Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army

by Jeremy Scahill

  3 Jay Price and Joseph Neff, “The Bridge; The Scene in Fallujah Was Unforgettable: Four Americans Shot, Their Bodies Defiled, Two of Them Hung From a Bridge. They Weren’t Soldiers, But Private Guards Working For a North Carolina Company,” News & Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), July 25, 2004.

  4 Unless otherwise noted, all quotes attributed to Katy Helvenston-Wettengel and information about her experiences are based on interviews conducted by the author throughout 2006.

  5 Bill Sizemore and Joanne Kimberlin, “Blackwater: On the Front Lines,” Virginian-Pilot, July 25, 2006.

  6 Jonathan E. Kaplan, “Private Army Seeking Political Advice in D.C.,” The Hill, April 14, 2004.

  7 Erik Prince’s Prince Manufacturing biography.

  8 Federal lobbying records.

  9 Bill McAllister, “Guns for Hire,” Washington Post, June 18, 1998; Dena Bunis, “U.S. Representatives Release Net-Worth Figures for ’98,” Orange County Register (California), June 17, 1999.

  10 Federal lobbying records.

  11 Representative Dana Rohrabacher’s speech on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, September 17, 2001.

  12 Public Citizen report, “Rep. Roy Blunt: Ties to Special Interests Leave Him Unfit to Lead,” January 2006.

  13 Jonathan E. Kaplan, “Private Army Seeking Political Advice in D.C.,” The Hill, April 14, 2004.

  14 David Barstow, “Security Firm Says Its Workers Were Lured Into Iraqi Ambush,” New York Times, April 9, 2004.

  15 Ibid.

  16 Ibid.

  17 Joseph Neff and Jay Price, “After the Horror, Strong Words Mask Inaction; Little Has Been Done to Determine the Facts of the Ambush in Fallujah That Cost Four Civilian Contractors Their Lives,” News & Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), August 1, 2004.

  18 Ibid.

  19 Douglas Quenqua, “Security Firms in Iraq Look to Up US Political Support,” PR Week, April 26, 2004.

  20 James Rosen, “Contractors Operate in a Legal Gray Area; The Roles of an Interrogator and an Interpreter in the Abuse Scandal Are Murky. Even Less Clear Is Whom They Answer to,” Star Tribune (Minneapolis), May 23, 2004.

  21 Ibid.

  22 See Jeremy Scahill, “Mercenary Jackpot,” The Nation, August 28, 2006.

  23 Coalition Provisional Authority Order Number 17, June 27, 2004.

  24 Author copy of the letter dated April 8, 2004.

  25 Office of Senator Jack Reed, “Statement by Senator Reed Regarding the Private Contractor Allegations,” Press Release, February 16, 2005.

  26 David Barstow, James Glanz, Richard A. Oppel Jr., and Kate Zernike, “Security Companies: Shadow Soldiers in Iraq,” New York Times, April 19, 2004.

  27 Brenda Kleman, “Blackwater USA Eyes HQ Expansion,” Cox News Service, April 16, 2004.

  28 Transcript, “Inside the World of a Security Contractor in Iraq,” CNN, June 18, 2006.

  29 Brenda Kleman, “Blackwater USA Eyes HQ Expansion,” Cox News Service, April 16, 2004.

  30 Ibid.

  31 Press Release, “Blackwater USA to Host 2004 World SWAT Conference and Challenge May 17-22, 2004,” PR Web Newswire, April 14, 2004.

  32 Ibid.

  33 Kim O’Brien Root, “World Swat Challenge; Top-Ranked Teams Vie for National Tactics Title,” Daily Press (Newport News, Virginia), May 22, 2004.

  34 Ibid.

  35 The description of David Grossman’s presentation at the conference is drawn from Peter Carlson, “Sultans of SWAT; Competition Has Law Enforcement Assault Teams Gunning to Be the Best,” Washington Post, May 25, 2004.

  36 Gary Jackson, Blackwater Tactical Weekly, May 17, 2004.

  37 Douglas Quenqua, “Security Firms in Iraq Look to Up US Political Support,” PR Week, April 26, 2004.

  38 Ibid.

  39 Jonathan E. Kaplan, “British Security Firm in Iraq Seeks K Street Input,” The Hill, April 21, 2004.

  40 David Barstow, James Glanz, Richard A. Oppel Jr., and Kate Zernike, “Security Companies: Shadow Soldiers in Iraq,” New York Times, April 19, 2004.

