Xe Services LLC

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Introduction

History

Xe Services LLC [1] (Xe)was formed in February 2009 as a re-branding of Blackwater Worldwide after the Blackwater brand came under scrutiny following reports that contractors of the company had orchestrated a bloody civillian cull in an Iraqi Square in 2007. Blackwater itself was founded in 1997 by former navy seal Erik Prince in Moyock, North Carolina. [2] There are now believed to be at least 30 front companies under the umbrella of mr Prince's Prince Group LLC [3].


People

Erik Prince, founder and former CEO of Xe Services, comes from a wealthy industrial and deeply republican background [4].

joseph Schmitz is the Chief Operating officer and General Counsel of the Prince Group LLC. He took up this post in 2005 after resigning from the US Defence Department amid allegations that he had witheld information in an investigation into his then boss George Bush Senior [5].

Stuart Eizenstat According to federal lobbying records, Xe services have recently in early 2010 spent $530,000 to acquire the services of Stuart Eizenstat who is a well connected democratic lobbyist who served in both the Clinton and Carter administrations. [6]

Paul Behrends has been lobbying on and off for Blackwater since 1998. In 1998 he was working with Rhoads Group where lobbied on behalf of Blackwater USA [7]. from 2006-2008 Behrends handled the Blackwater USA and Worldwide contract at lobbyists C&M Capitolink [8]. in 2009 he moved to Cromwell & Moring where he represented the Prince Group[9].

religious affiliations

Erik Prince

Erik Prince's Father Edgar Prince was a devout calvinist [10] who gave large amounts of start-up money to, amongst other things, right-wing christian organisation the Family Research Council (FRC) where Erik Prince, now a Catholic, later interned [11]. In a letter from [[Gary Bauer], founder and past president of the FRC, following Edgar Prince's death in 1995 Bauer proclaims 'without hesitation that without Ed and Elsa and their wonderful children, there simply would not be a Family Research Council' [12]. The organisation claims to promote 'faith, family and freedom' [13]. On closer inspection of some of the FRC's website content it is clear that the organisation only promotes the sanitised and normalised freedoms of the christian faith, openly denigrating homosexuality and abortion [14] [15]. Erik Prince also has connections to a controversial fundamentalist Christian organisation called Christian Freedom International (CFI) where he served on the board [16]. CFI have been described by Robert Weitzel of MWC News as "a crusading missionary organization operating in the overwhelmingly Islamic countries of Sudan, Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq" [17].


Joseph Schmitz

Joseph Schmitz claims membership of the Sovereign Order of Malta[18], an ancient Catholic order which tasks itself with 'taking on the military defence of the sick, the pilgrims and the territories that the crusaders had conquered from the Moslems (emphasis added) [19]

Paul Behrends

Paul Behrends is on the board of directors for Christian Freedom International [20]

Contracts

The U.S. Department of State, on September 29th 2010, allocated a chunk of its $10billion Worldwide Protective Services (WPS) programme contract to International Development Solutions LLC [21] . This company has apparent links to Blackwater and would appear to be the most recent in a long list of 'shell' or 'front' companies set up by Blackwater to win contracts in the face of controversy surrounding Blackwater agents’ conduct. [22] [23]


Lobbying Activity

Affiliations/ Donations

IPOA (International Peace Operations Association) Until 2007 Blackwater worldwide were members of the IPOA (International Peace Operations Association) whose main function is to promote high operational and ethical standards for firms who are active in the peace and stability operations industry. Their conduct code denotes that “All member companies subscribe to the ISOA Code of Conduct, which represents a constructive effort towards better regulating private sector operations in conflict and post-conflict environments. It reflects our belief that high standards will both benefit the industry and serve the greater causes of peace, development, and human security”(1). The Nisour square event in 2007 brought an end to any affiliation with the IPOA due to the bloody and unethical outcome of the event(2). http://ipoaworld.org/eng/aboutisoa.html http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/LB18Ak02.html

Controversies/Issues

Prince's attitude towards the Arab states

In a rare audio recording which emerged in May 2010, Prince addresses a friendly audience, unaware that his speech is being recorded. In the speech Prince states

"Aren’t you concerned that your folks aren’t covered under the Geneva Convention in dealing in the likes of Iraq or Afghanistan or Pakistan?" And I say, "Absolutely not," because these people, they crawled out of the sewer, and they have a 1200 A.D. mentality. They’re barbarians. They don’t know that there’s—they don’t even know where Geneva is, let alone that there was a convention there. [24] This infers that Prince shows little regard for tghe Geneva convention which stipulaties the humanitarian treatment of all war victims [25] and also gives insight to his attitudes towards race.


