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Blackwater/Xe Sued For War Crimes
Blackwater has lost its Iraq contract, but the firm continues to be dogged by scandal stemming from its five-year run protecting diplomats in the country. You might remember the story of how Blackwater operator Andrew Moonen allegedly shot and killed the Iraqi vice president's bodyguard in the Green Zone in December 2006 after drunkenly stumbling away from a Christmas party with a loaded Glock at his side. The incident was just one in a string of questionable shootings that ultimately led the State Department to cancel Blackwater's contracts earlier this year, though that may have done little more than compel Blackwater's shooters to change teams.
But the Moonen shooting, despite Blackwater's alleged attempts to cover it up, is back in the news. The wife and two orphaned children of Raheem Khalaf Sa'adoon, the slain Iraqi guard, have filed suit against Erik Prince and Blackwater/Xe in Alexandria's District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. The written complaint (PDF) charges Prince and his web of companies with war crimes; assault and battery; wrongful death; intentional infliction of emotional distress; negligent inflication of emotional distress; negligent hiring, training, and supervision; and tortious spoilation of evidence. They demand compensation for the Sa'adoon's death, as well as an unspecified punitive award "in an amount sufficient to strip Defendants of all of the revenue and profits earned from their pattern of constant misconduct and callous disregard for human life."
According to the complaint, Moonen now works as a prison guard at the Monroe Correctional Complex in Monroe, Washington. His attorney, Stewart Riley, told the Seattle Post that Moonen's defense will be that "he was shot at in the Green Zone and he ran for his life."
The Blackwaterhe Bush administration's favorite contractor
The Blackwaterhe Bush administration's favorite contractor, is the most powerful private army in the world. It commands thousands of mercenaries in Iraq and Afghanistan, has over a billion dollars in government contracts, and enjoys complete immunity from prosecution for its theater of operations' conduct.
Blackwater's founder, Erik Prince, a staunchly conservative Catholic, has also served on the board of directors of Christian Freedom International, a crusading missionary organization operating in the overwhelmingly Islamic countries of Sudan, Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq. Prince envisions an evangelical "end time" role for his warriors: "Everybody carries guns, just like Jeremiah rebuilding the temple in Israel -- a sword in one hand and a trowel in the other."
No one in the last decade has contributed more to end time, apocalyptic evangelism than John Hagee, a televangelist seen by millions of viewers weekly and pastor of the 19,000-member Cornerstone Church. Hagee preaches that in order to bring about the Second Coming of Christ and the Rapture of true believers, Islam first has to be destroyed.
In a 2006 interview with National Public Radio's Terry Gross, Hagee told her, "Those who live by the Quran have a scriptural mandate to kill Christians and Jews." He went on to claim that there are 200 million Muslims waiting for the chance to attack Israel and the United States. From his pulpit, Hagee makes it clear to his congregation and the radio and television audience what they can expect from American Muslims if such an attack ever took place: "While American Muslims live in America, 82 percent are not loyal to America and are not willing to fight and defend America."
In his book, "Jerusalem Countdown - A Warning to the World," Hagee warns that the war between Islam and the West "is a war that Islam cannot and must not win."
John Hagee is not just a mad evangelizing prophet. He is the mad evangelizing prophet who is courted by a war president, a hawkish presidential candidate and members of Congress from both parties. His Islamophobic bilge has trickled down from Capital Hill, through the labyrinthine corridors of the Pentagon, and into the chamber of a sniper's rifle and the hand of a Marine guarding a checkpoint in Fallujah.
Officers in the military are expected to lead by example. Enlisted personnel are expected to follow that example. If the recent incidents at Radhwaniya and Fallujah are not just the acts of renegades, then the chain of command seems to be working the way it was designed.
In our sterilized world, with our censored news we rarely see the ugly side of what we are responsible for... remember... our tax dollars are paying for this nightmare.