Altogether an estimated 20,000 non-Iraqi civilian contractors are now working for the United States inside Iraq. And so, what happened is they set out on their mission, but because they didnt have G.P.S., because they didnt have maps of the area, because they werent able to do a pre-trip inspection of the route, they didnt necessarily know where they were going, so they essentially got lost. Is he okay? And they said they didnt know. We can send our men out to die so that we can pad our bottom line, and if anybody comes back at us, we have insurance. Its essentially insurance to kill.. They were not provided with the armored vehicles or able to do the pre-trip inspection or the risk assessment. However, when youre talking about an assumption of the risk, youre talking about a calculated assumption of risk. It is unusual, though, for the head of a company to cast its lot entirely with one party, and it has paid off, because Blackwater literally is making a killing right now, to the point where Gary Jackson, the president of Blackwater, after Bush won the election in 2004, sends out an email to Blackwaters mailing list that says, Bush wins, four more years!! And I said, What do you mean you dont know? And they said, We dont know. And I said, Well, dont you know where your employees are? And they said, Not really., And I was on the phone. -Amy Goodman. Your article, Blood Is Thicker Than Blackwater, appears in The Nation magazine today, and we will link to it at democracynow.org. Helvenston v. Blackwater Security Wiki They got so lost that first day that they had to spend the night in a different camp, somewhere that they werent even intending on going. And Scotty finally went to casting, and he said, This guy is just not going to work, because he will not get in the water. So, Scotty did play a small role. Hooyah! Without the big gun, without the third man, without the armored vehicle, they were sitting ducks, says Callahan. AMY GOODMAN: Were you all in the same hotel? Company founder Erik Prince and his family have poured serious money into Republican causes and campaign coffers over the past twenty years. In Defense of Blackwater's Private Contractors - Daily Kos ' Those were some of the last words Helvenston would ever write. Domination, Sing Your Song: Remembering Harry Belafonte, Who Used His Stardom to Help. tn_author: ['jeremy-s'], KATY HELVENSTON: Yeah, and all this fresh bark that had just been laid was just flying all over the place. Justin McQuown's nickname, according to documents we've gotten and to other people who were in Kuwait and Iraq at the time, was "Shrek," after the green ogre character, and it doesn't . KATY HELVENSTON: Erik Prince told them that they would have to sue Blackwater to get that information. On January 5, 2005, the families filed the lawsuit against Blackwater in Wake County, North Carolina. units for the Middle East. But late on the evening of March 27, McQuown called Helvenston and told him that he needed to pack his things immediately, that he would be leaving at 5 am with a completely different team. AMY GOODMAN: Can you tell us what happened when you asked for an incident report for what happened to your son? It was about what happened to Scotty and Jerry and Mike and Wesley. So what this lawsuit is about, its about creating accountability for those firms, those private military firms that are working in Iraq, and its also not only about holding Blackwater accountable for these four deaths, but its also about sending a message to the other private security firms out there that they cannot cut costs to increase their bottom line and put lives at risk. Right now, its my understanding that U.S. law doesnt apply, because it did not happen in the U.S.; military law doesnt apply; and Iraqi law, well, there is no Iraqi law, and so, as things stand now, they literally can get away with murder. And they did approach the Zovkos and asked if they would meet Erik Prince in his office, and they did. And so, we have seen Blackwater really sort of embody the war profiteering in this war on terror. This was not a roadside bomb, it was not any other explosive device. As we expose Blackwater in this case, it will also expose the inefficient and corrupt system that exists over there.. Thats why the company moved swiftly to apply for benefits for the families under the Defense Base Act. I was thinking of construction when they said contractor. And a couple hours later, they said security contractors, and I said, My god, Scotty is a security contractor, but hes not in Fallujah. And to understand what all of these shortcomings that day resulted in, you have to go back to March 31, 2004, and actually Marc Miles, the lawyer, can talk about some things that happened before that, as well. JUAN GONZALEZ: Now, even in the training period at Blackwater, he began to find problems in terms of the quality of the training that was going on? Scott Helvenston, Katys son, was the youngest Navy Seal ever. AMY GOODMAN: Months later. Once the cover boy on a Navy calendar, he also had several workout videos. The lawyers for the families charge that Blackwater has continued its practice of stonewalling. Surely there are other instances like this one with wrongful conduct involved, but, of course, we havent seen one single prosecution coming out of any contractors in Iraq, and that is essentially the entire focus of the litigation here. Helvenston began training at Blackwater USA's facilities in March 2004, and developed a personal conflict with head trainer Justin "Shrek" McQuown. Helvenston et al. And he did say, Well, its nice to meet you, and then he turned around and left. Later that night, according to Scotts mother, McQuown came up to Helvenstons hotel room. The man heading the training was Justin McQuown, nicknamed Shrek, after the green ogre movie cartoon character. units, but