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Blackwater
WikiLeaks: Blackwater Was Planning to Hunt Pirates
By Lauren Frayer - AOL News
(Dec. 1) -- Secret State Department cables reveal that U.S. diplomats were confused over whether they should help the American company Blackwater hunt pirates on the high seas. In late 2008, Blackwater, accused of killing civilians under a U.S. contract in Iraq, decided to go into the pirate-hunting business. The company outfitted the McArthur, a U.S.-flagged ship, with .50-caliber machine guns and a small drone aircraft, The New York Times reports. Its mission would be unprecedented: to battle pirates on the high seas and protect U.S. commercial interests. Wikipedia The McArthur, in ...
Prosecutors: No Indictment in 2006 Iraqi Killing
By not in system - AOL NewsSEATTLE (Oct. 18) -- A former security contractor for Blackwater USA will not be indicted in the killing of an Iraqi guard in 2006, federal prosecutors said Monday. According to a congressional report, Seattle resident Andrew Moonen was wandering drunk around Baghdad's Green Zone after a Christmas Eve party in 2006 when he encountered and fatally shot Raheem Saadoun, a 32-year-old guard for Iraqi Vice President Adil Abd-al-Mahdi. But U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan said Monday that prosecutors decided there wasn't enough evidence to sustain a criminal conviction for the killing. "We do not do ...
Blackwater Remnant Gets Piece of State Dept. Contract
By James Graff - AOL News(Oct. 1) -- It was a taste for indiscriminate force that got the private security firm Blackwater into deep trouble with the U.S. and Iraqi governments, especially after its guards killed 17 civilians in a Baghdad square in 2007. But according to a report in Wired, the firm also has the subtle guile necessary to worm its way back into the State Department's coffers. Spencer Ackerman reports that Blackwater, now known as Xe Services, has used a "blandly named cut-out," International Development Solutions, to grab a piece of the State Department's $10 billion, five-year Worldwide Protective ...
Reporter: Blackwater Spied for Disney, Monsanto, Royal Caribbean
By Dave Thier - AOL News(Sept. 16) -- Controversial private security firm Xe (nee Blackwater) has long had a checkered reputation. Now a new article in the leftist magazine The Nation says that in addition to its involvement in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Blackwater operated through a related firm called Total Intelligence Solutions to perform work for a range of American corporations with international dealings, including Monsanto, Chevron, Royal Caribbean cruises and Walt Disney. The article is by Jeremy Scahill, author of "Blackwater." In it, he reports that Total Intelligence was hired to do a "threat ...
CIA Hires Private Security Firm Xe, Formerly Blackwater, In Afghanistan
By Christopher Weber - Politics DailyThe CIA has hired the private security firm Xe Services to guard its facilities in Afghanistan and elsewhere, it was reported Thursday. An industry source tells The Washington Post the contract, worth about $100 million, is for "protective services... guard services, in multiple regions." Xe, formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide, won the deal over two other security contractors, Triple Canopy and DynCorp International, the source told the newspaper. News of the contract comes after a federal commission investigating war-zone contractors criticized the State Department this week for ...
Ex-Blackwater Bosses Indicted on Weapons Charges
By not in system - AOL News(April 16) -- The former president and four other ex-employees of Blackwater Worldwide were indicted Friday on weapons charges and on charges of making false statements. ...
Ex-Blackwater Bosses Indicted on Weapons Charges
By Christopher Weber - Politics DailyThe former president and four other ex-employees of Blackwater Worldwide were indicted Friday on weapons charges and on charges of making false statements. The 15-count indictment accuses the five of skirting federal firearms laws and misrepresenting weapons sales, Reuters reported. Gary Jackson, the company's former president, was charged along with former general counsel Andrew Howell; former executive vice president William Mathews; former vice president of logistics and procurement, Ana Bundy; and former armorer Ronald Slezak. Prosecutors said they gave weapons as gifts to Jordanian ...
Blackwater Sells Off Aviation Unit
By Sharon Weinberger - AOL News(March 26) -- The embattled private military contractor formerly known as Blackwater is selling its aviation division to Illinois-based AAR Corp., which promises to rebrand the business and move it away from the North Carolina operations of its current owner. AAR announced Thursday it would purchase Aviation Worldwide Services and it subsidiaries, which include Presidential Airways and STI Aviation, from Xe Services, formerly Blackwater Worldwide, in a deal worth $200 million. In a conference call this morning with investors, David P. Storch, chairman and chief executive officer of AAR, said ...
Feds May Charge Ex-Blackwater Bosses Over Weapons Stockpile
By Tom Diemer - Politics DailyThe U.S. Justice Department is considering bringing charges against former officials of the private security company Blackwater in connection with a stockpile of automatic weapons seized at the outfit's North Carolina headquarters, the Associated Press reports. Federal prosecutors are said to be looking at charges against ex-Blackwater president Gary Jackson, onetime company lawyer Andrew Howell and a third man. The case stems from a 2008 raid in which federal agents seized 22 weapons, including 17 AK-47s, at a Blackwater armory in North Carolina. Federal law bars private companies from ...
Report: Blackwater Played Fast and Loose With Rules
By Sharon Weinberger - AOL News(Feb. 23) -- Weapons signed out by a character from "South Park," a dangerous joyride with AK-47s and hundreds of missing weapons that had been intended to help equip Afghan security forces. It sounds like a cartoon parody of war, but these are just a few of the problems the Senate Armed Services Committee said it found during a six-month investigation into Xe Services, better known by its former name, Blackwater Worldwide. The investigation's findings are set to be the subject of a Senate hearing Wednesday, but panel Chairman Carl Levin previewed some of the allegations today. The Michigan ...
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