Xe Services LLC

<youtube size="medium" align="right" caption=" Video 1: Erik Prince is cagey about ambitions to build a fast-response peace keeping force - interview with Charlie Rose">-GULPEzJJ6c</youtube> Xe Services (pronounced 'Zee') was a private military contractor (PMC) based in Moyock, North Carolina. The company changed its name from Blackwater Worldwide in February 2009.

Xe was a subsidiary of Prince Group, owned by Erik Prince. It was sold in 2010 to a group of private investors and was renamed as Academi.

The company was dogged by controversy around its operations in Afghanistan and Iraq..

Critics have also focused on Erik Prince's links with the Republican Party and the US conservative movement. In his book Blackwater, journalist Jeremy Scahill described Prince as being in the thick of a "right-wing effort to unite conservative Catholics, evangelicals and neoconservatives in a common theoconservative holy war - with Blackwater serving as a sort of armed wing of the movement."

There were also a number of high profile ex CIA and Pentagon officials on Xe's staff..

History

Xe Services LLC (Xe)was formed in February 2009 as a rebranding of Blackwater Worldwide after the Blackwater brand came under scrutiny following reports that its contractors had orchestrated a bloody civilian cull in an Iraqi Square in 2007. Blackwater itself was founded in 1997 by former Navy Seal Erik Prince in Moyock, North Carolina. In 2010 there were believed to be at least 30 front companies under the umbrella of the Prince Group LLC .

People

• Erik Prince Founder and chairman of Xe Services..
  

  Erik Prince
• Joseph Schmitz Former Chief Operating Officer 2005-2008
• Paul Behrends - 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 . from 2006-2008 Behrends handled the Blackwater USA and Worldwide contract at lobbyists C&M Capitolink. In 2009 he moved to Cromwell & Moring where he represented the Prince Group.
  
• Cofer Black Black is the ex-head of Counter Terrorism at the CIA and is now Vice Chairman of Blackwater and the head of Total Intelligence Solutions (another Prince Group subsidiary). He maintains strong links to the US Government, remaining counter-terrorism advisor to Republican politician Mitt Romney.
• Susan Burke- Susan Burke is a lawyer who has been lead attorney in the prosecution against Blackwater on several occasions, most notably in the case regarding the Nisour Square massacre on 16 September 2007 which is still ongoing. She also represented the case brought by Brad and Melan Davis alleging fraud. .
• Stuart Eizenstat- According to federal lobbying records in the first quarter of 2010 Xe Services spent $530,000 to acquire the services of Stuart Eizenstat who is a well connected Democrat lobbyist having served in both the Clinton and Carter administrations.
• William Webster -William Webster was part of a three-person panel placed in control of the case against Blackwater regarding the death of four of their employees in Fallujah. This was controversial considering Webster has previous links to Blackwater. He previously served alongside Joseph Schmitz on the board of an American company named Singlepoint. Webster was also the head of the Central Intelligence Agency when Cofer Black was “a major figure”. .

Religious Affiliations

Theopolitical Agendas and the “War On Terror”

Questions have been asked about the strong relationship between Erik Prince and the fundamentalist Christian Right of America. If Prince and Blackwater/Xe’s involvement in the "war on terror" is not purely about money - Prince claims he is ‘not a financially driven guy’ - then what are the motives for running a private military company (PMC)? Another question is whether it is appropriate for a PMC like Blackwater to be donating thousands of pounds to congressional candidates and religious lobbying groups when their supposedly competitive contract is dependent on these peoples’ decisions? And why, despite Blackwater’s reported misconduct does it continue to receive large US contracts? ? 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" , a statement which gives an illuminating insight into Prince's mindset. The mixing of theopolitical ideology and armed combat is a dangerous phenomenon, but is not confined to Erik Prince's operations or even to PMCs; there have been religious wars since the first religions were formed and these have often been centred around space and resources. The White House under George W Bush,for example, fell back on Christian doctrinaire rhetoric to rally America against its supposedly common enemy of terrorism, with the tacit implication that Islam was a dangerous faith. The real danger, when PMCs such as Blackwater become involved, is that they are, for all intents and purposes, unaccountable. In the witness testimony of John Doe #2, kept anonymous for fear of reprisals, Prince is accused of deploying men to Iraq “who shared his vision of Christian supremacy, knowing and wanting these men to take every available opportunity to murder Iraqis. Many of these men used call signs based on the Knights of the Templar, the warriors who fought the Crusades”. Although Prince claims not to be financially driven, the company makes a large profit from pursuing Prince’s goals. The Sudanese controversy was a case in point with Blackwater attempting to negotiate a deal for almost half of Sudan’s plentiful resources in return for supplying weaponry and training to the, mostly Christian, South of the country. This gives us an insight into the mixture of religious and neoliberal agenda of Blackwater and, perhaps also, the war on terror.

