Did Trump Try to Tamper With Witnesses?

For years Donald Trump rain his real estate operations in a manner akin to a narcissistic mob boss, with a clear mindset that he could do whatever he wanted, be it dealing with shady underworld figures or ignoring the advice of his above board legal counsel.  This latter inclination continues unabated as Trump seemingly ignores the advice of his legal counsel in the Russiagate investigation.  A huge no no in any criminal investigation is witness tampering and any good legal counsel will tell a potential target of the investigation to either completely stay away from witnesses or  avoid any conversations whatsoever about their testimony to investigators.  To do otherwise creates the appearance that efforts may be underway to alter what witnesses will testify - a potential crime in itself and an indicator that obstruction of justice is occurring.  As the New York Times is reporting, Trump has ignored these basic rules (no surprise here) and may be worsening his own situation.  Adding to the negative potential is the exposure of lies Erik Prince - a well know shady individual to Hampton Roads residents - has lied about his efforts to set up a "back channel" to the Kremlin for Trump/Pence regime.  Here are highlights from the Times piece:

The special counsel in the Russia investigation has learned of two conversations in recent months in which President Trump asked key witnesses about matters they discussed with investigators, according to three people familiar with the encounters.

In one episode, the president told an aide that the White House counsel, Donald F. McGahn II, should issue a statement denying a New York Times article in January. The article said Mr. McGahn told investigators that the president  [Trump] once asked him to fire the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III. Mr. McGahn never released a statement and later had to remind [Trump] the president that he had indeed asked Mr. McGahn to see that Mr. Mueller was dismissed, the people said.

In the other episode, Mr. Trump asked his former chief of staff, Reince Priebus, how his interview had gone with the special counsel’s investigators and whether they had been “nice,” according to two people familiar with the discussion.

The episodes demonstrate that even as the special counsel investigation appears to be intensifying, the president [Trump] has ignored his lawyers’ advice to avoid doing anything publicly or privately that could create the appearance of interfering with it.

The White House did not respond to several requests for comment. Mr. Priebus and Mr. McGahn declined to comment through their lawyer, William A. Burck.

Legal experts said Mr. Trump’s contact with the men most likely did not rise to the level of witness tampering. But witnesses and lawyers who learned about the conversations viewed them as potentially a problem and shared them with Mr. Mueller.

In investigating Russian election interference, Mr. Mueller is also examining whether [Trump] the president tried to obstruct the inquiry. . . . The experts said the meetings with Mr. McGahn and Mr. Priebus would probably sharpen Mr. Mueller’s focus on [Trump's] the president’s interactions with other witnesses. The special counsel has questioned witnesses recently about their interactions with [Trump's] the president since the investigation began. The experts also said the episodes could serve as evidence for Mr. Mueller in an obstruction case.

“It makes it look like you’re cooking a story, and prosecutors are always looking out for it,” said Julie R. O’Sullivan, a law professor at Georgetown University and expert on white-collar criminal investigations. . . . “It can get at the issue of consciousness of guilt in an obstruction case because if you didn’t do anything wrong, why are you doing that?”

Central figures in investigations are almost always advised by their own lawyers to keep from speaking with witnesses and prosecutors to prevent accusations of witness tampering.

Mr. Trump’s interactions with Mr. McGahn unfolded in the days after the Jan. 25 Times article, which said that Mr. McGahn threatened to quit last June after the president asked him to fire the special counsel. After the article was published, the White House staff secretary, Rob Porter, told Mr. McGahn that [Trump] the president wanted him to release a statement saying that the story was not true, the people said.

Mr. Porter, who resigned last month amid a domestic abuse scandal, told Mr. McGahn the president had suggested he might “get rid of” Mr. McGahn if he chose not to challenge the article, the people briefed on the conversation said.

Mr. McGahn did not publicly deny the article, and [Trump] the president later confronted him in the Oval Office in front of the White House chief of staff, John F. Kelly, according to the people.

[Trump] The president said he had never ordered Mr. McGahn to fire the special counsel. Mr. McGahn replied that [Trump] the president was wrong and that he had in fact asked Mr. McGahn in June to call the deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, to tell him that the special counsel had a series of conflicts that disqualified him for overseeing the investigation and that he had to be dismissed.

It is not clear how the confrontation was resolved. Mr. McGahn has stayed on as White House counsel, one of the few senior administration officials who has been with the president since the campaign.

Mr. Priebus met with [Trump] the president in the West Wing in December, according to the people with knowledge of their encounter. . . . . Mr. Trump brought up Mr. Priebus’s October interview with the special counsel’s office, the people said, and Mr. Priebus replied that the investigators were courteous and professional. He shared no specifics and did not say what he had told investigators, and the conversation moved on after a few minutes, those briefed on it said. Mr. Kelly was present for that conversation as well, and it was not clear whether he tried to stop the discussion.

In organized crime and complex white-collar investigations, prosecutors often ask witnesses whether they have spoken to the person under investigation to determine whether they are coordinating their stories.

Given the daily flow of lies that flow from Trump's mouth, I candidly do not believe anything he says, especially when it comes to collusion and coordination with Putin/Russia.  

