WAR IS CRIME
A report by Jeremy Scahill in
The Nation (“Blackwater’s
Black Ops,” 9/15/2010) revealed that the largest mercenary army in the
world, Blackwater (now called Xe Services) clandestine intelligence
services was sold to the multinational Monsanto. Blackwater was renamed
in 2009 after becoming famous in the world with numerous reports of
abuses in Iraq, including massacres of civilians. It remains the largest
private contractor of the U.S. Department of State “security services,”
that practices state terrorism by giving the government the opportunity
to deny it.
Many military and former CIA officers work for Blackwater or related
companies created to divert attention from their bad reputation and make
more profit selling their nefarious services-ranging from information
and intelligence to infiltration, political lobbying and paramilitary
training – for other governments, banks and multinational corporations.
According to Scahill, business with multinationals, like Monsanto,
Chevron, and financial giants such as Barclays and Deutsche Bank, are
channeled through two companies owned by Erik Prince, owner of
Blackwater: Total Intelligence Solutions and Terrorism Research Center.
These officers and directors share Blackwater.
One of them, Cofer Black, known for his brutality as one of the
directors of the CIA, was the one who made contact with Monsanto in 2008
as director of Total Intelligence, entering into the contract with the
company to spy on and infiltrate organizations of animal rights
activists, anti-GM and other dirty activities of the biotech giant.
Contacted by Scahill, the Monsanto executive Kevin Wilson declined to comment, but later confirmed to
The Nation
that they had hired Total Intelligence in 2008 and 2009, according to
Monsanto only to keep track of “public disclosure” of its opponents. He
also said that Total Intelligence was a
“totally separate entity from Blackwater.”
However, Scahill has copies of emails from Cofer Black after the
meeting with Wilson for Monsanto, where he explains to other former CIA
agents, using their Blackwater e-mails, that the discussion with Wilson
was that Total Intelligence had become
“Monsanto’s intelligence arm,” spying on activists and other actions, including
“our people to legally integrate these groups.” Total Intelligence Monsanto paid $127,000 in 2008 and $105,000 in 2009.
No wonder that a company engaged in the “science of death” as
Monsanto, which has been dedicated from the outset to produce toxic
poisons spilling from Agent Orange to PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls),
pesticides, hormones and genetically modified seeds, is associated with
another company of thugs.
Almost simultaneously with the publication of this article in
The Nation, the
Via Campesina
reported the purchase of 500,000 shares of Monsanto, for more than $23
million by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which with this action
completed the outing of the mask of “philanthropy.” Another association
that is not surprising.
It is a marriage between the two most brutal monopolies in the
history of industrialism: Bill Gates controls more than 90 percent of
the market share of proprietary computing and Monsanto about 90 percent
of the global transgenic seed market and most global commercial seed.
There does not exist in any other industrial sector monopolies so vast,
whose very existence is a negation of the vaunted principle of “market
competition” of capitalism. Both Gates and Monsanto are very aggressive
in defending their ill-gotten monopolies.
Although Bill Gates might try to say that the Foundation is not
linked to his business, all it proves is the opposite: most of their
donations end up favoring the commercial investments of the tycoon, not
really “donating” anything, but instead of paying taxes to the state
coffers, he invests his profits in where it is favorable to him
economically, including propaganda from their supposed good intentions.
On the contrary, their “donations” finance projects as destructive as
geoengineering or replacement of natural community medicines for
high-tech patented medicines in the poorest areas of the world.
What a coincidence, former Secretary of Health Julio Frenk and Ernesto Zedillo are advisers of the Foundation.
Like Monsanto, Gates is also engaged in trying to destroy rural
farming worldwide, mainly through the “Alliance for a Green Revolution
in Africa” (AGRA). It works as a Trojan horse to deprive poor African
farmers of their traditional seeds, replacing them with the seeds of
their companies first, finally by genetically modified (GM). To this
end, the Foundation hired Robert Horsch in 2006, the director of
Monsanto. Now Gates, airing major profits, went straight to the source.
Blackwater, Monsanto and Gates are three sides of the same figure:
the war machine on the planet and most people who inhabit it, are
peasants, indigenous communities, people who want to share information
and knowledge or any other who does not want to be in the aegis of
profit and the destructiveness of capitalism.
Blackwater's Black Ops
Internal documents reveal the firm's clandestine work for multinationals and governments.