Erik Prince

Erik Prince's Father Edgar Prince was a devout calvinist 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 . 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' . The organisation claims to promote 'faith, family and freedom' . 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 . Gary Bauer, close friend of Prince and the Prince family, is also an executive board member of Christians United for Israel(CUFI) an anti-Islamic Christian Zionist lobbying organisation headed up by televangelist John Hagee. Erik Prince also has connections to a controversial fundamentalist Christian organisation called Christian Freedom International (CFI) where he served on the board. 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" . Erik Prince's mother, Elsa, has so far donated $11,000 to the Campaign for Working Families . (CWF), another of Bauer's right-wing Christian organisations. They purport to be against what they term 'Islamofascism' and are therefore very vocal supporters of George W Bush's "war on terror". This would seem to be of particular interest to the Prince family considering Erik Prince's vested interest in both the advancement of right-wing Christian values and the continued relevance and support for the war on terror from which he profits greatly.

Joseph Schmitz

Joseph Schmitz claims membership of the Sovereign Order of Malta, 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)

Paul Behrends

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

Donations to religious organisations from individuals linked to Blackwater/Xe

As mentioned, the Family Research Council received large sums of start up cash from the Prince family. According to donation records on Open Secrets the Princes have continued to donate large sums of money to the FRC: Elsa Prince, Erik's mother, has given $10,000 dollars over the last two years ($5000 on 15-04-09 and $5000 on 03-05-10). Elsa's new husband Rev Rensselaer Broekhuizen donated $4,500 in 2009 spread across nine monthly payments of $500 from April .

Elsa Prince has also donated a large sum of money to the controversial 'unapologetically pro-life' Christian organisation Campaign for Working Families which is headed up by Gary Bauer. Mrs Prince has donated sporadically to this organisation since 1997 becoming more regular recently (donations of $1000 in 1998, 2001, 2007 and 2008 and donations of $2000 in 1997, 2009 & 2010) and to date has donated $11,000 .

The company boasts "the most comprehensive, self-contained private tactical training facility in the United States"..

Contracts

Blackwater received no-bid contracts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and post-Katrina New Orleans under the Bush administration, during which time they amassed a $500 million profit between 2004 and 2006. Although contracts are now won by bids, the profits amassed during the bush administration have allowed the now rebranded XE Services to bid considerably lower than its competitors,stifling the competition.

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 . 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.

Lobbying Activity

Lobbying for Xe services(Covington & Burling: 2010)

According to OpenSecrets.org in 2010 Xe Services have so far spent $700,000 on lobbying firm Covington & Burling , who according to The Vault are the second most prestigious law firm in Washington DC based on a survey carried out on 15,000 law associates in 2010. The following lobbyists are representing Xe services in 2010.

Michael Barnes: A former congress member in the US House of Representatives between 1979 - 1987, and is also a former US marine corps corporal.

Stuart Eizenstat: Has worked within federal state government since 1977 , and is also a professor of Jewish history and culture.

Martin Gold: A member for the United States Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage abroad. Gold also lobbies for American Task Force Argentina.

Brian Smith: Worked in the White House office as assistant to the special council between 1993 - 2001 under the Clinton administration

Bill Wichterman: Worked as a special assistant to president Bush in the White House between 2001 - 2008

Lobbying for The Prince Group (Cromwell & Moring/ C&M Capitolink: 2006-2010)

More discreetly however is Xe Services continual association with Paul Behrends who is lobby firm Cromwell & Moring's senior policy adviser. and personal friend of Erik Prince. Since 2009 Cromwell & Morning have secured $260,000 of lobbying contracts from 'The Prince Group' whilst Cromwell & Morings sister firm C&M Capitolink have also secured $610,000 worth of contracts from Blackwater between 2006 and 2008. During the years 2006 - 2010 Paul Behrends has lobbied for both Blackwater and The Prince group.

Lobbying for Blackwater Lodge & Training Center(Henry J Steenstra: 2008/09)

Henry J Steenstra: According to Opensecrets.org Seenstra has recieved $430,000 for his services to Blackwater Lodge & Training centre between 2008 - 2009. It is unclear as to wether or not Steenstra is still lobbying for blackwaters training centre in 2010.

Brief history of lobbying activity prior to rebranding(1998 - 2008)

The earliest available information regarding lobbying activity prior to rebranding from blackwater to Xe services dates back to 1998 when Paul Behrends lobbied for an undisclosed fee whilst employed at law firm 'The Rhoads Group'. The following Firms and Lobbyists are no longer lobbying for Eric Prince or any of his companies.

Gregory Hahn: Lobbied for Blackwater USA between 2007-08 and recieved $40,000.

Richard Cockrum: Lobbied for Blackwater USA in 2007 and recieved $12,000.

