, 2011

Facebook
Twitter
Email
Print

Five members of Congress have called on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to clarify if Blackwater founder Erik Prince’s recently disclosed deal to provide a small mercenary army to the United Arab Emirates complies with US law and export regulations. “We question whether private US citizens should be involved in recruiting and assembling forces, as well as providing military training and support to foreign governments and militaries,” wrote the lawmakers, led by Representative Jan Schakowsky, a member of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. “The implications of allowing a US citizen to assemble a foreign legion in any foreign country, and especially in a combustible region like the Middle East, are serious and wide-ranging.”


On May 14, the New York Times revealed that Prince was leading an effort to build an army of mercs 800 strong—including scores from Colombia—in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. They would be trained by US, European and South African special forces veterans. Prince’s new company, Reflex Responses, also known as R2, was bankrolled to the tune of $529 million from “the oil-soaked sheikdom,” according to the Times, adding that Prince was “hired by the crown prince of Abu Dhabi” Sheik Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan.

According to the lawmakers, under US law, Prince’s company is exporting a defense product and therefore falls under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), requiring him to “first seek the approval of the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls before the defense services are provided.” The DDTC is controlled by the State Department. “Has Mr. Prince, or any of the other Americans involved in the training contract, received such approval from DDTC?” the lawmakers ask Clinton in the May 23 letter [PDF], a copy of which was obtained by The Nation. Past attempts by The Nation to obtain certain DDTC records on Blackwater-affiliated companies have been rejected by the State Department.

They further ask Secretary Clinton for “any clarification as to US policy toward private US citizens who recruit, assemble, or train foreign militaries, and toward foreign countries that hire private US citizens to train their militaries.” They add: “We have long expressed concerns about the US government continuing to do business with Blackwater, despite that company’s growing list of misconduct, and we are concerned that Mr. Prince is now exporting his services. In addition, the Emirati regime’s use of an American-created and trained force of foreign troops has the potential to introduce further instability and suspicion into an already volatile region (and at a particularly sensitive time).” In addition to Schakowsky, the other signers of the letter are: John Conyers, Maurice Hinchey, James Moran and Peter Welch.

and this:

The Skeptical Bureaucrat

From deep inside the foundations of our Republic's capital city
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Bill Clinton and Erik Prince: Three Degrees of Separation
I haven't seen the Clinton Foundation donors list for myself yet, since their website is still jammed and inaccessible. Anyway, the list is reportedly 2,922 pages long and not searchable, and no one with a normal home life will stay on his computer late into the night clicking "next" 2,922 times. So I'm relying on news media stories like this one in the Washington Post for the details of today's surprising revelation that one of ex-President Bill Clinton's donors was the Blackwater Training Center, home base of Blackwater Worldwide and its CEO, Erik Prince.

By the way, if you click on that story, dig deep; the WAPO buried the Blackwater item in paragraph 14 of a 19-paragraph story. I'm not sure whether that means they rated it low in news interest, or whether they were confused about how to report something that seems to implicate Bill Clinton and cause a problem for incoming SecState Hillary Clinton.

Granted, Prince was among the lesser fatcats on Clinton's list - in for only $10,001 to $25,000, rather than for millions like the Saudi Arabians and Barbra Streisand - nevertheless, there he was. So the question of the hour is: What was Erik Prince, the man liberals love to hate, doing on the list of Bill Clinton's 205,000 closest friends?

The controversies that have plagued Blackwater in Iraq, and it's main customer there, the U.S. State Department, are all too well-known. I find plenty of fault with Blackwater's operations in Iraq, and with the inadequate management provided by it's employer, as well. However, Prince has been demonized beyond what the facts justify and out of all sense of proportion. In the left-wing mind, Prince is the conservative Condottieri, the entrepreneur of mercenary mayhem, the impresario of death and destruction, the Praetorian protector of corporate interests, the commander of the Fundamentalist Freikorps, and - for all I know - the personal bodyguard to Dick Cheney himself. The picture presented by much of the news media and by various politicians is just too lurid and hyperventilating to be true.

So far as I can see, Erik Prince is just a former Navy SEAL who came from a wealthy family. When his father died, he left the Navy, put on a different kind of blue suit, and went into business for himself by founding and financing Blackwater Training Center, a place where he could employ a few Navy buddies and make some money training corporate security and law enforcement types. A remarkable biography, but really nothing extraordinary until the Iraq and Afghanistan wars created a huge demand for private protection contractors, resulting in Blackwater collecting over $1 billion in U.S. Government contracts between 2002 and 2008.

