The Gates of Hell

Blackwater Worldwide

Source: CNN.com

Five security guards from Blackwater Worldwide have been indicted on charges related to a 2007 shooting in which 17 Iraqis were killed in a Baghdad square, two sources said Friday.

A sixth security guard is in plea negotiations, the sources told CNN. The exact charges handed up by a federal grand jury were not revealed.

The sources requested anonymity because the indictment remains under court seal. It is expected to be made public by Justice Department officials as early as Monday.

The Justice Department had no comment on the development, and defense attorneys for the men could not be reached for reaction.

The State Department, which employed Blackwater to protect U.S. diplomats and other employees, also had no comment.

Blackwater said it wouldn’t comment until there’s an official announcement.

Iraqi authorities accused Blackwater guards of killing 17 civilians and wounding nearly 30 in the September 2007 shootings in Nusoor Square in western Baghdad.

Blackwater said its guards were protecting a U.S. diplomatic convoy when they came under attack from armed insurgents. The guards returned fire, Blackwater said.

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Source: MotherJones Blog

Blackwater Worldwide is facing a “multimillion-dollar” fine from the State Department for allegedly shipping illegal weapons to its contractors in Iraq, McClatchy reports. The fine could be levied in the next few days. State officials charge that Blackwater, which holds a lucrative personnel-protection contract for US diplomats in Iraq, hid the arms inside shrink-wrapped pallets that were shipped directly from the company’s sprawling Moyock, North Carolina, headquarters. About 900 weapons were sent to Iraq without permits, 119 of which were especially “erroneous,” says a State Department official familiar with the shipments. Some of the weapons are thought to have wound up on Iraq’s thriving black market.

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Source: State

Blackwater Worldwide has laid off an undisclosed number of employees after the security firm failed to win a government contract for its Grizzly armored vehicle to replace the Humvee.

Blackwater spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell said Monday that reductions were necessary because the company wasn’t selected to make the Army’s joint light tactical vehicle.

The Grizzly was one of the company’s ideas to diversify away from an emphasis on providing security contractors that Blackwater had become known for during the Iraq war.

“We have stopped building all trucks,” Tyrrell said.

Tyrrell said the company also developed a newer version of the heavier mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicle, known as the MRAP, before the military decided to stay with its current version.

Tyrrell declined to disclose how many employees lost their jobs because she hadn’t been able to get an official number.

The Daily Advance of Elizabeth City reported that Blackwater president Gary Jackson said in June 2007 that the company had 52 employees to build the armored personnel carrier at a 70,000-square-foot plant in Camden County.

Jackson said many of the Grizzly workers were former employees of Ford and Volvo.

“Our employees and independent contractors are our greatest asset and it is always unfortunate when cutbacks become necessary,” Tyrrell said. “Because we were not selected for the Army’s JLTV contract, manufacturing staff reductions were necessary.”

She said the layoffs would “improve the company’s efficiency by taking into account the cyclical nature of government contracting.”

Last week, the Pentagon selected teams led by Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, and the U.S. subsidiary of British defense conglomerate BAE Systems PLC to compete in developing a lightweight tactical vehicle.

Each team received deals worth between $35.9 million and $45 million.

Blackwater had been given a $120,000 grant by the North Carolina Department of Commerce to create and maintain up to 60 jobs at the Grizzly plant.

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Source: Navy Times

The contractor Blackwater Worldwide is in talks with 13 shipping companies interested in hiring the firm’s ship to escort their cargo vessels through the pirate-plagued waters off the Horn of Africa, the company’s president said.

Blackwater CEO Erik Prince said the world’s shipping firms are eager for as much protection as possible for their vessels, partly because the U.S. and international warships in the Gulf of Aden haven’t done enough to stop or dissuade piracy.

“Clearly they’re not patrolling everywhere because there are attacks occurring on a regular basis,” Prince said. “We’d be focusing on the customers who hired us.”

Blackwater’s main tool is its 183-foot ship, the McArthur, a retired oceanographic survey vessel that has been refitted to carry two OH-6 Little Bird helicopters, three rigid-hull inflatable boats and 35 “security professionals,” as Prince called them. The McArthur, its aircraft and its boats will run a maritime version of Blackwater’s personal security detail, Prince said, escorting client vessels just as their ground operatives protect clients in road convoys.

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