Over the past several years, entities
closely linked to the private security firm Blackwater have provided
intelligence, training and security services to US and foreign
governments as well as several multinational corporations, including
Monsanto, Chevron, the Walt Disney Company, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines
and banking giants Deutsche Bank and Barclays, according to documents
obtained by
The Nation. Blackwater's work for corporations and
government agencies was contracted using two companies owned by
Blackwater's owner and founder, Erik Prince: Total Intelligence
Solutions and the Terrorism Research Center (TRC). Prince is listed as
the chairman of both companies in internal company documents, which show
how the web of companies functions as a highly coordinated operation.
Officials from Total Intelligence, TRC and Blackwater (which now calls
itself Xe Services) did not respond to numerous requests for comment for
this article.
One of the most incendiary details in the documents is that
Blackwater, through Total Intelligence, sought to become the "intel arm"
of Monsanto, offering to provide operatives to infiltrate activist
groups organizing against the multinational biotech firm.
Governmental recipients of intelligence services and counterterrorism
training from Prince's companies include the Kingdom of Jordan, the
Canadian military and the Netherlands police, as well as several US
military bases, including Fort Bragg, home of the elite Joint Special
Operations Command (JSOC), and Fort Huachuca, where military
interrogators are trained, according to the documents. In addition,
Blackwater worked through the companies for the Defense Intelligence
Agency, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and the US European Command.
On September 3 the
New York Times reported that Blackwater
had "created a web of more than 30 shell companies or subsidiaries in
part to obtain millions of dollars in American government contracts
after the security company came under intense criticism for reckless
conduct in Iraq." The documents obtained by
The Nation reveal
previously unreported details of several such companies and open a rare
window into the sensitive intelligence and security operations
Blackwater performs for a range of powerful corporations and government
agencies. The new evidence also sheds light on the key roles of several
former top CIA officials who went on to work for Blackwater.
The coordinator of Blackwater's covert CIA business, former CIA
paramilitary officer Enrique "Ric" Prado, set up a global network of
foreign operatives, offering their "deniability" as a "big plus" for
potential Blackwater customers, according to company documents. The CIA
has long used proxy forces to carry out extralegal actions or to shield
US government involvement in unsavory operations from scrutiny. In some
cases, these "deniable" foreign forces don't even know who they are
working for. Prado and Prince built up a network of such foreigners
while Blackwater was at the center of the CIA's assassination program,
beginning in 2004. They trained special missions units at one of
Prince's properties in Virginia with the intent of hunting terrorism
suspects globally, often working with foreign operatives. A former
senior CIA official said the benefit of using Blackwater's foreign
operatives in CIA operations was that "you wouldn't want to have
American fingerprints on it."
While the network was originally established for use in CIA
operations, documents show that Prado viewed it as potentially valuable
to other government agencies. In an e-mail in October 2007 with the
subject line "
Possible Opportunity in DEA—Read and Delete,"
Prado wrote to a Total Intelligence executive with a pitch for the Drug
Enforcement Administration. That executive was an eighteen-year DEA
veteran with extensive government connections who had recently joined
the firm. Prado explained that Blackwater had developed "a rapidly
growing, worldwide network of folks that can do everything from
surveillance to ground truth to disruption operations." He added, "These
are all foreign nationals (except for a few cases where US persons are
the conduit but no longer 'play' on the street), so deniability is built
in and should be a big plus."
The executive wrote back and suggested there "may be an interest" in
those services. The executive suggested that "one of the best places to
start may be the Special Operations Division, (SOD) which is located in
Chantilly, VA," telling Prado the name of the special agent in charge.
The SOD is a secretive joint command within the Justice Department, run
by the DEA. It serves as the command-and-control center for some of the
most sensitive counternarcotics and law enforcement operations conducted
by federal forces. The executive also told Prado that US attachés in
Mexico; Bogotá, Colombia; and Bangkok, Thailand, would potentially be
interested in Prado's network. Whether this network was activated, and
for what customers, cannot be confirmed. A former Blackwater employee
who worked on the company's CIA program declined to comment on Prado's
work for the company, citing its classified status.
In November 2007 officials from Prince's companies developed a
pricing structure for security and intelligence services for private
companies and wealthy individuals. One official wrote that Prado had the
capacity to "develop infrastructures" and "conduct ground-truth and
security activities." According to the pricing chart, potential
customers could hire Prado and other Blackwater officials to operate in
the United States and globally: in Latin America, North Africa,
francophone countries, the Middle East, Europe, China, Russia, Japan,
and Central and Southeast Asia. A four-man team headed by Prado for
countersurveillance in the United States cost $33,600 weekly, while
"safehouses" could be established for $250,000, plus operational costs.
