Blackwater, Now Xe, Vying For $1 Billion Contract To Train Afghan National Police

"Blackwater Worldwide's legal woes haven't dimmed the company's prospects in Afghanistan, where it's a contender to be a key part of President Barack Obama's strategy for stabilizing the country," the AP reported recently.

Now called Xe Services, the company is in the running for a Pentagon contract potentially worth $1 billion to train Afghanistan's troubled national police force. Xe has been shifting to training, aviation and logistics work after its security guards were accused of killing unarmed Iraqi civilians more than two years ago.

Yet even with a new name and focus, the expanded role would seem an unlikely one for Xe because Democrats have held such a negative opinion of the company following the Iraqi deaths, which are still reverberating in Baghdad and Washington.

During the presidential campaign, then-Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, now Obama's secretary of state, backed legislation to ban Blackwater and other private security contractors from Iraq.

Xe eventually lost its license to operate as guardian of U.S. diplomats in Iraq and the State Department, with Clinton at the helm, elected not to rehire the company when the contract expired in 2009. Delays in getting a new company in place led to a temporary extension of the State contract.

Derrick Crowe of Rethink Afghanistan notes that Xe is in the running for this contract "despite the fact that they've 'trained' the notoriously corrupt and incompetent Afghan Border Police. Recently, two Blackwater / Xe trainers were indicted for murdering Afghan civilians, and the company has a history of hiring people with a criminal record. Xe Services / Blackwater is a liability to the American cause around the world and doesn't deserve another dime of taxpayer money."

Rethink Afghanistan has posted a new video on the topic featuring Afghanistan-based correspondent Anand Gopal.

Read more here.

Comments

[mandinka]

01:32 PM on 02/11/2010

The enablers continue to post its not barak's fault. Guess the massive casualties in Afghanistan last year, more in 2009 than in the previous 7 years wasn't his fault? Barack has concluded that he knows more than the generals and the roots are severely restricted about calling in air strikes and the pilot has to PERSONALLY verify that they are the enemy before firing HUH???
What happened after all the apologizing that was to make us the darlings of the world. Where are the troops from NATO that barak knew we would get??
Where is old Hilary and the state dept? After quadrupling the number of people working at State they don't seem to be around, guess the $500,000 a year to station each and everyone overseas doesn't matter when the country is running such a surplus

[F7]

01:28 PM on 02/11/2010

I want my money back!

[NHGranite]

01:04 PM on 02/11/2010

I am sick and tired of the whiners who blame the new administration for their job as a clean up crew. Where were you during the Bush years?

And as for hiring Xe, tell them what they tell their prostitutes: F&&& you

[wethepeople3884]

12:18 PM on 02/11/2010

Does the white house have a PR department? This is probably the worst PR move they could ever make after blackwater or Xe or whatever their name is have proven to be THE MOST corrupt corporation in America right now, consistently abusing the American people's trust at every turn.

[Bardmess]

12:05 PM on 02/11/2010

Yet people say they trust the private sector more than their own government. Why o why?

[jimpager]

11:37 AM on 02/11/2010

If Obama accepts Blackwater in Afghanistan, just how is he any different from the slimiest Republican?

[VAcitizen]

10:13 AM on 02/11/2010

Is the governement sleeping?

President Obama, are you doing something to blacklist Blackwater?

Who in Pentagon is getting kickbacks?

[RobtChristian]

10:21 AM on 02/11/2010

Having them removed from Iraq was a good start.

[pene]

10:56 AM on 02/11/2010

Erik Prince, a stalwart of the x-tian taliban in the US, will continue to profit from US military actions throughout the muslim world. In addition to employing the unemployable (former soldiers and prison inmates), he amasses tax dollars for his x-tian empire which has a goal of the takerover of our country for its wealth and land and its now totally dumbed-down populace.
Obama cannot blacklist XI because the Family and its powerful adherents in the congress (sentate and house) are on the take from these companies and actually support their so-called x-tain goals.
we are assaulted on so many fronts by the powerful corporate/religious interests in this country that we have no more representative democracy. we are a nation of slaves and will continue to be. the american experiment is over, possums, it failed.

