Erik Prince - the Christianist founder of Blackwater USA - has been hit with another lawsuit arising out of the gratuitous murder of innocent Iraqi civilians by his Blackwater mercenaries. Personally, it could not happen to a better person. Prince's parents have been long time sponsors and donors to far right organizations that demonize gays and his mother made a major six figure contribution to the supporters of Proposition 8. If the claims set out in the lawsuit prove true, they demonstrate that despite his professed Christian beliefs, Prince (and many like him) are actually heartless, despicable bigots and monsters who kill others for sport. I continue to be shocked by the Christianist mindset that views non-Christians as little more than animals. WWJD? I hope the allegations of the lawsuit prove to be true and that Prince's mercenary operation is ultimately shut down. Here are highlights from the Virginian Pilot:*
Yet another civil lawsuit accuses Blackwater guards of driving through the streets of Baghdad randomly shooting innocent Iraqis. The latest case accuses Blackwater founder Erik Prince of personally directing murders from a 24-hour remote monitoring "war room" at the private military company's Moyock, N.C., headquarters.
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Prince "personally directed and permitted a heavily-armed private army... to roam the streets of Baghdad killing innocent civilians," alleges the suit, filed by four Iraqi citizens. Prince was well aware that his men, including top executives, "viewed shooting innocent Iraqis as sport," the suit says. In fact, "those who killed and wounded innocent Iraqis tended to rise higher in Mr. Prince's organization than those who abided by the rule of law." Prince's top executives openly discussed "laying Hajjis out on cardboard" and "bragged about their collective role in killing those of the Islamic faith," the suit alleges.
Prince "personally directed and permitted a heavily-armed private army... to roam the streets of Baghdad killing innocent civilians," alleges the suit, filed by four Iraqi citizens. Prince was well aware that his men, including top executives, "viewed shooting innocent Iraqis as sport," the suit says. In fact, "those who killed and wounded innocent Iraqis tended to rise higher in Mr. Prince's organization than those who abided by the rule of law." Prince's top executives openly discussed "laying Hajjis out on cardboard" and "bragged about their collective role in killing those of the Islamic faith," the suit alleges.
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On more than one occasion, the suit says, Prince's men went "night hunting" in helicopters after 10 p.m. over the streets of Baghdad, wearing night goggles, killing at random. The lawsuit says Prince caused murders to occur on at least 11 occasions, including one and perhaps more in the United States. The suit describes one case in which a young man, not identified in the court papers, died after photographing Anna Bundy, a Blackwater executive, packaging illegal weaponry outfitted with silencers for shipment to Iraq.
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The latest suit, filed last week in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, is the sixth civil case brought against Prince and his company, now known as Xe, by the Washington law firm Burke O'Neil on behalf of more than 60 Iraqis or their estates. Many of them were injured or killed two years ago today - Sept. 16, 2007 - in Baghdad's Nisoor Square in a shooting incident that left 17 Iraqis dead and ultimately led to the loss of Blackwater's diplomatic security contract.
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In one episode described in those papers, one of the five defendants, Evan Liberty, allegedly drove through Baghdad on Sept. 9, 2007, a week before the Nisoor Square incident, randomly shooting Iraqis through the porthole of an armored vehicle.
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By all accounts, Prince and his Blackwater henchmen are nasty individuals who truly give Christians and Americans a bad name. If the allegations are true, I hope Prince eventually will do prison time.
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