Civilian Warriors: The Inside Story of Blackwater and the Unsung Heroes of theWar on Terror (44 page)

My one and only appearance before Congress came on October 2, 2007. I attempted to provide perspective on the dangers my men faced by showing a picture of one of our vehicles destroyed by a suicide car bomb.

BLOOMBERG / BLOOMBERG / GETTY IMAGES

Family members of Blackwater men ambushed in Fallujah testified before Congress at that hearing.
FROM LEFT TO RIGHT:
Kristal Batalona, daughter of Wesley Batalona; Kathryn Helvenston-Wettengel, mother of Stephen Helvenston; Rhonda Teague, wife of Michael Teague; and Donna Zovko, mother of Jerry Zovko.

ALEX WONG / GETTY IMAGES NEWS / GETTY IMAGES

During that hearing, Representative Henry Waxman, D-Calif., sought to portray my company as stingy and reckless.

AP PHOTO/SUSAN WALSH

In 2007, Blackwater bought an Embraer Super Tucano to help provide counterinsurgency flight training to U.S. government clients.

COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR

For all the attention paid to Muntazer al-Zaidi after the reporter threw his shoes at President George W. Bush during a 2008 news conference, few people noticed the Blackwater man (in gray sleeves) who actually stopped the assault while the Secret Service stood flat-footed.

COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR

In July 2008, Blackwater contractors protected then Senator Barack Obama during the presidential candidate’s trip to Iraq. A
U.S. News & World Report
writer overheard him tell our men, “Blackwater is getting a bad rap.”

COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR

Then Senators Joe Biden, Chuck Hagel, and John Kerry—the future vice president, secretary of defense, and secretary of state, respectively—pose while waiting for the Blackwater rescue crew that came to the senators’ aid following their helicopter’s forced landing in Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush mountains. Kerry’s office would later credit and thank “the American troops” for the rescue.

COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR

In Afghanistan in 2009, my men and I wore indigenous clothing while traveling around Kabul. We chose a low profile whenever possible. The enemy can’t attack what it can’t see.

ADAM FERGUSON/VII

Blackwater, and this book about it, would never have become what they did without the assistance of dozens of people. First and foremost, I want to thank Ken Viera, Jim Dehart, and everyone else who helped launch a small business in the swamp back in 1997. And I want to thank Gary Jackson: I may have been the idea guy, but he translated concept into action and took the business from a few men in a swamp to an efficient global machine. He’s one of the finest friends I’ve ever known.

I also want to thank Richard Pere and team who joined us and built out the finest aviation operation since Air America. His editing skills on this manuscript were as sharp as his piloting skills.

I’m grateful to all the former Blackwater employees and contractors who agreed to speak about their time with the company, and the terrific things we accomplished. I owe a debt of gratitude to the people and patriots of Moyock, North Carolina, who embraced the company, and my team’s mission there. I still enjoy seeing people in our bear-paw-branded apparel wherever in the world I spot them.

Thanks to Adrian Zackheim, Bria Sandford, and the rest of the team at Portfolio/Penguin, who took on this project and worked tirelessly to convert a manuscript into a book on a highly accelerated schedule. And to David Kuhn and others at Kuhn Projects for making that connection in the first place. I want to truly thank and recognize Davin Coburn for giving coherent voice to my thoughts and recollections. Without your prose the book would not be what it is today. I also want to thank Dr. Mike Waller, who recorded and researched many of the events recounted in this book. Thanks also to Joe and Victoria for watching my back like guardian angels.

For her love, support, and guidance at every step of this project, I am forever indebted to Stacy DeLuke. I would like to thank all seven of my kids for their patience in putting up with their dad’s stress, travel, and frequent absence. I love you all more than you can imagine.

Thanks to my parents, Ed and Elsa Prince, for giving me a great formation and foundation to build upon. I especially want to thank my dad because his risk and subsequent success allowed me to take my own risks and forge the man I am today.

INTRODUCTION

At eleven p.m., eighteen cars
: Frank Gallagher, “A First-Person Account of a Vehicle Ambush,”
Security Driver Magazine
, April 2013.

