UAE Mercenaries Fighting in Yemen - Western Advisers

ꕤ Article SOURCE http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/mercenaries-charge-uae-forces-fighting-yemen-764309832 Middle East Eye British news website 'independently funded' David Hearst, editor (formerly at The Guardian) wholly owned by MEE Ltd sole director: Jamal Bassasso fmr director at Qatari-funded al-Jazeera MIDDLE EAST EYE Revealed: The mercenaries commanding UAE forces in Yemen The UAE has brought in experienced foreign military officers to command an elite force reporting to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Rori Donaghy Wednesday 23 December 2015 09:30 UTC Last update: Saturday 26 December 2015 12:25 UTC An Australian citizen is the commander of an elite UAE military force deployed in Yemen as part of the Saudi-led coalition, which human rights groups accuse of war crimes. Mike Hindmarsh, 59, is a former senior Australian army officer who is publicly listed as commander of the UAE’s Presidential Guard. The Presidential Guard is a unit of marines, reconnaissance, aviation, special forces and mechanised brigades, according to the US State Department website. Hindmarsh oversaw the guard’s formation in early 2010 shortly after he took up his estimated $500,000-a-year, tax-free job in Abu Dhabi, where he reports directly to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan. The Presidential Guard has been lauded for playing a key role in the Saudi-led coalition seeking to reinstall the exiled Yemeni government of President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi. The coalition was formed in March to push back the rebel Houthi movement, which Arab Gulf states view as being backed by regional rival Iran. Presidential Guard troops have been in Yemen since 4 May, and were reported to have played a key role in the recapturing of port city Aden by local Hadi-allied forces on 17 July. Human rights groups including Amnesty International have called for a suspension of arms exports to members of the Saudi-led coalition after reporting what they described as “damning evidence” of war crimes in Yemen. There is no evidence to suggest that Hindmarsh is responsible for the alleged war crimes claimed by rights groups. At least 5,700 people – about half of them civilians – have been killed since the coalition launched its campaign. Yemen was already suffering a serious humanitarian crisis before the coalition's entry into the war; however, the country’s situation has since grown increasingly grave, with more than 80 percent of the population of 24.5 million needing humanitarian assistance. The Australian connection While the Arab coalition fighting in Yemen is widely described as being led by Saudi Arabia, one Gulf official told Middle East Eye on condition of anonymity that the external ground forces were in reality being steered by the UAE. More than 10,000 coalition troops have been sent to Yemen and, while no official numbers have been released, it is believed that at least 1,500 Emirati troops are taking part in ground operations. The best trained and equipped coalition troops are likely to be those from the UAE Presidential Guard, which was the only Arab force to undertake full military operations in Afghanistan, where they fought alongside American soldiers. A defence website has estimated that there are around 5,000 soldiers in the Presidential Guard. It was announced in 2014 that the UAE was to pay the US Marines $150mn to train the guards. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed was reported to have ordered the force to be instilled with a “warrior ethos”. Overseeing the development of this elite force has been Hindmarsh, who had a distinguished career in the Australian army before moving to Abu Dhabi. Hindmarsh served in his home country’s military between 1976 and 2009, during which time he received 11 awards and took part in tours that included deployments to the Middle East. Mike Hindmarsh (UAE Armed Forces) After first heading up the Australian SAS between January 1997 and January 1999, he moved on to command Australian Special Forces between October 2004 and January 2008, before leading Australian forces in the Middle East from March 2008 until January 2009. Hindmarsh was based in Baghdad and oversaw the moving of Australia’s regional base to the UAE after their withdrawal from Iraq. Local media reported that during this time Hindmarsh had “dealings at the highest security levels with senior officials and the UAE military”. Since then Australian troops have been based at the Minhad Air base, and earlier this year then Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced that 600 Australian troops would be sent to the UAE as part of the wider fight against the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq. After moving back to Australia from the Middle East, Hindmarsh took up a new role in March 2009 heading up the Army Training Command at Victoria Barracks in Sydney for a salary of $230,000 a year. However, in October 2009 it was announced that the Australian government had approved Hindmarsh retirement from the army to take up a new role commanding the UAE Presidential Guard. Military expert Michael Knights said Hindmarsh's role in the guard, reported on Twitter, was a “smart” move by the UAE. “All GCC (Gulf) states should be doing this. Don’t just buy the best equipment, buy talent too,” he wrote, referring to the Gulf state's huge investment in military hardware. It would appear that the UAE has followed the principle of bringing in experience to develop the Presidential Guard, as a quick search through LinkedIn throws up numerous results of experienced soldiers - mainly from Australia - who occupy senior roles in the elite force. Among those working in Abu Dhabi is Peter Butson, a former Australian soldier and intelligence corps officer who since February 2014 has been an adviser to the Presidential Guard. Scott Corrigan, a former special operations commander in the Australian army, has been a specialist adviser to the Presidential Guard since January 2013. Kevin Dolan is an evaluator for the guard and was previously a warrant officer in both the Australian and British armies. Steve Nichols is another former senior commander in the Australian army who is now in his fifth year as a senior adviser to the guards. It is not known how many Australians work for the UAE