Blackwater the mercenary army run by Erik Prince from North Carolina has obtained a contract from several Middle Eastern governments to fight piracy originating in Somalia. Given Blackwater's record no Xe services prior record the out come of this operation will only lead to further tragedy for the Innocent while the perpetrators continue to operate with impunity.
Nisour Square,
An Iraqi investigation into the events stated that as the convoy drew close to Nisour Square, a distant Kia sedan with a woman and her grown son in it was driving slowly on the wrong side of the road, and ignored a police officer's whistle to clear a path for the convoy.[11] The report said the security team fired warning shots and then lethal fire at the Kia. After this, the report said that stun grenades were fired off by contractors to clear the scene. The report continues by saying Iraqi police and Iraqi Army soldiers, mistaking the stun grenades for fragmentation grenades, opened fire at the Blackwater team, to which the Blackwater team responded.[12][13] A Reuters report showed some of the vehicles which were left at the scene. According to Iraqi investigators, a Blackwater helicopter present during the attack fired several times from the air. Blackwater has denied these charges.[14][15]
Iraqi Brigadier-General Abdul-Karim Khalaf has stated the US firm "opened fire randomly at citizens." Among those killed was one Iraqi policeman; no US State Department officials were wounded or killed.[16]
Even after its contract with the State department was canceled over this incident Blackwater continued to receive U.S. government contracts.
At a covert forward operating base run by the US Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, members of an elite division of Blackwater are at the center of a secret program in which they plan targeted assassinations of suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives, "snatch and grabs" of high-value targets and other sensitive action inside and outside Pakistan, an investigation by The Nation has found. The Blackwater operatives also assist in gathering intelligence and help direct a secret US military drone bombing campaign that runs parallel to the well-documented CIA predator strikes, according to a well-placed source within the US military intelligence apparatus.
'Prince of Mercenaries' who wreaked havoc in Iraq turns up in Somalia
Erik Prince, the American founder of the private security firm Blackwater Worldwide, has cropped up at the centre of a controversial scheme to establish a new mercenary force to crack down on piracy and terrorism in the war-torn East African country of Somalia.
The project, which emerged yesterday when an intelligence report was leaked to media in the United States, requires Mr Prince to help train a private army of 2,000 Somali troops that will be loyal to the country's United Nations-backed government. Several neighbouring states, including the United Arab Emirates, will pay the bills.
Even though Blackwater and its agents have committed numerous illegal transgressions while in the employee of the U.S. government lucrative contracts continue to come thier way.