Illegal weapon smuggling

statements given to the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia by two of Prince’s former employees states clearly that Prince is or was involved in illegal activity both abroad and on U.S. soil. One of the key accusations within the statement of John Doe #1 (JD1), so called for fear of reprisals, is outlined in point 21 where Prince is implicated in the illegal arms trade. The witness alleges that Prince has been involved in illegally supplying his operatives in Iraq with weaponry banned by the U.S. contracting authorities (ironically on humanitarian grounds). These weapons were, it is alleged, flown into Iraq using one of Prince’s companies Presidential Airways Inc. In a statement from another ex-operative of Blackwater the allegation of weapon smuggling re surfaces when the witness states that on opening bags of ‘dog food’ another Blackwater employee had pulled out a number of illegal weapons. According to both statements, the illegal weapons smuggled into Iraq have been used by Blackwater operatives in the exercise of ‘excessive and unnecessary force’ in many cases wounding or killing innocent civilians. John Doe #2 (JD2) also states that a number of these incidents, witnessed by JD2, went uncontested by Blackwater and were never reported to the State Department as stipulated in their contract. JD2 also states that there was no attempt to ascertain whether the civilians involved were in need of medical attention or, indeed, whether they were dead. [26]


Lawsuit 10th September 2010

In September 2010, an American businessman claimed that Blackwater paid him to provide them the company with weapons and drugs. Between 2003 and 2009, Howard Lowry was based in Iraq and made the allegations at a lawsuit brought against Blackwater by two former employees, Brad and Melan Davis. The lawsuit was filed to expose the actions of Blackwater in Afghanistan and contained allegations of fraud against Erik Prince. Lowry also spoke of his experiences of drug use and violence at parties among Blackwater employees. He claimed, “Drug use was rampant” and that Blackwater personnel would use their weapons to “spray the building next door, which housed Iraqi civilians”. Lowry also described these parties as “beyond out of control”. [27]

Quotes

Erik Prince has been witnessed by former employees as stating that he "views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe". [28]



Notes

  1. ↑ Xe Services LLC
  2. ↑ Associated Press, "US security firm mired in Iraq controversy changes its name", Guardian.co.uk, 13th Feb 2009, accessed 12th Oct 2010
  3. ↑ Public Intelligence Blackwater/Xe Front Companies Chart 6th Sept 2010, accessed 2nd Nov 2010
  4. ↑ Right Web Erik Prince 2nd aug 2010, accessed 2nd Nov 2010
  5. ↑ Corpwatch US: Pentagon's Top Watchdog Resigned Amid Claims of Stonewalling Inquiries 3rd Sept 2005, accessed 2nd Nov 2010
  6. ↑ Jeremy Scahill Bipartisan Mercs?: Blackwater Hires Powerful Democratic Lobbyist The Nation Online, 14th May 2010, accessed 30th Oct 2010
  7. ↑ Open Secrets Paul Behrends: Lobbyist profile, summary 1998 accessed 3rd Nov
  8. ↑ Open Secrets Paul Behrends: Lobbyist profile, summary 2008 accessed 3rd Nov 2010
  9. ↑ Open Secrets Paul Behrends: Lobbyist Profile, Summary 2009 accessed 3rd Nov 2010
  10. ↑ Pelton, 2007. Licenced to Kill: Hired Guns in the War on Terror. Three Rivers Press, New York
  11. ↑ Scahill, J. 2008. Blackwater: The Rise Of The Worlds Most Powerful Mercenary Army. Serpent's Tail London p72
  12. ↑ Bauer G Letter from Family Research Council President Gary Bauer 13th April 1995, accessed 3rd Nov 2010
  13. ↑ FRC About FRC accessed 2nd Nov 2010
  14. ↑ Sprigg, P. 2010 The Top Ten Myths About HomosexualityFRC, accessed 2nd Nov 2010
  15. ↑ FRC Human Life and Bioethics: Abortionaccessed 2010
  16. ↑ Rightweb Erik Prince 2nd Aug 2010, accessed 3rd Nov 2010
  17. ↑ Weitzel, R U.S. Military's Middle East Crusade for Christ 14th June 2008, accessed 3rd Nov 2010
  18. ↑ Scahill, J. 2008. Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army. Serpent's Tail, London p361
  19. ↑ Order of Malta 960 years of history accessed 3rd Nov 2010
  20. ↑ CFI CFI Board of Directors Accessed 3rd Nov 2010
  21. ↑ US Department of State "The Worldwide Protective Services (WPS) program provides comprehensive protective security services to support U.S. Department of State operations around the world" Federal Business Opportunities, 29th Sept 2010, accessed 16th Oct 2010
  22. ↑ Parvaz, D “’Blackwater’ gets new US contract” Aljazeera 2nd Oct 2010 accessed on 16th Oct 2010
  23. ↑ Public Intelligence “Blackwater Used More Than 30 Front Companies to Obtain Government Contracts” Public Intelligence Online, 6th Sept 2010, accessed on 16th Oct 2010
  24. ↑ Democracy Now, Exclusive: Secret recordings of Erik Prince reveals Previously undisclosed Blackwater ops Democracy Now Online, 4th May 2010, accessed 18th Oct 2010
  25. ↑ International Commitee of the Red Cross, The Geneva Conventions of 1949 International Committee for the Red Cross Online, 3rd Sept 2009, accessed 18th Oct 2010
  26. ↑ The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia "The Nation Online" Cited in scahill, 2009, accessed October 24th 2010
  27. ↑ Lowry in Scahill US Businessman: Blackwater Paid Me to Buy Steroids and Weapons on Black Market for its ShootersThe Nation Online, 23rd Sept 2010, accessed 26th Oct 2010
  28. ↑ Scahill, Jeremy "the blackwater plot deepens" Guardian.co.uk, nov 11th 2009, accessed October 16th 2010
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