Civilian Warriors: The Inside Story of Blackwater and the Unsung Heroes of theWar on Terror (54 page)

“we were moving toward a police state”
: “They Want to Intimidate People from Dissenting,”
Socialist Worker
, http://socialistworker.org/2006-1/581/581_10_MichaelRatner.shtml, captured August 15, 2013.

recommended Blackwater pay out $136 million
: “Iraq Wants Blackwater to Pay $136 Million Compensation,” Reuters, www.reuters.com/article/2007/10/09/us-iraq-blackwater-idUSYAT93808120071009, captured August 15, 2013.

“modern-day merchant of death”
: Gabor Steingart, “Merchants of Death: Memo Reveals Details of Blackwater Targeted Killings Program,”
Der Spiegel
, August 24, 2009.

“Blackwater created and fostered a culture of lawlessness”
: “Blackwater USA Sued for Firing on Iraqi Civilians, According to Legal Team for Injured Survivor and Families of Three Killed,” Center for Constitutional Rights, http://ccrjustice.org/newsroom/press-releases/blackwater-usa-sued-firing-iraqi-civilians,-according-legal-team-injured-sur, captured August 15, 2013.

committing war crimes and summary execution
: “
Abtan, et al. v. Prince, et
al
.,” Center for Constitutional Rights, http://ccrjustice.org/ourcases/current-cases/abtan-et-al-v-blackwater-usa-et-al, captured August 15, 2013.

It started with an allegation of fraud
: Mark Mazzetti, “2 Ex-Workers Accuse Blackwater Security Company of Defrauding the U.S. for Years,”
New York Times,
February 10, 2010, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/11/us/11suit.html?_r=0, captured August 19, 2013.

Blackwater allegedly placing a Filipina prostitute
: Ibid.

The judge threw out that allegation
: “Jury Rules in Favor of Blackwater in Lawsuit,” Associated Press, August 5, 2011, www.foxnews.com/us/2011/08/05/jury-rules-in-favor-blackwater-in-lawsuit/, captured August 19, 2013.

“Mr. Prince was well aware”
: Bill Sizemore, “Another Lawsuit Targets Founder of Blackwater,”
Virginian-Pilot
, September 16, 2009.

“Discovery is needed”
: “Plaintiffs’ Second Amended Complaint:
Abtan, et al. v. Prince, et al.
,” Center for Constitutional Rights, www.ccrjustice.org/files/10.28.09%20Plaintiffs%27%20Second%20Amended%20Complaint.pdf, catured February 12, 2013.

“punitive damages in an amount sufficient to strip Mr. Prince”
: Ibid.

threw out all but one count
: Ben Vernia, “Fourth Circuit Affirms Judgment in Favor of Blackwater Subsidiary in Whistleblowers’ Suit,”
False Claims Counsel
, December 10, 2012.

settled with seven of the Iraqi families
: David Zucchino, “Iraqis Settle Lawsuits over Blackwater Shootings,”
Los Angeles Times
, January 8, 2010.

estates of the deceased each received
: Ibid.

“We are pleased that the original settlement”
: Ibid.

Iraqi government to step in and try to nullify the deal
: Liz Sly, “Iraqis Say They Were Forced to Take Blackwater Settlement,”
Los Angeles Times
, January 11, 2010.

“Blackwater was about to go into bankruptcy”
: Ibid.

“I feel I was deceived by them”
: Ibid.

settlement was reached with families of six other Nisour Square victims
: “Blackwater Successor Settles Baghdad Shooting Suit,” Associated Press, January 7, 2012.

“I constantly push for the 80 percent solution”
: “Iraqi Reconstruction: Reliance on Private Military Contractors and Status Report,” Hearing Before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, U.S. House of Representatives, February 7, 2007.

named him one of their “Fast 50”
: “The 5th Annual Fast 50,”
Fast Company
, www.fastcompany.com/most-innovative-companies/2006, captured August 15, 2013.

“Blackwater, based in the tiny town”
: Charles Fishman, “The 5th Annual Fast 50: No. 11. Private Army,”
Fast Company
, www.fastcompany.com/magazine/103/open_11-jackson.html, captured August 15, 2013.

“In previous years, the company export compliance program”
: David Isenberg, “Shaping Up Blackwater’s Act,”
Huffington Post
, June 29, 2010.

“The company must work to address past”
: Ibid.