army; however, local media reported at the time of Hindmarsh's appointment that there were "dozens" working in "leadership, training and mentoring roles". While Australians appear to dominate the foreign contingent of commanders in the Presidential Guard, there are other nationalities who are advising and training the force. Dizzy Dawson, a former manager at the UK’s Ministry of Defence and an ex-Royal Marine officer, is a senior security adviser to the guard; and American Robert B Cross Sr headed up the UAE Presidential Guard Institute as part of the US Marine Corps training programme. Responding to critical comments about the UAE employing mercenaries, military expert Knights tweeted: “It is the same business whether for your original state or a new one. A good general can end a war faster, save lives.” Knights added that employing foreign mercenaries “was a fairly traditional part of conflict before the age of nationalism”. Mike Hindmarsh speaks to a room of Emiratis (UAE Armed Forces) Mercenaries killed in Yemen Some mercenaries have been killed in Yemen. The Houthi-run Saba News reported on 8 December that six Colombians and their Australian commander were killed in fighting around the flashpoint southeast province of Taiz. Saba News updated their report on 9 December to say 14 foreign mercenaries had been killed – including two Britons and one French citizen on top of the Australian and Colombians – although this claim is unconfirmed. Colombian mercenaries were first reported to have been fighting in Yemen in October, when about 100 former Colombian soldiers were said to have joined coalition troops, with about 800 in total planned to be sent in to back up pro-Hadi forces. The Colombians are believed to have been recruited to fight in Yemen by the UAE. The New York Times reported in 2011 that experienced Colombian troops had been offered high salaries to join a secretive UAE force established in response to the Arab Spring uprisings. It is not known if the Colombians fighting in Yemen are linked to the Presidential Guard; however, both the secretive force established in 2011 and the guard report directly to Mohammed bin Zayed. Many reports have referred to the Colombians as being employees of Blackwater – a controversial American military company whose guards killed 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad in 2007. However, as former Guardian Middle East editor Brian Whitaker has written, the contractor who set up the UAE force is a company called Reflex Responses. Reflex Responses, which is also known as R2, has denied that Erik Prince, the former Blackwater chief, is behind their company. Presidential Guard recruitment While the Colombian and Australian mercenaries remain largely behind the scenes, the UAE Presidential Guard is far from secretive, at least in its recruitment strategies. The guard has been promoted as a symbol of national strength, rooted in pride at how strong the UAE has become since its establishment in 1971. The UAE has engaged in military action across the region, including in the Saudi-led coalition and the US-led coalition fighting against the Islamic State (IS) group in Iraq and Syria. Abu Dhabi has independently launched air strikes in Libya – to the surprise of American officials – and been described as a “potent ally” for the US. This developing sense of military strength is on full display in a 2011 promotional video for the Presidential Guard. Men in military fatigues singing nationalistic songs are interspersed with images of the country’s rulers and shots of the UAE’s military hardware. A recruitment presentation posted online in October 2013 said the guard is at the “heart of the nation”. The presentation said recruitment should be targeted at men and women between the ages of 16 and 29 who are at a “crossroads” in their lives. The guard has a Facebook page and Twitter account. Recruitment has been publicly advertised, projecting Emirati members as proud citizens protecting their country. The Presidential Guard has not only sought to expand its numbers but its members experience has also been used to train young men completing their national service. Mandatory national service was introduced by the UAE in June 2014. All men aged between 18 and 30 who completed secondary education must serve nine months, while those who did not must serve for two years. National service is voluntary for women, and those who sign up are trained for nine months. A way of completing national service is to train with the Presidential Guard, according to the LinkedIn profile of one Emirati. Some national service conscripts have been sent to fight in Yemen. However, this was stopped in September after 45 Emirati troops were killed in a Houthi attack. Emirati families told MEE in August that they were shocked their sons had been sent to Yemen, as they had no conflict experience. At the time, military expert Knights said the rationale behind sending national service conscripts to Yemen was likely to bring untrained troops experience as part of a nation-building exercise. There is no official death toll of the number of UAE troops killed in Yemen. 'Ally with the Muslim Brotherhood' There is no sign of the war in Yemen coming to an end. Peace talks between opposing sides ended in Switzerland at the weekend with little progress, while fighting continues on the ground. According to one Gulf official, the UAE should build more pragmatic alliances on the ground in Yemen if they want the war to end soon. The official, who spoke to MEE on condition of anonymity, said that the war could be over “in two to three weeks” if the Emiratis agreed to ally with Islah, the Muslim Brotherhood affiliate in Yemen. “But they won’t because they have this problem with the Muslim Brotherhood,” the official said. The UAE has led a region-wide assault on the Muslim Brotherhood, including labelling the group as terrorists domestically and supporting the Egyptian army in overthrowing Egypt's first elected president Mohamed Morsi, who is a Brotherhood leader. Abu Dhabi has refused to work with Islah, and Emirati officials have blamed the Brotherhood for the failure to drive Houthi rebels out of areas including Taiz province. Emirati disdain for the Brotherhood has gone so far that Abu Dhabi is said to have aided and abetted the Houthis' takeover of Yemeni capital Sanaa in September last year, in order to