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Blackwater (now Xi) - Peter Lemkin - 16-09-2010
This list is from 2007 of private contractors and for Blackwater/Xe is not believable [way too low!]......so the number are likley low-ball for many. Interesting, none the less...they found a way to privatize war, along with everything else....
http://projects.publicintegrity.org/wow/bio.aspx?act=pro
Blackwater (now Xi) - Jan Klimkowski - 16-09-2010
Quote:One of the most incendiary details in the documents is that Blackwater, through Total Intelligence, sought to become the "intel arm" of Monsanto, offering to provide operatives to infiltrate activist groups organizing against the multinational biotech firm.
(snip)
Reached by telephone and asked about the meeting with Black in Zurich, Monsanto's Wilson initially said, "I'm not going to discuss it with you." In a subsequent e-mail to The Nation, Wilson confirmed he met Black in Zurich and that Monsanto hired Total Intelligence in 2008 and worked with the company until early 2010. He denied that he and Black discussed infiltrating animal rights groups, stating "there was no such discussion." He claimed that Total Intelligence only provided Monsanto "with reports about the activities of groups or individuals that could pose a risk to company personnel or operations around the world which were developed by monitoring local media reports and other publicly available information. The subject matter ranged from information regarding terrorist incidents in Asia or kidnappings in Central America to scanning the content of activist blogs and websites." Wilson asserted that Black told him Total Intelligence was "a completely separate entity from Blackwater."
Monsanto, eh? Why am I not surprized that Blackwater goons allegedly offered to act as agents provocateurs for Monsanto...
mokin:Quote:A former senior CIA official said the benefit of using Blackwater's foreign operatives in CIA operations was that "you wouldn't want to have American fingerprints on it."
(snip)
Prado explained that Blackwater had developed "a rapidly growing, worldwide network of folks that can do everything from surveillance to ground truth to disruption operations." He added, "These are all foreign nationals (except for a few cases where US persons are the conduit but no longer 'play' on the street), so deniability is built in and should be a big plus."
(snip)
In November 2007 officials from Prince's companies developed a pricing structure for security and intelligence services for private companies and wealthy individuals. One official wrote that Prado had the capacity to "develop infrastructures" and "conduct ground-truth and security activities."
The (im)plausible deniability part is familiar. But what is a "ground truth" operation?
Here's wiki on "ground truth": In US military slang, "ground truth" is used to describe the reality of a tactical situation as opposed to what intelligence reports and mission plans assert the reality to be. The term is reflected in the title of the 2006 Iraq War documentary The Ground Truth and is used in military publications, for example Stars and Stripes saying "Stripes decided to figure out what the ground truth was in Iraq."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_truth
I wonder what "ground truth" means when translated from Blackwater's crumby prose?
Disproportionate use of force in civilian areas by plausibly deniable non-Americans perhaps?
Quote:According to the pricing chart, potential customers could hire Prado and other Blackwater officials to operate in the United States and globally: in Latin America, North Africa, francophone countries, the Middle East, Europe, China, Russia, Japan, and Central and Southeast Asia. A four-man team headed by Prado for countersurveillance in the United States cost $33,600 weekly, while "safehouses" could be established for $250,000, plus operational costs. Identical services were offered globally. For $5,000 a day, clients could hire Prado or former senior CIA officials Cofer Black and Robert Richer for "representation" to national "decision-makers." Before joining Blackwater, Black, a twenty-eight-year CIA veteran, ran the agency's counterterrorism center, while Richer was the agency's deputy director of operations. (Neither Black nor Richer currently works for the company.)
I was going to call Blackwater personnel dogs of war. But that's an insult to dogs.
Then I was going to call them whores. But that's an insult to sex workers.
Mercenary scum seems to fit quite nicely.