Trump/Kushner Wanted Secret Communications Channel with Kremlin

Another day and another breaking headline suggesting that perhaps we are indeed moving closer to two words: treason and impeachment.  Increasingly, one feel's that we are living a real life version of David Baldacci's Absolute Power or some other spy thriller with a rogue president of the United States.  Late yesterday the Washington Post broke a new story that revealed that monitored communications between Russian ambassador  Sergey Kislyak and Moscow indicated that Jared Kushner and Michael Flynn met with Kislyak and discussed using Russian communications networks to allow Trump officials to communicate with the Kremlin without detection by American intelligence services.  Obviously, it is hard to believe that Trump was not aware of the proposal.  One can only ask what did they want to communicate that could not be seen by American CIA, FBI and other agencies?  It's almost to the point where I am going to start addressing my "friends" who voted for Trump by the term "comrade."  Of course, Fox News will either not report this story or so pervert it that it bears no resemblance to reality.  Here are highlights from the Post story:

Jared Kushner and Russia’s ambassador to Washington discussed the possibility of setting up a secret and secure communications channel between Trump’s transition team and the Kremlin, using Russian diplomatic facilities in an apparent move to shield their pre-inauguration discussions from monitoring, according to U.S. officials briefed on intelligence reports.

Ambassador Sergey Kislyak reported to his superiors in Moscow that Kushner, son-in-law and confidant to then-President-elect Trump, made the proposal during a meeting on Dec. 1 or 2 at Trump Tower, according to intercepts of Russian communications that were reviewed by U.S. officials. Kislyak said Kushner suggested using Russian diplomatic facilities in the United States for the communications.

The meeting also was attended by Michael Flynn, Trump’s first national security adviser.
The White House disclosed the meeting only in March, playing down its significance. But people familiar with the matter say the FBI now considers the encounter, as well as another meeting Kushner had with a Russian banker, to be of investigative interest.

Kislyak reportedly was taken aback by the suggestion of allowing an American to use Russian communications gear at its embassy or consulate — a proposal that would have carried security risks for Moscow as well as the Trump team.

The White House declined to comment. Robert Kelner, a lawyer for Flynn, declined to comment. The Russian Embassy did not respond to requests for comment.

Kushner’s apparent interest in establishing a secret channel with Moscow, rather than relying on U.S. government systems, has added to the intrigue surrounding the Trump administration’s relationship with Russia.

To some officials, it also reflects a staggering naivete. The FBI closely monitors the communications of Russian officials in the United States, and it maintains a nearly constant surveillance of its diplomatic facilities. The National Security Agency monitors the communications of Russian officials overseas.

Current and former U.S. intelligence officials said that although Russian diplomats have secure means of communicating with Moscow, Kushner’s apparent request for access to such channels was extraordinary.

The discussion of a secret channel adds to a broader pattern of efforts by Trump’s closest advisers to obscure their contacts with Russian counterparts. 

Kushner’s interactions with Russians — including Kislyak and an executive for a Russian bank under U.S. sanctions — were not acknowledged by the White House until they were exposed in media reports.

In addition to their discussion about setting up the communications channel, Kushner, Flynn and Kislyak also talked about arranging a meeting between a representative of Trump and a “Russian contact” in a third country whose name was not identified, according to the anonymous letter.

The Post reported in April that Erik Prince, the founder of the private security firm Blackwater, now called Academi, and an informal adviser to the Trump transition team, met on Jan. 11 — nine days before Trump’s inauguration — in the Seychelles islands in the Indian Ocean with a representative of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Last evening on satellite radio, former GOP chair Michael Steele said the story, if true was very bad.

Blackwater Founder, Erik Prince, Moves to Abu Dhabi

Hmm . . . it seems odd that a far right Christianist would move his family to a Muslim country, but that exactly what Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater USA and son of benefactors to numerous anti-gay organizations has done according to a story in the Virginian Pilot. Yep, Mr. Prince has moved to Abu Dhabi which conveniently has no extradition laws. Does it look suspicious? You bet it does - especially given the indictments and lawsuits plaguing Prince's subordinates and his company as well. Frankly, I have always found Prince to be creepy to say the least. Apparently, Prince is now set for depositions in Abu Dhabi next week. However, should he ultimately be indicted, the authorities will likely be unable to get him back to the USA. Here are story highlights:
*
Erik Prince, whose security company once known as Blackwater has spawned a series of criminal and civil court cases, has left the United States and moved with his family to Abu Dhabi, according to court documents. Abu Dhabi is the capital of the United Arab Emirates, which has no extradition treaty with the United States.
*
Prince does not face any criminal charges. But five former executives of the Moyock, N.C.-based company now known as Xe have been indicted on federal firearms charges, and two ex-Blackwater contractors are on trial in Norfolk, accused of murdering two civilians in Afghanistan.
*
Prince’s company also faces several civil lawsuits, including one brought by two former employees in federal court in Alexandria alleging that the company has defrauded the U.S. goverment.
*
Attorneys for the plaintiffs in the Alexandria case had sought to obtain a deposition from Prince before he left the country, speculating that he might not return to the United States “if he is indicted on weapons smuggling charges or other matters."

