Former Blackwater Contractor Sentenced To Life In Prison For 2007 Baghdad Shooting That Killed 14 Civilians

Nicholas Slatten (pictured in June 2014) was sentenced to life in prison for the killings in Iraq

The Hill: Former Blackwater employee sentenced to life in prison for 2007 Baghdad shooting

A former Blackwater security guard was sentenced to life in prison without parole Wednesday for his role in the 2007 shooting of several unarmed Iraqi civilians, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia said.

Nicholas Slatten, 35, was charged in 2014 with first-degree murder in the killing of Ahmed Haithem Ahmed Al Rubia'y, one of the 14 Iraqi civilians who were killed in Nisour Square in Baghdad.

Three other Blackwater contractors were found guilty in 2014 on charges of voluntary manslaughter, attempted manslaughter and other counts.

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Update #1: BREAKING NEWS: Former Blackwater security contractor is sentenced to life in prison for murdering aspiring Iraqi doctor, 19, during 2007 massacre of unarmed civilians in Baghdad (Daily Mail).
Update #2: Ex-Blackwater contractor sentenced to life in Iraq shootings (AP).

WNU Editor: This crime happened 12 years ago. Sighhh .... the U.S. justice system is slow.

Blackwater Founder’s New Company Has Struck A Security Deal In China

The FSG statement came with a photo of a signing ceremony related to the FSG training base. Photo: Handout

BBC: Xinjiang: Ex-Blackwater chief's security firm linked to China training centre

A security firm founded by ex-Blackwater chief Erik Prince has signed a preliminary deal to build a training centre in China's Xinjiang region, according to a company statement.

Hong Kong-listed Frontier Services Group (FSG) announced the deal on its website in a now deleted post.

Blackwater guards hired by the US played a controversial role in Iraq.

Xinjiang has recently been the focus of a security crackdown that has seen mass detentions of Uighur Muslims.

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WNU Editor: Erik Prince denies knowledge of this deal .... Frontier Services Group founder Erik Prince denies knowledge of Xinjiang training base deal (SCMP)

More News On The Frontier Services Group Signing A Security Deal With China

Blackwater Founder’s New Company Strikes a Deal in China. He Says He Had No Idea. -- The New York Times
Blackwater founder's Hong Kong firm signs Xinjiang training camp deal -- Guardian/AFP
Former owner of Blackwater security firm to build training centre in China's muslim Xinjiang region -- The Telegraph
Frontier Services Group founder Erik Prince denies knowledge of Xinjiang training base deal -- SCMP
Blackwater Founder's Firm to Build 'Training Base' in Xinjiang, China - Report -- Sputnik

Is Blackater Coming Back?

Blackwater USA took out a full page ad in the January/February 2019 issue of "Recoil" magazine with the company's logo and a message: "We are coming."

Military.com: Mattis is out, and Blackwater is back: ‘We are coming’

This article has been edited to clarify that Constellis no longer trains forces at Camp Integrity and that Blackwater, if it returns, would not have a connection to Constellis.

Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis is out.

Mattis' resignation comes amid news that President Donald Trump has directed the drawdown of 2,000 U.S. forces in Syria, and 7,000 U.S. forces from Afghanistan, a U.S. official confirmed to Military Times, a story first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

This month, in the January/February print issue of the gun and hunting magazine “Recoil," the former contractor security firm Blackwater USA published a full-page ad, in all black with a simple message: “We are coming.”

Is the war in Afghanistan — and possibly elsewhere ― about to be privatized?

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Update: Ominous Blackwater ‘is coming’ advert raises prospect Trump has privatised war (News.com.au)

WNU Editor: The company that formed after Blackwater is saying that is has no affiliation with the former company or this ad. The former executives of Blackwater are saying that they are not responsible for this ad. So who put up the ad? And why? Your guess is as good as mine.

Ex-Blackwater Guards Given Long Term Prison Sentences For 2007 Iraq Killings

New York Times: Ex-Blackwater Guards Given Long Terms for Killing Iraqis

WASHINGTON — One by one, four former Blackwater security contractors wearing blue jumpsuits and leg irons stood before a federal judge on Monday and spoke publicly for the first time since a deadly 2007 shooting in Iraq.