“I announce my resignation”
: Mike Baker, “Xe Tries to Leave History of Blackwater Behind,” Fox News, March 2, 2009.

a fifteen-count indictment was issued against Jackson
: Eli Lake, “Exclusive: Court Docs Reveal Blackwater’s Secret CIA Past,”
Daily Beast
, March 14, 2013.

allegations largely revolved around seventeen AK-47s and seventeen Bushmaster M4
: Ibid.

“did knowingly combine, conspire, confederate and agree to commit offenses”
: Author copy of
United States of America v. Gary Jackson, William Wheeler Mathews, Jr., Andrew Howell, Ronald Slezak, Ana Bundy.

The individual charges brought with them potential prison sentences
: “Five Blackwater Employees Indicted,” Federal Bureau of Investigation, April 16, 2010.

“primitive military rifles”
: Author copy of
United States of America v. Gary Jackson, William Wheeler Mathews, Jr., Andrew Howell, Ronald Slezak, Ana Bundy.

“Because they needed guns, I imagine”
: Joseph Neff, “Blackwater Circumvents Weapons Laws,”
Raleigh News & Observer
, June 24, 2008.

CHAPTER 17:
THE NEXT REINVENTION

The deal was for $200 million
: “AAR Corp. to Acquire Aviation Worldwide Services,” AAR Corp., www.aarcorp.com/news/aar_aws_032510.htm, captured August 15, 2013.

“Presidential had flown more”
: Ibid.

“it’s time to hang it up”
: Jeff Stein, “Blackwater’s Prince: Congress Gave Me ‘Proctology,’”
Washington Post
, June 24, 2010.

Facebook page called “Small Victories”
: Derrick Wright, “Small Victories,” Facebook.com, https://www.facebook.com/pages/Small-Victories/155275984537320, captured August 15, 2013.

“I got my brains blown out”
: Author interview with Derrick Wright, July 2013.

“That’s what I’ve heard, anyway”
: Ibid.

learning how to be the “new Derrick”
: Ibid.

“I look back at ‘the event’ as sort of a do-over”
: Ibid.

“the best job I’ve ever had”
: Ibid.

“This is about our claims to moral leadership”
: Christine Hauser, “New Rules for Contractors Are Urged by 2 Democrats,”
New York Times
, October 4, 2007.

“The last American soldier[s] will cross the border out of Iraq”
: “Remarks by the President on Ending the War in Iraq,” White House, www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/10/21/remarks-president-ending-war-iraq, captured August 15, 2013.

“about to see a major surge of contractors”
: Charley Keyes, “Plans for Private Contractors to Protect U.S. Diplomats in Iraq Criticized,” CNN, October 4, 2011.

“logistical support, food and fuel”
: David Isenberg, “The State Department Takes Charge: Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid,”
Huffington Post
, September 24, 2010.

total manpower in Iraq is soon expected
: Walter Pincus, “State Department Report on U.S. Withdrawal from Iraq Cites Lack of Money, Other Problems,”
Washington Post
, June 3, 2011.

Roughly 5,500 of them will do the private security work
: Spencer Ackerman, “The Iraq War Ain’t Over, No Matter What Obama Says,”
Wired
, October 21, 2011.

Triple Canopy, in a five-year contract worth $977 million
: Richard Lardner, “Security Problems Uncovered at U.S. Bases in Iraq,” Associated Press, April 26, 2009.

Triple Canopy’s contractors bartered alcohol for guns
: T. Christian Miller, “Former Iraq Security Contractors Say Firm Bought Black Market Weapons, Swapped Booze for Rockets,”
ProPublica
, September 18, 2009.

“Who are we [financially] supporting”
: Ibid.

“I want to kill somebody today”
: Steve Fainaru, “Four Hired Guns in an Armored Truck, Bullets Flying, and a Pickup and a Taxi Brought to a Halt. Who Did the Shooting and Why?,”
Washington Post
, April 15, 2007.

“Because I’m going on vacation tomorrow”
: Ibid.

“That didn’t happen, understand?”
: Ibid.

“transparency and accountability needed for good governance”
: Charles Ornstein and Hagit Limor, “Where’s the Transparency That Obama Promised?,”
Washington Post
, March 31, 2011.

“We’re very, very worried”
: “Where Is the Peace Dividend? Examining the Final Report to Congress of the Commission on Wartime Contracting,” Hearing
Before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, U.S. House of Representatives, October 4, 2011.

