Don't Believe the Hype: Blackwater is Here to Stay

It seems that executives from Blackwater Worldwide, the Bush administration's favorite hired guns in Iraq and Afghanistan, are threatening to pack up their M4 assault rifles, CS gas and Little Bird helicopters and go back to the Great Dismal Swamp of North Carolina whence they came. Or at least that's how it is being portrayed in the media.

This story broke on Monday, when the Associated Press ran an article based on lengthy interviews with Blackwater's top guns. Since then, the story has picked up considerable steam and generated a tremendous amount of buzz online and in the press. After all, Blackwater has long been a key part of the US occupation and has been at the center of several high-profile scandals and deadly incidents. Add to that its owner's ties to the White House and the radical Religious Right in the US and it is clear why this is news. On top of that, Barack Obama -- a critic of Blackwater -- just completed a tour of Iraq, where he was touting his "withdrawal plan."

Among the headlines of the past 24 hours: "Blackwater Plans Exit From Guard Work," "Blackwater Getting Out Of Security Business," "Blackwater Sounds Retreat From Private Security Business," and "Blackwater to Leave Security Business." One blogger slapped this headline on his post: "Blackwater, Worst Organization Since SS, To End Mercenary Work."

Frankly, this is a whole lot of hype.

Anyone who thinks Blackwater is in serious trouble is dead wrong. Even if -- and this is a big if -- the company pulled out of Iraq tomorrow, here is the cold, hard fact: business has never been better for Blackwater and its future looks bright. More on this in a moment.

Back to the matter at hand:

Complaining that negative media attention and Congressional and criminal investigations are hurting business and that the Blackwater name had become a catch-all target for anti-war protesters, the company's brass told the AP Blackwater was shifting its focus to its other areas of government contracting, like law enforcement and military training, as well as logistics.

''The experience we've had would certainly be a disincentive to any other companies that want to step in and put their entire business at risk,'' said Erik Prince, Blackwater's reclusive, 39 year-old founder and owner. Company president Gary Jackson said Blackwater has become like the "Coca-Cola" of war contractors, a brand representing all private companies servicing the Iraq occupation. Jackson charged the company had been falsely portrayed in the media, saying, ''If [the media] could get it right, we might stay in the business.''

All of this sounds a bit like whining on a children's playground.

Shame on journalists for not recognizing the noble work of the gallant heroes and patriots (who happen to be paid much more than US troops and have not been subjected to any system of law and who can leave the war zone any moment they choose) and forcing Blackwater to consider abandoning its (very profitable, billion dollar) charitable humanitarian campaign in Iraq. Remember, according to Blackwater, it is not a mercenary organization, it is a "Peace and Stability" operation employing "Global Stabilization Professionals."

While they were at it, Jackson and Prince should have blamed those wretched seventeen Iraqi civilians who had the audacity to step in front of the bullets flying out of Blackwater's weapons in Baghdad's Nisour Square last September. After all, following those killings, Erik Prince told the US Congress that the only innocent people his men may have killed or injured in Iraq died as a result of "ricochets" and "traffic accidents." If that is true, Nisour Square might have been the most lethal jaywalking incident in world history.

As for the current hype, the day after the AP story "broke," Blackwater's longtime spokesperson Anne Tyrrell was quick to clarify the matter. Blackwater, she said, has no immediate plans to exit the security business. "As long as we're asked, we'll do it," she said. Meanwhile, the State Department, which renewed Blackwater's contract for another year in April, says it has received no communication from the company indicating it is not going to continue on in Iraq. "They have not indicated to us that they are attempting to get out of our current contract," said Undersecretary of State Patrick Kennedy.

As of 2005-2006, according to the company, about half of Blackwater's business was made up of its security work in places like Iraq, Afghanistan and post-Katrina New Orleans. Today, Jackson says it is about 30%. ''If I could get it down to 2 percent or 1 percent, I would go there," he said in the interview.

Blackwater, like all companies operating in US war zones, is following political developments very closely. The company may be bracing for a possible shift in policy should Obama win in November. Blackwater could be contemplating resignation before termination. On the other hand, Obama has sent mixed messages on the future of war contractors under his Iraq policy. While he has been very critical of the war industry in general -- and Blackwater specifically -- he has also indicated he will not "rule out" using private armed contractors at least for a time in Iraq.

Perhaps Blackwater has already gotten what it needed from Iraq: over a billion dollars in contracts and a bad-ass reputation, which has served it well. In May, Blackwater boasted of "two successive quarters of unprecedented growth." Among its current initiatives:

--Erik Prince's private spy agency, Total Intelligence Solutions, is now open for business, placing capabilities once the sovereign realm of governments on the open market. Run by three veteran CIA operatives, the company offers "CIA-type services" to Fortune 1000 companies and governments.

--Blackwater was asked by the Pentagon to bid for a share of a whopping $15 billion contract to "fight terrorists with drug-trade ties" in a US program that targets countries like Colombia, Bolivia, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. The New York Times said it could be the company's "biggest job" ever.

--Blackwater is wrapping up work on its own armored vehicle, the Grizzly, as well as its Polar Airship 400, a surveillance blimp Blackwater wants to market to the Department of Homeland security for use in monitoring the US-Mexico border.

On top of this, Blackwater affiliate Greystone Ltd., registered offshore in Barbados, is an old-fashioned mercenary operation offering "personnel from the best militaries throughout the world" for hire by governments and private organizations. It also boasts of a "multi-national peacekeeping program," with forces "specializing in crowd control and less than lethal techniques and military personnel for the less stable areas of operation." Greystone's name has been conspicuously absent in this current news cycle.

