|
Blackwater v. Judge Ryan: Malpractice Suit Dismissed
2008-06-05 03:02:00 That litigious private army Blackwater had their malpractice suit against Wiley Rein and C.A.A.F. Judge Margaret A. Ryan dismissed by the D.C. Superior Court. Blackwater filed the lawsuit in January 2008, claiming Wiley lawyers, including Judge Ryan, neglected critical case law while defending a wrongful-death case brought on behalf of four Blackwater employees ...
By: Dreadnaught
[Amusing] Blackwater Security buys a fighter plane from Brazil. when told t
2008-06-02 05:08:00 USA Today
Blackwater Worldwide: Not So Welcome In San Diego
2008-05-24 05:25:00 Blackwater Worldwide was planning to open a training facility outside San Diego. Not so fast, says the mayor of San Diego. On Monday, Sanders told his development services director, Kelly Broughton, that Blackwater’s permits, which had been issued by city staff, will require more scrutiny than the staff-level review. Broughton then sent a letter to Blackwater ...
By: Dreadnaught
Blackwater shooting highlights ignorance of American officials
2008-05-04 17:52:00 Mohammed Hafidh Abdul-Razzaq had been summoned by U.S. Embassy officials who wanted to make amends for the killing of his 10-year-old son. The boy died during a shooting involving employees of Blackwater Worldwide, the U.S. security firm. Deputy Chief of Mission Patricia A. Butenis told him that she was sorry for what had happened, Abdul-Razzaq recalled. She gave him a sealed envelope. It had his name written on it. Abdul-Razzaq pushed it away. “I told her I refuse to receive any amount,” the auto parts dealer said. “My father is a tribal sheik, and we’re not used to taking any amount unless the concerned will come and confess and apologize. Then we will talk about compensation.” In September, Blackwater contractors protecting an embassy mission killed 17 Iraqis, including Abdul-Razzaq’s boy, and injured at least two dozen in a widely publicized incident in west Baghdad’s Nisoor Square. Blackwater officials have said their workers feared the...
By: PhreQuency Ent.
Iraqis accuse Blackwater of shredding documents
2008-04-26 10:03:00 Families of Iraqis who died in a shooting involving Blackwater Worldwide contractors accused the company Friday of shredding documents and destroying evidence. Lawyers for the families made the accusations in court documents but identified the source of the information only as former employees. They said officials at the company's North Carolina compound shredded documents related to ongoing investigations sometime around March 18. Company lawyers had no immediate comment Friday night, but they are quoted in court documents as saying Blackwater took appropriate steps to make sure documents were not destroyed. Lawyers for the Iraqis do not say what investigation the documents relate to. Blackwater, a major security contractor in Iraq, is under scrutiny in several matters.Most notably, its guards are under investigation for a September shooting that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead. There is no indication the Justice Department is investigating shredding as part of that case. ...
By: Circle of 13
Blackwater Worldwide Invades California
2008-04-25 22:19:00 According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, Blackwater Worldwide is: planning to open an indoor training center in Otay Mesa to train Navy personnel after abandoning its controversial proposal to build a larger facility on a ranch in Potrero. Brian Bonfiglio, a Blackwater vice president, said the facility will operate out of a 61,600-square-foot building in a business ...
By: Dreadnaught
Adviser To Maliki: Blackwater Staying In Iraq Is ?Bad News?
2008-04-06 01:05:00 By- Suzie-Q @ 4:00 PM MST A woman passes a burned car in Baghdad where Blackwater guards killed 17 in September. From CNN: Iraqi official: Blackwater staying on ‘is bad news’ BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — The U.S. State Department’s renewal of Blackwater’s contract to provide security in Iraq “is bad news,” an adviser to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri ...