undermine the role played by Islah in the country's governance, senior sources told Middle East Eye at the time. Now, 15 months later, the Emiratis are mired in a battle to push back the Houthis, but are wary of empowering their Brotherhood foe. The Gulf official said: “It is time for the UAE to prioritise the lives of Yemenis and ally with Islah. Their men are being killed by the Houthis and there is a clear way to end this.” http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/mercenaries-charge-uae-forces-fighting-yemen-764309832 SMH Australia's basing its $87m secret on sensitive absurdity Date     November 8, 2009 DON'T tell anyone, but the Federal Government is spending $87.5 million of your money on a new Middle East military base. Not that it uses the word ''base''. Instead, budget papers say that the money is being spent on ''command and control enhancements'' which will ''consolidate ADF supporting assets to one location''. Nor will it say where the base is because under a deal with the host country, Australia agrees not to reveal it. Nor does it give the location of the old bases the new one is replacing. An ADF spokesman told The Sunday Age that Defence did not say where the bases are because of security considerations and ''host national sensitivities''. The coyness has less to do with security and more to do with the ''sensitivities'' of the the Arab hosts, who don't want to advertise that they accommodate foreign troops and their hardware, including big, noisy aircraft with red kangaroos stencilled on the fuselage. The secrecy leads to a curious absurdity: details and images of most of the bases are on the internet, in the Middle East press and even on ADF websites. Australian ambassadors have openly said where they are. They are mentioned in Hansard. The Sunday Age is also a party to the subterfuge. On an ADF-escorted trip to the Middle East and Afghanistan, we undertook not to reveal ''operationally sensitive information'' - including ''the country in which ADF support bases are located outside of Iraq and Afghanistan''. Without breaching that undertaking, we can reveal - drawing on what spies call ''open sources'' and Sunday Age readers call Google - where these bases are. One of them has a big sign out the front, adorned with red kangaroos and the words ''Billabong Flats''. Drawing on the public record, we can reveal that bases have been or are being closed in Kuwait and Qatar. The new one is at Al Minhad Air Base in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. Australia's Middle East bases have mushroomed since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Now their focus is supporting the war in Afghanistan. Australian troops going to Afghanistan acclimatise in Kuwait, at a compound attached to a US base notorious for its fast food outlets on a stretch of sand and gravel known as Fat Alley. The base is alongside Kuwait's Ali Al Salem Air Base. You can find more than you need to know about the base at globalsecurity.org, including its precise location: 29°20'48"N 47°31'15"E. Liberal senator David Bushby visited the base on an ADF-escorted trip and told the Senate all about it on June 18. ''The ADF conducts a training course for all personnel arriving in the Middle East theatre at Billabong Flats, a base Australia maintains in Kuwait,'' he said. The community information page on the website of the army's 3rd Brigade also mentions the Kuwait base and its fast food outlets, including one that boasts ''the world's best cheesesteak''. About 110 soldiers at Billabong Flats form what is called the force support unit. Their presence in the emirate has been reported in newsletters issued by the Australian embassy in Kuwait. Billabong Flats is due to close at the end of the year, in a phased consolidation of Australian bases. While its Kuwait location was handy for invading Iraq, it's not convenient for Afghanistan. Moving it will slash flying time, saving fuel bills and offsetting the cost of the new base. When the force support unit moves to Dubai, it will join Defence's regional headquarters and the RAAF. The Government has not announced this but Australia's ambassador to the UAE has, in an interview with Abu Dhabi's The National newspaper last month. The paper revealed that 250 ADF personnel have been stationed at Dubai's Al Minhad Air Base since December. Air force Hercules and crews completed their move from Qatar to Dubai last Thursday, joining an Orion detachment that has been there since 2003. By the end of the year, 500 Australians will be permanently based there, the numbers boosted by hundreds more as troops transit to and from Afghanistan. The fact that the locations are widely known does not prevent media groups on ADF trips from spicing their stories with references to ''secret'' installations they can't identify ''for security reasons''. Townsville radio host Steve ''Pricey'' Price revealed in a report last month, presumably filed from Billabong Flats, that: ''I'm with another wonderful bunch of Aussies in a secret spot that James Bond, Frodo Baggins or even Lawrence of Arabia could never find.'' There's a serious side to all this, said academic Richard Tanter, director of the Nautilus Institute at RMIT, which maintains an online database on Australian forces abroad. ''Governments ought to be as transparent as possible, and secrecy should only be justified in serious cases of potential danger to persons,'' Professor Tanter said. ''The double standard imposed by the UAE Government corrodes trust in co-operation between allies. ''They are fooling no one, certainly not their own people. Forcing Australia to collude in what's a fairly destructive process is a hypocritical basis for public policy.'' http://www.smh.com.au/national/australias-basing-its-87m-secret-on-sensitive-absurdity-20091107-i2vy.html ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- COMMENT Who knew Australia was such buddies with the United Arab Emirates, and who knew Australia has a base in Iraq? It sounds like the Emirates is some kind of proxy for Western interests in the region. The Houthis don't deserve to be attacked by Columbian mercenaries (and the rest of them) in their own country, irrespective of the military expert's history lesson. Foreign powers are interfering with the Yemen's right to self-determination. Might have to come back to look at this.  Trouble taking it all in. ꕤ