**
The judge in the case has ordered Prince to appear for the deposition Monday in Abu Dhabi.

Lawless Blackwater Contractors

Hearings before the U. S. Senate Armed Services Committee have painted a very disturbing picture of how Blackwater USA was allowed to operate in Iraq and Afghanistan. Apparently since Blackwater boss, Erik Prince (at left), professes to be a godly Uber-Christian, the Chimperator and Emperor Palpatine Cheney and their minions turned a blind eye to rampant misdeeds and lawlessness. Some have even conjectured previously that killing Iraqis was a sport among some of the Blackwater personnel. Yes, that's beyond sick, but that's what happens when religious and cultural based discrimination is allowed to make others less than human. So far, Blackwater - or Xe as it has renamed itself - has escaped criminal prosecution, but nonetheless, it would appear that senior military personnel need to be held accountable for allowing the misdeeds as well. Here are highlights from the Virginian Pilot:

*
A Senate investigation accuses the Army of turning a blind eye when a Blackwater subsidiary hired violent drug users to help train the Afghan army and declared "sidearms for everyone" even though employees weren't authorized to carry weapons.
*
The findings by Democratic staff on the Senate Armed Services Committee paint a disturbing picture of lawlessness that contributed to the May 2009 shooting deaths of two Afghan civilians and fed anti-Western sentiment in the region.
*
"Blackwater operated in Afghanistan without sufficient oversight or supervision and with almost no consideration of the rules it was legally obligated to follow," said Sen. Carl Levin, the committee's chairman.
*
Former employees of the company's subsidiary Paravant — Justin Cannon and Christopher Drotleff — have been charged with killing two Afghans and injuring a third. Cannon and Drotleff were not supposed to be armed and had been drinking.
*
They also probably shouldn't have been hired by Blackwater at all. Drotleff's lengthy criminal record included assault and battery, while his three-year career in the Marines ended after seven unauthorized absences, assault and other charges.
*
Blackwater has been involved in several security incidents, including the 2007 shooting at Nisoor Square in Baghdad that killed 17 people, including women and children. Since the shooting, the Moyock, N.C.-based Blackwater has renamed itself Xe Services and overhauled its management. Iraq has pulled the company's license to operate in the country.
*
Levin said he wants to determine who should be held accountable for the gaps in oversight that led to the 2009 shooting and what should happen to prevent future incidents. But he stopped short of suggesting that Xe be barred from working with the military overseas.
*
The senator said that among the startling discoveries in his investigation was that contracting personnel acquired several hundred weapons, including more than 500 AK-47s, from a U.S. facility in Kabul that stores the weapons for use by the Afghan police.
*
With Prince's family a force to be reckoned with in GOP and Christianist circles, I would not be surprised if Blackwater had not been given a free reign from on high.

Poor Little Rich Boy Walking Away from Blackwater

In a temper tantrum worthy of a prima donna, Blackwater USA founder, poor little rich boy, Erik Prince (pictured at left), the son of profound homophobes who backed numerous far right religious organizations, is packing up his marbles and walking away from his company that committed atrocities in Iraq and made a fortune off of American taxpayers. Not surprisingly, under Prince, Blackwater was a favored contractor by the Bush/Cheney regime. Now, he's acting as if he and the company are being persecuted. Sounds all to typical of the far right loonies. Sorry, but I just cannot find any sympathy for this jerk. In my view, it is too bad he isn't up on charges for civilian deaths in Iraq. Here are highlights from the Virginian Pilot:

*
The man who built Blackwater USA into one of the world's most respected and reviled defense contractors feels that he was thrown under the bus after serving the nation's security interests for years.
*
Erik Prince's company, which renamed itself Xe Services in February after an uproar over its Iraq operations, has worked closely for years with the CIA, the State Department and the U.S. military. But it became the target of a series of federal investigations and congressional probes, primarily for its Iraq work. Most recently, officials disclosed that the CIA tapped the company to work under a program to capture or kill terrorists.
*
The 40-year-old heir to a Michigan auto parts fortune told Vanity Fair in an interview released Wednesday that Xe now pays $2 million a month in legal bills. The company is headquartered in Moyock in northeastern North Carolina.
*
Prince likened his case to the leak of former CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity — a disclosure that led to a special prosecutor investigating the matter. "Well, what happened to me was worse," Prince said. "People acting for political reasons disclosed not only the existence of a very sensitive program but my name along with it."

[His father, Edgar Prince, turned a small die-cast shop in Holland, Mich., into a major auto parts supplier with a specialty product: a windshield visor with a lighted mirror. After his death in 1995, the company was sold for $1.4 billion. Edgar Prince was a confidant and financial backer of Gary Bauer] With his auto parts inheritance, Prince founded Blackwater in 1997 along with former colleagues from the Navy SEALs. After the Sept. 11 attacks, the company quickly developed a presence providing security and later won a lucrative contract to protect diplomats in Iraq.
*
A September 2007 shooting in a Baghdad square that led to federal charges against company contractors triggered outrage in Iraq and the United States and prompted the eventual State Department decision not to renew Blackwater's contract protecting diplomats in Iraq. Executives at the company bemoaned that the work had tarnished the company's image.
*
The company has been beset by lawsuits and complaints over its work in the Iraq War, where it was a contractor providing security to U.S. government officials, and in other company endeavors. In August, two men who worked for Blackwater alleged in a federal lawsuit that Prince or his agents murdered one or more people who were planning to provide information to federal authorities about criminal conduct by the company and its operatives in Iraq. In a sworn statement, a “John Doe #1” says he observed “multiple incidents of Blackwater personnel intentionally using unnecessary, excessive and unjustified deadly force.”