Wright said the company’s new goal
: Nathan Hodge, “Company Once Known as Blackwater Ditches Xe for Yet Another New Name,”
Wall Street Journal
, December 12, 2011.

Under Wright, the company has expanded
: “USTC Tapped for Afghan Intel Work,” UPI, August 17, 2011.

ACADEMI quietly bought out International Development Solutions
: Sydney J. Freedberg Jr., “ACADEMI—Ex-Blackwater—Boosts State Dept. Business, Eyes Acquisitions,”
Breaking Defense
, June 8, 2012.

“He’s got a gun in his hand”
: Ibid.

“I think eventually, we’re going to get a license”
: Nathan Hodge, “Company Once Known as Blackwater Ditches Xe for Yet Another New Name,”
Wall Street Journal
, December 12, 2011.

United States spent more than $800 billion
: Jordan Weissmann, “An $800 Billion War: The Immense Cost of Invading Iraq, in Charts,”
Atlantic
, March 22, 2013.

spearheading a Green Zone car bombing
: “Iraq’s Sunni Vice President Tariq Al-Hashemi Sentenced to Death in Absentia,” Associated Press, September 9, 2012.

al-Hashemi had been sentenced in absentia to death by hanging
: Ibid.

almost $700 billion a year
: “SIPRI Military Expenditure Database,” Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, www.sipri.org/research/armaments/milex/milex_database, captured August 15, 2013.

the next nineteen countries combined
: Ibid.

some 40 percent of which goes to overhead costs
: Jim Garamone, “Gates Calls for Significant Cuts in Defense Overhead,” American Forces Press Service, May 8, 2010.

number of American military bases abroad
: Glenn Kessler, “Ron Paul’s Strange Claim about Bases and Troops Overseas,”
Washington Post
, February 9, 2012.

others suggest it’s closer
: Ibid.

American troops stationed in some 150 countries
: “U.S. Military Personnel by Country,” CNN, www.cnn.com/interactive/2012/04/us/table.military.troops/, captured August 15, 2013.

added a hundred new admirals and generals
: Dina Rasor, “The Pentagon’s Biggest Overrun: Way Too Many Generals,”
Truthout
, January 5, 2012.

Navy now has more admirals (331)
: “Sixteen Pages of Admirals,” U.S. Naval Institute, http://blog.usni.org/2012/05/19/sixteen-pages-of-admirals, captured August 15, 2013.

than ships for them to command (282)
: Ibid.

“in some cases the gap between me and an action officer”
: John Barry and Evan Thomas, “A War Within,”
Newsweek
, September 12, 2010.

three-man staff that oversaw fifty employees
: Ibid.

“DoD’s ability to control costs”
: “DOD Financial Management,” U.S. Government Accountability Office, www.gao.gov/highrisk/dod_financial_management/why_did_study, captured August 15, 2013.

twenty-five hundred lines in its budget
: Cheryl Pellerin, “Partners, Innovation Help Pentagon Deal with Budget Cuts,” American Forces Press Service, September 5, 2012.

from $294 billion to $716 billion
: “Editorial: Cut Defense Spending, but Not Mindlessly,”
USA Today
, http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/opinion/story/2012-08-02/defense-spending-budget-Pentagon/56721082/1, captured August 15, 2013.

upcoming cuts would be “crippling”
: Susan Davis, “Super-Committee Failure Forecasts Sequester Fight,”
National Journal
, November 21, 2011.

Panetta predicted it would be “doomsday”
: Jim Garamone, “Debt Reduction ‘Sequestration’ Concerns Panetta, Mullen,” American Forces Press Service, August 4, 2011.

scheduled to take eleven unpaid furlough days
: Matthew Hay Brown, “Pentagon Cuts Civilian Furlough Days,”
Baltimore Sun
, August 6, 2013.

Pentagon has spent more than $1.5 billion on military music
: “The Balancing Act,” Congressional Progressive Caucus, http://cpc.grijalva.house.gov/balancing-act/, captured August 15, 2013.

spend $388 million on 140 military bands
: Betty McCollum, “Military Spends Too Much on Music, Sports Promos,”
Minneapolis Star Tribune
, July 17, 2012.

more than 5,000 full-time professional musicians
: Ibid.

Pentagon will spend more than $70 million in taxpayer money
: Ibid.

“interested in joining because of the racing sponsorship”
: Dustin Long, “National Guard Urged to Prove Value of Sponsorships,” July 19, 2012.