Yemen - Blackwater / Academi Mercenary Personnel Killed in Saudi Assault on Yemen's Shia Houthis

ꕤ Article SOURCE http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2015/12/10/441071/Yemen-Blacwater-UAE-Saudi-Arabia-Taizz-Hadi-Sudan PressTV 15 Blackwater mercs, including commander, killed in Yemen since Tuesday Thu Dec 10, 2015 12:24AM The chief of Blackwater mercenaries in Yemen has been killed in clashes with Houthi Ansarullah fighters and allied forces in the country’s southwest, reports say. Yemen’s Arabic-language al-Masirah news website reported that the commander-in-chief of the private security firm in the country, a Mexican national, was slain in the al-Omari district of Ta'izz Province early on Wednesday. According to the report, the recent fatality has brought to 15 the number of foreign forces with the Blackwater killed in clashes in Yemen since Tuesday. Some Australian, British, and French advisors and commanders -- plus half a dozen Colombian soldiers -- were among the dead. The mercenaries are part of the UAE forces that help Saudi Arabia in its war against the impoverished country. A US security services training company, Blackwater Worldwide, which is now known as Academi, is one the most notorious private security firms in the world and is responsible for killing of scores of civilians in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Yemen. Yemen has been under military attacks by Saudi Arabia since March 26. The Saudi military strikes were launched with the aim of undermining Ansarullah and bringing fugitive former president of Yemen, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, back to power. More than 7,500 people have been killed and over 14,000 others injured since the Saudi aerial aggression began. The Saudi war has also taken a heavy toll on Yemen’s facilities and infrastructure. http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2015/12/10/441071/Yemen-Blacwater-UAE-Saudi-Arabia-Taizz-Hadi-Sudan In Summary Saudi Arabia attack on Yemen: -- aerial bombing - commenced: 26 March 2015 -- ground war also: see mercenaries, UAE -- over 7,500 dead -- 14,000 injured -- infrastructure destroyed Houthi Ansarullah (Yemen defenders) Houthi Ansarullah Ansar Allah Arabic for "Helpers/Supporters of God" = Houthis - Zaidi Shia group from Sa'dah of northern Yemen Followers of: Zayd ibn ʻAlī {great-grandson of: Husayn ibn ʻAlī} Zaydi Shi'a - est. 35-40% of Muslims in Yemen Zayd ibn Ali 695–740 great-grandson of Imam Ali -- born in Medina -- son of Imam ‘Alī ibn Husayn "Zayn al-Abidīn" -- one of wives of 4th Shia Imam -- was mother of Zayd ibn Ali -- respected & revered member of Ahl ul Bayt -- ie   Ahl ul Bayt - family of founder of religion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zayd_ibn_Ali * Follow-up required. Action: al-Omari district, Ta'izz province (Wed) -- defeat of mercenaries  of United Arab Emirates (UAE) -- Mexican-born Blackwater / Academi mercenary chief killed -- 14 others killed -- killed mercenaries incl: Australian, British, French advisers / commanders Saudi Arabia, UAE & mercenary aim: -- restore Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi as president -- Hadi fled ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- UPDATE:  130 US MERCENARIES DEAD - YEMEN COMMENT Exciting report.  Like reading about mercenaries. Houthis sound like tough opponents. Taking out mercenaries (esp. chief & commanders) seems like a big win for the Houthis -- but their infrastructure has been destroyed, thousands are injured and foreign aggressors have killed over 7,500. Houthis are paying a high price for any gains they're making. ꕤ