Blackwater USA Reportedly Used Bribes in Iraq

Once again Blackwater USA based in nearby Moyock, North Carolina, is in the news. And again the coverage is proving that Blackwater's leader, Erik Prince (pictured at left), the son of hardcore Christian Right theocrats who helped found the Family Research Council, is apparently morally bankrupt and willing to resort to lies and million dollar bribes to keep his company's mercenary revenues flowing in. Previous news coverage has suggested that Prince and his hired goons see non-Christians as less than human and that they do not hesitate to murder them at will. Perhaps not surprisingly, during the delusional regime of the Chimperator, Blackwater's revenues soared as it landed government contract after government contract. The bribes reported by the New York Times today relates to the slaughter of 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad. Here are some highlights from the Times story:

*

Top executives at Blackwater Worldwide authorized secret payments of about $1 million to Iraqi officials that were intended to silence their criticism and buy their support after a September 2007 episode in which Blackwater security guards fatally shot 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad, according to former company officials. Blackwater approved the cash payments in December 2007, the officials said, as protests over the deadly shootings in Nisour Square stoked long-simmering anger inside Iraq about reckless practices by the security company’s employees.

*

American and Iraqi investigators had already concluded that the shootings were unjustified, top Iraqi officials were calling for Blackwater’s ouster from the country, and company officials feared that Blackwater might be refused an operating license it would need to retain its contracts with the State Department and private clients, worth hundreds of millions of dollars annually.
*
The four former Blackwater executives, who had held high-ranking posts at the company, would speak only on condition of anonymity. Two of them said they took part in talks about the payments; the two others said they had been told by several Blackwater officials about the discussions. In agreeing to describe those conversations, the four officials said that they were troubled by a pattern of questionable conduct by Blackwater, which had led them to leave the company.
*
Separately, a federal grand jury in North Carolina, where the company has its headquarters, has been conducting a lengthy investigation into it. One of the former executives said that he had told federal prosecutors there about the plan to pay Iraqi officials to drop their inquiries into the Nisour Square case. If Blackwater followed through, the company or its officials could face charges of obstruction of justice and violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which bans bribes to foreign officials.
*
Since 2001, Blackwater has undergone explosive growth, not only from security contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan, but also from classified work for the Central Intelligence Agency that included taking part in a now defunct program to assassinate leaders of Al Qaeda and to load missiles on Predator drones. The Nisour Square shooting was the bloodiest and most controversial episode involving Blackwater in the Iraq war. At midday on Sept. 16, 2007, a Blackwater convoy opened fire on Iraqi civilians in the crowded intersection, spraying automatic weapons fire in ways that investigators later claimed was indiscriminate, and even launching grenades into a nearby school. Seventeen Iraqis were killed and dozens more were wounded.
*
The former officials said that Mr. Black, Mr. Richer and others believed that Blackwater had cultivated a cowboy culture that was contemptuous of government rules and regulations, and that some of the company’s leaders — former members of the Navy Seals including Mr. Prince and Mr. Jackson — had pushed the boundaries of legality.

*

Erik Prince, in my opinion, is yet another example of the toxic false Christians that permeate the Christian Right and the theocratic base of the Republican Party. He and his minions need to be prosecuted and, if convicted, sent to prison.

Another Lawsuit Targets Christian Right Founder of Blackwater

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.

*
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.

*

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.

*

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.

*

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.

*

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.

Ex-Workers Accuse Blackwater Founder of Murder

Erik Prince (pictured at left), founder of the private mercenary firm Blackwater USA and son of major donors to far right anti-gay organizations, is accused in a newly filed lawsuit of murdered one or more people who were planning to provide information to federal authorities about criminal conduct by the company and its operatives in Iraq. If the allegations prove true, it would be all too typical of the far right Christianists who proclaim their religious devotion while trashing the very principles of the Gospel and the ruthless treatment they are willing to dish out against those who do not subscribe to their extremist beliefs. The new allegations by the two anonymous informants were filed late Monday in connection with five consolidated lawsuits in U.S. District Court in Alexandria. Blackwater, now known as Xe because of the negative baggage of the Blackwater name is based in nearby Moyock, North Carolina. Here are some highlights from the Virginian Pilot:

*

Two men who worked for Blackwater allege in a federal lawsuit that Blackwater founder Erik Prince or his agents murdered one or more people who were planning to provide information to federal authorities about criminal conduct by the company and its operatives in Iraq. The two are identified in court papers only as “John Doe #1” and “John Doe #2” because, they say, they fear violent retaliation themselves for making the allegations.

*

“On several occasions after my departure from Mr. Prince’s employ,” he says, “Mr. Prince’s management has personally threatened me with death and violence. “In addition, based on information provided to me by former colleagues, it appears that Mr. Prince and his employees murdered, or had murdered, one or more persons who have provided information, or who were planning to provide information, to the federal authorities about the ongoing criminal conduct.” In his statement, he says Prince “views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe.

*

“To that end, Mr. Prince intentionally deployed to Iraq certain men who shared his vision of Christian supremacy, knowing and wanting these men to take every available opportunity to murder Iraqis. Many of these men used call signs based on the Knights of the Templar, the warriors who fought the Crusades.” Going to Iraq to shoot and kill Iraqis was viewed as a sport or game, “John Doe #2” says, adding that Prince’s employees openly used racist terms for Iraqis and other Arabs such as “ragheads” and “hajiis.”

*

He also alleges that Prince and his top managers gave orders to destroy incriminating videotapes, e-mails and other documents. Both informants say they previously made the same allegations in grand jury proceedings convened by the Justice Department.

*

A Xe spokeswoman did not respond immediately to a request for comment on the latest allegations. In the past, the company has denied other allegations made in the same series of lawsuits.

*

Personally, I find it very creepy having Balckwater, k/n/a Xe located only about 25 miles away from Norfolk.

