From Whitewater to Blackwater..(yes they are connected)

[SoCalDem]

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20061113/whitewater_to_blackwater

From Whitewater to Blackwater

Jeremy Scahill & Garrett Ordower



Blackwater USA, the private military contractor in the Bush Administration's "war on terror," has a new lawyer working to defend it against a ground-breaking wrongful death lawsuit brought by the families of four of its contractors killed in Iraq. The new "counsel of record" for the North Carolina-based company is none other than former Whitewater investigator Kenneth Starr--the independent counsel in the 1999 impeachment of President Bill Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal. Starr was brought in last week by Blackwater to file motions in front of the US Supreme Court in a case stemming from the killing of four Blackwater contractors in the Iraqi city of Fallujah on March 31, 2004.

"I think that Blackwater has brought in Kenneth Starr to somehow leverage a political connection to help them succeed in a case where they can't win on the merits," says Marc Miles, an attorney for the families of the Blackwater contractors. Starr takes over from Blackwater's previous counsel, Greenberg Traurig, the influential Washington law firm that once employed lobbyist Jack Abramoff. "They bring in all these big-time lawyers from nationwide firms with hundreds of attorneys. Blackwater is really painting this David and Goliath picture themselves."

In the lawsuit, originally filed in January 2005 in state court in North Carolina, the families of the men argue that Blackwater cut corners in the interest of profits, and sent the men into Fallujah without proper personnel, armored vehicles and adequate weapons. The men were ambushed, their vehicles burned and their charred bodies hung from a bridge. The incident sparked the first US siege of Fallujah, which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Iraqis and the destruction of the city.

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Update: Blackwater, Alexander Group, and Abramoff - MountainRunner
Update: Blackwater, Alexander Group, and Abramoff. Like I mentioned in my Blackwater lawsuit post, I do not mean to single out Blackwater in my discussions ...
mountainrunner.us/2006/01/blackwater_alex.html - 25k - Cached - Similar pages
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TPMmuckraker | Talking Points Memo | Prosecutors Subpoena ...
Prosecutors Subpoena Doolittle in Abramoff Investigation ... Blackwater Employee: Operations in Baghdad Were 'Flat Out Sloppy'
www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004316.php - 18k - Cached - Similar pages -

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TPMmuckraker | Talking Points Memo | Abramoff: I WAS SWIFT-BOATED!
Prosecutors Subpoena Doolittle in Abramoff Investigation · GOP Leaders Transparently Obstruct Transparency Bill · Stevens: Harumph! Blackwater Employee: ...
www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002165.php - 19k - Cached - Similar pages -

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From Whitewater to Blackwater
Starr takes over from Blackwater's previous counsel, Greenberg Traurig, the influential Washington law firm that once employed lobbyist Jack Abramoff. ...
www.thenation.com/doc/20061113/whitewater_to_blackwater - 38k - Cached - Similar pages -

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Exile on K Street
While ASG spins its problems as collateral damage from the Abramoff affair, .... is the author of the bestselling Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most ...
www.thenation.com/doc/20060220/scahill - 35k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
Daily Kos: State of the Nation
Prince and Blackwater do seem to understand money quite well. They hired convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff's former employer, Greenberg Traurig, ...
www.dailykos.com/story/2007/4/29/10301/1721 - 75k - Cached - Similar pages -

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Talking Points Memo
Abramoff Investigation Reaches into DOJ ... by the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security, details the events as described by Blackwater guards . ...
talkingpointsmemo.com/ - 52k - Cached - Similar pages -

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Political Friendster - Alexander Strategy Group - Connections
Other notable clients and related parties, Enron, Blackwater, Delay, Abramoff, Cunningham, ARMPAC belonging to DeLay's wife. ...
www.politicalfriendster.com/showPerson.php?id=571&name=Alexander-Strategy-Group - 35k - Cached - Similar pages -

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Tag: ABRAMOFF <.Common Sense>
Nonprofit Groups Funneled Money For Abramoff. 06-25-06 9:55 A GMT-07 ... Blackwater Folks Learned Their Trade, Attitude From Their Time in Regular ...
dotcommonsense.blog-city.com/tags/?/abramoff - 50k - Cached - Similar pages -

