The latest charges, filed this week in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, bring to more than 60 the number of Iraqis allegedly killed or wounded
since 2005 by armed Blackwater contractors guarding U.S. diplomatic personnel in Iraq.
The Moyock, N.C.-based security company, since renamed Xe, earned more than $1 billion under that contract before the State Department, under pressure
from the Iraqi government, let it lapse in May.
One of the new plaintiffs is the estate of Akram Khalid Sa'ed Jasim, 9, who died when Blackwater shooters allegedly opened fire on a minivan
returning from the Baghdad airport on July 1, 2007. The boy was traveling with his extended family, who had gone to the airport to apply for
passports.
The Blackwater guards also shot the boy's mother in the back as she bent over trying to shield her 3-month-old daughter, who nevertheless was shot in
the face, according to the lawsuit. The boy's father, uncle and cousin also were wounded.
This is what we get when we hire mercenaries. An army operating outside of law and the constitution. And worse, a rotten bunch of fish and we know it
and they know it - that's why they changed their name.
I'm glad to see that they're being held accountable, but I'm also dismayed to see that they're still out there in the world, working.
So I am, honestly, glad to see these charges surface:
The racketeering count added to the suit this week accuses Prince's companies of engaging in murder, weapons smuggling, money laundering, tax
evasion, kidnapping, child prostitution, illegal drug use and destruction of evidence.
The child prostitution charge involves young Iraqi girls allegedly being brought to the Blackwater compound in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone,
identified in the lawsuit as the "Blackwater Man Camp," to provide oral sex to contractors for $1.
for it exposes them for the scum that they are.
Well, actually, I'm not glad to see the charges, nor to see that these are the sorts of things going on. But if they are, I'm glad to see them
exposed.
Civil Complaint document here:
www.docstoc.com...
An interesting note, in the complaint it talks about how hiring Xe is illegal anyhow, re: the Anti-Pinkerton Act.