Prince appears to be the polar opposite of Bill Clinton. He's very private, very right-wing, and very religiously devout, a straight-laced military businessman and father of six who is hip-deep in Republican causes. What in the world led him to donate money to the Clinton Foundation? Which of Bill's worthy causes attracted Prince's interest? Was it health security, economic empowerment, leadership development and citizen service, or racial, ethnic and religious reconciliation? Or maybe HIV/AIDS, climate change, or fighting childhood obesity? Frankly, none of them sound like Prince's cup of tea. Maybe it was tsunami relief.

Bill Clinton and Erik Prince. Who or what could possibly bring this odd couple together? Could it be ... Hillary's political strategist Mark Penn ?

Last year, when the Democratic Party primary battle was getting started, some people pointed out the connection between Blackwater and Mark Penn. John Edwards was one. Bill Moyers was another. The below transcript from a PBS interview is typical:


BILL MOYERS: I was intrigued to learn that the PR-agency that is handling Prince, Burson-Marsteller , is also the guy who heads - the CEO is also Hillary Clinton's top strategist, Mark Penn.

JEREMY SCAHILL: Mark Penn.

BILL MOYERS: Mark Penn. Sort of-- he's been called Hillary's Rove. What-- I know something about how this system works. How a PR company comes to you and says hey I've got this client that would like to be on air here. Here's how we'd like to do it. And then, you see the same thing in being repeated from show to show to show — like Hillary Clinton was on all five of the Sunday morning talk shows recently. What have you learned about how the system works between the political and media elites?

JEREMY SCAHILL: Well, I mean, PR-companies are also mercenaries and I know oftentimes work for the highest bidder. I think it's interesting that--

BILL MOYERS: They're not shooting people though.

JEREMY SCAHILL: No, no, no. But they're mercenaries in the sense that they'll rent their services out to anyone. And once you're defending Erik Prince, you're working for him, then you become part of his sort of mercenary operation. I also think that it was a strategic choice to go with the company with Mark Penn because of his connection with the democrats and Hillary Clinton.

But let's, lets remember here we're talking about Blackwater right now because we have a Republican administration. For so many years, we had a Republican dominated Congress. Blackwater is certainly the beneficiary of the Republican monopoly in government. But this system has been bi-partisan for a very long time.

When Hillary Clinton's husband was in the White House, he was an aggressive supporter of the privatization of the war machine. Bill Clinton used mercenary forces in the Balkans. Who do we think gave Dick Cheney's company all of those contracts during the Nineties? We talk about Halliburton. It was Clinton. It was the Clinton administration. And, and, Blackwater may be an extraordinary Republican company. But they're gonna be around when there's a Democrat in office.


It makes sense to me. Why not give Bill Clinton a little cash (and pay lots more to Hillary's chief political aide) when your government contracting business is going to be around long after the Bush Administration is gone?

http://skepticalbureaucrat.blogspot.com/2008/12/bill-clinton-and-erik-prince-three.html

[leveymg]

49. Thank you for that specific data on Prince's contribution to Bill and Hillary's pay to play

and the other interesting details in these articles. Along with some others here, I'm beginning to think that her private server and disclosures of classified materials are the least of HRC's high crimes and misdemeanors.

[polly7]

59. I wonder if she hadn't had those private servers and had to go through regular

channels if the destruction of Libya would have even been possible? Obama was against it - she pushed him. She got proven false info and went with it ......... exactly as was done with Iraq.

[KoKo]

76. Eric Prince donates to the Clinton Foundation ...

Great post! And, another reason why the Clinton Foundation needs to be investigated before Hillary is anointed at the Dem Convention. There is not enough time...though. And, if she is elected President there will never be time.

[Peace Patriot]

39. This reminds me of a little blip in the 'news' about Blackwater that I saw...

...circa 2010 (Clinton was Sec of State) that quickly disappeared from the 'news' and I never saw it again. There wasn't much but what there was set my alarm bells ringing, cuz I was following events in South America very closely at the time. It went like this (I remember some of the exact wording): Blackwater was being fined by the U.S. State Department for "unauthorized trainings of foreign persons in Colombia for use in Iraq and Afghanistan." I also seem to recall that the fine was a slap on the hand.

