Blackwater used 'child prostitutes in Iraq'
New disturbing charges have emerged against XE, the infamous private security firm formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide, whose operations came under spotlight after its 2007 carnage in Baghdad.
According to a report by MSNBC and based on alleged sworn declarations by two Blackwater employees in federal court, the firm used child prostitutes at its compound in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone.
The declarations added Iraqi minors got involve in sexual acts with Blackwater members in exchange for one dollar and Erik Prince, the firm’s owner, “failed to stop the ongoing use of prostitutes, including child prostitutes, by his men.”
Based on other statements, the firm was involved in another sex scandal; “Prince’s North Carolina operations had an ongoing wife-swapping and sex ring, which was participated in by many of Mr. Prince’s top executives.”
The two employees also alleged that Prince “views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe,” The Nation reported.
Prince also allegedly forced health professional to endorse the redeployment of those Blackwater members who had been mental problems, such as excessive drinking and drug abuse.
Other charges against the firm include arms smuggling, money laundering and tax evasion.
The criminal activities of the firm first came under scrutiny after a group of the firm’s members who were tasked to guard US diplomats in Iraq opened fire on civilians in Baghdad on September 2007, killing 17 people.
According to federal contract data obtained by The Nation, the Obama administration has recently extended a contract with Blackwater for more than $20 million for “security services” in Iraq.Are you anti-war? Look around you. This is all being done in our name. Withdraw your support, bring the war home.
We choose to wage it nonviolently, yet thousands are arrested and brutalized by chemical weapons that violate the Geneva Convention. By a militarized police force causing PTSD in hundreds of political dissidents who have decided to NOT BE MOVED by the intimidation tactics of this authoritarian imperialist regime.We have power in numbers.
NDAA. Expatriation Act. Assassination of US Citizens.
This is not a reason to be afraid, this is more of a reason to fight back.
We are fucking legion.
Bring the war home like it is 1968!!!
Yeah, good luck with that.
But to the stuff about Blackwater/XE—sounds typical from a guy who believes it’s his Christian duty to remove Islamist threats to America. It’s often the loudest proponents of religion who end up violating their own rules. SIGH.
(via zoe-e-w)
