Xe Services LLC

History

Xe Services LLC (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.

Controversies/Issues

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. This infers that Prince shows little regard for tghe Geneva convention which stipulaties the humanitarian treatment of all war victims 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.

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”.

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".

People

Erik Prince founder and owner of Xe Services.

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.

http://www.thenation.com/blog/bipartisan-mercs-blackwater-hires-powerful-democratic-lobbyist

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 . 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.

Affiliations

IPOA (International Peace Operastions 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