A lot of resonant items in this disappeared 'news':

--training "foreign persons"
--training them IN COLOMBIA
--"for use in Iraq and Afghanistan"!
--"unauthorized".

There were many murders including mass murders occurring in Colombia at the time, fueled by $7 BILLION U.S. tax dollars to the Colombian military, in a country overseen by a 'mafia don' president (Alvaro Uribe), pal of Bush Jr. About a hundred of Uribe's closest associates, including family members, are in jail or under investigation for ties to the RW death squads, drug trafficking, arms dealing, illegal domestic spying (likely aided by the Bush junta), election fraud, ponzi schemes and other crimes. Also, the Colombian military was hit with a scandal of atrocious proportions at that time: they would lure young men with promises of jobs, murder them, and dress their bodies up like leftist guerrillas, to up their body counts, to earn bonuses and to impress U.S. senators.

So, in this cauldron of bloodshed and depravity, Blackwater was "training foreign persons" "for use in Iraq and Afghanistan," and all that happened to them, at the hands of Sec of State Clinton for failing to hold a State Dept. permit for whatever they were actually doing in Colombia, was a small fine.

The Colombian military and their closely tied RW death squads were driving 50 MILLION Colombian peasants from their small farms--killing and brutalizing many, poisoning their children, their animals and their food crops with aerial spraying of some Monsanto crap or other, and destroying their lives and communities--I figure to create a slave labor force in the cities for "free trade for the rich."

My guess as to what Blackwater was actually doing was engaging in "turkey shoots" of the peasants--maybe even participating in mass murders--to harden their "trainees" for similar shooting in Iraq and Afghanistan. (There was a particularly bad mass grave found in La Macarena, Colombia, during this period. U.S. military base nearby. USAID plan being implemented for "pacifying" the area. (Very similar to such plans in Afghanistan.) But whether this is true or not--that Blackwater was killing peasants, like the Colombian military was doing and like their RW death squads were doing--it's just my guess at the level of atrocity they are capable of--Colombia certainly presented ideal U.S.-fostered conditions for the "training" of private armies.

I mostly blamed the Bush junta for this rogue army's murky operations in Colombia, and thought, at the time, that Clinton was merely covering it up, like everything about Bush junta crimes was being covered up. Bush and particularly Rumsfeld were involved in some really dark dealings in Colombia, including dirty tricks trying to get the presidents of Venezuela and Ecuador accused of terrorism, promotion of war between the U.S./Colombia and Venezuela/Ecuador, murderous sabotage of early peace efforts in the Colombia civil war and god knows what else. There was a lot to cover up.

But now, when I think of how Clinton handled the fascist military coup in Honduras (she supported it; it was probably originally planned by the Bush junta--it occurred in June 2009)--and in view of the above--I suspect that Clinton was doing more than covering up Bush junta crimes. It is more like she was actively encouraging this rogue army and its crimes, by ensuring no serious consequences.

A bit later in her tenure as Sec of State, Clinton intervened in the Drummond Coal case (relatives of victims murdered by Drummond Coal death squads--that's how they handled their labor problems in Colombia) sued Drummond Coal, an Alabama corporation, in the U.S. and subpoenaed Alvaro Uribe for a deposition. Clinton wrote to the judge urging him not to allow Uribe to be deposed, and hinting that it was a "national security" matter. (The judge did not permit the Uribe deposition.)

More cover up. More impunity for the rich and powerful. More death for the poor--especially the uppity poor, the labor organizing poor, the poor who dare to speak up for themselves and demand their rights as human beings.

I feel the need to add one thing: I think that President Obama is currently trying to undo the damage that Hillary Clinton did to U.S./Latin American relations, when she was Sec of State. The U.S. supported fascist military coup against the elected president of Honduras, in June '09, gravely damaged Obama's state purposed of improving relations. All of Latin America was outraged by that coup and blamed the U.S. (rightfully so). It has taken an unprecedented U.S. presidential trip to Cuba (U.S. non-recognition of Cuba has pissed off LatAm for decades) and John Kerry's support of the Colombia peace talks, to start putting things on a better footing. I applaud them for this. And by this it becomes increasingly clear that it wasn't Obama who messed over Honduras; it was Clinton.

---------------------------

See Naaman Fletcher's comment on the Blackwater case (#5) here: (11/7/12)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/11086782

Some further discussion from my DU Journal: (11/22/10)

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Peace%20Patriot/206
(Much of this post is about Maria Hurtado's escape from Colombia to Panama, when Colombian prosecutors were seeking her testimony about Uribe's illegal domestic spying. She was Uribe's spy chief.)

