The Blackwater Story

The Story of Blackwater USA, and how it came to be, offers a unique glimpse into the confluence of money, power and corruption in modern republican politics. It is the story of turning a successful automotive parts business into a political machine with enough clout to generate billions of dollars worth of security consulting (read: mercenary) federal contracts. It is rare that the dots can be connected so easily with so little public outrage.

In 1965 Edgar Prince founded the the Prince corporation, an auto parts company which made a fortune manufacturing lightweight vanity mirrors. Soon afterward, he established the Prince Foundation. The Prince Foundation immediately began setting up and pumping money into organizations such as the Family Research Council. The Family Research Council, which was once a part of Focus on the Family before spinning off in the nineties, has consistently fought against LGBT rights and supported programs like school vouchers and abstinence only sex-education. It has also consistently supported Republican candidates. After leaving the Reagan administration, Prince family friend Gary Bauer became President of the Family Research Council in 1988.

In 1979, Edgar Prince’s daughter Betsy married future Amway CEO Dick Devos. Devos has been a major funder of Focus on the Family, the National Day of Prayer Task Group, the Michigan-based Foundation for Traditional Values and the Heritage Foundation, among others. They have all consistently supported Republican candidates and policies. Despite spending a record $41 million on his campain, Devos was defeated in a Michigan Gubernatorial run in 2006.

In 1988, Edgar Prince’s son Erik was placed into an internship at the Prince family funded Family Research Council. He was then quickly moved into a better position as an intern in the administration of President George H.W. Bush. Later, he would criticize the administration, saying:

“I saw a lot of things I didn’t agree with — homosexual groups being invited in, the budget agreement, the Clean Air Act, those kinds of bills.”

Erik Prince then moved on to yet another conservative political internship, in the office of California Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, who said of Prince, “If he wanted to make money, he could have done a lot of things to make more money. He is an idea-driven person.” His behavior over the next few years brings this characterization into question.

Erik then spent a few years in the Navy, performing secret missions in Haiti and Bosnia as a Seal. In 1995, his father Edgar Prince died of a heart attack. Erik, now at the helm of Prince Automotive, immediately retired from the military and sold his father’s company for over $1.3 billion. He then began plans for a training facility for police and military personnel, and purchased 7,000 square acres in North Carolina to house the Blackwater corporation. Fortunately for Blackwater, the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole in Yemen provided the company with its first long-term federal contract. When Bush and his Gary Bauer backed war on terror came into power a few months later, the contracts really started rolling in.

Federal contract totals by year under the Bush Administration. — (Source)

2001: $736,906
2002: $3.4 million
2003: $25 million
2004: $352 million
2005: $593 million
2006: $1 billion

Blackwater also owns Presidential Airways, which was awarded a $34.8 billion contract to support troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2005, the company made some news when the families of several employees who died while working for Presidential Airways sued the company for not providing adequate training. Despite this, Presidential Airways was awarded a $50+ million Navy contract for providing services in Afghanistan, among other places, just last week.

What else Does Blackwater Receive for Its Loyalty?

According to Scott Horton at Harper’s, quite a bit:

The focus of Blackwater’s current business lies in a contract relationship with the United States, but perhaps sensing the limited potential of that market, Blackwater has developed a very substantial international clientele. I recently examined their relationships with two governments—Azerbaijan and Jordan. What struck me most about these relationships was how they were secured and developed. In both cases, local government officials described to me extensive marketing efforts on Blackwater’s behalf by seniormost officials of the Bush Administration, who pressured and cajoled the local officials to use Blackwater and offered substantial incentives in the process.

Other recent controversial Blackwater incidents include the following:

• Destroying evidence that could be used against them.
• Using poisonous gas in Iraq, at least 10 American troops were impacted.
• Shooting unarmed Iraqi civilians, repeatedly
• On October 24th 2007, the State Department’s Chief of Diplomatic Security, Richard Griffin, resigned without explanation.

In the fall of 2007, Congressional hearings were held to examine the relationship between the Bush administration and Blackwater USA, as well as the integrity of the company’s billing practices:

The Congressional investigation found that Blackwater charges the government $1,222 per day for each private military operative — more than six times the wage of an equivalent soldier. And still it uncovered instances of overcharging. It reported that an audit in 2005 by the State Department’s inspector general found Blackwater was charging separately for “drivers” and “security specialists” who were, in fact, the same people.

The Congressional investigations of last fall were a great start, but they did not go far enough. With the Bush administration entering its final year, Prince is now looking to Congress to protect his company from investigations and continue lining his pockets.

So, how many lobbyists will it take to save Blackwater USA?

At least three, apparently:

Womble Carlyle is the third lobbying firm to be hired by Moyock, N.C.-based Blackwater since October.

You can often tell a lot about why a company is hiring lobbyists by looking at the background of the individuals retained:

Among the Womble Carlyle lobbyists representing Blackwater are: John Mashburn, former general counsel and policy director for Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., who is the top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee; and Mark Harkins, who was chief of staff to Rep. Brad Miller, D-N.C., chairman of the Investigations and Oversight subcommittee of the House Science and Technology Committee.

Why would Blackwater need a lobbyist with close ties to the Senate Budget Committee?

The Senate Budget Committee is responsible for drafting the annual budget resolution. This plan lays out the a general blueprint for Congress with regard to general spending levels for the government as a whole. In 2005, the budget resolution suggested spending 223 times more on National Defense than on Energy. By hiring a lobbyist with close ties to the top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, Blackwater USA is assuring they have a seat at the table where such decisions are made.

Why else would Blackwater need so many lobbyists?

Frankly, they are in deep shit. With a Democrat likely to win the White House this year, there may not be many more pre-emptive wars to provide services for. On top of that, Rep. Janice Schakowsky [D-IL] has introduced a bill called the Stop Outsourcing Security Act, which would require the following:

Not later than 6 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall ensure that all personnel at any United States diplomatic or consular mission in Iraq are provided security services only by Federal Government personnel.

This would effectively put Blackwater out of the mercenary business. Don’t hold your breath though, the bill has only 13 cosponsors (no Republicans), and its counterpart in the Senate (introduced by Bernie Sanders) doesn’t have any.

WHAT'S NEXT?

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