Blackwater (now Xi) - Ed Jewett - 17-09-2010
Blackwater/Xe cells conducting false flag terrorist attacks in Pakistan
By Wayne Madsen
Online Journal Contributing Writer
Sep 16, 2010, 00:22
[email=?subject=Blackwater%2FXe%20cells%20conducting%20false%20flag%20terrorist%20attacks%20in%20Pakistan&body=http%3A%2F%2Fonlinejournal.com%2Fartman%2Fpublish%2Farticle_6328.shtml]Email this article[/email]
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(WMR) -- WMR has learned from a deep background source that Xe Services, the company formerly known as Blackwater, has been conducting false flag terrorist attacks in Pakistan that are later blamed on the entity called �Pakistani Taliban.�
[Read more at the link (it's copywritten): http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_6328.shtml ...
and then file with the tags "No Kidding!", "see above", and "same old same old".]
Blackwater (now Xi) - Jan Klimkowski - 17-09-2010
From Wayne Madsen's piece at the link above:
Quote:WMR has been informed that any American, whether or not he or she holds a security clearance, is subject to U.S. national security prohibitions from discussing the U.S.- sponsored terrorist attacks in Pakistan. In one case, a threat was made against an individual who personally witnessed the Xe/CIA terrorist operations but is now threatened, along with family members.
What is this? An American D-Notice on Xe/CIA false flag atrocities enforced by blackmail or threats of physical force?
The American private military contractor nexus appears to be running brazen Gladio-inspired operations.
Indeed, the Gladio philosophy of the Strategy of Tension appears to be official intelligence agency dogma.
Blackwater (now Xi) - Ed Jewett - 24-09-2010
Published on The Nation (http://www.thenation.com)
US Businessman: Blackwater Paid Me to Buy Steroids and Weapons on Black Market for its Shooters
Jeremy Scahill | September 23, 2010
A Texas businessman who has worked extensively in Iraq claims that Blackwater paid him to purchase steroids and other drugs for its operatives in Baghdad, as well as more than 100 AK47s and massive amounts of ammunition on Baghdad's black market. Howard Lowry, who worked in Iraq from 2003-2009, also claims that he personally attended Blackwater parties where company personnel had large amounts of cocaine and blocks of hashish and would run around naked. At some of these parties, Lowry alleges, Blackwater operatives would randomly fire automatic weapons from their balconies into buildings full of Iraqi civilians. Lowry described the events as a "frat party gone wild" where "drug use was rampant." Lowry says he was told by Blackwater personnel that some of the men using the steroids he purchased were on the security detail of L. Paul Bremer, the original head of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA). Lowry also claims that Blackwater's owner Erik Prince tried to enlist his help to win contracts for Blackwater with the Iraqi government using an off-shore security company, Greystone, which Prince owns. The purpose, Lowry says, was to conceal Greystone's relationship to Blackwater.
Lowry made his statements in a deposition on September 10 as part of a whistleblower lawsuit brought by two former Blackwater employees. The suit was filed in 2008 by former employees Brad and Melan Davis. They allege that Blackwater tried to bill the US government for a prostitute for its men in Afghanistan and for strippers in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The lawsuit claims that Prince personally benefitted from alleged fraud. The Nation obtained Lowry's deposition from publicly available court filings.
Blackwater, Lowry alleges, paid for the steroids using company funds and the purchases were coordinated by Blackwater's Iraq country manager. "Not only did I purchase the pharmaceuticals," Lowry said in his deposition, "but I was also given money and asked to acquire syringes and other forms or modes of injection as well." Lowry said that Blackwater used him to purchase the drugs and other devices because, unlike Blackwater personnel, he could move freely and discreetly around Baghdad. Lowry says he personally witnessed several Blackwater operatives injecting themselves with steroids.