US, UK & NORWAY - FOREIGN AID PROPPING UP SOUTH SUDAN

End the aid: The U.S. must not subsidize war in South Sudan August 14th, 2014 at 6:05 am By the Editorial Board Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The announcement Tuesday of $180 million in food aid to South Sudan, accompanied by a strong statement of impatience from Secretary of State John Kerry, should be the final warning to warring elements there to make peace. South Sudan has already received $456 million in aid from the United States this year. Now an estimated 3.9 million of the country’s people are said to be facing famine unless more help is furnished immediately. It is in response to that appeal that the United States has responded on humanitarian grounds. The fundamental problem, however, is that South Sudan’s principal leaders, President Salva Kiir and former Vice President Riek Machar, refuse to settle their differences and create a transitional national unity government. They have promised one to all negotiators, including the African Union and the United Nations. The peacemaking effort is being led by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development, spearheaded by a troika including Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States, all major aid donors to South Sudan. The quarrel between the leaders of two of the country’s major tribal groups, the Dinka and the Nuer, preceded the independence from Sudan that was brokered by the United States and other parties in 2011. Talks have been underway in Ethiopia for six months and the two leaders were given six months to move forward. Instead, the talks have gone nowhere, their militias have continued to fight and millions of South Sudanese have been displaced, disrupting food production and creating the famine threat. The bottom line is that the United States and other donors are feeding the South Sudanese people while their leaders spend the country’s revenues, some of it from oil, fighting each other. It is hard to turn away from suffering, but America has done enough. The IGAD troika should tell the South Sudanese to settle or all aid will be cut off. http://www.borglobe.com/25.html?m7:post=end-the-aid-the-u-s-must-not-subsidize-war-in-south-sudan

What's the bet there's oil or some energy source in South Sudan.

Republic of South Sudan became the world’s newest nation and Africa’s 55th country on July 9, 2011, following a peaceful Referendum ...

South Sudan is sparsely populated with more than 200 ethnic groups and little sense of shared nationhood.

As a new nation without a history of formal institutions, rules or administration accepted as legitimate by its society, South Sudan must build its institutions from scratch.

South Sudan has vast and largely untapped natural resources and opportunities abound ...

South Sudan is the most oil dependent country in the world, with oil exports accounting for almost the totality of exports, and for around 80% of gross domestic product ...

On current reserve estimates, production is expected to reduce steadily in future years and to become negligible by 2035. Prior to the oil shutdown in January, 98% of fiscal revenue came from oil.

http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/southsudan/overview

US Exxon's pulled out from South Sudan exploration (here).

What's interesting is that Erik Prince, the Blackwater mercenaries dude, was going to build an oil refinery in the region - but he's put those plans on hold.