By: Suzie-Q
'Blackwater Bridge' in Fallujah Refurbished
2008-04-01 00:03:00 It was America's Mogadishu moment - only with civilian private military contractors going down in Fallujah, Iraq instead of Army Blackhawks in Somalia's capital. The Marines are trying to wipe the slate of history clean today with a few coats of fresh paint splashed over a ghastly landmark in America's painfully long war in Iraq. Four years ago today, four American security men from Blackwater were ambushed in Fallujah. They were shot in their vehicles, doused in gasoline and set afire, mutilated...(read more)
Presidential passport breach: Why do contractors have easy access to sensit
2008-03-23 19:25:00 The accessing of private passport-based travel data of all three Presidential candidates by contractors working for the State Department has finally galvanized Capitol Hill to address the issue of privacy–something we’ve been begging them to do for years. Ron Wyden sums it up succinctly: “The Government Accountability Office has been warning about this problem for a decade. And it seems to me in this administration, there’s been pretty much a culture of disregard for privacy, and that’s part of the problem,” he said. Wyden may have been referring to a 2006 report from the GAO documenting the lack of oversight in sharing Social Security Numbers with contractors working for various federal agencies, including the IRS and the FBI, as well as within the private sector. It is but one of many reports the investigative agency has issued documenting the serious vulnerabilities our government’s mad drive to outsource its functions to the private sect...
Blackwater fades into the men in the Greystone suits?
2008-03-21 17:50:00 After the debacle of last September’s murder of Iraqi civilians, many Americans held out hope that Blackwater, former Navy Seal and right wing evangelical Erik Prince’s guns-for-hire to the Busheviks operation located in the Great Dismal Swamp of eastern North Carolina had been exposed and might be forced into decline and eventual disenfranchisement. A new article in Mother Jones warns us not to be sanguine - or naive about such a happy possibility occurring. Like Phillip Morris, Blackwater has simply devised another name and plans to continue business - and, like Altria (not to be confused with nutria, although such plagues abound all around us, it seems), that business will be same as it ever was. Blackwater has now set up a new front er, subsidiary, headquartered in the Barbados (that haven for businesses seeking to evade taxes because, after all, we wouldn’t want Blackwater to pay taxes on the money it gets from American taxpayers through sole source contracts...
Waxman Asks IRS To Investigate Blackwater - CBS News
2008-03-11 00:00:00 TPMWaxman Asks IRS To Investigate BlackwaterCBS News -1 hour agoBy Patrick O'Connor (The Politico) House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) called on the Internal Revenue Service Monday to initiate an investigation into whether Blackwater Worldwide failed to pay millions in federal ...Democrat Requests Blackwater InquiryThe Associated ...
By: Pakistan News
Justice Department Investigating Blackwater
2008-03-03 08:31:00 The Justice Department is gathering testimony from Iraqi witnesses for a possible trial of Blackwater Worldwide security guards over a 2007 shooting in Baghdad that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead. FBI agents and Justice Department attorneys arrived in Baghdad last week in order to conduct interviews as part of an investigation into the truth ...
Blackwater Inquiry Turns to Baghdad
2008-02-22 15:00:00 By- Suzie-Q @ 7:00 AM MST Blackwater Inquiry Turns to Baghdad Federal authorities investigating Blackwater Worldwide contractors are returning to Baghdad this week to revisit the scene of a deadly September shooting that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead. The two-week trip, by eight prosecutors and FBI agents, marks the latest phase in an inquiry that was ...
By: Suzie-Q
We Are Blackwater: New Book From Blackwater Worldwide CEO Erik Prince
2008-02-10 03:57:00 The CEO and owner of Blackwater Worldwide, Erik D. Prince, has signed a book deal with Regnery Publishing. The book is billed as, the only insider?s account of the controversial company that has supplied bodyguards and support-and-rescue personnel to hot spots around the world, including the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq. yojoe out ...
By: Dreadnaught
Pioneering Blackwater Protesters Given Secret Trial and Criminal Conviction
2008-01-31 17:13:00 By Jeremy Scahill AlterNet Protesters who re-enacted one of Blackwater’s worst civilian massacres in Iraq got jail time, while the real killers remain free. Last week in Currituck County, N.C., Superior Court Judge Russell Duke presided over the final step in securing the first criminal conviction stemming from the deadly actions of Blackwater Worldwide, the Bush administration’s favorite ...