Blackwater May Lose License in Iraq

The rumblings are that Christianist controlled (Erik Prince's momma was a huge donor supporting Proposition 8) Blackwater USA which is based in Moyock, North Carolina, may lose its gravy train contract in Iraq. I suspect that but for Prince's Christianist ideology and the big dollar amounts that Prince's family has given to the GOP over the years, Blackwater would not otherwise have received the contract in the first place. With the Chimperator's regime, what was best for cronies and political contributors was always more important than anything else. My view of this development is good riddance. Here are some highlights from the Washington Post:

*

WASHINGTON -- An internal State Department report says Blackwater Worldwide may lose its license to work in Iraq and recommends that the agency prepare alternative means to protect its diplomats there. . . . It is not clear how the State Department would replace Blackwater. It relies heavily on private contractors to protect its diplomats in Iraq, as its own security service does not have the manpower or equipment to do so. The report suggests that one way to fill the void would be for the State Department's Diplomatic Security Service to beef up its presence in Iraq.

*

The official said later that such a recommendation would not be made until after an investigation of last September's incident in Baghdad's Nisoor Square in which Blackwater guards killed 17 Iraqis is complete. Five guards have been indicted on manslaughter and other charges stemming from that incident.

*

Terminating the North Carolina-based company's Iraq contract will be difficult for incoming Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton because no other private security contractor has its range of resources, particularly its fleet of helicopters and planes.

*

Blackwater spokeswoman Anne Tyrell declined to comment, saying the company has not yet seen the report. The company has said in the past, though, that it plans to largely get out of the security contracting business to concentrate on training and other projects. Blackwater has won more than $1 billion in government contracts under the Bush administration, a large portion of which has been for work in Iraq, where among its duties is protecting diplomats based at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

*

U.S. investigators have linked Blackwater guards to 70 shooting incidents involving civilians before Nisoor Square and only two since then.

The Blackwater USA Connection To "Yes On 8"

There are many reasons to dislike Proposition 8 and its supporters who in my opinion are Christo-fascists who seek to superimpose their religious views on the CIVIL laws. Laws that should not be controlled by the religious views of one extreme mindset. It turns out that the supporters of Proposition 8 do in fact have fascist like ties in the form of Elsa Prince Broekhuizen, the mother of the Chimperator's favorite private mercenary, Erik Prince, the founder and chairman of Blackwater, USA. Broekhuizen who is a RESIDENT OF HOLLAND, MICHIGAN - has contributed $450,000 to the anti-gay forces in California. For background, Blackwater - whose hired personnel are alleged to have murdered innocent Iraqi citizens last year - is a sinister near neighbor to Norfolk with training facilities and a compound in nearby Moyock, North Carolina. Here are highlights from the Grand Rapids Press concerning the Blackwater related contributions to "Yes on 8":

*

Holland resident Elsa Prince Broekhuizen has pumped $450,000 into a Nov. 4 California ballot issue to ban gay marriage. It is one of the largest private donations to that cause. . . . In 2004, Broekhuizen was the top West Michigan contributor to Michigan's anti-gay marriage amendment, adding $75,000 to the cause.

*

Broekhuizen, 75, is mother to Betsy DeVos, the former state GOP chair who is married to 2006 GOP gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos, and Erik Prince, founder of private security firm Blackwater Worldwide. She is the widow of the late Holland industrialist Edgar Prince and has remarried. An assistant to Broekhuizen, who asked not to be named, said the issue is "very important to her. It's near and dear to her heart. "She likes to give from her heart and not for public recognition."

*

The donations are consistent with numerous contributions to traditional-value causes by the Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation. It gave $510,000 from July 2006 to June 2007 to the Family Research Council and $300,000 to Focus on the Family. Both organizations oppose gay marriage, a stance underlined when Focus on the Family founder James Dobson cautioned in 2005 that gay marriage "will bring the destruction of this nation."

*

Michigan voters approved a constitutional ban against gay marriage in 2004, with assurances from supporters it would not affect domestic partnerships. But in May, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled the gay marriage ban also prevents governments and state universities from recognizing domestic partnerships to provide health insurance to the partners of gay workers.

*

I find it beyond sad that a disgustingly wealthy NON-RESIDENT can and will give so much money in order to attempt to strip California gay and lesbian couples of the right to a CIVIL marriage. Wouldn't the money be better used feeding the hungry and clothing the poor as Christ directed? Oops! I forgot, these people are Christian in name only.

*

You can counter her donation, and those of the Mormons and Knights of Columbus here.

FBI Finds Blackwater Tampered With Vehicles

I must admit that I am not surprised to hear that Blackwater in effect made repairs to wipe out any evidence that might have been relevant to the investigation of the September, 2007, incident where 17 Iraqi civilians were killed (http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=2008-01-12_D8U4E4E01&show_article=1&cat=breaking). In my opinion, Christianists like Erik Prince talk a good talk about being God-fearing, Bible believers, etc., but are the first to lie, cheat and engage in underhanded business transactions. It has certainly been true for some Regent Law School alumni I know, in my opinion. Here are some story highlights:

WASHINGTON (AP) - Blackwater Worldwide repaired and repainted its trucks immediately after a deadly September shooting in Baghdad, making it difficult to determine whether enemy gunfire provoked the attack, according to people familiar with the government's investigation of the incident. Damage to the vehicles in the convoy has been held up by Blackwater as proof that its security guards were defending themselves against an insurgent ambush when they fired into a busy intersection, leaving 17 Iraqi civilians dead.