Identical services were offered globally. For $5,000 a day, clients
could hire Prado or former senior CIA officials Cofer Black and Robert
Richer for "representation" to national "decision-makers." Before
joining Blackwater, Black, a twenty-eight-year CIA veteran, ran the
agency's counterterrorism center, while Richer was the agency's deputy
director of operations. (Neither Black nor Richer currently works for
the company.)
As Blackwater became embroiled in controversy following the Nisour
Square massacre, Prado set up his own company, Constellation Consulting
Group (CCG), apparently taking some of Blackwater's covert CIA work with
him, though he maintained close ties to his former employer. In an
e-mail to a Total Intelligence executive in February 2008, Prado wrote
that he "recently had major success in developing capabilities in Mali
[Africa] that are of extreme interest to our major sponsor and which
will soon launch a substantial effort via my small shop." He requested
Total Intelligence's help in analyzing the "North Mali/Niger terrorist
problem."
In October 2009 Blackwater executives faced a crisis when they could
not account for their government-issued Secure Telephone Unit, which is
used by the CIA, the National Security Agency and other military and
intelligence services for secure communications. A flurry of e-mails
were sent around as personnel from various Blackwater entities tried to
locate the device. One former Blackwater official wrote that because he
had left the company it was "not really my problem," while another
declared, "I have no 'dog in this fight.'" Eventually, Prado stepped in,
e-mailing the Blackwater officials to "pass my number" to the "OGA
POC," meaning the Other Government Agency (parlance for CIA) Point of
Contact.
What relationship Prado's CCG has with the CIA is not known. An early
version of his company's website boasted that "CCG professionals have
already conducted operations on five continents, and have proven their
ability to meet the most demanding client needs" and that the company
has the "ability to manage highly-classified contracts." CCG, the site
said, "is uniquely positioned to deliver services that no other company
can, and can deliver results in the most remote areas with little or no
outside support." Among the services advertised were "Intelligence and
Counter-Intelligence (human and electronic), Unconventional Military
Operations, Counterdrug Operations, Aviation Services, Competitive
Intelligence, Denied Area Access...and Paramilitary Training."
The Nation has previously reported on
Blackwater's work for the CIA and JSOC in Pakistan. New documents reveal
a history of activity relating to Pakistan by Blackwater. Former
Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto worked with the company when she
returned to Pakistan to campaign for the 2008 elections, according to
the documents. In October 2007, when media reports emerged that Bhutto
had hired "American security," senior Blackwater official Robert Richer
wrote to company executives, "We need to watch this carefully from a
number of angles. If our name surfaces, the Pakistani press reaction
will be very important. How that plays through the Muslim world will
also need tracking." Richer wrote that "we should be prepared to [
sic]
a communique from an affiliate of Al-Qaida if our name surfaces (BW).
That will impact the security profile." Clearly a word is missing in the
e-mail or there is a typo that leaves unclear what Richer meant when he
mentioned the Al Qaeda communiqué. Bhutto was assassinated two months
later. Blackwater officials subsequently scheduled a meeting with her
family representatives in Washington, in January 2008.
Through Total Intelligence and the Terrorism Research Center,
Blackwater also did business with a range of multinational corporations.
According to internal Total Intelligence communications, biotech giant
Monsanto—the world's largest supplier of genetically modified
seeds—hired the firm in 2008–09. The relationship between the two
companies appears to have been solidified in January 2008 when Total
Intelligence chair Cofer Black traveled to Zurich to meet with Kevin
Wilson, Monsanto's security manager for global issues.
After the meeting in Zurich, Black sent an e-mail to other Blackwater
executives, including to Prince and Prado at their Blackwater e-mail
addresses. Black wrote that Wilson "understands that we can span
collection from internet, to reach out, to boots on the ground on legit
basis protecting the Monsanto [brand] name.... Ahead of the curve info
and insight/heads up is what he is looking for." Black added that Total
Intelligence "would develop into acting as intel arm of Monsanto." Black
also noted that Monsanto was concerned about animal rights activists
and that they discussed how Blackwater "could have our person(s)
actually join [activist] group(s) legally." Black wrote that initial
payments to Total Intelligence would be paid out of Monsanto's "generous
protection budget" but would eventually become a line item in the
company's annual budget. He estimated the potential payments to Total
Intelligence at between $100,000 and $500,000. According to documents,
Monsanto paid Total Intelligence $127,000 in 2008 and $105,000 in 2009.