BCI Group: Lobbied for Blackwater Worldwide between 2007/08 and recieved $110,000.

Womble, Carlyle et al: Lobbied for Blackwater Worldwide between 2007/08 and recieved $30,000.

Bingham Consulting: lobbied for 'The Prince Group' between 2007/09 and recieved $540,000.

Bingham Mccutchen LLP: Lobbied for 'The Prince Group' between 2008/09 and recieved $90,000.

Threats to Lobbying Transparency 2010

On August 12 2010, President Obama abolished the position of monitoring lobbying transparency by relocating his ethics czar “Norm Eisen” to the role of Czech Republic ambassador. Eisen was effective in his role and spearheaded many White House efforts to increase transparency such as the online publication of white House visitor logs and tightening of controls on the hiring of lobbyists and the contacting of former officials turned lobbyists. The work which Eisen was previously responsible for has now been dissolved with most duties now delegated to Bob Bauer; a partisan ex-lobbyist who is openly antagonistic to the notion of disclosure by government and politicians. This according to the sunlight foundation; a non profit, non partisan foundation which strives for government transparency is the “Biggest lobbying success of the year”.

Affiliations/ Donations

IPOA

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”. 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. Fear of internal investigation by the trade association may have been the motive behind Blackwaters descision to withdraw from the IPOA

Dana Rohrabacher

The republican representative of California and former member of congress Dana Rohrabacher who Prince had worked with as in intern at the white house in 1990. In October 2007 Rohrabacher continued to show public support for Prince’s Blackwater despite the bloodshed Blackwater had caused In Baghdad’s Nisour square two weeks earlier by stating ““Prince is on his way to being an American hero just like Ollie North was” . Ollie North being the Military figurehead of the 1986 Iran-Contra affair who was involved in the sale of U.S weaponry to Iran, whilst overseeing that the payments were diverted to Nicaragua to fund the Anti-communist insurgent group ‘the Contras’ . These insights to Rohrabacher’s language indicate his support for an American Hegemonic agenda and support for the spread of capitalism. Giving further credence to this claim was Rohrabacher’s appearance on MSNBC's The Ed Show on 23rd June 2009, where he accused President Obama of allowing violence in Iran to get out of hand because he does not speak forcefully enough against the country's leadership, confirming Rohrabacher’s attitude to American influence within the middle east. Prince’s ties with Rohrabacher are still clearly evident as Prince hosted a fundraiser event at his own private residence on May 9th 2010 for a campaign to re-elect Rohrabacher to Congress

Controversies/Issues

Blackwater/Xe have been involved in, or are alleged to have been involved in, many controversies since their business flourished in the wake of 9/11 and George W Bushes 'War on Terror' . They have been implicated in criminal activity ranging from the breaking of trade embargoes to more serious allegations of false flag terrorist attacks in Pakistan . The company's religious connections, through members' affiliations and donations, have also been the subject of scrutiny. the fundamentalist Christian and Christian Zionist connection is particularly pertinent due to their overwhelming military involvement in Arab Muslim states. This, along with their relative unaccountability, gives rise to one of the most controversial elements of the Blackwater story - their ability to continue receiving state contracts in light of all this .

’Peace keeping’ force or religious crusade?

In June 2010 Blackwater narrowly escaped a crushing criminal charge of violating US export regulation in Sudan. In 2005 Blackwater Worldwide set in motion a series of business meetings with the Sudanese government. Sudan’s history of political and religious unrest was, it was decided by The board of Blackwater, a perfect example of a front in George W Bush’s ‘war on terror’ . The predominantly Muslim North and Christian/Animist South presented a clear divide in the country which Blackwater claimed it could address by ‘boost[ing] African troops’ in the southern region . This can be seen as a dangerous development in the growth of a PMC owned by a self proclaimed ‘Christian Crusader’ . Along with their connections to high profile fundamentalist Christian and Christian Zionist organisations Blackwater’s ambition to provide a ‘small, nimble, brigade-size force’ (see 'Video 1' above) available, at a price, for ‘peacekeeping’ missions is worrying, particularly in countries such as Sudan with such clear religious tension.

Nisour Square Masacre

On Sept 16th 2007 Blackwater operatives working in Baghdad opened fire on a busy square after they alleged they had been shot at. They killed 16 unarmed civilians before they stopped firing . This shows a worrying disregard for the lifes of Iraqi people, particularly in light of the accusations that Prince deploys men to Iraq who share "his vision of Christian supremacy, knowing and wanting these men to take every available opportunity to murder Iraqis" . The apparently expendable nature of arab life to Blackwater employees seems to be a recuring theme in the coverage of their activity in Iraq. Other accusations include the wikileak evidence that Blackwater agents regularly open fire on vehicles which get close to their convoys without hesitation, even shooting dead an ambulance driver attending a bomb blast .