U.S. military investigators initially found "no enemy activity involved" and the Iraqi government concluded the shootings were unprovoked. The repairs essentially destroyed evidence that Justice Department investigators hoped to examine in a criminal case that has drawn worldwide attention. The Sept. 16 shooting has strained U.S. relations with the Iraqi government, which wants Blackwater expelled from the country. It also has become a flash point in the debate over whether contractors are immune from legal consequences for their actions in a war zone.

The damage and subsequent repairs were described to The Associated Press by five people familiar with the case who discussed it in separate interviews over the past month. All spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.

Blackwater's chief executive, Erik Prince, has pointed to the damaged trucks to counter accusations that his contractors acted improperly. In interviews this fall, he said three of Blackwater's armored vehicles were struck by gunfire and that the radiator from one was "shot out and disabled" during the shooting in Baghdad's Nisoor Square. An early two-page State Department report supports Prince's statements. The report noted the Blackwater command vehicle was "disabled during the attack" and had to be towed.

The preliminary State Department report noted "superficial damage" to the vehicles; and photographs exist showing bullet damage. People who have seen the photos said there are no time stamps or other indications of when and where that damage occurred.

Blackwater in Baghdad: "It was a horror movie"

L-R: The car of one of the victims; the injured arm of another of the victims; Ahmed Haythem and his mother, Mohasin, who were both killed in the shooting spree.

Salon (http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2007/12/14/blackwater/index.html) has more details on the massacre in Baghdad of civilians by employees of Blackwater USA, the Christianist owned and led mercenary firm located in nearby Moyock, North Carolina. The details are ghastly and show the utter disregard for the lives of Iraqi civilians, viewed no doubt, as less than humans by the Blackwater mercenaries due to their Muslim faith (note the paltry amount offered to families of the victims by the U. S. State Department). It certainly appears that Erik Prince (allegedly devout Christian) lied when he testified before Congress. Is it little wonder why the USA is so hated by Muslims around the world? Here are some highlights:

For Khalaf, a 38-year-old Iraqi, Sept. 16 started like many other sunny summer workdays. He donned his police uniform -- a white shirt, navy trousers and hat -- and headed to Baghdad's busy Nissour Square. By 7 a.m. he was out in the street, directing the flow of traffic coming from the multi-laned Yarmouk access road into the square. When he spotted four large all-terrain vehicles with guns mounted on top, he did what he always did. He stopped traffic and cleared the area for what he knew, from the tell-tale sign of the two accompanying helicopters, to be a security firm's convoy.

At first, this seemed completely normal for the totally abnormal world of Baghdad in September 2007. "Convoys are common," explained Khalaf. But this convoy made an unexpected U-turn, drove the wrong way around the one-way square, stopped in the middle of it and started shooting. Fifteen minutes later, 17 Iraqi civilians were dead, dozens more wounded, and a white sedan that had been engulfed in flames contained two bodies charred beyond recognition. "It was a horror movie," said Khalaf, describing the aftermath of the now notorious Blackwater shootings.

I interviewed Khalaf on Nov. 30, in a small conference room inside a hotel in Istanbul, Turkey. In one of the most in-depth collection of testimonials to date regarding Blackwater, Khalaf was among five witnesses and victims flown from Baghdad to meet with Susan Burke, William O'Neil and their team of lawyers and investigators. The team is suing Blackwater on behalf of the victims of the Sept. 16 shooting. Sadly, this lawsuit may be the only way that the victims and their families receive remotely adequate compensation for their losses.

Khalaf recounted the events of that day to a hushed room of lawyers with laptops. He watched, he said, as the Blackwater convoy made the U-turn toward the street where he stood directing traffic. As the convoy stopped, Khalaf watched as a large man with a mustache standing atop the third car fired several shots in the air. Khalaf turned back toward the Yarmouk road to see what might have spurred the shooting and heard a woman yell, "My son! My son!" He ran three cars back to a white sedan to find a woman holding a young man slumped over and covered with blood. The man was Ahmed, a 20-year-old medical student at the top of his class, and the woman his mother, Mohasin, a successful dermatologist and mother of three. He described how he crouched by the car, his right arm reaching inside, his head out and left arm up in the air, signaling to the convoy, his gun secure in its holster. Then the mother was shot dead before his eyes.

The shooting then turned heavier, Khalaf said, his eyes red-brimmed and serious. He hid behind the police traffic booth, but shots came directly at him, hitting the adjacent traffic light and booth's door, and he fled back across Yarmouk road to safety behind a hill. Along with a few hundred others, he stayed there as the chaos unfolded, watching as the helicopters circling above the street started shooting at those below. Fifteen minutes later, the four-car convoy continued around the square and drove away. Amid the wreckage, colorful clouds billowed into the air from the convoy's parting gift -- multicolored smoke bombs.

In remarks prepared for delivery before a congressional hearing in October, Blackwater chairman Erik Prince claimed company guards "returned fire at threatening targets," including "men with AK-47s firing on the convoy" and "approaching vehicles that appeared to be suicide car bombers." Prince's prepared testimony also asserted that one of the vehicles had been disabled by the "enemy fire" and had to be towed.

But the accounts of Khalaf and others contradict each of Prince's assertions. Khalaf, who was there before the shooting began, said he never saw anyone fire on or approach the convoy. He watched as all four cars drove away as the 15-minute shooting spree ended, and huddled in fear as the helicopters began firing. He thought the helicopters would start spraying those who were hiding behind the hill for safety from the street-level threat. Khalaf's observations are backed up by official accounts, including leaked FBI findings.