Lowry says in the deposition that he was a close friend of Jerry Zovko, one of the four Blackwater men killed in the infamous ambush in Fallujah, Iraq in March 2004. Zovko, Lowry says, "provided me tremendous insight into the company and confirmed that the use of steroids and human growth hormone, testosterone, were pretty endemic to them and almost companywide." Lowry said that it was a "wide-ranging problem, and this included individuals that were on [L. Paul] Bremer's personal detail." Bremer was guarded by Blackwater when he ran the CPA from 2003-2004. Lowry says he would purchase the drugs for Blackwater "by the case," adding, "It was as large a quantity as I could get, which was usually a case." He said that the "volume I was being asked to purchase on a daily basis was going up substantially as time went on."
Lowry also claims that he purchased a wide variety of weapons, ammunition and armor for Blackwater on the black market in Baghdad. "I purchased no less than a hundred AK47s for Blackwater personnel to keep them safe," Lowry says. Such purchases, he says he believed, were necessary because Blackwater was not adequately arming its personnel.
Lowry also describes instances of Blackwater personnel firing randomly at Iraqi pedestrians and into buildings for no apparent reason. He details one night where several Blackwater operatives were at his hotel drinking until 5am. When they left, Lowry says, they fired their weapons at random as they drove off. Lowry describes parties that he says some Blackwater personnel would throw at the al Hamra hotel in Baghdad that he says were like "a frat party" with rampant drug use:
"One of the suites would be absolutely packed with gentlemen running around with either no clothes on, no shirt on. It was like a frat party gone wild. Drug use was rampant. There was cocaine all on the tables. There were blocks of hash, and you could smell it in the air...walking up to the door."
Lowry described one party where "there was a pile of cocaine that one Blackwater person had estimated to be over an ounce of coke." Lowry said, "to me, considering the job that these gentlemen are doing...at that time [they] were protecting the US ambassador, Ambassador Bremer, seemed a little bit out—well, beyond out of control. And these parties were a weekly ritual." Lowry alleges that at these parties on several occasions Blackwater personnel would pull out AK47s and go out onto the balcony and "would just spray the building next door, which housed Iraqi civilians."Lowry also says that he had several meetings with Erik Prince where Prince asked him for assistance in winning contracts with the Iraqi government for an off-shore company Prince owns called Greystone. It is registered in Barbados. Lowry, who says he knew the Iraqi Interior and Defense Ministers "very well," claims Prince wanted to offer the Iraqi government Greystone's training and security services. Lowry says that Prince stated "very clearly" to him that Greystone was "set up to deflect any liability, future liability, that he may have with respect to any weapons sales or any bodily harm or anything else, contract issues with both the US and the Iraqi governments." Lowry claims the Iraqis were aware of Greystone's connection to Blackwater and "detested" the companies.
Lawyers representing the self-exiled Blackwater owner have asked a federal judge in Virginia for a protective order against the tenacious lawyer who took Lowry's deposition. For years, attorney Susan Burke has pursued Prince and Blackwater with a string of civil lawsuits. In August, Burke flew to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, where Prince and his family have relocated, to conduct a seven-hour deposition of Prince in connection to the whistleblower claim she filed on behalf of the former Blackwater employees. After the deposition ended on August 23, according to Burke, Prince threatened to "come after" her.
Soon thereafter, Prince's lawyers declared the entirety of the transcript of Prince's deposition to be confidential material and asserted that it should be sealed. Prince's attorneys filed papers in the case asking the judge to allow Prince and his lawyers to classify any information or documents Prince provides or any information or documents Burke obtains from Prince or Blackwater as "confidential" and therefore barred from public dissemination. Prince's lawyers have also asked that all documents they provide in the case be destroyed or returned within 120 days of the conclusion of the case.
Prince's lawyers have alleged that Burke intends to use the media to embarrass Prince and to litigate her case outside of court and have asked for a "gag order" against her and the other attorneys litigating the case. Burke, in her court filing, points out that the actions of Prince and his companies have generated tremendous publicity and attention. Burke writes:
Defendant Prince and his companies create the media stir by their own actions. Indeed, their misconduct has led to a series of indictments, charging letters from the State Department, and criminal trials. Indeed, Defendant Prince seeks publicity that serves his own ends. He voluntarily participated in a Vanity Fair interview, pressing his view that anyone who criticizes his misconduct must have a “political agenda.” Defendant Prince voluntarily cooperated with a book about his life, called Master of War. In the book, he voluntarily revealed, among other things, that he fathered a child out of wedlock and cheated on his wife who was dying of cancer.