The men had been among several private American security guards who fired into Baghdad’s crowded Nisour Square on Sept. 16, 2007, and last October they were convicted of killing 14 unarmed Iraqis in what prosecutors called a wartime atrocity. Yet on Monday, as they awaited sentences that they knew would send them to prison for most if not all of their lives, they defiantly asserted their innocence.

“I know for a fact that I will be exonerated, in this life and the next,” said Paul A. Slough.

“I am very sorry for the loss of life,” Dustin L. Heard said. “But I cannot say in all honesty to the court that I believe I did anything wrong.”

“As God is my witness,” Evan S. Liberty said, he fired only at insurgents who were shooting at him.

More News On Ex-Blackwater Guards Being Given Long Term Prison Sentences For 2007 Iraq Killings

One Blackwater Guard Gets Life, 3 Others Get 30 Years in Iraq Shooting -- Military.com/AP
Four Blackwater guards sentenced in Iraq shootings of 31 unarmed civilians -- Washington Post
Ex-Blackwater guards plan appeal after judge hands down sentences in Iraq shooting deaths -- AP
US guards sentenced to prison for 2007 Iraq killings -- France 24
Four US Blackwater guards are jailed for the deaths of 14 Iraqi civilians -- Euronews
Ex-Blackwater contractors sentenced in Nusoor Square shooting in Iraq -- CNN
Blackwater contractors sentenced for death of 14 Iraqis -- The Hill
US Blackwater guards jailed for Iraq deaths -- BBC
Former Blackwater guards sentenced for massacre of unarmed Iraqi civilians -- The Guardian

Former Blackwater Guards To Be Sentenced For Iraq Shootings

L.A. Times: Blackwater guards to be sentenced in fatal Iraq shootings

A federal judge on Monday was scheduled to sentence four former Blackwater security guards convicted of firing into a crowded public square in Baghdad in 2007, leaving 17 people dead.

The sentences should bring to a close a painful episode in which Iraqis and Americans questioned the morality of the then 4-year-old Iraq occupation and the use of ex-military personnel under loose government regulation to protect U.S. diplomats in the war zone.

Defendants included Nicholas Slatten, Paul Slough, Evan Liberty and Dustin Heard.

More News On Former Blackwater Guards To Be Sentenced On Monday For 2007 Iraq Shootings

Ex-guards to get lengthy prison sentences for Iraq shootings -- Washington Times
Ex-guards to get lengthy prison sentences for Iraq shootings -- AP
Blackwater guards to be sentenced in Iraq shootings of 31 unarmed civilians -- Washington Post
4 Blackwater guards to be sentenced in shootings of unarmed Iraqi civilians -- Stars and Stripes
U.S. judge rejects ex-Blackwater guards request to postpone Iraq deaths sentencing -- Reuters

New Report Outlines How Blackwater Made Money In The Losing War To Stop Afghanistan Drug Production

American troops patrolled poppy fields in southern Afghanistan on Monday minutes before being ambushed by the Taliban. Lynsey Addario for The New York Times

The Guardian: Former Blackwater gets rich as Afghan drug production hits record high

Opium poppy cultivation is up in Afghanistan despite the infamous mercenary firm formerly known as Blackwater being paid $569m by the Pentagon to stop it

In a war full of failures, the US counternarcotics mission in Afghanistan stands out: opiate production has climbed steadily over recent years to reach record-high levels last year.

Yet there is a clear winner in the anti-drug effort – not the Afghan people, but the infamous mercenary company formerly known as Blackwater.

Statistics released on Tuesday reveal that the rebranded private security firm, known since 2011 as Academi, reaped over half a billion dollars from the futile Defense Department push to eradicate Afghan narcotics, some 32% of the $1.8bn in contracting money the Pentagon has devoted to the job since 2002.

WNU Editor: They have clearly (and spectacularly) failed in their mandate .... Afghanistan Opium Harvest Reaches Record Level.

