Iraq Contractors

Feds Probing Drunken Blackwater Shooting

Paul Kiel | May 16, 2008, 11:38AM

Nearly a year and a half after the incident, the Justice Department has sent a team to investigate a former Blackwater contractor for drunkenly gunning down a bodyguard to Iraqi Vice President Adil Abd-al-Mahdi on Christmas Eve, 2006.

To refresh your memory on this singularly ugly case: after the shooting, Blackwater and the State Department got together to hustle the contractor, Andrew Moonen, out of Iraq (when Blackwater CEO Erik Prince was asked about this, he replied, "It could easily be.").

Part of the effort to keep the thing under wraps was a payment to the victim's family. Emails showed that when U.S. Embassy officials suggested either $100,000 or $250,000, a State diplomatic-security official countered with $15,000. The figure needed to be lower, the diplomatic-security official contended, so Iraqis wouldn't "try to get killed to set up their family financially."

And they managed to keep the thing so quiet that Moonen soon went back to Iraq working for another contractor.

But now prosecutors have evidently determined that the law will allow them to charge Moonen. They say they'll reach a decision at the end of the summer. Don't confuse this case with the Nisour Square shooting -- the Justice Department is also investigating that incident, and a handful of contractors are reportedly still on the hook.

Iraq Contractors

Feds Unlikely to Charge Blackwater for Baghdad Shootings

Paul Kiel | May 9, 2008, 4:42PM

From the AP:

Blackwater Worldwide, the security contractor blamed by an angry Iraqi government for the shooting deaths of 17 civilians, is not expected to face criminal charges -- all but ensuring the company will keep its multimillion-dollar contract to protect U.S. diplomats.

Instead, the seven-month-old Justice Department investigation is focused on as few as three or four Blackwater guards who could be indicted in the Sept. 16 shootings, according to interviews with a half-dozen people close to the investigation.

So what does this mean? Well, for one thing, it would certainly seriously damage the company's prospects for government business -- especially its contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan -- if Blackwater were indicted. It also certainly wouldn't help the search for investors. But if a few bad apples get put to justice, well, prospects improve. Blackwater spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell tells the AP, "If it is determined that there are any individuals who need to be held accountable, we support that."

Iraq Contractors

Blackwater: Looking for A Few Good Hundred Million

Paul Kiel | May 2, 2008, 12:48PM

Earlier this week, ABC reported that the investment firm Cerberus Capital was in talks to buy Blackwater for around $200 million, but Cerberus, which had apparently been exploring the deal since the beginning of this year, got cold feet as soon as the news went public.

It turns out that it's part of a concerted push, The Times reports, to expand Blackwater's business because "whatever the outcome of the US presidential election Blackwater, run by Erik Prince, the Republican former Navy Seal, may find itself without friends in Washington." So there's an effort to prepare for the future, when all those federal investigations and scandals might actually affect the bottom line:

Blackwater has advertised in security industry journals repositioning itself as a peacekeeping force. The adverts show mothers feeding babies and Blackwater guards smiling as children play in a street. It has also set up a division called Greystone, which is seeking to win protection work from the UN, aid organisations and foreign companies.

A defence industry source said: "Theirs is nearly all US government work and if that goes they are in trouble."

(Here's more on Greystone from Mother Jones.)