On September 22, Burke filed a motion opposing the gag order and what she sees as Prince's attempt to "seal everything." In her motion, Burke reveals that she provided the US State Department with a transcript of the deposition for review of potentially classified material. A State Department contracting official wrote, “As contracting officer I do not require any redactions to the subject transcript of the Erk Prince deposition before it is made publicly available.” In arguing against a gag order, Burke writes that media coverage results in witnesses coming forward who will "be helpful in showing the jury that [her clients'] claims of widespread fraud and misconduct have merit." To support her argument, Burke cited Howard Lowry, whom she says contacted her after seeing media reports on Prince and Blackwater.
Lowry says he contacted Burke "because I believe there is a tremendous lack of moral and business ethics on behalf of the owner of the company and, I believe, companywide." He added, "Because of that, I feel that numerous families of individuals of Blackwater employees that have been killed on the job are not getting the true story."
Source URL: http://www.thenation.com/blog/154977/us-businessman-blackwater-paid-me-buy-steroids-and-weapons-black-market-its-shooters
Blackwater (now Xi) - Magda Hassan - 28-09-2010
US judge declares mistrial in case of 2 ex-Blackwater contractors accused of killing Afghans
By The Associated Press (CP) – 9 hours ago
NORFOLK, Va. — A federal judge declared a mistrial Monday in the case of two former Blackwater workers accused of murdering two unarmed Afghan civilians and wounding a third man in Kabul.
The jury came out deadlocked just before 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT) after several days of deliberations, WAVY-TV in Norfolk reported on its website. A new trial date was set for March 1.
They both face murder, assault and weapons charges that could send them to prison for life.
Prosecutors said Justin H. Cannon, 28, and Christopher Drotleff, 30, had been drinking alcohol all day and had taken two company vehicles and weapons off of the U.S. camp without permission when they shot into a fleeing vehicle on a street on May 5, 2009.
Cannon and Drotleff told investigators that they feared for their lives and suspected the car could be a suicide bomber. Neither testified during the weeklong trial.
U.S. District Judge Robert G. Doumar granted Cannon and Drotleff a bond hearing, set for Wednesday, according to The Virginian-Pilot, of Norfolk.
"My client and his family are extremely upset that the jury was not able to reach a verdict acquitting him," said Lawrence H. Woodward Jr., one of Drotleff's attorneys. "I always believed and continue to believe that they acted in self defence. Any person in those circumstances would have acted the way they did."
Cannon's attorneys were not immediately available for comment after court.
Drotleff's wife left the courthouse in tears. Cannon's father declined to comment.
The jury of nine women and three men told the judge they were about equally split between those who wanted to acquit the men and those who felt they should be convicted.
Cannon, of Corpus Christi, Texas, and Drotleff, of Virginia Beach, were in the country to provide weapons training for the Afghan National Army. They were working for North Carolina-based Blackwater Worldwide, which is now known as Xe Services.
During the trial, jurors viewed the bullet-riddled Toyota Corolla at the centre of the deadly encounter and heard from two Afghan nationals who said they feared for their lives if they did not lie about the events of that night. One testified that he lied when he said the defendants had not been drinking.
Cannon and Drotleff fired about 30 rounds — Cannon with an AK47 and Drotleff with a 9mm pistol — hitting two men in the car and a bystander who was walking his dog with a friend. One man in the car and the man on the street died from gunshot wounds.
Copyright © 2010 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5gaErfGMRZPezHV_hbz0Iv5it0oww
Blackwater (now Xi) - Ed Jewett - 17-10-2010
Blackwater gets Hidden New Contract with State Dept.