  41 Joanne Kimberlin, “Blackwater Sees Increase in Applications,” Virginian-Pilot, April 10, 2004.

  42 Ibid.

  43 David Barstow, James Glanz, Richard A. Oppel Jr., and Kate Zernike, “Security Companies: Shadow Soldiers in Iraq,” New York Times, April 19, 2004.

  44 Robert Fisk and Patrick Cockburn, “Deaths of Scores of Mercenaries Not Reported,” The Star (South Africa), April 13, 2004.

  45 Greg Griffin, “Reconstructing a Country: Civilians Face Increased Danger; U.S. Contractors Resolve to Stay in Iraq,” Denver Post, April 22, 2004.

  46 Joshua Chaffin, James Drummond, and Nicolas Pelham, “Not Only Are Staff Being Moved to Safer Locations, But the Escalating Cost of Security Is Eating Into the Resources Available to Improve Infrastructure,” Financial Times, May 6, 2004.

  47 John F. Burns and Kirk Semple, “U.S. Finds Iraq Insurgency Has Funds to Sustain Itself,” New York Times, November 26, 2006.

  48 Greg Griffin, “Reconstructing a Country: Civilians Face Increased Danger; U.S. Contractors Resolve to Stay In Iraq,” Denver Post, April 22, 2004.

  49 Jeremy Kahn and Nelson D. Schwartz, “Private Sector Soldiers: With Violence Escalating in Iraq, Tens of Thousands of U.S. Contractors Are Getting More Than They Bargained For,” Fortune, May 3, 2004.

  50 Greg Griffin, “Reconstructing a Country: Civilians Face Increased Danger; U.S. Contractors Resolve to Stay in Iraq,” Denver Post, April 22, 2004.

  51 Jeremy Kahn and Nelson D. Schwartz, “Private Sector Soldiers: With Violence Escalating in Iraq, Tens of Thousands of U.S. Contractors Are Getting More Than They Bargained For,” Fortune, May 3, 2004.

  52 Sandip Roy, “U.S. to Worldwide Firms: Iraq Safer Than You Think,” Pacific News Service, May 07, 2004.

  53 Ibid.

  54 Saifur Rahman, “Call to Take Advantage of Opportunities in Iraq,” Gulf News (Dubai, United Arab Emirates), April 21, 2004.

  55 Sandip Roy, “U.S. to Worldwide Firms: Iraq Safer Than You Think,” Pacific News Service, May 07, 2004.

  56 David Barstow, James Glanz, Richard A. Oppel Jr., and Kate Zernike, “Security Companies: Shadow Soldiers in Iraq,” New York Times, April 19, 2004.

  57 Ibid.

  58 Ibid.

  59 James Hider, “Soldiers of Fortune Rush to Cash In on Unrest,” The Times (London), March 31, 2004.

  60 Joshua Chaffin, James Drummond, and Nicolas Pelham, “Not Only Are Staff Being Moved to Safer Locations, But the Escalating Cost of Security Is Eating into the Resources Available to Improve Infrastructure,” Financial Times, May 6, 2004.

  61 Jeremy Kahn and Nelson D. Schwartz, “Private Sector Soldiers: With Violence Escalating in Iraq, Tens of Thousands of U.S. Contractors Are Getting More Than They Bargained For,” Fortune, May 3, 2004.

  62 David Barstow, James Glanz, Richard A. Oppel Jr., and Kate Zernike, “Security Companies: Shadow Soldiers in Iraq,” New York Times, April 19, 2004.

  63 Ibid.

  64 Diana McCabe, “Risky Business: Even in Baghdad’s ‘Green Zone,’ Life Can Be Tough, But Big Paychecks and a Sense of Nation-Building Inspire Workers,” Orange County Register, April 21, 2004.

  65 Ibid.

  66 Barry Yeoman, “How South African Hit Men, Serbian Paramilitaries, and Other Human Rights Violators Became Guns for Hire for Military Contractors in Iraq,” Mother Jones, November/December 2004 issue.

  67 Michael Duffy, “When Private Armies Take to the Front Lines,” Time, April 12, 2004.

  68 CBS News, “Abuse of Iraqi POWs by GIs Probed,” 60 Minutes II, April 28, 2004.

  69 Deborah Hastings, “Military Reports Match Some Lawsuit Details,” Associated Press, October 24, 2004.

  70 Tim Shorrock, “CACI and Its Friends,” The Nation, June 21, 2004.

  71 Press Release, “Lawsuit Charges Two U.S. Corporations Conspired with U.S. Officials to Torture and Abuse Detainees in Iraq,” The Center for Constitutional Rights, June 9, 2004.