By: Current Era Blog
The imperial President redux
2008-01-31 00:44:00 Last week I posted about President Bush considering doing an end-run around the Senate regarding a treaty status of forces agreement between the U.S. and the Iraqi government (specifically the Iraqi President and Cabinet) that might put the U.S. on notice that it’s our job to protect the government even in the event of an Iraqi civil war. And I pointed out that Bush had used signing statements to claim that he wasn’t subject to the very federal laws he was signing because they restricted his ability to build permanent military bases in Iraq. Well, Bush II (the dynastic designation seems somehow appropriate) done it yet again. In signing the Defense Authorization bill, Bush II took specific exception to “sections 841, 846, 1079, and 1222″ in yet another signing statement. Section 841 creates the “Commission on Wartime Contracting,” specifically to look into Iraq occupation abuses and fraud by people like Blackwater. I suspect that Bush doesnR...
Pioneering Blackwater Protesters Given Secret Trial and Criminal Conviction
2008-01-30 16:54:00 Sudhan @16:55 CET By Jeremy Scahill, AlterNet. Posted January 29, 2008. Protesters who re-enacted one of Blackwater?s worst civilian massacres in Iraq got jail time, while the real killers remain free. Last week in Currituck County, N.C., Superior Court Judge Russell Duke presided over the final step in securing the first criminal conviction stemming from ...
By: Suzie-Q
Blackwater Case Faces Obstacles, Justice Dept. Says
2008-01-16 05:31:00 In a private briefing in mid-December, officials from the Justice and State Departments met with aides to the House Judiciary Committee and other Congressional staff members and warned them that there were major legal obstacles that might prevent any
By: Get rich
FBI Finds Blackwater Trucks Repaired & Repainted
2008-01-13 16:41:00 By- Suzie-Q @ 8:45 AM MST An Iraqi traffic policeman inspects a car destroyed Sept. 16, 2007, by a Blackwater security detail in al-Nisoor Square in Baghdad, Iraq in this Sept. 20, 2007 file photo. Blackwater Worldwide repaired and repainted its trucks immediately after a deadly September shooting in Baghdad, making it difficult to ...
By: Suzie-Q
2005 Use of Gas by Blackwater Leaves Questions
2008-01-10 14:09:00 Suddenly, on that May day in 2005, the copter dropped CS gas, a riot-control substance the American military in Iraq can use only under the strictest conditions and with the approval of top military commanders.
By: Get rich
05 Use of Gas by Blackwater Leaves Questions
2008-01-10 07:19:00 Suddenly, on that May day in 2005, the copter dropped CS gas, a riot-control substance the American military in Iraq can use only under the strictest conditions and with the approval of top military commanders.
By: Get rich
Use of gas by Blackwater leaves questions
2008-01-10 06:42:00 WASHINGTON: Suddenly, on that May day in 2005, the copter dropped CS gas, a riot-control substance the American military in Iraq can use only under the strictest conditions and with the approval of top military commanders.
By: Get rich
Bolton Faults U.S. in Bhutto Assassination
2008-01-07 02:08:00 Following Benazir Bhutto?s 27 December 2007 assassination in Pakistan, much ink was devoted to the blame game. But this little gem from the always-blunt and sometimes controversial John R. Bolton, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, didn’t receive much press coverage. Bolton believes that the U.S. helped set in motion a chain of events leading to former prime minister Bhutto’s murder.
By: pajamadeen
Conspiracy Theory Du Jour ?Haliburton? or ?Blackwater? Will Assassinate Oba
2008-01-05 16:09:00 Want some old fashioned black helicopter, conspiracy goofiness? Check out the frenzied work of HufPoster Joseph Palmero who imagines that if Obama becomes president members of Blackwater security services or Haliburton would somehow decide to assassinate him. After reading his wild-eyed musings, one wonders if the foam from his mouth short circuited his keyboard as ...
