It shouldn’t be too surprising that in his recent New York Times op-ed calling for an infusion of private contractors into Afghanistan, Erik Prince sidestepped any discussion of Blackwater’s history in Iraq. The company had such a poor record that Prince has changed its name numerous times in the years since: he now is the CEO of the Frontier Services Group.… continue »
Trump administration officials reportedly are considering a plan to privatize a significant portion of the U.S. war in Afghanistan. Erik Prince, founder of the notorious security firm formerly known as Blackwater, is apparently the architect of a proposal to send 5,500 new contractors and a 90-plane private air force to assist the Afghan government.… continue »
In a recent discussion of newly released memos on torture in the War on Terror, David Cole has surmised that “had anyone had the temerity to say no, the program almost certainty would have halted.” Likewise, in an excellent two-part blog (here and here) a decade after the Abu Ghraib scandal, David Luban cited Hannah Arendt’s observation that “most people will comply but some people will not,” before lauding those who never lost their moral bearings in America’s descent into systematized torture.… continue »
In the first part of this summary, we introduced the individuals in Blackwater’s Raven 23 team and set out their contrasting arguments about what took place at Nisour Square around midday on September 16, 2007. In this second part, we move from questions of evidence to issues of law.… continue »
Earlier this week, a jury in Washington D.C. convicted four Blackwater guards for a shooting at Nisour Square, Baghdad. The sniper Nicholas Slatten was convicted of premeditated murder. His three teammates, Evan Liberty, Paul Slough, Dustin Heard, were convicted of voluntary manslaughter and a weapons offence.… continue »
Opening statements in the trial of the four Blackwater members alleged to have carried out the killings in Nisour Square, Baghdad, Iraq ended in Washington D.C. this week. On Tuesday this week, the government produced an overview of the evidence it would be presenting over the next few months, and the four defense teams explained their version of events the following day.… continue »
