Blackwater Founder Sued over Iraqi Deaths

FromMedia Mouse



Yesterday, the Center for Constitutional Rights announced that it is suing Blackwater on behalf of an injured survivor and the estates of three men killed in a September 16 incident in which Blackwater killed 16 Iraqis and wounded 23. The suit names several entities--including Blackwater founder and West Michigan native Erik Prince--as defendants in the case. The lawsuit claims that Blackwater and its affiliated companies violated United States law and "created and fostered a culture of lawlessness amongst its employees, encouraging them to act in the company's financial interests at the expense of innocent human life." The lawsuit further alleges that Blackwater violated the federal Alien Tort Statue in committing extrajudicial killing and war crimes, and that Blackwater should be liable for claims of assault and battery, wrongful death, intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress, and negligent hiring, training and supervision.
The case, if it goes through, will likely reveal unknown information about Blackwater USA. The Center for Constitutional Rights legal complaint in the case repeatedly asserts that "reasonable discovery" is likely to reveal more information about the corporate structure of Blackwater, killings by the company, and its employment of foreign mercenaries. Moreove, the complaint alleges that Blackwater founder Erik Prince formed a variety of different Blackwater corporate entities--including Prince Group LLC--"to shield Erik Prince from any legal and financial consequences for his reckless indifference to the laws of this and other nations."

(I finally picked up Jeremy Scahill's book on Blackwater at my local bookstore.)