Haythem, the composed, articulate and powerfully calm father and husband of Ahmed and Mohasin, who died in the white car, expected them to pick him up at the health center where he worked that afternoon. He waited and waited, and eventually went home without them. "I tried to be patient," he said. "I kept calling, but thought there must be some sort of cellphone interruption."

Finally, around 5 p.m., he phoned his brother who worked at the hospital closest to Nissour Square. His brother went to the emergency room, then to the morgue. He learned that all of the bodies there were identified -- except for two that were completely burned with body parts missing. His brother then headed to the square, where he called Haythem to tell him he had found a charred white car with a license plate number written in the sand. The numerals and letters matched the family's plate. Haythem identified his son from what was left of his shoes. His forehead and brains were missing and his skin completely burned. He identified his wife of 20 years by a dental bridge.

These are not isolated events. In October, the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform released its analysis of Blackwater's own internal reporting since 2005, which found 195 shooting incidents in the last two years, including 160 in which Blackwater employees fired the first shot. The Burke O'Neil lawsuit may be the only way that victims receive compensation for their loss. The State Department has offered family members $10,000 for those killed in the Sept. 16 shootings -- an amount most consider insultingly low and have refused. In less high-profile cases involving U.S. contractors, no one has offered anything.

Blackwater Grand Jury Hears Witnesses; Private Lawsuit Filed

Christianist owned mercenary firm Blackwater USA continues to have its legal problems as reported by the Virginian Pilot (http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=137755&ran=37751). Hopefully, the investigations will continue and those responsible for lawless and brutal conduct toward Iraqi civilians will be held to account. Sadly, I suspect Erik Prince will get off scott free, but one can hope not. On a related note, I do not find it at all comforting to know that some of these steroid pumped security characters are probably loose in this area. Here are some story highlights:

WASHINGTON - A federal grand jury investigating Blackwater Worldwide heard witnesses Tuesday as a private lawsuit accused the government contractor's bodyguards of ignoring orders and abandoning their posts shortly before taking part in a Baghdad shooting that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead. Filed this week in U.S. District Court in Washington, the civil complaint also accuses North Carolina-based Blackwater of failing to give drug tests to its guards in Baghdad — even though an estimated one in four of them was using steroids or other "judgment altering substances."

The lawsuit was filed Monday on behalf of five Iraqis who were killed and two who were injured during the Sept. 16 shooting in Baghdad's Nisoor Square. The shootings enraged the Iraqi government, and the Justice Department is investigating whether it can bring criminal charges in the case, even though the State Department promised limited immunity to the Blackwater guards.

Additionally, the lawsuit notes: "One of Blackwater's own shooters tried to stop his colleagues from indiscriminately firing upon the crowd of innocent civilians but he was unsuccessful in his efforts." The civil complaint offers new details of the incident that has strained relations between the United States and Iraq, which is demanding the right to launch its own prosecution of the Blackwater bodyguards.

The Justice Department says it likely will be months before it decides whether it can prosecute the guards, and it is trying now to pinpoint how many shooters in the Blackwater convoy could face charges. A senior U.S. law enforcement official confirmed Tuesday that government investigators are looking at whether the Blackwater guards were authorized to be in the square at the time of the shooting. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.

The civil lawsuit does not specify how much money the victims and their families are seeking from Blackwater, its 11 subsidiaries and founder, Erik Prince, all of whom are named as defendants. "We're looking for compensatory (damages) because the people who were killed were the breadwinners in their families," Burke said. "And we're looking for punitive in a manner that suffices to change the corporation's conduct. We have a real interest in holding them accountable for what were completely avoidable deaths."

FBI finds 14 of 17 killings by Blackwater Unjustified

Why am I not shocked? I mean, after all, Blackwater for all the efforts to dress it up with some semblance of respectability is in the final analysis a bunch of mercenaries headed up by a Christianist fanatic in the person of Erik Prince. One needs to only briefly read the websites of Christianist organizations that Prince's father helped found and/or fund and it is quickly apparent that Muslims rank somewhere less than fully human, as do brown skinned Hispanics, Blacks and, of course, gays. Sadly, this mentality has become mainstream in today's GOP. These Virginian Pilot story highlights illuminate the mess (http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=136887&ran=105944&tref=po):

Federal agents investigating the Sept. 16 episode in which Blackwater security personnel shot and killed 17 Iraqi civilians have found that at least 14 of the shootings were unjustified and violated deadly force rules in effect for security contractors in Iraq, according to civilian and military officials briefed on the case. The FBI investigation into the fatal shootings in Baghdad is still under way, but the findings, which indicate that the Moyock, N.C.-based company's employees recklessly used lethal force, are already under review by the Justice Department.

Investigators found no evidence to support assertions by Blackwater employees that they were fired upon by Iraqi civilians. This finding sharply contradicts initial assertions by Blackwater officials, who said that company employees fired in self-defense and that three company vehicles were damaged by gunfire.

These guys think they are back fighting the Crusades and exterminating the infidel - as does the delusional Chimperator - so why is there any surprise?