  72
Michael Duffy, “When Private Armies Take to the Front Lines,” Time, April 12, 2004.

  73 David Barstow, James Glanz, Richard A. Oppel Jr., and Kate Zernike, “Security Companies: Shadow Soldiers in Iraq,” New York Times, April 19, 2004.

  74 Paul Tharp, “Security Firms Get Boost From Rambo Work in Iraq,” New York Post, April 8, 2004.

  75 Seth Borenstein and Scott Dodd, “Private Security Companies in Iraq See Big Paychecks, Big Risks,” Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News, April 2, 2004.

  76 Jay Price, “Armed Security Business Booms,” News & Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), April 2, 2004.

  77 Jonathan Franklin, “US Contractor Recruits Guards for Iraq in Chile,” The Guardian, March 5, 2004.

  78 Dana Priest and Mary Pat Flaherty, “Under Fire, Security Firms Form an Alliance,” Washington Post, April 8, 2004.

  79 Robert Fisk, “Saddam in the Dock: So This Is What They Call the New, Free Iraq,” The Independent on Sunday (London), July 4, 2004.

  80 Mary Pat Flaherty, “Iraq Work Awarded to Veteran of Civil Wars; Briton Who Provided Units in Asia and Africa Will Oversee Security,” Washington Post, June 16, 2004.

  81 For Spicer’s own account of these events, see: Lt. Col. Tim Spicer OBE, An Unorthodox Soldier: Peace and War and the Sandline Affair, Mainstream Publishing Company, Edinburgh, Great Britain, 1999.

  82 Stephen Armstrong, “The Enforcer: Colonel Tim Spicer Is Effectively in Charge of the Second Largest Military Force in Iraq—Some 20,000 Private Soldiers. Just Don’t Call Him a Mercenary,” The Guardian (London), May 20, 2006.

  83 P. W. Singer, “Nation Builders and Low Bidders in Iraq,” New York Times, June 15, 2004.

  84 Jonathan Guthrie, “Tim Spicer Finds Security in the World’s War Zones,” Financial Times (London), April 7, 2006.

  85 Mary Pat Flaherty, “Iraq Work Awarded to Veteran of Civil Wars; Briton Who Provided Units in Asia and Africa Will Oversee Security,” Washington Post, June 16, 2004.

  86 Jonathan Guthrie, “Tim Spicer Finds Security in the World’s War Zones,” Financial Times (London), April 7, 2006.

  87 Mary Fitzgerald, “U.S. Contract to British Firm Sparks Irish American Protest; Anger Over Iraq Deal Stems From 1992 Murder in Belfast,” Washington Post, August 9, 2004.

  88 P. W. Singer, “Nation Builders and Low Bidders in Iraq,” New York Times, June 15, 2004.

  89 Mary Fitzgerald, “U.S. Contract to British Firm Sparks Irish American Protest; Anger Over Iraq Deal Stems From 1992 Murder in Belfast,” Washington Post, August 9, 2004.

  90 Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton, Edward M. Kennedy, Christopher J. Dodd, Charles E. Schumer, John F. Kerry, Letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, August 25, 2004.

  91 Charles M. Sennott, “Security Firm’s $293m Deal Under Scrutiny,” Boston Globe, June 22, 2004.

  92 James Boxell and Jimmy Burns, “Aegis Iraqi Contract Renewed,” Financial Times (London), April 19, 2006.

  93 P. W. Singer, “Nation Builders and Low Bidders in Iraq,” New York Times, June 15, 2004.

  94 Ibid.

  95 Jonathan Finer, “Contractors Cleared in Videotaped Attacks; Army Fails to Find ‘Probable Cause’ in Machine-Gunning of Cars in Iraq,” Washington Post, June 11, 2006.

  96 Ibid.

  97 Ibid.

  98 James Boxell, “Iraq Investigation Clears Aegis Defence,” Financial Times (London), June 15, 2006.

  99 T. Christian Miller, “Federal Audit Criticizes Iraq Contract Oversight; Inspector General Finds That a Controversial Security Firm Failed to Meet its Obligations,” Los Angeles Times, April 23, 2005.

  100 Matthew Lynn, “Men With Guns Are the New Dotcoms,” The Spectator (London), November 4, 2006.

  101 Kim Sengupta, “Blair Accused of Trying to ‘Privatise’ War in Iraq,” The Independent (London), October 30, 2006.

  102 “Four Hired Guns Killed in Baghdad Ambush Saturday,” Agence France-Presse, June 6, 2004.