Especially not on the “Highway of Death”
: Oliver Poole, “Baghdad’s Highway of Death ‘Now Safe,’”
Telegraph
, December 10, 2005.

insurgents had effectively owned
: Paul McGeough, “The World’s Most Dangerous Road,”
Sydney Morning Herald
, June 8, 2005.

State Department would ultimately outlaw its personnel
: Julian E. Barnes, “Road with a Bad Rep,”
U.S. News & World Report
, February 20, 2005.

Shortly before eleven p.m.
: Frank Gallagher, “A First-Person Account of a Vehicle Ambush,”
Security Driver Magazine
, April 2013.

“Needless to say, some of the radio traffic”
: Ibid.

the Coalition Provisional Authority leader and his right-hand man
: L. Paul Bremer III,
My Year in Iraq
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006), p. 245.

“We promised to have a cup of mead”
: Frank Gallagher, “A First-Person Account of a Vehicle Ambush,”
Security Driver Magazine
, April 2013.

Gallagher
 . . . wrapped his fingers
: L. Paul Bremer III,
My Year in Iraq
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006), p. 246.

a call from a Blackwater bird
: Frank Gallagher, “A First-Person Account of a Vehicle Ambush,”
Security Driver Magazine
, April 2013.

The lead and follow armored cars
: Ibid.

he later learned had been an AK-47 round
: Ibid.

an improvised explosive device (IED) rocked
: L. Paul Bremer III,
My Year in Iraq
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006), p. 246.

“We’d been ambushed”
: Ibid.

“Tuna! Tuna! Tuna!”
: Frank Gallagher, “A First-Person Account of a Vehicle Ambush,”
Security Driver Magazine
, April 2013.

One of the trailing Suburbans pulled
: Ibid.

“I asked for a casualty report”
: Ibid.

The stench of explosives lingered
: L. Paul Bremer III,
My Year in Iraq
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006), p. 246.

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

Blackwater was slagged as the face of military evil
: John Fasano, “Blackwater Gets the Shaft,”
Tactical Life
, May 12, 2010.

Gun-toting bullies for hire
: Nina Burleigh, “Bullies Ascendant,”
AlterNet
, October 31, 2004.

CHAPTER 1:
MY FATHER’S SON

he struck out to create Prince Manufacturing
: Unless otherwise noted, the history of Prince Manufacturing is drawn from personal time working at the company and extensive conversations with family members about its history.

David Swietlik
 . . . once told
: “Hoover’s Company Profiles: BuhlerPrince, Inc.,” www.answers.com/topic/idraprince-inc, captured February 26, 2013.

Seven years after its founding
: George Dila, “Downtown Needs Visionary, Gutsy Leader,”
Ludington Daily News
, March 18, 2003.

“It was then, while he lay”
: Letter from Gary L. Bauer and the Family Research Council, April 13, 1995, www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/frc/frc-msn.9504.txt, captured February 26, 2013.

a town named Holland
: “Holland, Michigan: Our History,” www.holland.org/about-holland/our-history/, captured February 26, 2013.

In the 1980s their aid helped revitalize
: Phil Tanis, “Ed Prince and Emilie (Prince) Wierda Interview,” Hope College Oral History Project, August 1985.

George H. W. Bush toured the center
: Myron Kukla, “Evergreen Commons Senior Center Turns 25,”
Grand Rapids Press
, April 4, 2010.

launch the Family Research Council
: Letter from Gary L. Bauer and the Family Research Council, April 13, 1995, www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/frc/frc-msn.9504.txt, captured February 26, 2013.

President Reagan gave a speech
: Ronald Reagan, “What Ever Happened to Free Enterprise?,” Hillsdale College, November 10, 1977.

Today, Rohrabacher is serving his thirteenth term
: U.S. Congress biography of Dana Rohrabacher, rohrabacher.house.gov/biography, captured February 26, 2013.

He also helped create the Reagan Doctrine
: Ibid.

“Freedom is not the sole prerogative”
: Ronald Reagan, “Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress on the State of the Union,” February 6, 1985, at American Presidency Project, www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=38069, captured February 26, 2013.