Blackwater's Owner Has Spies for Hire

Oh goody! If hired mercenaries were not enough, Blackwater is expanding it service to include spies for hire. According to the Washington Post, The Prince Group, the holding company that owns Blackwater Worldwide, has been building an operation that will sniff out intelligence about natural disasters, business-friendly governments, overseas regulations and global political developments for clients in industry and government. So are the Chimperator and Emperor Palpatine Cheney using them here in the U.S. to spy on would be terrorists (i.e. anyone the Chimperator doesn't like or deems to be a threat in his never-never land of warped reality)? It truly would not surprise me. And I wonder how many bloggers are on Chimpy's enemies list.Here are story highlights (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/02/AR2007110202165.html?hpid=topnews):

The operation, Total Intelligence Solutions, has assembled a roster of former spooks -- high-ranking figures from agencies such as the CIA and defense intelligence -- that mirrors the slate of former military officials who run Blackwater. Its chairman is Cofer Black, the former head of counterterrorism at CIA known for his leading role in many of the agency's more controversial programs, including the rendition and interrogation of al-Qaeda suspects and the detention of some of them in secret prisons overseas.

They have the skills and background to do anything anyone wants," said RJ Hillhouse, who writes a national security blog called The Spy Who Billed Me. "There's no oversight. They're an independent company offering freelance espionage services. They're rent-a-spies." Black and Richer spend much of their time traveling. They won't say where. It's a CIA thing. Black called at midnight recently to talk about Total Intel from "somewhere in the Middle East."

Pakistan perhaps??

Blackwater's SOS

While Blackwater's Erik Prince tries to downplay the mess his private army of mercenaries has created with their shoot first and ask questions later mentality, it is interesting that behind the scene - or not as behind the scenes as Blackwwater might have thought - efforts were under way to attempt to rally political support for the beleaguered "security contractor" as evidenced by highlights from this piece on Slate Magazine (http://www.slate.com/id/2176727/entry/0/):

Blackwater Worldwide has snagged lucrative State Department contracts to guard diplomats in Iraq. Its chairman, Erik Prince, enjoys stellar political connections. Its high-priced attorneys can whisk wrongful death claims from open court into arbitration behind closed doors. Even so, the private security firm has lately been experiencing a few difficulties.

In response to this sudden surge of ill fortune, Blackwater sent an e-mail (above) to employees, alumni, suppliers, political allies, and fellow security contractors soliciting supportive "letters, e-mails and calls to your elected Congressional representatives." The direct-mail plea helpfully offers talking points for recipients who (understandably) can't imagine what to say in Blackwater's defense.

Dad: Blackwater blew up son's and wife's 'skulls'

I know that some may think I am harping too much on the issue of Blackwater USA. However, the more information that comes out, the more distressing the facts appear. Personally, the impression I get is that Blackwater and its personnel feel they can kill Iraqis indiscriminately and who cares. They certainly do not. Their mindset is almost reminiscent of that of the Nazis towards Jews. They act as if they are subhuman and their deaths just do not matter. Yet these Iraqis are human beings and as in this case, appear to have been total innocents who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. What has America become when those apparently acting in the country's name appear to be lawless thugs? Here are some highlights from a new CNN story (http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/10/16/dad.blackwater/index.html)- two victims are pictured at left:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Haythem could only recognize his oldest boy from his tall and slim physique as well as what was left of his shoes. His son's head had been blown away, his body charred beyond recognition. His wife of more than 20 years was torn apart.

"Only part of her neck and jaw remained," Haythem told CNN. The rest of her was covered by a body bag. Choking back tears, he said, "Killing them was not enough, blowing up their skulls, they burned them and disfigured them." Haythem's wife, Mahassen, and his 20-year-old son, Ahmed, were among the 17 Iraqi civilians killed and 27 others wounded in a hail of gunfire September 16 in Baghdad. Guards working for private security firm Blackwater USA are accused of opening fire on the Iraqis. The Iraqi government has said the Blackwater guards shot without provocation -- something the U.S.-based contractor has denied, saying the guards were in a firefight with gunmen.

An Iraqi government report has accused Blackwater of "premeditated murder," saying the company's guards randomly fired at civilians. An Iraqi panel investigating the shootings has asked Blackwater to pay the families of each of the victims $8 million in compensation. "Money will not compensate us for what we have lost, even if it were piles of it," Haythem said. "No one can put a price on the lives of those killed." Haythem, 46, a doctor who specializes in blood diseases, spoke from his temporary home in an upscale Baghdad neighborhood where he is living with his mother and two remaining children -- daughter Maryam, 18, and son Haidar, 17.

All Haythem and the family know about the final moments of their loved ones is what two Iraqi police officers who witnessed the shootings have told them -- that Ahmed was shot as he was driving his car in Nusoor Square and his mother clutched him tight as he was bleeding. "Those who witnessed the incident say that my son's head was scattered and my wife held him and hugged him," Haythem said. "She was screaming, 'My son, my son! Help me! Help me!' " The car slowly rolled forward until Blackwater guards unleashed more shots that turned the vehicle into a fireball, according to the witnesses. "They understood the call for help. They sprayed her with bullets," he said.

Haythem's wife also was a doctor and his son was attending medical school with hopes of becoming a surgeon. "They destroyed my family and they killed my beloved wife, my better half," Haythem said calmly. "They deprived me of my eldest son who I have raised into a strong, young man. They deprived him of fulfilling his dream to be a doctor and a surgeon. They planted pain and misery in the hearts of my two younger kids."

Am I ashamed to be an American because of such conduct? Most certainly. As the father of a son not too much older than Ahmed Haythem was, I can well understand his father's nightmare. Meanwhile, Blackwater head, Erik Prince makes his large donations to the GOP and, what are in my view, Christianist hate organizations that his wealthy father helped found. Something is dreadfully wrong with this picture.