Conspiracy Theory Du Jour ?Haliburton? or ?Blackwater? Will Assassinate Oba
2008-01-05 00:00:00 -By Warner Todd Huston Want some old fashioned black helicopter, conspiracy goofiness? Check out the frenzied work of HufPoster Joseph Palmero who imagines that if Obama becomes president members of Blackwater security services or Haliburton would somehow decide to assassinate him. After reading his wild-eyed musings, one wonders if the foam ...
By: Publius Forum
Bush Administration Warned About Blackwater and Other Private Firms
2007-12-24 12:05:00 We’ve seen the same pattern repeated many times with the Bush administration. Both the Clinton administration and the CIA provided Bush with warnings about al Qaeda but he ignored them. Many people warned that going into Iraq would be a disaster, predicting the situation we are now in. The Washington Post reports on another example ...
By: Liberal Values
Blackwater Shoots Unarmed Non-Combatant
2007-12-20 15:14:00 There appears to be a common theme to the reported killings attributed to Blackwater employees in Iraq. The vast majority of those who died at the slimy hands of Blackwater employees were unarmed non-combatants. This latest incident involved the cold-blooded murder of the New York Times’ dog who lived in their Iraqi compound. The common thread ...
By: Daily Nonsense
Mitt Romney: Tabernacle Choirboy or Blackwater Mercenary
2007-12-16 23:34:00 by Robert Weitzel “Don’t Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?” - Mike Huckabee Mitt Romney, like his great-grandfather who had five wives, is a polygamist. His problem? The Mormon Church—as well as the United States government—outlawed polygamy for its “Saints” in 1890. But Mitt has been married monogamously to Ann for 38 years. His problem? He is a political polygamist whose multiple marriages of convenience, and the ease with which he maneuvers between conjugal visits, should be as disturbing to the American electorate as a Utah harem. Our problem? Mitt seems to be equally at home with “our nation’s symphony of faith” as he is with our nation’s largest mercenary army, Blackwater Worldwide, the Whore of Babylon. On December 6, Romney delivered his “Faith in America” speech at George H.W. Bush’s Presidential Library. It was his John Kennedy moment. Like Kennedy, he wanted to assure the American people that “no authorities of m...
Another Blackwater Official Resigns
2007-12-13 01:43:00 By- Suzie-Q @ 5:45 PM MST Make that two State Department officials overseeing Blackwater to resign. On November 30, Kevin Barry, a top official at the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security — Blackwater’s liaison office — opted to spend more time with the family. Barry joins the Bureau’s chief, who quit in October. Barry’s ...
By: Suzie-Q
Blackwater Supporters Ousted
2007-12-12 19:07:00 When it comes to the shady, no-bid contracts, Blackwater is certainly a winner. When it comes to putting projects out in a public forum, not only the company, but also their supporters get the big Screw You from John Q. Public. The citizens of Potrero, California, a quiet little mountain town west of San Diego, ...
By: Daily Nonsense
Investigation Continues Of Blackwater Guards
2007-12-09 15:02:00 Federal investigators examining the shooting death by Blackwater guards of Iraqi civilians have narrowed their focus to three men who were involved in the incident that caused great anger in Iraq. A federal grand jury is conducting the investigation and there apparently are great concerns over testimony that has already been provided the group. An ...
GOTCHA!! Inspector General with Links to Blackwater Resigns!
2007-12-08 21:54:00 By GEF @ 1:58 PM MST via C&L Breaking: Cookie crumbles; Krongards resigns By: bluegal @ 6:26 PM - PST Reuters: State Department Inspector General Howard Krongard, under scrutiny for his brother?s link to the Blackwater security firm, has decided to resign, U.S. officials said on Friday. Krongard, the State Department?s top investigator, has been accused by ...
By: Suzie-Q
Blackwater?s Bu$ine$$
2007-12-07 10:43:00 Sudhan @10:45 CET Jeremy Scahill | The Nation, posted December 6, 2007 (December 24, 2007 issue) Gunning down seventeen Iraqi civilians in an incident the military has labeled ?criminal.? Multiple Congressional investigations. A federal grand jury. Allegations of illegal arms smuggling. Wrongful death lawsuits brought by families of ...
