Prince is like a cross between Ollie North and Gary Bauer, and like those two, Prince is blinded by his own zeal and ambition. If there were ever an individual capable of bombing Mecca during the Haj, it is Erik Prince, and he would lose not a moments sleep due to guilt feelings.

If anyone missed Keith Olbermann's interview with Jeremy Scahill of the Nation last night (August 5th) I highly recommend it. One of the horrid things mentioned was the use of a certain type of ammo (not allowed to be used by the military) that explodes once it enters the body. These ghouls under the leadership of Prince committed atrocities that must be brought to justice. How these (in)humans can use Christianity to justify their actions is beyond anything.

I am reading Sharlet's "The Family" and although I don't know if Prince has connections with this cult ( I wouldn't be surprised to hear of a connection), the distorted/deranged adaptation of Christianity is somewhat similar in that they believe as the chosen, they are above any law either Earthly or metaphysically. I am reading how Family members felt the Germans were the suffering victims after WWII, and if they would accept their religion all could be forgotten. I would love for someone to explore if there are connections. Hearing recently bibles sent to the war zones was also connected to post WWII.

Please keep covering this story Zack-thanks!

Why is this guy not in jail and why does the government still deal with this company. there is a related post at http://iamsoannoyed.com/?page_id=588

One of the most intriguing details that emerged from Scahill's appearances on "Countdown" this week was his relevation that the Justice Department would neither confirm nor deny existence of federal probes targeting Blackwater over these and other allegations. Of all the "John Doe" accusations, that Prince and his management had informants killed is by far the most explosive, and so, needs more substantiation to be credible. That the charge, on its face, is persuasive is testimony to how familiar we've become to Blackwater's infamies in six and a half years.

Is there a link to the actual filing? Scahill links the affidavits, and says they were filed with a "motion" but doesn't describe what kind of motion.

Re: hearsay references, the ones I saw in the motions would seem to have a lot of exceptions available to make them admissible, spanning from excited utterances to admissions.

Re: substantiation, this is where I'd like to know what kind of motion is at issue, because both of the affidavits pretty much scream out for additional discovery.

A pretty important point is that the John Doe No.2 affidavit states that the info in the affidavit has been provided "in grand jury proceedings" while the John Doe No. 1 affidavit states only that the info has been provided to the Dept of Justice, but it's coupled with the statement that the affiant is about to be redeployed and almost sounds like a shout out.

With respect to substantiation - the JD1 affidavit provides a lot of points of cross reference for substantiation via discovery. For example, there are references to mental health assessments and to assessments by security professionals and to mental health professionals who were terminated bc they would not certify unstable personalities for deployment. Those are all shout outs for access to the PrinceCompany mental health professional assessments and employment records and it sounds as if there are some very specific terminated persons in the affiants mind, but given the circumstances of the John Doe filing it wouldn't be unusual that they aren't named specifically yet.

JD1 also specifically mentions the company providing the illegal ammo, which also calls out for more discovery. It describes without naming two persons involved in the Kosovo sex ring as being hires and it mentions by name Carol Confers (with the allegation that Confers was working in the illegal arms business) and Roy Mettinger (with the likely admissible hearsay reference to his statements that he wasn't going to jail for Prince)

The John Doe No. 2 affidavit mentions several specific instances and specific names and specific illegal weaponery names and provides descriptions from which State Dept personnel who were also involved can be identified.

If the Motion is one for discovery, or if it is perhaps a reply to an existing motion for S Judgment etc. or if it is actually the initial complaint instead of a motion, the affidavits may well serve their purpose. It depends on the nature of the complaint and the current status of the complaint

What both affidavits do indicate, though, is that disovery for the plaintiffs is going to be expensive, time conuming and difficult. Also dangerous, if the affiants are telling the truth.

I am waiting to see what fallout, if any, there is to the reference to Grand Jury proceedings in the JD2 affidavit, though.

Could these individuals be plants of some kind? They make these charges, it gets leaked out and everybody left of center goes all ballistic about it, blogging and carrying on. Then they never get substantiated and these "witnesses" recant or are discredited in some spectacular way and it all fizzles and then the hivemind of the right-wing media can be all, "Look how they smeared poor Erik Prince, what a hero he is -- that awful [Amy Goodman, Keith Olberman, fill-in-the-blank] should be fired."

I know, that's a ridiculous conspiracy theory; something like that could never happen, could it Mr. Rather?

And also, as pointed out above, reports about this story didn't just "appear" in the Nation. It was reported by Jeremy Scahill, who literally 'wrote the book' on Blackwater. He's not a crackpot...