BLACKWATER - IRAQ - TRIAL

Re - Article from Washington Post (28 July 2014) - here.

Headline's 'Government suppressed ..." but it's hardly 'suppression' of evidence if the evidence was inadvertently excluded due to a set of oversights.  Well, either that or it's some sort of ruse or performance for the sake of the jury.

Basically, four (4) Blackwater US mercenaries are currently on trial for the deaths of '14' persons in 2007, Nisoor Square, Baghdad, Iraq.

I've not been following the trial and the entire Blackwater and Iraq thing is very new to me.

Defence is claiming that the government withheld photographs taken at the scene, which could be vital evidence in the defence of the accused.

Photographs taken at the scene -- principally, photographs of 8 shell castings that 'could fit' into an AK-47 (which is a weapon used by the insurgents and the Iraqi authorities); as well as photographs of those at the scene.

The prosecution says the absence of the photographs was inadvertent and that it arose out of a series of oversights.

The defence complains that they haven't had the opportunity to question witnesses -- who have already appeared at the trial -- in relation to the photographs.

Nobody on the US side has the shell castings.  Not the State Department.  Not FBI.

In a 2007 statement to the FBI, 'then-army captain' Peter Decareau, one of the first to arrive at the scene, stated that Iraqi army General Baja took items from the scene.

The possibility was raised that the Iraqi authorities took the shell castings.

However, WP also says:

Based on Decareau’s testimony, federal prosecutors understood that Decareau did not observe any AK-47 shell casings on the scene, Machen wrote to the defense lawyers.

I don't know how the jury's going, but I'm thoroughly confused right now.

Is there a distinction between the 'scene' and the bus stop location?  Are the bus stop shell casings part of the 'scene'.  If so, why does Decareau's testimony reflect that he did not observe any castings?

Or was there a 'did not observe' declaration because there were no shell castings -- at all?

I'm a little scattered today and finding it extremely difficult to focus on scraps of the story that don't seem to make sense to me.

As I said, I haven't been following and I don't know the ins and outs.  But from what little I've read so far, a bunch of civilians stuck in in traffic were fired upon by US mercenaries -- as well as a helicopter crew who fired from above -- and even an incendiary device was tossed into a car (or perhaps more than one car?).  Forty bullets were fired into a single white Kia at the scene.  The occupants were killed and burnt to a crisp.

Now there's a magic set of photos that were there but 'not there'.  But there's no magic shell castings -- of shells that 'might fit into' an AK-47?  State Department and FBI involvement? Blackwater mercenaries taking the fall for the government?  

The entire thing sounds like crap to me and I wouldn't believe anything presented, but I'm sure a patriotic jury will believe anything set before them.

US PAYS MERCENARY ARMIES DEPLOYED ON FOREIGN SOIL

Blackwater awarded over $1bn from State Dept. since threat on investigator's life

 RT News

Published time: July 11, 2014 17:28

The US State Department has allocated more than a billion dollars in contracts to the security firm Blackwater and its later manifestations since a top official for the company threatened a government investigator’s life in 2007.

The Huffington Post reported that the notorious security contractor Blackwater, its subsequent incarnations, and its subsidiaries have received more than $1.3 billion since the fall of 2007 for training and operations the world over.

In August 2007, State Department investigator Jean C. Richter said a Blackwater project manager, Daniel Carroll, told Richter “that he could kill me at that very moment and no one could or would do anything about it as we were in Iraq,” where the investigator was observing - and criticizing - the company’s operations. The New York Times reported the details of the threat last month.

Richter and his partner in the probe were later asked by officials at the American embassy in Baghdad to leave. The next month, Blackwater guards infamously shot and killed 17 Iraqi civilians at Nisour Square. The incident sparked outrage with American presence in Iraq among the local population. The US is currently trying to prosecute four of the five guards involved in the incident after a first failed attempt to do it in 2009.

Despite the threat to a government investigator and the Nisour Square killings, the security firm continued to receive crucial, lucrative government contracts. Since the date of the threat - August 21, 2007 - and the end of the next month, the State Department awarded Blackwater over $269 million, according to government spending records analyzed by the Huffington Post, for department services in Iraq, Afghanistan, China, and the US. Some of the more major of those awards were approved after the Nisour Square shooting, though they were associated with agreements signed prior to the incident.