U.S. Jury Finds Four Blackwater Guards Guilty In 2007 Iraq Shooting

U.S. Jury Convicts Ex-Blackwater Guards In 2007 Baghdad Killings -- Reuters

(Reuters) - In a sweeping victory for the U.S. government, a federal jury on Wednesday found four former Blackwater guards guilty on nearly every count they faced in connection with the 2007 killing of 14 unarmed Iraqis at a Baghdad traffic circle.

Jurors found three of the ex-guards guilty of manslaughter and weapons charges, and a fourth guilty of murder.

The verdict comes more than seven years after the shooting incident that outraged Iraqis and inflamed anti-American sentiment around the world.

A court clerk read the jury's verdict aloud on Wednesday around noon to a packed courtroom, repeating the word "guilty" 71 times as the defendants sat and listened silently.

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More News On A U.S. Jury Finding Four Blackwater Guards Guilty In 2007 Iraq Shooting

Iraq Blackwater: US jury convicts four of 2007 killings -- BBC
Blackwater guards found guilty in Iraq shootings -- FOX News/AP
Four Blackwater guards found guilty in 2007 Iraq shootings of 31 unarmed civilians -- Washington Post
Jury convicts ex-Blackwater guards in Iraq killing; appeals expected -- L.A. Times
Jury Finds Blackwater Guards Guilty of Iraq Shootings -- WSJ
Blackwater Guard Found Guilty of Murder in Iraq Shooting -- Bloomberg
4 Former Blackwater Security Guards Guilty of Iraq Killings -- VOA
Blackwater guards found guilty of Iraq shootings -- UPI
Blackwater guards found guilty of 2007 Baghdad massacre -- Deutsche Welle
4 Blackwater Guards Convicted of Shooting 31 People in Iraq -- NYMag
Blackwater guards convicted in 2007 Baghdad shooting -- RT
Blackwater guards found guilty over deaths of 14 Iraqis -- Al Jazeera

Were Blackwater Guards Out Of Control In Iraq?

Before Shooting In Iraq, A Warning On Blackwater -- New York Times

WASHINGTON — Just weeks before Blackwater guards fatally shot 17 civilians at Baghdad’s Nisour Square in 2007, the State Department began investigating the security contractor’s operations in Iraq. But the inquiry was abandoned after Blackwater’s top manager there issued a threat: “that he could kill” the government’s chief investigator and “no one could or would do anything about it as we were in Iraq,” according to department reports.

American Embassy officials in Baghdad sided with Blackwater rather than the State Department investigators as a dispute over the probe escalated in August 2007, the previously undisclosed documents show. The officials told the investigators that they had disrupted the embassy’s relationship with the security contractor and ordered them to leave the country, according to the reports.

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More News On Reports That Blackwater Guards Were Out Of Control In Iraq

Documents: Blackwater guards were out of control -- AP
Blackwater threatened to kill US investigator in Iraq: report -- AFP
Blackwater manager reportedly threatened to kill State Department investigator -- FOX News
Blackwater Iraqi chief threatened to kill US govt. inspector - newspaper -- RT
Blackwater Exec in Iraq Threatened to Murder State Department Employee, Times Reports -- Slate
Blackwater Employee Threatened to Kill State Department Investigator: Report -- Newsweek
A Blackwater staffer literally threatened to murder a US government official in 2007 -- VOX
Blackwater Inquiry Halted In 2007 After Threat To Kill Government’s Chief Investigator: Report -- IBTimes
Blackwater considered itself above the law, US state department was warned -- The Guardian
Blackwater manager told US investigator 'I could kill you' -- The Week
American Unexceptionalism -- William Saletan, Slate
Blackwater: Murder Threats Were Just The Start -- Tim Mak, Daily Beast

Blackwater Founder Erik Prince Defends His Company's Role In The War Against Terror

Image: Erik Prince has authored a new book defending Blackwater, the private security firm he created in 1997. Courtesy Image

Blackwater Founder Erik Prince: War on Terror Has Become Too Big -- Eli Lake, The Daily Beast

When the war on terror has lost the founder of Blackwater, counterterrorism efforts could be in real trouble. Why Erik Prince thinks the national security state has become too big.

Erik Prince is not the kind of man one expects to make the case for slashing U.S. intelligence and military budgets. After 9-11, his company, Blackwater, expanded exponentially, winning contracts to protect diplomats and politicians in Iraq and to train and work with CIA paramilitary teams hunting terrorists.

