US security firm describes allegations by New York Times as ‘baseless’
by Mark Tran
Senior executives at Blackwater Worldwide, the US security company, approved secret payments of $1m (£600,000) to buy the silence of Iraqi officials after its guards killed 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad in 2007, it was alleged today.
Blackwater, which changed its name to Xe in February, approved the cash in December 2007, the New York Times reported, following an outcry in Iraq over the killings. The paper said that Gary Jackson, who was then Blackwater’s president, approved the bribes and that the money was sent from Amman, Jordan, where the company had an office, to a top manager in Iraq.
But executives who revealed the payments to the newspaper said they did not know whether the cash was delivered to Iraqi officials or the identities of the potential recipients.
In the shooting at Nisour square in September 2007, 17 Iraqis were killed when guards protecting a convoy of US diplomats opened fire a crowded at a crowded crossing. The guards were accused of acting like trigger-happy cowboys, who shot with no fear of consequences. The killings shone a harsh light on the role of private contractors in war zones and hardened Iraqi sentiment against the company, which had already been criticised for its mistreatment of Iraqi civilians.
The attempt to bribe Iraqi government officials – which would be illegal under American law – created friction within the company, the Times reported.
Cofer Black, then the company’s vice-chairman and a former top CIA and state department official, confronted Erik Prince, the company’s chairman and founder, when he learned of the plan. Black resigned the following year.
A spokesman for Xe dismissed the allegations as “baseless”, adding that the company would not comment about former employees. Black also disputed the Times’s story, saying that he met US embassy officials to discuss the best course of action after the incident.
“Blackwater was directed to provide some financial compensation to relatives of those Iraqi victims which embassy officials described as called for by Iraqi custom,” Black said in a statement. “During these meetings with embassy officials, Blackwater sought state department leadership in dispensing any such good faith compensation from Blackwater to the victims’ relatives as Blackwater was subordinate to the state department as its security contractor. I never confronted Erik Prince or any other Blackwater official regarding any allegations of bribing Iraqi officials and was unaware of any plot or guidance for Blackwater to bribe Iraqi officials.”
A senior state department official told the New York Times that US diplomats were unaware of any payoffs to Iraqi officials.
Five Blackwater guards involved in the Nisour square shooting are scheduled to face trial on federal manslaughter charges in February in Washington. A sixth guard pleaded guilty in December. Iraqi victims are also suing the company and its founder, Prince.
The Iraqi government suspended the firm’s licence after the shooting and demanded that Blackwater be expelled from the country within six months. The Iraqi government denied Xe an operating licence in early 2009, but the company still has a presence in Iraq. In September the state department announced it had extended a contract with a Xe subsidiary to provide air support for protecting US diplomats in Iraq.
Blackwater grew rapidly from 2001 through security contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan. It also carries out classified work for the CIA that included taking part in a now defunct programme to assassinate leaders of al-Qaida and to load missiles on Predator drones. Xe earned more than $600m in revenues last year – about a third of that from its state department contract to provide security in war zones.
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