Monday, September 6, 2010

Blackwater Surprise

To ensure it continued to win government contracts
Blackwater created 30 front companies.
The "security company" synonymous with shadiness, brutality, & murder
has been scolded on multiple occasions yet took many lengths to continue to win contracts
even after Blackwater guards killed 17 civilians in Baghdad back in 2007.

They recently won a $100 million contract to provide security in Afghanistan
in which they participated in CIA raids of suspected insurgents.
In senate hearings, army officials claimed they didn't know Blackwater affiliate Paravant was even associated with the company.
Enrique Prado is a former top CIA official who joined the contractor,
in an internal e-mail intercepted by the New York Times
he asserted he had created a Blackwater spy network that could be hired by the government.
He asked an associate if the DEA might be interested in its services.
The company was also used to load bombs & missiles in drones in Pakistan
and recently reached a $42 million settlement for its violations of US control regulations.

In February Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Miss) stated:
"The way you restore your reputation is not by changing your name. The way you restore your reputation is by changing the way you do business"
Dividing up the company into small sectors with different labels allows it to fly under the radar
and obscure its involvement and maintain a low profile.
Since 2001 the CIA has awarded the agency (now known as Xe Services) and its affiliates upwards of $600 million.


US indicts 5 of Blackwater's ex-officials

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