Wikileaks War Logs

In October 2010 whistle blowers website 'Wikileaks', leaked a mass amount of field reports from U.S Operatives based in Iraq whos source was said to be that of a dissident U.S army intelligence analyst. The war logs are said to include detailed reports of 15,000 unreported civilian deaths. As a result of this disclosure the Iraq government have confirmed that they will investigate wether blackwater had any involvement in these deaths as the Bureau of Investigative Journalism claims to have discovered 14 cases from the war leaks which involve Blackwater operatives opening fire on civilians.

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 when asked by a member of the audience

"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?" Price replied, "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.

This infers that Prince shows little regard for the Geneva Convention which stipulates the humanitarian treatment of all war victims and also gives insight into 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 certain types of weaponry banned by the U.S. contracting authorities, perhaps somewhat 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 is required by stipulations 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.

Lawsuits

Xe Services (formerly Blackwater Worldwide) has been involved in a number of lawsuits since its creation. However, despite the large number of lawsuits and the amount of evidence against them, neither Blackwater nor Erik Prince have been held accountable for war crimes and continue to receive lucrative contracts from the US Government.

Fallujah Killings 2004

In May 2007, two and a half years after the lawsuit was initially filed, the case in which Blackwater was being sued by the families of four Blackwater guards killed in March 2004 in Fallujah was ordered by a federal judge to be decided in private. The men had been killed in an ambush, before their mutilated bodies were paraded through the streets, with two of them being hung from a bridge. The four families were suing Blackwater on the grounds that the four men were sent unprepared and underequipped into unsuitable territory. However, with the employees having signed an arbitration clause, the case was to have no jury, appeal, nor publication of proceedings or any documentation relating to proceedings. One of the major controversies of this case was the panel who would be in control of the case, with William Webster as one of the three panel members.

26th March - 1st April 2009

On the 1st of April 2009 a lawsuit was filed, by the families of the victims, against Blackwater alleging that Blackwater operatives in Baghdad killed three employees of the Iraqi Media Network. Blackwater employees, allegedly present at the scene, were also accused of covering up the killings. This lawsuit also encompassed charges “of committing war crimes, assault and battery, wrongful death, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress, negligent hiring, training and supervision.”

Two lawsuits were filed against Blackwater on the 26th and 27th march 2009 including charges of “war crimes”, “wrongful death” and “destroying evidence”. These were associated with the injuries suffered, as well as the deaths of 17 Iraqi civilians in the region of Al Watahba Square where, in September 2007, Blackwater employees allegedly opened fire on civilians.

Another lawsuit was filed against Blackwater on the 26th March 2009 alleging that Andrew Moonen, employed by Blackwater at the time, killed Raheem Khalaf Sa'adoon in Baghdad in 2006. The Iraqi government have stated this is “murder”. The complaint alleges that Moonen was drunk and shot Sa’doon, a guard to the Iraqi Vice President, three times and that Blackwater attempted to cover up the killing.

21st October 2009

On the 21st of October 2009 in Alexandria, Virginia, U.S.A., Xe Services (formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide) along with Erik Prince, stood accused of five counts of war crimes by the families of some of their Iraqi victims along with some of the wounded Iraqi civilians. The case presented by the victims, represented by lead attorney Susan Burke, was ordered by Judge Ellis to be re-filed in accordance to recent legal changes. Judge Ellis also dismissed the Blackwater defensive stance, stating that “so narrow is the scope of [Blackwater's] standard that it would exclude murders of civilians committed by soldiers where there was no legitimate 'military objective' for committing the murders”. As part of these lawsuits, Erik Prince was accused by the Iraqis of heading an organised crime syndicate and using this position to order the killings of Iraqi civilians.

31st December 2009

On the 31st of December 2009, in a similar case, five Blackwater employees were charged with 14 counts of manslaughter and 20 counts of attempted manslaughter. This case was thrown out with Judge Ricardo Urbina citing the defendants’ constitutional rights, specifically the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which is to protect against the abuse of a government authority in legal procedures. The Iraqi government is appealing this decision and plans to sue the five guards .

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 Iraq and contained allegations of fraud against Blackwater and Erik Prince, among which was the claim that, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, government funds were used to hire prostitutes for Blackwater employees in Iraq and Afghanistan. Ms Davis is also pursuing action for unfair dismissal and has said she wanted "the truth from inside the company” publicised. 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”.

Contact

• Website http://www.xeservices.com/

External Resources

• RightWeb Blackwater Worldwide (XE)http://www.rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Blackwater_Worldwide#_ednref39]
• Sourcewatch Xe
• History Commons Blackwater USA

Books

Jeremy Scahill, Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army, Serpent's Tail, 2007.