Blackwater didnt provide them with the maps to go in the G.P.S. This is an excerpt from Frontlines program Private Warriors, a documentary on the role of private military contractors working in Iraq. KATY HELVENSTON: Well, I had been in contact with the Zovkos, primarily out of Cleveland, prior to that. We will hunt down the criminals. In the presentation, called Managing Contracting Risks in Battlefield Conditions, Capace laid out a legal strategy for deflecting the kind of lawsuit Blackwater now faces. AMY GOODMAN: Well, what was the memorial service itself like? Blackwater founder Erik Prince personally delivered money to some of the families for funeral expenses, and the company moved to get the mens wives and children benefits under the governments Defense Base Act, which in some cases insures those on contract supporting US military operations abroad. You did the piece, the investigation into this case. And if you stop and you think about it, thats the size of some small towns here in America. So the next morning they were off.. He said, Give us a map. And they said, Youre going to have to wing it.. My family wouldnt let me read any of the articles, they were so graphic. Helvenston arrived in Kuwait on March 18, where he was under the management of John and Kathy Potter, whom he knew from Combat Missions. There should be three men per team. The original contract between Blackwater/Regency and ESS, obtained by The Nation, recognized that the current threat in the Iraqi theater of operations would remain consistent and dangerous, and called for a minimum of three men in each vehicle on security missions with a minimum of two armored vehicles to support ESS movements. [Emphasis added.]. What we have right now is something worse than the wild, wild west going on in Iraq, Callahan says. They said Blackwater.. Im driven and Im not going to quit. New Yorks Working Families Party Came Back From the Brink. Stephen "Scott" Helvenston (June 21, 1965 - March 31, 2004) was a United States Navy SEAL.He was working as a security contractor for Blackwater Security when he was killed in the 31 March 2004 Fallujah ambush within days of arriving in Iraq.. Helvenston was a personal trainer for Hollywood celebrities such as Demi Moore (for G.I. Name. While it is not unheard of for a successful business to cast its lot entirely with one party, it has clearly paid off. As always, click on the title of the post above. And it goes through all the other ones. If you think Democracy Now!s reporting is a critical line of defense against war, climate catastrophe and fascism, please make your donation of $10 or more right now. They made a killing off of New Orleans. KATY HELVENSTON: I was in my home office doing research, and I was on the computer and I had CNN on. This is life and death were talking about here, and as Marc Miles says, the commodity that Blackwater deals in is human beings. It wasnt just a compilation of everything that was going on. KATY HELVENSTON: He did call me that morning from I assume it was from that base that he stopped at. Helvenston arrived in Kuwait on March 18, where he was under the management of John and Kathy Potter, whom he knew from Combat Missions. Instead of being . He was an extremely accomplished Navy Seal, was popular with other guys, and it seems very plausible that he viewed Scott Helvenston as a threat. They had breakfast, lunch, and dinner with us. In a moment she will join us along with her attorney Marc Miles who is representing the families, Marc Miles. Before Helvenston, Teague, Zovko and Batalona were ever sent into Falluja, the omission of the word armored was brought to the attention of Blackwater management by John Potter, according to the families lawyers. Our Daily Digest brings Democracy Now! hidden potential 2020 Justin's ethnicity is Caucasian, whose political affiliation is unknown; and religious views are listed as Christian. KATY HELVENSTON: Well, not just at the memorial service. VIDEO: People in Denmark Are a Lot Happier Than People in the United States. The men were working for Blackwater USA, one of the biggest security firms operating in Iraq. The suit alleges that Blackwater trainer Justin "Shrek" McQuown resented Helvenston and deliberately reassigned Helvenston to the team that was ambushed. Simply Ernest: Pity the poor mercenary - Blogger When Helvenston set off for the Middle East, his family thought he was going to be working on Blackwaters high-profile job of guarding the head of the US occupation, Paul Bremer. So Donna and I think the check was like it was quite a bit of money. [6] Tell us about your family, why he went into the military, and then what you understand about what he understood about the mission he went out on on March 31. He spent twelve years in the SEALs, four of them as an instructor, and then tried his luck with Hollywood. The lawsuit alleges that these men were defrauded, because Blackwater failed to provide them with the basic minimal guarantees of their contract, among them that they would be in armored vehicles, that they would have heavy weapons, something like a SAW Mach 46 machine gun that could fire up to 850 rounds per minute, and its very key. Suit Alleges | Technology Trends He was exceptional. Scott Helvenston - Reality TV World Potter didnt have any other gainful employment, because many of these men who are ex-military, their skills dont transfer easily into the civilian sector, he says, adding that after Potter was removed for blowing the whistle on the armor issue, the company abandoned him until they needed him to avoid this subpoena and this deposition and they said, We need you and we need you now. And zoom, off he goes. Blackwater subsequently attempted to have Potters deposition order dissolved, but a federal court said no.
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