Overall, the State Department has given the firm and its associated entities more than $1.3 billion since the fall of 2007. Blackwater and its subsidiaries have changed official names and management several times since 2007, partly based on efforts to distance the firm from the negative attention it received since the company’s notorious conduct in Iraq.

"In the years following the events of 2007, we reviewed our practices of managing contractors and made improvements to increase oversight and ensure that operational control remains with direct-hire State Department employees," a State Department spokesman said about Blackwater’s continued good graces with department.

"Though we must always ensure that competitive contracts remain fair and open, the safety of our personnel is the highest priority, and we always take into account the past performance and abilities of each contractor."
 
How much the company actually received and what the money was spent on is unknown, as federal government records only indicate what funds an agency like the State Department set aside for the firm.

Additionally, the State Department has revoked nearly $55 million allocated to the firm since August 2007.

More than half a billion dollars has been set aside for the firm and its associated entities since President Barack Obama took office in 2009, despite past criticism of the company from Obama’s first secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. During the 2008 presidential primary campaign against Obama, then-Senator Clinton co-sponsored a bill to ban Blackwater from Iraq.

More than $300 million of that total half billion-plus was awarded before Blackwater was sold by founder Erik Prince in 2010.

During Clinton’s time at State, the firm was tapped to train police officers across Africa, including Nigeria, Djibouti, Kenya, Senegal, and Tunisia. The company has also continued to receive contracts from the Defense Department and US intelligence agencies, according to ThinkProgress.

Since Prince sold the company, the State Department has awarded Blackwater’s current incarnation, Academi, just over $500 million, as opposed to $784 million in the three years prior to his sale of the company.

Academi spokeswoman Callie Wang declined to comment on the company’s current contracts. Since 2010, the firm has merged with security contracting rival Triple Canopy.

Experts told the Huffington Post that major firms continue to win contracts based on capability, reliability, and institutional privilege.

"Blackwater likes to point to their supposedly perfect track record in terms of guarding personnel," said Neil Gordon, of the Project on Government Oversight. "But of course there are much larger issues that have to be taken into account -- their effect on the mission and on international reputation."
 
Blackwater’s continued relationship with the US government is also based on “bureaucratic inertia,” Gordon said, to changing contractors in the midst of crucial operations.

The firm was long in an “umbrella contract” with Triple Canopy and DynCorp to protect State Department diplomats. This kind of contract helped ensure that the companies would earn continued government awards. The State Department said the company’s “qualifications” are consistently monitored as part of the contracting bid process.

"When dealing with an umbrella contract like a World Wide Protective Services (WPPS) task order that had several contractors, federal law requires that all such contractors be given a fair opportunity to compete for task orders issued under that contract," a State Department spokesman said. "The qualifications and ability of any contractor to perform on that task order will, of course, be assessed as part of the bidding process."

Source - RT News - here.
--------------------------------------
 COMMENT

What I got out of that is that the US is paying mercenary armies to do their deeds on foreign soil & there's seriously big bucks to be made by guns for hire.

One would gather that by outsourcing, the US government is dodging due:  responsibility, accountability and transparency.

The US and its mercenary forces have fingers in a lot of the African pie (no doubt commercially strategic, but research on resources in regions not done by poster).

In my opinion, the mercenary groups are a lot like the NGO groups, in that they are funded for purpose and, in this case, carrying out US government ends -- at arm's length -- while maintaining the impression of independence from the government.

Blackwater (now known as Academi ... but prior to that "Xe Services") is a division of:

Constellis Holdings along with Triple Canopy 

is owned by by a group of private investors.

Founder of Blackwater, Erik Prince, retains rights to 'Blackwater' name is said to have no affiliation with Academi.

The original aim of Blackwater, according to Prince:

Prince stated: "We are trying to do for the national security apparatus what FedEx did for the Postal Service".

What, they're in import/export & trying to break the postal union?  LOL


So what did FedEx do for the postal service, I'm wondering.

As at 2012:

... FedEx earned $1.495 billion from the Postal Service last year as the agency's number one supplier. UPS, the Postal Service's 11^th largest supplier, earned $102 million from the Postal Service, a $7 million increase from the year before.

Source:  minyanville - here.

Sounds like FedEx muscled in on the postal service along with some other pesky 'suppliers', but FedEx got the lion's share of the $$$.  LOL.

-------

[source:  wikipedia, where otherwise not stated]