At the end of the day, maybe this is just a story, a whole lot of a hype and a dash of misdirection from a pretty savvy company. Safe money would dictate that Blackwater plans on continuing to be, well, Blackwater.

Consider this: the other day Blackwater president Gary Jackson told the AP, "Security was not part of the master plan, ever."

Interesting claim. It was, in fact, Jackson himself who, back at the beginning of the Iraq occupation, described his goal for Blackwater as such: "I would like to have the largest, most professional private army in the world."

This piece originally appeared on The Guardian's Comment is Free. For more information, see Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army.

Comments

[Norge]

Wonderful work you did with your enlightening book on blackwater and the murder business they call security. Your follow up with such fine articles is helping a large number deal with the reality of the existing mercenary systems now in place which will aid them in protecting their own human rights when the time arrives in their own countries.

http://www.amnesty.org
http://www.soaw.org

Rolf Krogsæther

[wiseapple]

The DCAA (Defense Contractors Auditors Agency?) may be coming under new scrutiny. Sen. McCaskill spoke on the Senate floor this morning about a GAO auditing report that shows all the DCAA files audited by the GAO failed to meet the quality standards of the government. The DCAA has apparently been cooking the books for the defense contractors. Let's flush out some bad apples!

[bronceye]

The repubbles need their brownshirts. They are a very timid bunch of moneymongers.

[Krikkit]

All the experts agree that militias are a problem when trying to mediate or contain violent conflict, and militias are by definition illegal under international law. And yet here is a wealthy American company that supplies a professional militia on demand for anyone who can afford them. Something is definitely wrong with this picture.

[TheIndependenceParty]

I am pretty sure this little dust up has more to do with Bush's failure to keep Maliki in line on immunity from laws for Blackwater's thugs. Laws are such pesky things when you are in the business of breaking them for a living!

[likeicare]

Good piece.

Blackwater is in the money-making business -- forget about the security business -- they exist for only one reason: to rape the US taxpayer for as much and as long as they can.

And now, they've set their sites on the biggest money-maker of all, aviation. That's where the really, really big bucks are.

Anybody notice how the US Air Force has had all these srew-ups lately -- the unattended nukes, the crashes of really expensive aircraft, and the revelations about the new fleet for the WH? Lots of money being thrown at that.

And guess who willl get the no-bid contract?

[Berettasskeeter]

I salute Blackwater for the important work they have done and will do in the future. Using the services of dedicated men and women who have left the military, they train individuals and groups extremely well to protect themselves, their families, their businesses, and their country. I'm sure they will be successful at whatever they try, and nothing succeeds like success.
Semper fi

[Krikkit]

You mean, nothing succeeds like money. There's a big difference between a professional military under the control of a legitimate government and a band of mercenaries, no matter how well trained. When the US doesn't need their security services any longer in Iraq, they will hire out to whoever can afford them. They won't be fighting under a vow to protect US interests, will they? What happens when Blackwater and the US military end up on opposite sides of a conflict?

[Berettasskeeter]

Please explain the differences between Blackwater and AAA Security in your home town. Both supply security personnel. Both arm their personnel (if AAA does not, find one that does). Both arm their personnel with the weaponry appropriate to the circumstances. Both hire out to anyone needing security services.
Please explain.
Semper fi

[BJD]

Great Post Jeremy. The first time I ever heard of Blackwater was when I picked up your book. it was a great investigaive book on the company and the ties to the Republican Party and religious right. While we discuss the details of the campaign arguing over the economy, the war and health care, all very important, I believe that Blackwater is one of the most dangerous issues in this country. The fact that a privately owned miltia can operate within our country and can provide services to the highest bidder, is a slippery slope. With the increased money and power that Blackwater has acumulated, I do not see this getting better unless we stand against the formation of these companies.

[Krikkit]

Too late for that. Vast sums of money already accumulated have already bought immunity against public outrage.

[synclaire]

Poor Erik is so persecuted for doing "God's work" aka making sure everyone bows down to their corporate appointed "leaders." I thought it was interesting that the original article didn't mention Fallujah at all. But, the best line from the article ' "Our focus is away from security work. We're just not bidding on it," Jackson said.' Maybe that's because of all those no bid contracts you're getting?

[Tubby]

What morning did I oversleep to wake up and find that legislation was passed allowing ordinary folks like you and me to start up in our backyard private armies and merc forces with all the best military weaponry available for hire? Or have we always been able to do this, and I just didn't realize it?

[Berettasskeeter]

Are you aware of any legislation which prevents ordinary folks like you and me from starting up our own security firms? What else is Blackwater but a security firm? The difference is the calibre of people they attract and the amount they are able to pay for top-notch people.
Semper fi

[Dynamohum]

I respect and admire US Marines. Having said that there are comments that are just a sign of how this "industrial complex" mentality, just is not "it"! Private Armies - give me a freakin' break. Our forefathers are rolling over in their respective graves because of
Blackwater and people like you sir. No disrespect meant here, just my honest opinion. This country has NO BUSINESS WHATSOEVER EMPLOYING PRIVATE MILITIAS AT ALL PERIOD. The biggest problem why the government is breaking down and not working for the people is - GOVERNMENT CONTRACTORS. Farming everything out to a contractor does nothing to enrich this country and actually does a great disservice because there is no oversight of the contracts and they usually end up running rampant, especially with cost, fattening pockets of people like Eric Prince aka the devil himself.