$etting $ail for the high $ea$.
"Diplomats wondered if US would aid Blackwater’s pirate-hunting foray" by Mark Mazetti, New York Times / December 1, 2010
WASHINGTON — Besieged by criminal inquiries and congressional investigators, how could the world’s most controversial private security company drum up new business? By battling pirates on the high seas, of course....
See: Blackwater's Navy
With the Obama administration just weeks old, US diplomats in Djibouti faced a problem. They are supposed to be advocates for US businesses, but this was Blackwater....
And while serving a tour on the USS Blackwater?
Lawsuits filed later by crew members on the McArthur made life on the ship sound little improved from the days of Blackbeard. One former crew member said, according to legal documents, that the ship’s captain, who had been drinking during a port call in Jordan, ordered him “placed in irons’’ (handcuffed to a towel rack) after he was accused of giving an unauthorized interview to his hometown newspaper in Minnesota. Another crew member, who is black, claimed in court documents that he was repeatedly subjected to racial epithets.
In the end, Blackwater Maritime Security Services found no treasure in the pirate-chasing business, never attracting any clients. And the Obama administration chose not to sever the US government’s relationship with the North Carolina-based firm, which has collected more than $1 billion in security contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001. Blackwater renamed itself Xe Services, and this year the company won a $100 million contract from the CIA to protect the agency’s bases in Afghanistan.
Related: Blackwater Flowing Into Afghanistan
With taxpayer dough behind them.
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New name, old owner:
"Investment group buys firm formerly known as Blackwater; Purchase includes training facility in North Carolina" by Associated Press / December 18, 2010
RALEIGH, N.C. — An investment group with ties to the founder of the company formerly known as Blackwater announced yesterday 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.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. But the statement said owner and founder Erik Prince will no longer have an equity stake and will no longer be involved in Xe’s management or operations. The company will be managed by a board appointed by the equity holders and will include independent, unaffiliated directors, the statement said.
Prince founded the company in 1997 along with former colleagues from the Navy SEALs.
The ownership group is led by two private equity firms....
The private company became famous as Blackwater, which provided guards and services to the US government in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. It became one of the most respected defense contractors in the world, but it also drew sharp criticism over its role in those missions.
It has been trying to rehabilitate its image since a 2007 shooting in Baghdad that killed 17 people, outraged the Iraqi government, and led to federal charges against several Blackwater guards. The accusations later were thrown out of court after a judge found prosecutors mishandled evidence....
Related: Operation Iraq: Blessed Blackwater
They sure seem to be.
Also see: Suit against Blackwater in four deaths is ended
Now you know how Iraqis feel, Americans.
Earlier this year, Xe sold its aviation division for $200 million to AAR Corp. of Wood Dale, Ill.
Related: Blackwater's Air Force
A private Navy, Army, and Air Force for rent?
Also, five former executives, including Gary Jackson, the company’s former president, were indicted on charges of conspiring to violate federal firearms laws. Jackson was among the top officials who left the company last year in a management shakeup.
See: Occupation Iraq: Blackwater Slides Back Into US Court
And right back out again.
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And despite what Wikileaks implied:
"Somali region won’t end deal with contractors" by Katharine Houreld, Associated Press / January 29, 2011
NAIROBI, Kenya — A semiautonomous regional government in Somalia yesterday defied the central government’s decision to end relations with a private security company linked to the founder of Blackwater Worldwide, underscoring the weakness of the authorities in Mogadishu.
Somalia’s minister of information, Abdulkareem Jama, insisted yesterday that the decision to end the relationship with Saracen International applies to regional governments.
“The decision is binding on all Somali territories. That will apply to all parts of Somalia,’’ said Jama.
But Abdirizak Ahmed, the head of the counterpiracy program in the semiautonomous northern region of Puntland, said it does not necessarily recognize the authority of the federal government to make that decision.
Saracen International has begun training forces in Puntland, whose administration has been distancing itself from the Mogadishu-based government, saying it hasn’t delivered security and services.
“I don’t think the decision they have made will change anything in Puntland,’’ Ahmed said. “I don’t think it will have an impact on the relationship Puntland has with Saracen . . . it’s not a [national government] issue.’’
Other Puntland officials did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
Last week the Associated Press reported on links between Saracen International and Erik Prince, who founded Blackwater Worldwide. Killings by Blackwater guards in Afghanistan and Iraq — including a 2007 incident in Baghdad in which 14 Iraqi civilians were shot dead — raised global concerns over the lack of accountability of private security contractors in war zones.
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And where were they?
"South Korea troops free hijacked vessel; 8 Somali pirates killed in firefight" by Kim Kwang-Tae, Associated Press / January 22, 2011
SEOUL — It was a remarkable ending to the daring and rare raid, handing South Korea a stunning success in the battle against pirates who have long tormented shipping in the waters off the Horn of Africa....
The successful raid also was a triumph for South Korea’s president and military. Both came under harsh criticism at home for being too slow and weak in the response to a North Korean attack in November on a South Korean island near disputed waters that killed two marines and two civilians.
Yesterday’s operation came a week after the Somali attackers seized the Samho Jewelry, a 11,500-ton chemical carrier sailing from the United Arab Emirates to Sri Lanka.
“We will not tolerate any behavior that threatens the lives and safety of our people in the future,’’ President Lee said in a brief televised statement.
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Related: Pirates’ violence set a record in 2010
How could that be with the world's navies and mercenaries patrolling the place?
Also see: The case for mercenaries in Somalia
Need more?
"Somali pirates torture hostages, EU aide says" by Associated Press / February 2, 2011
NAIROBI — Somali pirates are systematically torturing hostages and using them as human shields, the top commander of the European Union Naval Force said yesterday.
Did they get lessons from USrael?
Pirates have recently tied hostages upside down and dragged them in the sea, locked them in freezers, beaten them, and used plastic ties around their genitals, Major General Buster Howes said....
No electric shock like the CIA?
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Related:
"Dutch clear 5 of 12 detained Somalis" by Associated Press / December 27, 2010
AMSTERDAM — Dutch authorities yesterday cleared five of the 12 Somali men who were detained on Christmas Eve on suspicion of preparing a terrorist attack.
Related: Dutch hold 12 Somalis on terror suspicions
Prosecutors said they had no evidence of criminal involvement by the five men, but investigation of the other seven was continuing. Prosecutors must decide by tomorrow whether to bring the remaining suspects before a judge.
The men were picked up in Rotterdam after a tip from intelligence services that an attack in the Netherlands might be imminent. There was no information on the alleged target.
On Friday, police raided an Internet cafe, four homes, and two motel rooms but found no weapons or explosives.
Authorities said they cannot know for sure if they prevented a terrorist assault. “What we did is take away the threat that was formed by these people,’’ prosecutor Gerrit van der Burg said Saturday....
If there ever was one.
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Also see: Five arrested in plot to attack over cartoons
Somali man gets 9 years for ax-wielding break-in at Danish cartoonist’s home
This whole thing is becoming a cartoon, readers.
