With all due respect to Prince, the alleged shooting of unarmed Iraqis didn't exactly burnish Blackwater's reputation.
The 39-year-old Prince complains he is “worn out” by the politics of its all. That is why he is stepping down as CEO from the helm of the State Dept’s military arm charged with protecting its people in war zones. Prince, who will remain chairman, told the March 2 Wall Street Journal: “The PR challenges were far more relevant than I thought they would be. I thought we operated in a meritocracy.” Does Prince’s meritocracy include the Sept. '07 massacre in Baghdad that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead? Blackwater says its guards acted in self-defense. The Justice Dept. thinks differently. It charged five of six of the Blackwater men in the shooting. They pleaded not guilty and a trial is slated for next year.
The event in Nisoor Square marked the beginning of the end for Blackwater in Iraq. Candidate Barack Obama told an Iowa rally that if elected President he planned to crack down on the use of military contractors. “We cannot win the fight for hearts and minds when we outsource critical missions to unaccountable contractors,” he said Oct. 3, `07.
The November U.S. election sealed Blackwater’s fate. The Iraqi Government in January decided not to renew Blackwater’s license to operate in the country. It cited the Nisoor Square shooting among reasons. The State Dept. then announced it will toss Blackwater overboard when its contract expires in May, a move that will cut the company’s $600M in annual revenues by a third.
The embattled Prince defends Blackwater’s track record in Iraq, saying it has “done great work for the U.S. Government.” If the former Navy Seal is so proud of Blackwater’s performance, why has it changed its name to the nonsensical XE, an abbreviation for Xenon, an inert non-combustible gas? Blackwater’s record has been anything but “non-combustible.”
The Blackwater moniker rings true for the North Carolina-based outfit. Blackwater was named after the swamps filled with black murky water in the northeastern part of the Tar Heel State. That’s an apt description of Blackwater’s business.
(Image: AP via Sydney Morning Herald)