Behrends, then a Marine reserve major
: Crowell & Moring biography of Paul Behrends, www.crowell.com/professionals/paul-behrends, captured February 26, 2013.

Nicaraguan Association for Human Rights believed
: Ilan Berman and J. Michael Waller,
Dismantling Tyranny: Transitioning Beyond Totalitarian Regimes
(New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2005), p. 107.

“Because of its particularly challenging requirements”
: Navy SEAL BUD/S Training Stages Overview, www.sealswcc.com/navy-seals-buds-training-stages-overview.aspx#.UUnq4hmtIvc, captured February 27, 2013.

“You felt in a way like you were part”
: Letter from Gary L. Bauer and the Family Research Council, April 13, 1995, www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/frc/frc-msn.9504.txt, captured February 26, 2013.

“Ed Prince was not an empire builder”
: Ibid.

sold the Prince Automotive unit
: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission File No. 1-5097, July 19, 1996.

Edgar D. Prince Technical Campus
: Johnson Controls, www.johnsoncontrols.com/content/us/en/products/automotive_experience/our-approach/global-leadership/Holland.html, captured February 27, 2013.

CHAPTER 2:
THE GREAT DISMAL SWAMP

SEAL Team 8 had just wrapped
: Ryan C. Henderson, “Crossing the Rubicon,”
NATO Review
, Autumn 2005.

Our military complex ramps up
: Max Boot, “Overspending the Peace Dividend,”
Los Angeles Times
, January 8, 2012; John J. Gargan, “To Defend a Nation: An Overview of Downsizing and the U.S. Military,”
M@n@gement
2, no. 3, 1999.

“
Soviet Union is no longer the threat”
: “Report on the Bottom-Up Review,” U.S. Defense Department, October 1993.

the peacekeeping failure in Bosnia
: Ryan C. Henderson, “Crossing the Rubicon,”
NATO Review
, Autumn 2005.

Both men were accused
:
The Prosecutor of the Tribunal against Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic
, filed November 16, 1995.

Dutch UN Protection Force did little
: UN General Assembly,
Report of the Secretary-General Pursuant to General Assembly Resolution 53/35: The Fall of Srebrenica
, November 15, 1999.

Kofi Annan admitted
: “U.N. Blames Serbs, Itself for Massacre in Bosnian Enclave,” Associated Press, November 16, 1999.

Defense Department’s spending cuts had reduced
: “The Report of the Quadrennial Defense Review,” U.S. Defense Department, May 1997.

More than a hundred military bases
: Josh Kirschenbaum and Lorraine Giordano, “Employment Analysis of East Bay Military Base Civilian Employees,” University of California, Institute of Urban and Regional Development, 1998.

the midst of the largest military-industrial complex
: “Military Families and Personnel,” Ready Hampton Roads, readyhamptonroads.org/Citizens/Military-FamiliesandPersonnel.aspx, captured February 27, 2013.

CHAPTER 3:
COLUMBINE, THE
COLE
, AND CANCER

the country’s first law enforcement
: “U.S. Coast Guard Aviation History: Coast Guard Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron,” U.S. Coast Guard, 2004.

Coast Guard estimated it was stopping less
: Ibid.

Just after eleven a.m. on Tuesday, April 20
: “Columbine High School shootings,”
Encyclopaedia Britannica
, www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1528263/Columbine-High-School-shootings, captured August 2, 2013.

In one of the worst school shootings
: Columbine Memorial, www.columbinememorial.org/, captured August 2, 2013.

the public fixated on potential causes
: Susan Greene, “Backward, Forward on Columbine,”
Denver Post
, March 22, 2009.

We noticed that more than seventy-five police
: David Kohn, “What Really Happened at Columbine?,” CBS News, April 29, 2009.

a reported one thousand personnel
: “Managing the Incident,” Jefferson County, Colorado, Sheriff, http://www.operationaltachics.org media Columbine%20Article.pdf.

the passing of teacher Dave Sanders
: Dave Olinger, “911 Tapes Tell Tale of Chaos,”
Denver Post
, May 21, 2000.

the National Tactical Officers Association
: “NTOA History,” National Tactical Officers Association, www.ntoa.org/about.html, captured August 2, 2013.