[polly7]

60. Thank you so much ....... what a lot of great information. nt.

[DanTex]

47. Conspiracy!

[leveymg]

50. No, just another day down at Foggy Bottom for Madam Secretary.

Thanks for kicking the thread.

[Octafish]

69. That DUer's specialty seems to be posting that word as a warning.

Funny thing, there are so many examples of skirting the law, if not outright criminality, in Sec. Clinton's C.V., the DUer doesn't have the time needed to actually point to any exculpatory evidence, so a quick mention of "Conspiracy" has to make do.

[leveymg]

70. Actually, conspiracy is an included crime at 18 USC Sec. 793 (g).

At first, when I identified Sec. 793 as the applicable statute in my original post last August, I didn't think collusion with others could be proven. Now, with more recent information, I could see a prosecutor going for that part in addition to subsections (e) and (f).

But, that applies to mishandling of classified documents. This is something else, perhaps far worse.

[Octafish]

88. Thus, the Deferred Prosecution settlement.

No public trial helps keep questions to a minimum so that "we" never want to have to "go there" like, "Why did State allow Erik Prince to build (and profit from) mercenary armies for petroleum soaked nations?"

"Frontier Services Group." You don't have to be Buffalo Bill to know what happens to the indigenous people on the frontier.

[leveymg]

89. Frontier Services Group (FSG) kind of reminds me of this outfit, and its chief security contractor

[Octafish]

91. THREE G.I. Joe head scars!!!

That is one tuff action figure hombre; a cartoon with expressions more real than most modern Republicans will ever wear.



As a guy who once had a friend in Jr. ROTC when Nixon was at the top of the chain o' command, I gotta say Ken Mars.



“We help people get their projects up and running and once they’re up, keep them running...We get busy when things are good in Africa and we stay busy when things are sometimes not good.” -- Erik Prince

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-11/blackwater-founder-turns-white-collar-ceo-aiding-chinese-firms

[leveymg]

92. Can you imagine the trouble this guy would be getting into without things to keep him busy?

[Octafish]

96. Gott mit GOP

Who ever talks about Gen. Sir Charles Willoughby anymore?

[leveymg]

101. I miss Mae. And, yes, Generalismo Francisco Franco is still dead.

Here a Hillary action figure. No scars to be seen, just the ubiquitous Blackberry.

"Send it unsecured."

[aikoaiko]

48. This is what it means to be a practical Democrat.

[kgnu_fan]

56. wake up, people, wake up!

[pdsimdars]

71. What won't this woman do? Anything?

[Scuba]

73. Quit beating this dead horse. Hillary has been investigated for ethics countless times.

None have ever been found.

[leveymg]

75. Dry, very dry.

Shaken not stirred.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

78. Good one. +1

[ViseGrip]

74. This bunch are just war profiteers. So sad. Neocons and Hillary.

Can't put a piece of paper between them.

[unc70]

82. Prince was also major funder of RW causes

Since Prince was the sole owner of Blackwater, the profits he received from extravagant no-bid contracts with the State Department and others became his personally. He then donated huge amounts to various RW organizations and efforts. If I remember, at one point it was over a half billion dollars. Essentially, pay BW twice the competitive rate and his money laundering would use that government largesse to finance some of the worst right wing groups.

I did a couple of posts on this local (NC) company back some years.

[leveymg]

85. The gift that keeps on giving. nt

[rockfordfile]

99. Blackwater is a pos right wing company.

[SMC22307]

86. K&R

[John Poet]

87. BLACKWATER.

GAWD....

[DemocraticSocialist8]

95. Subs

[Octafish]

98. Trump's foreign policy advisor is ex-Blackwater

Donald Trump’s Top Foreign Adviser, Joseph Schmitz, is a Former Blackwater Executive

http://m.democracynow.org/stories/16064

[leveymg]

100. So was Romney's - Cofer Black

Black was the last CIA officer to admit meeting with UBL. That was 1996 in Khartoum, when Cofer was Station Chief there. He came back and was promoted to Director of the CIA Counter-Terrorism Center (CTC). In January, 2002, CTC allowed the Flt. 77 hijackers into the US, depite their being on the terrorist watch list. To top it off, a warning cable drafted by the FBI liaison to FBI HQ at the time was ordered withheld by the CIA brass.