  103 Danica Kirka, “Four Employees of U.S. Company Killed in Ambush in Baghdad,” Associated Press, June 6, 2004.

  104 Ibid.

  105 William R. Levesque, “Clearwater Security Worker Killed in Iraq,” St. Petersburg Times (Florida), June 8, 2004.

  106 Ibid.

  107 “Four Private Security Workers Killed in Iraq,” Deutsche Presse-Agentur, June 6, 2004.

  108 “Have Gun . . . Will Travel,” The Warsaw Voice (Poland), June 23, 2004.

  109 Joseph Neff and Jay Price, “Ambush Kills 4 Workers in Iraq; Men Worked for N.C. Security Firm,” News & Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), June 7, 2004.

  110 William R. Levesque, “Clearwater Security Worker Killed in Iraq,” St. Petersburg Times (Florida), June 8, 2004.

  111 Ibid.

  112 Joseph Neff and Jay Price, “Ambush Kills 4 Workers in Iraq; Men Worked for N.C. Security Firm,” News & Observer, June 7, 2004.

  113 Vickie Chachere, “Palm Harbor Man Among Dead in Ambush on Iraq Convoy,” Associated Press, June 7, 2004.

  114 Ibid.

  115 Odai Sirri, “Allawi May Resort to Baathist Expertise,” AlJazeera.net, June 7, 2004.

  116 L. Paul Bremer III, My Year in Iraq, p. 384.

  117 Coalition Provisional Authority Order Number 17, June 27, 2004.

  118 Press Release, “Fact Sheet on the Anti-War Profiteering Amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill,” Senator Patrick Leahy, June 15, 2004.

  119 Scott Shane, “Cables Show Central Negroponte Role in 80’s Covert War Against Nicaragua,” New York Times, April 13, 2005; Michael Dobbs, “Papers Illustrate Negroponte’s Contra Role; Newly Released Documents Show Intelligence Nominee Was Active in U.S. Effort,” Washington Post, April 12, 2005.

  120 Ibid.

  121 Comprehensive coverage of Negroponte’s time in Honduras can be found in the four-part series in Baltimore Sun in June 1995 reported by Gary Cohn and Ginger Thompson.

  122 Carol Rosenberg, “Weary Iraqis Losing Confidence in U.S.,” Miami Herald, April 8, 2004.

  123 Author copy of the contract documents.

  124 E-mail from State Department representative, August 2006.

  125 Author copy of audit.

  126 Ibid.

  127 Gary Jackson, Blackwater Tactical Weekly, November 22, 2004.

  128 Ibid.

  CHAPTER 12 1 Jan H. Kalicki, “Caspian Energy at the Crossroads,” Foreign Affairs, September/October 2001.

  2 Stephen Kinzer, “Azerbaijan Has Reason to Swagger: Oil Deposits,” New York Times, September 14, 1997.

  3 Ibid.

  4 Report of the National Energy Policy Development Group, “Reliable, Affordable, Environmentally Sound Energy for America’s Future,” released by the White House in May 2001.

  5 Ibid.

  6 U.S. Department of Energy, “Top World Oil Net Exporters,” www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/topworldtables1_2.html, accessed December 14, 2006.

  7 Candace Rondeaux, “A Pipeline to Promise, or a Pipeline to Peril,” St. Petersburg Times, May 15, 2005.

  8 Ibid.

  9 “Caspian Pipeline Dream Becomes Reality,” BBC News, September 14, 2002.

  10 Eric Margolis, “Shevy’s Big Mistake: Crossing Uncle Sam,” Toronto Sun, November 30, 2003.

  11 Nick Paton Walsh, “Russia Accused of Plot to Sabotage Georgian Oil Pipeline,” Guardian, December 1, 2003.

  12 Mevlut Katik, “Amid Risk, Baku-Ceyhan Pipeline Edges Forward,” EurasiaNet, December 1, 2003.

  13 Nick Paton Walsh, “US Privatises Its Military Aid to Georgia,” Guardian, January 6, 2004.

  14 Presidential Determination on Azerbaijan, signed by George W. Bush on January 25, 2002.

  15 John J. Fialka, “Search for Crude Comes With New Dangers—U.S. Strategic and Diplomatic Thinking Adjusts to Handle Hot Spots With Oil Potential,” Wall Street Journal, April 11, 2005.

  16 Alman Talyshli, “Rumsfeld’s Baku Trip Stirs Controversy,” EurasiaNet, April 13, 2005.

  17 Author copy of contract, dated July 28, 2004.

  18 Chris
Taylor speaking at “Contractors on the Battlefield: Learning from the Experience in Iraq,” George Washington University, January 28, 2005.