16th October 2010
![[Image: lg-share-en.gif]](http://s7.addthis.com/static/btn/lg-share-en.gif)
By Ed Brayton
Michigan Messenger | October 5, 2010
![[Image: xe-logo.jpg]](http://www.antifascistencyclopedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/xe-logo.jpg){kind=logo}
Spencer Ackerman, formerly the foreign policy and military correspondent for our sister site the Washington Independent, reports that Blackwater/Xe, the controversial private military company owned by Michigan native Erik Prince, has received yet another contract to protect American diplomats around the world — but the contract was kept hidden from view through secret deals and shell corporations.Eight private security firms have won State’s giant Worldwide Protective Services contract, the big Foggy Bottom partnership to keep embassies and their inhabitants safe. Two of those firms are longtime State contract holders DynCorp and Triple Canopy. The others are newcomers to the big security contract: EOD Technology, SOC, Aegis Defense Services, Global Strategies Group, Torres International Services and International Development Solutions LLC.
Don’t see any of Blackwater’s myriad business names on there? That’s apparently by design.
Blackwater and the State Department tried their best to obscure their renewed relationship. As Danger Room reported Wednesday, Blackwater did not appear on the vendors’ list for Worldwide Protective Services. And the State Department confirms that the company, renamed Xe Services, didn’t actually submit its own independent bid.
Instead, they used a blandly named cut-out, “International Development Solutions,” to retain a toehold into State’s lucrative security business. No one who looks at the official announcement of the contract award would have any idea that firm is connected to Blackwater.
Blackwater’s “affiliate U.S. Training Center is part of International Development Solutions (IDS), a joint venture with Kaseman,” according to an official State Department statement to Danger Room. “This joint venture was determined by the Department’s source-selection authority to be eligible for award.”
Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, held hearings in February that revealed that Blackwater has used other shell corporations in order to keep getting government contracts despite a long history of criminal accusations and malfeasance.Don’t see any of Blackwater’s myriad business names on there? That’s apparently by design.
Blackwater and the State Department tried their best to obscure their renewed relationship. As Danger Room reported Wednesday, Blackwater did not appear on the vendors’ list for Worldwide Protective Services. And the State Department confirms that the company, renamed Xe Services, didn’t actually submit its own independent bid.
Instead, they used a blandly named cut-out, “International Development Solutions,” to retain a toehold into State’s lucrative security business. No one who looks at the official announcement of the contract award would have any idea that firm is connected to Blackwater.
Blackwater’s “affiliate U.S. Training Center is part of International Development Solutions (IDS), a joint venture with Kaseman,” according to an official State Department statement to Danger Room. “This joint venture was determined by the Department’s source-selection authority to be eligible for award.”
http://michiganmessenger.com/42370/blackwater-gets-hidden-new-contract-with-state-dept
http://www.antifascistencyclopedia.com/allposts/blackwater-gets-hidden-new-contract-with-state-dept
Blackwater (now Xi) - Ed Jewett - 21-10-2010
Efforts to Prosecute Blackwater Are Collapsing
October 21st, 2010 Via: New York Times:
Nearly four years after the federal government began a string of investigations and criminal prosecutions against Blackwater Worldwide personnel accused of murder and other violent crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan, the cases are beginning to fall apart, burdened by a legal obstacle of the government’s own making.
