Jeremy Scahill has an article up now at the Nation outlining the details of this story. The company frequently known as Blackwater and frequently dissed for re-branding itself as the Scientology-esque 'Xe' Corporation, has been under investigation by the federal government for myriad nefarious activities in the middle east and elsewhere since 2004. However, two un-named witnesses have now apparently directly accused Blackwater founder & CEO, Erik Prince, of murdering / facilitating the murder of witnesses cooperating in the federal investigation of his company. This is a very, very bad man, and it's good to see some movement in the case against him and his thuggish, Orwellian organization.
Here's the link to Scahill's story.
Apparently two men have testified in federal court in VA to various wrongdoings & just generally evil behavior that really runs the gamut of violent-right-wing-nuttery.
According to the report
The two men claim that the company's owner, Erik Prince, may have murdered or facilitated the murder of individuals who were cooperating with federal authorities investigating the company. The former employee also alleges that Prince "views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe," and that Prince's companies "encouraged and rewarded the destruction of Iraqi life."
Blackwater has long symbolized the wrongheadedness of the mentality that led us into Iraq. And it really has felt as though the investigation into their dealings has dragged on forever to no end. But if the testimony given yesterday by these two witnesses is true, then something big has to be done about Blackwater. They are armed mercenaries who have, at times, been deployed in American streets to 'keep order'. And they have, apparently, murdered innocent American citizens who appeared to be getting in the way of the messianic wishes of their ego-maniacal CEO.
These allegations, and a series of other charges, are contained in sworn affidavits, given under penalty of perjury, filed late at night on August 3 in the Eastern District of Virginia as part of a seventy-page motion by lawyers for Iraqi civilians suing Blackwater for alleged war crimes and other misconduct. Susan Burke, a private attorney working in conjunction with the Center for Constitutional Rights, is suing Blackwater in five separate civil cases filed in the Washington, DC, area. They were recently consolidated before Judge T.S. Ellis III of the Eastern District of Virginia for pretrial motions ... A hearing before Judge Ellis ... is scheduled for August 7.
Various charges of weapons smuggling, use of excessive force, tampering with, destroying and covering up evidence, deployment of people 'unfit' to serve in a war environment and the like are detailed in the article, which I recommend that everyone read, just to get a better idea of what our government has been spending our money on instead of, say, health reform, infrastructure, or combating global warming.
This (bloodthirsty) clown, Mr. Prince, thinks he is more than a mere human. I hope he meets a most human end as a result of all of this. People like this need to be stopped. And Blackwater or Xe or whatever the fuck they'll be calling themselves tomorrow, should be permanently banned and dissolved, never to re-appear again.
Briefed on the substance of these allegations by The Nation, Congressman Dennis Kucinich replied, "If these allegations are true, Blackwater has been a criminal enterprise defrauding taxpayers and murdering innocent civilians."
Update: thanks for reading & reccing! the link to the Nation was screwy for a few mins, but seems to be OK again.
Update again: the Nation link has had some issues, here is an alternate link.
Late / early update: there is much more discussion & information in this Mother Jones article, h/t shenderson.