By: Suzie-Q
Spin sets up Blackwater at border, while military smuggles drugs
2007-12-06 23:54:00 by Brenda Norrell Television news is ready to pump you up, and deliver the agenda. Meanwhile, after writing about all the National Guardsmen rushing to smuggle cocaine from the Arizona border, there was a lingering question: "Why weren't any Border Patrol agents arrested?" Sure, Border Patrol agents have been charged with murder and rape at the border, but why weren't any Border Patrol agents caught smuggling drugs during the sting, Operation Lively Green? Blackwater Goes to Mexico By JOHN ROSS If and when private security contractor Blackwater USA and its heavily-armed operatives are forced to pull out of Iraq as the result of the September 16th rampage in downtown Baghdad when its employees massacred up to 28 Iraqis, Mexico could be a profitable option for the North Carolina-based company. Actually, Blackwater is almost in Mexico already. For months, the North Carolina-based corporation has been pressuring local San Diego officials to grant it an operating lic...
Blackwater explained for the Dick and Jane crowd?.
2007-12-06 21:29:00 See Erik Prince. See Erik Prince dodge responsibility for Blackwater actions. See Erik Prince get rich(er) from Blackwater. See State Department toadies get bonuses for helping Blackwater get even more money from taxpayers. See Erik Prince smirk.
Private Security in Iraq Face Tighter Rules
2007-12-06 09:28:00 WASHINGTON ? Top officials in the State Department and the Pentagon have agreed to new rules governing security contractors in Iraq, following a number of incidents that have come to light about alleged rogue activity by private armed guards on the U.S. payroll. FOX News confirms that a meeting is scheduled for today to finalize the ...
By: TexasFred's
Justice Seeks to Apply U.S. Law
2007-11-29 15:16:00 One of the biggest issues in the Blackwater case has to do with accountability. Can Blackwater and it’s homicidal employees be held accountable for the atrocities committed in Iraq. There is a large debate going on right now as the U.S. Justice Department tussles with the basic issue of if and how we ...
By: Daily Nonsense
Blackwater Sued in Civil Court
2007-11-28 13:51:00 A Federal grand Jury has started taking testimony this week in a civil suit against Blackwater. The suit has been filed by family members of some of the 17 civilians brutally murdered in Nisoor Square this past September 16th. Kenneth Kohl and Stephen Ponticiello, Justice Department national security prosecutors, both of whom are handling the ...
By: Daily Nonsense
Blackwater Mercenaries Accused of Steroid Abuse
2007-11-28 12:27:00 A civil lawsuit filed on behalf of the families of the individuals killed in the shooting incident on Sept. 16 in Nusoor Square, Baghdad, alleges that Blackwater guards were abusing steroids. The lawsuit, “Estate of Himoud Saed Atban, et al. v. Blackwater USA, et al.” (C.A. No. 07-1831), which was filed on October 11th in Washington DC by four families of persons killed in the shooting incident. Continue reading this story...
By: Pogue's Blog
Lawsuit, Grand Jury Focus on Blackwater
2007-11-28 04:59:00 From Associated Press, by Lara Jakes Jordan WASHINGTON (AP) ? A federal grand jury investigating Blackwater Worldwide heard witnesses Tuesday as a private lawsuit accused the government contractor’s bodyguards of ignoring orders and abandoning their posts shortly before taking part in a Baghdad shooting that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead. Filed this week in U.S. District Court ...
Lawsuit: Blackwater guards on drugs
2007-11-28 03:44:00 WASHINGTON - A lawsuit against Blackwater Worldwide alleges widespread use of steroids and other drugs by the contractor's workers in Iraq and accuses its bodyguards of abandoning their post shortly before taking part in a shooting in Baghdad that
By: Get rich
Blackwater in Hot Water
2007-11-27 19:11:00 The Blackwater issue keeps getting more and more convoluted. They seem to be involved in more than one controversy in Washington. Let’s see if I can remember all of the individual issues. Illegally smuggling silencers into Iraq. The murder of three state-funded Iraqi Media Network guards by Blackwater sniper fire. The death of 14 civilians in Nisoor ...
