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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
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June 10th,
2009 - Suit: Security Company is Operating Illegally in Iraq |
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Suit: Security
Company is Operating Illegally in Iraq From the Virginian-Pilot June 10, 2009 The latest in a series of
war-crimes lawsuits against Blackwater and its affiliated companies alleges
that they continue to operate illegally in Iraq a month after the expiration
of their lucrative security contract with the U.S. State Department. The new lawsuit, filed
Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, says Blackwater is still
providing armed protection services in Iraq under the name Greystone Ltd. for
the International Republican Institute, a nonprofit organization funded by
the U.S. government. That work is illegal, the
lawsuit contends, because the Iraqi government has refused to grant
Blackwater licenses to do business or carry weapons in the country. Iraqi anger over alleged
unprovoked killings of civilians by Blackwater contractors was a key factor
in the State Department’s decision not to renew the company’s contract to
protect U.S. diplomatic personnel in Iraq. That contract, which earned the
Moyock, N.C.-based company hundreds of millions of dollars, expired in May. But Blackwater, which
changed its name to Xe in February, continues to work for IRI, the lawsuit
alleges: “Xe-Blackwater, seeking to obscure its continued illegal operations
in Iraq, directed its employees to enter into new contracts under the
Greystone name rather than the Blackwater name.” According to its Web site,
IRI “advances freedom and democracy worldwide by developing political
parties, civic institutions, open elections, good governance and the rule of
law.” The organization was established in 1983. Although it bills itself as
nonpartisan, prominent Republicans occupy many of its leadership positions. Sen. John McCain, the 2008
Republican presidential nominee, is chairman of the board. IRI’s Iraq operation is
funded by the State Department. According to the
organization’s three most recent tax returns, for 2005 through 2007,
Blackwater was paid $17 million a year for security services - nearly a
quarter of IRI’s $75 million annual budget. The plaintiffs in the
lawsuit filed Wednesday are the estate of Husain Salih Rabea, a 72-year-old
Iraqi, and Ali Kareem Fakhri, a college student, both of whom were allegedly
fired upon by Blackwater shooters for no reason as they drove on a public
roadway in Hilla, Iraq, on Aug. 13, 2007. The Blackwater contractors left
the scene without stopping to offer any medical aid, the lawsuit says. Rabea died from his wounds,
leaving five sons and three daughters. They are among 50 Iraqi
plaintiffs named in a flurry of lawsuits filed this month in Alexandria
alleging war crimes committed by Blackwater contractors in five separate
incidents. Susan Burke, a Washington lawyer working on all the cases, said
Wednesday that more are on the way. The lawsuits name Erik
Prince, Xe’s chairman, and 11 affiliated companies as defendants. Characterizing Prince and
his companies as “modern-day merchants of death,” the lawsuits also allege
that Xe employs shooters who have been found to use steroids or other
judgment-altering substances and that the company has destroyed tapes of
reckless and dangerous behavior by its contractors. Several of the new lawsuits
are consolidations of cases filed previously in Washington and California,
including the fatal shooting of an Iraqi vice president’s bodyguard on
Christmas Eve 2006 and the Sept. 16, 2007, shootings in Baghdad’s Nisoor
Square that left 17 Iraqis dead. Neither Xe nor IRI responded
immediately to requests for comment. External link: http://hamptonroads.com/2009/06/suit-security-company-operating-illegally-iraq |