Just a Couple of Recent Ones:
Some of Blackwater/Xe’s Corporate Clients: Monsanto, Chevron, the Walt Disney Company, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, Deutsche Bank and Barclays
[URL="http://cryptogon.com/?p=17703"]
[/URL]
Blackwater in Iraq: Lots of Steroids, Black Market Weapons and Ammo and “Large Amounts of Cocaine and Blocks of Hashish”
[URL="http://cryptogon.com/?p=17873"]
[/URL]
Posted in Atrocities, Covert Operations, Dictatorship, Economy, Elite, Outsourced, War
Blackwater (now Xi) - Carsten Wiethoff - 02-12-2010
From http://cablegate.wikileaks.org/cable/2009/02/09DJIBOUTI113.html
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DJIBOUTI 000113
SIPDIS SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
SBU DELIBERATIVE PROCESS
DEPARTMENT FOR AF AND AF/E
CJTF-HOA AND AFRICOM FOR POLAD
LONDON, PARIS, ROME FOR AFRICA-WATCHER
E.O. 12958: DECL: 2019-02-12
TAGS: PREL PHSA MOPS BEXP DJ SO XA
SUBJECT: DJIBOUTI APPROVES BLACKWATER FOR COMMERCIAL COUNTER-PIRACY
OPERATIONS
REF: a) LONDON 62 (NOTAL)
CLASSIFIED BY: Eric Wong, DCM, U.S. Department of State, U.S. Embassy, Djibouti; REASON: 1.4(D)
¶1. © SUMMARY. U.S. security firm, Blackwater Worldwide (BW), has
received permission from the Government of Djibouti to operate an
armed ship from the port of Djibouti, to protect commercial
shipping from pirates off the coast of Somalia. Blackwater's
U.S.-flagged ship is expected to arrive in early March, and will
have a crew of 33 AmCits, including three 6-man armed teams who
will operate in continuous shifts. The Djiboutian Navy will secure
Blackwater's weapons (i.e., .50-caliber machine guns) while ashore
in Djibouti. Blackwater does not intend to take any pirates into
custody, but will use lethal force against pirates if necessary; it
is developing an SOP that is currently under legal review and will
be shared with the USG. Blackwater's counter-piracy operation does
not have any clients yet, but Blackwater expects business to
develop following a public launch in Djibouti in March with GODJ
officials. END SUMMARY.
¶2. © On Feb. 8, ex-FSO Robert Emmett Downey, Blackwater
Worldwide's Development Manager for Africa, provided the following
update to Amb. Swan, DCM, and Bob Patterson (TDY from Embassy
Nairobi):
a) Hassan Said Khaireh--triple-hatted as Djibouti's national
security advisor, head of the security/intelligence service, and
director of President Guelleh's Military Office--has given BW
permission to operate its armed ship in Djibouti. BW met with
Hassan Said on Feb. 7, following an earlier meeting in WashDC
between BW's CEO Erik Prince and Cofer Black with Djiboutian Amb.
to the U.S. Robleh Olhaye. This is the only such arrangement so
far that BW has made with a host government in the region, but BW
will likely engage Oman and Kenya in the future (e.g., in the event
of a mechanical malfunction, the only facilities capable of
repairing BW's ship are located in Mombasa.) Within the USG, BW
has briefed AFRICOM, CENTCOM, and Embassy Nairobi officials.
b) BW's ship is the 'McArthur," a U.S.-flagged 183-foot ex-NOAA
vessel. While it has landing space for two helicopters, it will
have an unarmed UAV, but no helicopters (which BW considers too
expensive). The ship will be armed with .50-caliber machine guns,
and is able to protect a 3-ship convoy. The Djiboutian Navy will
secure BW's weapons, once ashore, and will inspect BW's weapons
lockers. According to Downey, BW's business concept--having its
armed ship escort other ships requiring protection--is consistent
with recent IMO/industry recommendations discouraging the carriage
of firearms, or the presence of embarked armed security teams,
aboard commercial ships themselves (e.g., see reftel, on the 85th
session of the IMO Maritime Safety Committee). The 'McArthur' will
dock in Djibouti for 36-72 hours every 30 days, to replenish its
stores. According to Downey, BW is the only such firm with its own
ship.