In an interview Monday, Prince said the national security state he once served has grown too large.

“America is way too quick to trade freedom for the illusion of security,” he told The Daily Beast. “Whether it’s allowing the NSA to go way too far in what it intercepts of our personal data, to our government monitoring of everything domestically and spending way more than we should. I don’t know if I want to live in a country where lone wolf and random terror attacks are impossible ‘cause that country would look more like North Korea than America.”

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More News On Blackwater Founder Erik Prince Defending His Company's Role In The War Against Terror

Blackwater's Founder Blames U.S. for Its Troubles -- Wall Street Journal
Blackwater Founder Erik Prince Is Tired of Other People Telling His Secrets -- Bloomberg Businessweek
Blackwater Founder Erik Prince 'Regrets' Working for US State Dept. -- ABC News
Blackwater founder takes aim at his critics in memoir -- Pilot Online
Erik Prince is back with book defending Blackwater's role in war on terror -- mlive.com
Former Blackwater CEO: The NSA Is Turning America Into North Korea -- Business Insider

Was Blackwater An Extension Of The CIA?

Exclusive: Court Docs Reveal Blackwater’s Secret CIA Past -- Daily Beast

It was the U.S. military’s most notorious security contractor—but it may also have been a virtual extension of the CIA. Eli Lake reports.

Last month a three-year-long federal prosecution of Blackwater collapsed. The government’s 15-felony indictment—on such charges as conspiring to hide purchases of automatic rifles and other weapons from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives—could have led to years of jail time for Blackwater personnel. In the end, however, the government got only misdemeanor guilty pleas by two former executives, each of whom were sentenced to four months of house arrest, three years’ probation, and a fine of $5,000. Prosecutors dropped charges against three other executives named in the suit and abandoned the felony charges altogether.

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My Comment: I cannot say that i am surprised.

Former Security Firm Blackwater Agrees To $7.5 Million Fine

Blackwater Pays Millions In Arms Smuggling Case -- Danger Room

Depending on how you look at it, the world’s most notorious mercenary firm just got away with misleading the government about arming and training foreign governments — or the company agreed to pay millions, only to defer a potential prosecution on those charges. The firm formerly known as Blackwater has agreed to fork over $7.5 million to the Justice Department $7.5 million to avoid going to court on 17 criminal charges. It’s not exactly a bank-breaker for the company, now known as Academi LLC. Then again, the legal deal announced yesterday doesn’t get Academi entirely off the hook.

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More News On The Former Security Firm Blackwater Agreeing To A $7.5 Million Fine

Academi/Blackwater to pay $50M in fines -- UPI
Company previously known as Blackwater agrees to $7.5 million fine in arms smuggling case -- Washington Post/AP
Blackwater Successor to Pay Fine to Settle Arms Charges -- New York Times/Reuters
Blackwater admits to facts behind 17 federal charges -- Politico
'Blackwater' to pay $50M over arms-smuggling, other charges -- USA Today
Firm formerly known as Blackwater fined $7.5 million -- CBS/AP
Blackwater to pay fine to settle arms charges -- Al Jazeera
Former security firm Blackwater settles with criminal prosecutors -- Examiner
Time for Blackwater to Change Its Name Again -- The Atlantic

Blackwater Settles With The Families In The Falluja Lawsuit

Falluja Lawsuit: Blackwater Families Settle Case -- BBC

Families of four US men killed in a notorious ambush in Iraq in 2004 have settled a long-running lawsuit with the security firm they worked for.

The four employees of Blackwater, which has since been renamed Academi, were shot, beaten and burned to death in the flash-point city of Falluja.

Two of their bodies were hung from a bridge in an act which shocked America and triggered an assault on the city.

Blackwater was accused of exposing them to high risk without proper protection.

The confidential settlement announced on Friday ended the families' efforts to secure a public investigation into the killings.

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Update: Families of dead Blackwater contractors settle suit -- Hampton Roads

My Comment: It has taken then almost 8 years to settle this. Sighhh .... that's way too long.