By: Daily Nonsense
Welcome to Blackwater USA
2007-11-27 17:05:00 You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video According to their website Blackwater has trained, or hosted the training, of over 50,000 Law Enforcement, Military and civilian personnel. The video appeared to be pretty comprehensive but a scan of the course catalog will really give you a feel for the scope of ...
By: TexasFred's
Blackwater: A Brief History Of Slime
2007-11-27 04:00:00 Blackwater: A Brief History Of SlimeWhen I initially started to do research on this post, I had intended to focus primarily on the use of private contractors in war zones in general. But, the more I read about Blackwater USA, the more troubled I became. What follows here is a condensed version of what I've come across. I say "condensed", because, quite literally, something new would come out about Blackwater every day. These are some of the things that I find interesting, and some things that I had never heard about at all. I didn't focus on the war crimes they have allegedly committed, as that would have been several posts in itself...Blackwater USA's founder,Erik Prince, was born June 6, 1969 in Holland, Michigan. His father, Edgar D. Prince, was the founder of the The Prince Corporation, whose claim to fame(and fortune incidentally) was the lighted vanity mirror most of us have embedded in our car's sun visors. He also co-founded the radical, religious right's Family Researc...
So Blackwater Has 20 Aircraft and 20,000 Thugs.......
2007-11-23 13:45:00 I guess that means that WE THE PEOPLE need to organize a militia of 150 million strong doesn't it? Or are you going to allow your land to be taken b2 Vote(s)
By: JeQQ it
Grand Jury to Probe Shootings by Guards: Blackwater Among Contractors Facin
2007-11-20 15:18:00 Federal authorities have convened a grand jury to investigate multiple shootings involving private security contractors in Iraq, including a Sept. 16 incident in which guards for Blackwater Worldwide killed 17 civilians at a Baghdad traffic circle, according to sources familiar with the investigation. The Washington grand jury has issued subpoenas to several private security firms, including Blackwater, a legal source briefed on the probe said yesterday. Authorities are seeking company "after-action" reports and other documents that may shed light on specific incidents, he said. The source, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the probe, declined to say which incidents have been targeted, but he said the investigation ranges well beyond Blackwater. Private security companies in Iraq "have been shooting a lot of people," he said. The Sept. 16 shootings at Baghdad's Nisoor Square provoked outrage within the Iraqi government, which moved to have B...
Grand Jury Investigating Blackwater Over Baghdad Shooting
2007-11-20 15:15:00 A federal grand jury is said to be investigating the role of Blackwater Worldwide security guards in the shooting deaths of 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad. The Blackwater guards involved in the Sept. 16 shooting at Nisoor Square in west Baghdad initially were given limited immunity from prosecution by State Department investigators in exchange for their ...
By: The Hot Joints
BAM! Blackwater Under Investigation!
2007-11-20 14:59:00 By- Suzie-Q @ 7:00 AM MST Federal prosecutors have issued grand jury subpoenas to some of the Blackwater employees present at a Sept. 16 shooting in Baghdad in which the company’s security personnel killed 17 Iraqi civilians, lawyers in the case and government officials briefed on the matter said Monday. The opening of the grand jury inquiry ...
By: Suzie-Q
FBI investigation complete, rules 14 killings unjustified
2007-11-19 14:42:00 Apparently, the FBI has concluded it’s investigation into the September 16th slaying of 17 Iraqi civilians and has determined that 14 of the 17 were unjustified killings. I think that means that those people were gunned down, murdered, in cold blood. This couldn’t come at a more auspicious time. I’m pretty sure that our ...
By: Daily Nonsense
Blackwater loses valued advisor
2007-11-17 18:47:00 In the wake of the discovery and public outcry following the hire of Alvin “Buzzy” Krongard by Blackwater, his brother, the State Department Inspector General Howard Krongard was forced to recuse himself in the matter of that little investigation into Blackwater itself. With questions being raised about everything from their ?No-Bid? award of the State ...
By: Daily Nonsense
|
|
 |
|
 |