[kurtvb]

10:09 AM on 02/11/2010

This is all the result of Reagan shifting military jobs to the private sector. It started with getting rid of the cooks in company sized units and has continued to the point that the military can no longer function on its own. It is time that a law is passed that limits soldiers, train with taxpayer dollars, to have a working for a security firm with a federal government contract. It is time that we put back into place the ability for the military to do its job without contractors. Training foreign military units and national police forces used to be the province of the military. Since we now outsource that work, we find ourselves hiring the people that did not re-up to do the job they would have done had they stayed. Private companies do not do a better job than the government, they just make a profit off the taxpayer.

[lazercat2008]

09:54 AM on 02/11/2010

President Obama it is time for Blackwater to be Blacklisted.

[QuietLightTraveler]

09:22 AM on 02/11/2010

Here we go, the epitome of American capitalism - a American, private sector, for profit, army that the US pays to wage war for us. With the needless wars our country gets involved in it is amazing that they can get any regular volunteer army to fight. Maybe they can't get enough regular enlisted soldiers and that is the reason they need these mercenaries. Hell, I wouldn't fight in Afghanistan or Iraq, nor would I let my son fight there. As far as I am concerned what goes on in those countries is not always our problem to fix.
Every American that dies over there I consider a wasted life. I feel for their families. I don't know, maybe I am some radical or something but there is very little this government does that I agree with and the changes I believe we need they never implement. I'm starting to really dislike my country because its conduct has made me very cynical. It too frequently disappoints me and corruption abounds.. Our government is an ineffective train wreck which I don't trust anymore.

[ultrabop]

11:41 PM on 02/09/2010

Is Obama just acting stupid for no reason or is he in with the NEW WORLD ORDER?

[RobtChristian]

10:00 AM on 02/11/2010

Giving them no-bid contracts was soooo much better.
And FYI, On Jan 30, 2009, The U.S. State Department told Blackwater Worldwide that it will not renew its contract in Iraq.

[ultrabop]

11:37 AM on 02/11/2010

That's because we're supposedly leaving Iraq.

[kizzie]

06:27 PM on 02/09/2010

If Xe is awarded this contract, it is a signal to all Americans our Government is corrupt beyond repair. The iraq war was illegal, and Blackwater was put in place by Cheney. They are corrupt and ruined the reputation of our country along with the CIA involvement of torture.
What little credibility we have left will be doomed.

[AtheistUS]

07:17 PM on 02/09/2010

Well said.

This will be a strong indicator that dem party is also broken beyond any hope.

[vascopyjama]

10:24 AM on 02/09/2010

I'm sick to death of all this Hope and Change.

[ultrabop]

11:43 PM on 02/09/2010

IT'S A SMOKESCREEN.

[luv4o]

10:19 AM on 02/11/2010

And I guess what we had with Bush was better???????

[AZreb]

08:47 AM on 02/09/2010

OUTRAGEOUS doesn't even begin to describe what I felt when reading this article. For Xe to be considered for any contract is despicable, a word that describes the company and its actions.

This was, and is, a private army and was turned loose in Iraq with no rules or regulations regarding its actions. To me it was like turning loose a gang in a big city and telling it to do whatever necessary to protect the politicians. Xe was in place in Iraq to protect the State Department (Rice) and its minions.

[1dogs2]

08:39 AM on 02/09/2010

Why is this company even being allowed to bid? Hasn't it done enough damage to our reputation? Haven't its agents killed enough innocent civilians? Hasn't it misused enough taxpayer money?

[koolwoman]

03:24 AM on 02/10/2010

Why is Blackwater still around and involved with our government? Pesident Obama, bring our soldiers home. Save our lives and our money.!!!!!!!