Blackwater Sold To New Investors

Former Blackwater Purchased by Investors -- Time Magazine

(RALEIGH, N.C.) — An investment group with ties to the founder of the company formerly known as Blackwater announced Friday that it has bought the security firm, which was heavily criticized for its contractors' actions in Iraq.

USTC Holdings said in a statement that the acquisition of the company now called Xe Services includes its training facility in North Carolina.

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More News On The Sale Of Blackwater

Consortium Acquires Security Firm Formerly Called Blackwater -- Wall Street Journal
'Blackwater' Founder Exits Security Firm With Sale To Private Investors -- NPR
Ex-Blackwater International sold -- AFP
Blackwater Founder Sells Company to Private Equity Investors -- Bloomberg
Boss of Iraq killings security firm to sell in £128m deal -- London Evening Standard
Will Blackwater Go Vegan After Sale to Hippie Firm? -- The Danger Room

Prosecutions Against Blackater Security Guards Are Collapsing

Efforts To Prosecute Blackwater Are Collapsing -- New York Times

WASHINGTON — Nearly four years after the federal government began a string of investigations and criminal prosecutions against Blackwater Worldwide personnel accused of murder and other violent crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan, the cases are beginning to fall apart, burdened by a legal obstacle of the government’s own making.

In the most recent and closely watched case, the Justice Department on Monday said that it would not seek murder charges against Andrew J. Moonen, a Blackwater armorer accused of killing a guard assigned to an Iraqi vice president on Dec. 24, 2006. Justice officials said that they were abandoning the case after an investigation that began in early 2007, and included trips to Baghdad by federal prosecutors and F.B.I. agents to interview Iraqi witnesses.

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My Comment: If the Justice Department cannot prosecute Blackwater security guards, what chance do they have in prosecuting most of the inmates in Guantanamo. Bottom line .... crimes in war zones are very difficult to prosecute .... which is why their prosecutions are usually done within military courts and not civilian ones. As for Blackwater .... they operate in war zones, and the nature of their work will result in fatalities that maybe could have been avoided. Should they be prosecuted .... definitely .... but military courts should be the ones involved in prosecuting these cases.

Blackwater Is Back In Business (As If They Ever Left)

Exclusive: Blackwater Wins Piece of $10 Billion Mercenary Deal -- Danger Room

Never mind the dead civilians. Forget about the stolen guns. Get over the murder arrests, the fraud allegations, and the accusations of guards pumping themselves up with steroids and cocaine. Through a “joint venture,” the notorious private-security firm Blackwater has won a piece of a five-year State Department contract worth up to $10 billion, Danger Room has learned.

Apparently, there is no misdeed so big that it can keep guns-for-hire from working for the government. And this is despite a 2008 campaign pledge from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to ban the company from federal contracts.

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My Comment: After all the pontificating from politicians and critics of Blackwater .... they still get the contract.

OK .....

Blackwater Founder Erik Prince Finishing Is His Memoirs

Blackwater Founder Erik Prince Targets Democrats In Memoir -- Spy Talk/Washington Post

Erik Prince, chairman of the private security firm once known as Blackwater, is writing a memoir that says Democratic officials in two administrations approved of his most sensitive and controversial operations, sources close to the company, now known as XE Services, said.

To date, the former Navy commando has been solely associated with the George W. Bush administration, during which Blackwater operatives in Iraq and Afghanistan gained notoriety for their swagger and alleged involvement in civilian killings.


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Update: Blackwater’s Prince targets Dems for defeat -- The Raw Story

My Comment: Blackwater has been around for years .... so it's ties to the former Clinton administration is not a surprise. It's ties to the Obama administration is also not a surprise .... considering the fact that the use of contractors by the U.S. Government is becoming even more important in places like Afghanistan.

What is a surprise .... is that Erik Prince is going to tell all in order to sell a book. Hmmmm .... he wants revenge, and he will probably get it.

Blackwater Conducts Business Through 30 Shell Companies

Blackwater Still In Business Through Subsidiaries -- Voice Of America

The New York Times newspaper reports that the U.S. security contractor Blackwater created 30 subsidiary companies to continue to seek government contracts after the company was accused of misconduct in Iraq.