We called the massive structure
: “Mock NC School Helps Train Lawmen Across Nation,” Associated Press, March 31, 2000.

In September 1999, the NTOA sent
: Jon Frank, “Firearms Training Centers on Schools Under Assault,”
Virginian-Pilot
, October 4, 1999.

As a reporter once described our work
: Mark Hemingway, “Warriors for Hire: Blackwater USA and the Rise of the Private Military Contractors,”
Weekly Standard
, December 18, 2006.

“There was no back-slapping”
: Michelle Gotthelf, “Police Response a Matter of Debate,” APB News, April 17, 2000.

The USS
Cole
is a billion-dollar warship
: David Briscoe, “Profile of the USS
Cole
,” ABC News, October 13, 2000.

In August 2000, the destroyer sailed
: R. W. Rogers, “Danger in Even ‘Routine’ Missions,”
Daily Press
, October 13, 2000.

a deployment with the U.S. 5th Fleet
: “USS
Cole
Makes First 5th Fleet Port Call Since Terrorist Attack,” Navy NewsStand, October 3, 2006.

Two months later, as the ship refueled
:
“Command Investigation into the Actions of USS
Cole
(IDDG 67) in Preparing for and Undertaking a Brief Stop for Fuel at Bandar at Tawahi (Aden Harbor), Aden, Yemen, on or about 12 October 2000,” U.S. Navy, www.history.navy.mil/Special%20Highlights/USSCole/REPORT/INVESTRPT.pdf, captured August 2, 2013.

Then the duo set off a blast equivalent
: Richard Miniter,
Losing Bin Laden
(New York: Regnery, 2004), p. 216.

Seventeen sailors were killed
: Ibid., p. 218.

Petty Officer John Washak
: Thomas E. Ricks and Steve Vogel,
“Cole
Sailors on Sentry Duty Did Not Have Ammunition in Their Guns,”
Washington Post
, November 14, 2000.

The report concluded that the
Cole
’s
: Yonah Alexander and Tyler B. Richardson,
Terror on the High Seas
(Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 2009), p. 116.

In his statement to the JAG report
: “USS
Cole
Briefing—Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen,” U.S. Department of Defense, January 19, 2001.

“With those surveys
 . . .
the Navy is basically saying”
: Author interview with Fred Roitz, July 2013.

In May 2001, Admiral Vern Clark
: “Lessons Learned from the Attack on the U.S.S.
Cole
,” Hearing Before the Committee on Armed Services, U.S. Senate, May 3, 2001.

Earnings at Prince Machine had quadrupled
: “Hoover’s Company Profiles: BuhlerPrince, Inc.,” www.answers.com/topic/idraprince-inc, captured February 26, 2013.

CHAPTER 4:
THE RISE OF BLACKWATER

two senior colonels in China’s People’s Liberation Army
: Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui,
Unrestricted Warfare
(Beijing: PLA Literature and Arts Publishing, February 1999).

The book advocated
: “
Unrestricted Warfare
,” www.cryptome.org/cuw.htm#Preface, captured August 2, 2013.

President George W. Bush’s national security team
: “Bush Adds Clinton Holdover to Security Team,” Associated Press, October 1, 2001.

the ethnic Uzbek worked for a time
: John F. Burns, “Afghan Fights Islamic Tide,”
New York Times
, October 14, 1996.

Dostum rose to the rank of army general
: Tim Weiner, “The Commander: Rebel with Long Career of Picking Fights (and Sides),”
New York Times
, November 10, 2001.

By 1997, thanks in large part to his willingness
: Ibid.

Its main city was Mazar-i-Sharif
: Tim McGirk, “Inside Karzai’s Campaign,”
Time
, October 4, 2004.

Dostum was ousted
: Roy Allison and Lena Jonson,
Central Asian Security
(Washington D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 2001), p. 113.

Dostum was forced into exile
: Brian Glyn Williams, “Dostum: Afghanistan’s Exiled Warlord,”
Foreign Policy
, August 10, 2009.