c) All personnel on BW's ship will be U.S. citizens: comprising 15
crew and 18 armed security personnel (three 6-man teams who will
operate in continuous 8-hour shifts). These 33 "operators" will
rotate every 60 days. For medical contingencies, BW has
arranged--through its local agent in Djibouti, Inchcape
(London-based international shipper with numerous business
activities in Djibouti)--access to Bouffard, the French military
hospital in Djibouti. The 'McArthur" will arrive in Djibouti in
early March, after transitting Gilbraltar and Acaba, Jordan. BW
CEO Erik Prince plans to travel to DJ for its public launch.
d) Downey underscored BW's emphasis on compliance with U.S. laws,
including defense trade controls: BW has a VP for export
compliance, and depends on the USG (DOD) for contracts. BW's ship,
the 'McArthur", will have video cameras to record BW counter-piracy
activities.
e) BW has no intention of taking any pirates into custody. While
the French have previously put pirates ashore in Puntland, Downey
said BW had no plans to do so, either in Somalia or Kenya (noting
that Kenya's bilateral PUC agreements with the USG and HMG were
government-to-government). BW will share its SOP with Embassies
Djibouti and Nairobi once approved; SOP is currently under legal
review, as there is "no precedent for a paramilitary operation in a
purely commercial environment." While asserting that international
maritime law allows the use of lethal force against pirates, BW
DJIBOUTI 00000113 002 OF 002
also recognizes the need to respect international humanitarian
obligations. Of concern, for example, is whether BW would be
responsible for assisting injured pirates, if doing so endangered
BW's ability to protect its client(s).
f) BW's local agent in Djibouti is Inchcape. Bruno Pardigon,
general manager of the newly formed "Djibouti Maritime Security
Services" (DMSS), will provide BW with a license, following
completion of an MOU with DMSS. Downey was unsure whether DMSS was
a parastatal or a quasi-government agency of the GODJ. [COMMENT:
Pardigon is favorably known to the Embassy as a French-Djiboutian
businessman and marine conservationist who runs a diving operation
in Djibouti.] While Downey will remain in Djibouti until March
2009, BW has no plans now to establish an office in Djibouti.
g) While protection is estimated to cost less than $200,000 per
trip, BW's Djibouti operation has no contracts yet for clients.
Downey commented that the shipping industry may assess that piracy
is declining: only 3 ships were pirated in January 2009; there are
at least 4 foreign naval vessels currently docked in Djibouti
conducting counter-piracy operations; and the EU's Operation
Atalanta is providing military escort of ships.
¶3. (U) COMMENT. Djibouti's decision to permit Blackwater to begin
counter-piracy operations follows ongoing GODJ efforts aimed at
addressing the piracy threat. Djibouti recently hosted an IMO
conference on Somali piracy that, inter alia, recommended Djibouti
serve as a center for maritime training. Numerous foreign military
counter-piracy operations are based in Djibouti--involving units
from Spain, France, the UK, the Netherlands, and other EU members.
Japan (septel) and Korea are also considering military deployments
to Djibouti to support counter-piracy efforts. Djibouti is a
founding member of the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of
Somalia (CGPCS) and has offered to host the group's planned
Counter-Piracy Coordination Cell.
¶4. © COMMENT CONTINUED. Blackwater's presence in Djibouti would
make it one of the largest U.S. businesses operating in the
country. As the host of the only U.S. military base in Africa, as
well as a country with extensive commercial port facilities,
Djibouti has a commercial interest in supporting foreign investors,
including U.S. contractors. Blackwater executives seek to involve
both Djiboutian and USG principals in a high-profile March 2009
launch; Post would appreciate Department's guidance on the
appropriate level of engagement with Blackwater, while also
fulfilling the USG's commercial advocacy responsibilities to
support U.S. firms. END COMMENT.
SWAN
Blackwater (now Xi) - David Guyatt - 02-12-2010
Carsten Wiethoff Wrote:Blackwater does not intend to take any pirates into
custody, but will use lethal force against pirates if necessary; it
is developing an SOP that is currently under legal review and will
be shared with the USG.
Silly me for thinking that extra-judicial killing was internationally illegal...