In an article published late Friday, the Times reports at least three subsidiary businesses had deals with the U.S. military and the CIA.

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More News On Blackwater

30 False Fronts Won Contracts for Blackwater -- New York Times
Report: Blackwater created shell companies -- AP
30 False Fronts Won Contracts for Blackwater -- New York Times
Senate panel investigates Blackwater -- UPI
Report: Blackwater created shell companies to win contracts -- M&C
Senate panel investigates Blackwater -- Polijam
Blackwater Won Contracts Via Dozens Of Dummy Corporations -- Huffington Post

Blackwater Reaches Deal on U.S. Export Violations -- New York Times
Former Blackwater Firm to Pay U.S. Fine -- Wall Street Journal
Blackwater broke export laws hundreds of times, State Department says -- Kansas City Star/McClatchy News
Blackwater Security Agrees to Pay $42 Million in Fines -- Voice of America

Blackwater Founder Moves to Abu Dhabi, Records Say -- New York Times
Blackwater founder moves to Abu Dhabi -- UPI
Blackwater founder moving to Abu Dhabi -- Middle East Online

Blackwater Founder Moves To Abu Dhabi

Blackwater Founder Moves To Abu Dhabi, Records Say -- New York Times

WASHINGTON — Erik Prince, whose company, Blackwater Worldwide, is for sale and whose former top managers are facing criminal charges, has left the United States and moved to Abu Dhabi, according to court documents.

Mr. Prince, a former member of the Navy Seals and an heir to a Michigan auto parts fortune, left the country after a series of civil lawsuits, criminal charges and Congressional investigations singled out Blackwater or its former executives and other personnel. His company, now called Xe Services, has collected hundreds of millions of dollars from the United States government since 2001.

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Update: Blackwater owner flees storm for Abu Dhabi -- the Age

My Comment: With hindsight, Eric Prince should have moved his operations to a country like Abu Dhabi after he started Blackwater. It would have saved him a considerable amount of legal headaches and liabilities.

After All The Criticism, Blackwater Is Still Receiving Contracts From The U.S. Government

CIA Hires Xe, Formerly Blackwater, To Guard Facilities In Afghanistan, Elsewhere -- Washington Post

The CIA has hired Xe Services, the private security firm formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide, to guard its facilities in Afghanistan and elsewhere, according to an industry source.

The previously undisclosed CIA contract is worth about $100 million, said the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the deal, which is classified.

"It's for protective services . . . guard services, in multiple regions," the source said.

Two other security contractors, Triple Canopy and DynCorp International, put in losing bids for the CIA's business, the source said.

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More News On Xe/Blackwater

CIA inks deal with former Blackwater company -- AFP
CIA hires controversial Blackwater for providing security services in Afghanistan -- One India
Blackwater deal puts officials on hot seat -- Washington Post
Blackwater Firm Gets $120M U.S. Gov't Contract -- CBS News
Part of Blackwater given US contract in Afghanistan: report -- AFP
Subsidiary of Former Blackwater Awarded US Security Contract in Afghanistan -- War On Terror News
Justice: Blackwater case should have gone forward -- AP
Founder Puts Blackwater Security Firm Up for Sale -- New York Times

Blackwater/Xe Is Still In Business In Afghanistan

This picture shows the website of U.S. Training Center, a business unit of the private security firm formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide. (Credit: CBS)

Blackwater Firm Gets $120M U.S. Gov't Contract -- CBS News

CBS News has learned in an exclusive report that the State Department has awarded a part of what was formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide a contract worth more than $120 million for providing security services in Afghanistan.

Private security firm U.S. Training Center, a business unit of the Moyock, N.C.-based Blackwater, now called Xe Services, was awarded the contract Friday, a State Department spokeswoman said Friday night.

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More News On Blackwater/Xe And Their Role In Afghanistan

Firm once known as Blackwater gets Afghan contract -- AP
Part of Blackwater given US contract in Afghanistan: report -- AFP
Obama Administration Keeping Blackwater Armed and Dangerous in Afghanistan -- The Nation
Blackwater-connected firm gets $100m+ Afghan security contract -- The Raw Story
Blackwater Firm Gets $120 Million U.S. Government Contract -- Huffington Post