Reached by telephone and asked about the meeting with Black in
Zurich, Monsanto's Wilson initially said, "I'm not going to discuss it
with you." In a subsequent e-mail to
The Nation, Wilson
confirmed he met Black in Zurich and that Monsanto hired Total
Intelligence in 2008 and worked with the company until early 2010. He
denied that he and Black discussed infiltrating animal rights groups,
stating "there was no such discussion." He claimed that Total
Intelligence only provided Monsanto "with reports about the activities
of groups or individuals that could pose a risk to company personnel or
operations around the world which were developed by monitoring local
media reports and other publicly available information. The subject
matter ranged from information regarding terrorist incidents in Asia or
kidnappings in Central America to scanning the content of activist blogs
and websites." Wilson asserted that Black told him Total Intelligence
was "a completely separate entity from Blackwater."
Monsanto was hardly the only powerful corporation to enlist the
services of Blackwater's constellation of companies. The Walt Disney
Company hired Total Intelligence and TRC to do a "threat assessment" for
potential film shoot locations in Morocco, with former CIA officials
Black and Richer reaching out to their former Moroccan intel
counterparts for information. The job provided a "good chance to impress
Disney," one company executive wrote. How impressed Disney was is not
clear; in 2009 the company paid Total Intelligence just $24,000.
Total Intelligence and TRC also provided intelligence assessments on
China to Deutsche Bank. "The Chinese technical counterintelligence
threat is one of the highest in the world," a TRC analyst wrote, adding,
"Many four and five star hotel rooms and restaurants are live-monitored
with both audio and video" by Chinese intelligence. He also said that
computers, PDAs and other electronic devices left unattended in hotel
rooms could be cloned. Cellphones using the Chinese networks, the
analyst wrote, could have their microphones remotely activated, meaning
they could operate as permanent listening devices. He concluded that
Deutsche Bank reps should "bring no electronic equipment into China."
Warning of the use of female Chinese agents, the analyst wrote, "If you
don't have women coming onto you all the time at home, then you should
be suspicious if they start coming onto you when you arrive in China."
For these and other services, the bank paid Total Intelligence $70,000
in 2009.
TRC also did background checks on Libyan and Saudi businessmen for
British banking giant Barclays. In February 2008 a TRC executive
e-mailed Prado and Richer revealing that Barclays asked TRC and Total
Intelligence for background research on the top executives from the
Saudi Binladin Group (SBG) and their potential "associations/connections
with the Royal family and connections with Osama bin Ladin." In his
report, Richer wrote that SBG's chair, Bakr Mohammed bin Laden, "is well
and favorably known to both arab and western intelligence service[s]"
for cooperating in the hunt for Osama bin Laden. Another SBG executive,
Sheikh Saleh bin Laden, is described by Richer as "a very savvy
businessman" who is "committed to operating with full transparency to
Saudi's security services" and is considered "the most vehement within
the extended BL family in terms of criticizing UBL's actions and
beliefs."
In August Blackwater and the State Department reached a $42 million
settlement for hundreds of violations of US export control regulations.
Among the violations cited was the unauthorized export of technical data
to the Canadian military. Meanwhile, Blackwater's dealings with
Jordanian officials are the subject of a federal criminal prosecution of
five former top Blackwater executives. The Jordanian government paid
Total Intelligence more than $1.6 million in 2009.
Some of the training Blackwater provided to Canadian military forces
was in Blackwater/TRC's "Mirror Image" course, where trainees live as a
mock Al Qaeda cell in an effort to understand the mindset and culture of
insurgents. Company literature describes it as "a classroom and field
training program designed to simulate terrorist recruitment, training,
techniques and operational tactics." Documents show that in March 2009
Blackwater/TRC spent $6,500 purchasing local tribal clothing in
Afghanistan as well as assorted "propaganda materials—posters, Pakistan
Urdu maps, etc." for Mirror Image, and another $9,500 on similar
materials this past January in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
According to internal documents, in 2009 alone the Canadian military
paid Blackwater more than $1.6 million through TRC. A Canadian military
official praised the program in a letter to the center, saying it
provided "unique and valid cultural awareness and mission specific
deployment training for our soldiers in Afghanistan," adding that it was
"a very effective and operationally current training program that is
beneficial to our mission."
This past summer Erik Prince put Blackwater up for sale and moved to
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. But he doesn't seem to be leaving the
shadowy world of security and intelligence. He says he moved to Abu
Dhabi because of its "great proximity to potential opportunities across
the entire Middle East, and great logistics," adding that it has "a
friendly business climate, low to no taxes, free trade and no out of
control trial lawyers or labor unions. It's pro-business and
opportunity." It also has no extradition treaty with the United States.