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Abramoff | Public Campaign Action Fund
The Senate Indian Affairs Committee report on Jack Abramoff's scheme to steal ... Investigations into the activities of the Blackwater private security firm ...
www.campaignmoney.org/taxonomy/term/246 - 22k - Cached - Similar pages -
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[chill_wind]

1. Recommended. Nobody knows more about Blackwater than Jeremy Scahill.

It's way time all of America knew more- a LOT more about the dirty filthy facts of Bush's mercenaries and rich $$Corporate Christian$$ War Profiteers, too.


MORE BLACKWATER ARTICLES BY Jeremy Scahill

2007

Making a Killing
Jeremy Scahill | Who will mete out justice for America's merchants of death?
October 15, 2007 issue

Blackwater: Hired Guns, Above the Law
Jeremy Scahill | Acting with impunity and immune from prosecution, a shadow army funded by US taxpayers is fueling the spiraling violence in Iraq.
October 8, 2007 (web)

Blackwater Banned
Jeremy Scahill | Nation correspondent Jeremy Scahill explains in this September 17 CNN interview the impact of the Iraqi government's decision to ban Blackwater USA from operating in the country, following an incident in which its operatives were implicated in the killings of eight Iraqis.
October 1, 2007 (web)

Outsourcing the War
Jeremy Scahill | Testimony to Congress on the impact of private military contractors in Iraq.
May 28, 2007 (web)

Pull the Plug on the Mercenary War
Jeremy Scahill | Who will stop the shadow US army in Iraq? Don't count on Congressional Democrats.
May 14, 2007 (web)


Bush's Shadow Army
Jeremy Scahill | A VideoNation report on the Bush Administration's growing dependence on private security forces such as Blackwater USA and efforts in Congress to rein them in.
April 2, 2007 (web)

Bush's Shadow Army
Jeremy Scahill | An investigation into Blackwater USA reveals a frightening picture of a politically connected private army that serves as the administration's Praetorian guard.
April 2, 2007 issue


KBR's $400 Million Iraq Question
Jeremy Scahill & Garrett Ordower | Did the Pentagon's biggest Iraq contractor violate military policy by hiring Blackwater and other private military companies?
March 26, 2007 (web)

2006

From Whitewater to Blackwater
Jeremy Scahill & Garrett Ordower | Blackwater USA has a new attorney to defend it against a wrongful death lawsuit by families of four contractors killed in Iraq: Kenneth Starr.
November 13, 2006 (web)

Blackwater Shot Down in Federal Court
Jeremy Scahill | A federal appeals court has ruled a wrongful death lawsuit can proceed against Blackwater USA: Families claim the firm cut corners in pursuit of profit in Iraq, leading to the brutal deaths of four employees in Fallujah in 2004.
September 11, 2006 (web)

Mercenary Jackpot
Jeremy Scahill | As the United States decries the private militias of Lebanon and Iraq, GOP-connected, privately owned global mercenary firms receive blank checks and little oversight.
August 28, 2006 issue

In the Black(water)
Jeremy Scahill | Hurricane victims are still homeless in New Orleans, but thanks to the federal government's $30 million contract bonanza, Blackwater USA's profits are soaring.
June 5, 2006 issue


In the Black(water)
Jeremy Scahill
May 29, 2006 (web)

Blood Is Thicker Than Blackwater
Jeremy Scahill | Lawsuits by families of soldiers-for-hire killed in Falluja have put a major war profiteer in the cross-hairs.
May 8, 2006 issue

Exile on K Street
Jeremy Scahill | Scandals abound in the smoking remains of the Alexander Strategy Group.
February 20, 2006 issue

Blackwater Down
Jeremy Scahill | With military and law enforcement forces combing New Orleans in the wake of the storm, why did the federal government feel compelled to hire private security firms Blackwater USA and BATS to keep the peace?
October 10, 2005 issue

To read all these offerings by Scahill-- go here.:

http://www.thenation.com/directory/bios/jeremy_scahill