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TechnoratiBlackwater Sues Families of Slain Employees to Shut Them Up
The following article is by Daniel J. Callahn and Marc P. Miles, the lawyers representing the families of four American contractors who worked for Blackwater and were killed in Fallujah. After Blackwater refused to share information about why they were killed, the families were told they would have to sue Blackwater to find out. Now Blackwater is trying to sue them for $10 million to keep them quiet. This article was first posted on AlterNet.org's website.
The families of four American security contractors who were burned, beaten, dragged through the streets of Fallujah and their decapitated bodies hung from a bridge over the Euphrates River on March 31, 2004, are reaching out to the American public to help protect themselves against the very company their loved ones were serving when killed, Blackwater Security Consulting. After Blackwater lost a series of appeals all the away to the U.S. Supreme Court, Blackwater has now changed its tactics and is suing the dead men's estates for $10 million to silence the families and keep them out of court.
Following these gruesome deaths which were broadcast on worldwide television, the surviving family members looked to Blackwater for answers as to how and why their loved ones died. Blackwater not only refused to give the grieving families any information, but also callously stated that they would need to sue Blackwater to get it. Left with no alternative, in January 2005, the families filed suit against Blackwater, which is owned by the wealthy and politically-connected Erik Prince.
Blackwater quickly adapted its battlefield tactics to the courtroom. It initially hired Fred F. Fielding, who is currently counsel to the President of the United States. It then hired Joseph E. Schmitz as its in-house counsel, who was formerly the Inspector General at the Pentagon. More recently, Blackwater employed Kenneth Starr, famed prosecutor in the Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky scandal, to oppose the families. To add additional muscle, Blackwater hired Cofer Black, who was the Director of the CIA Counter- Terrorist Center.
After filing its suit against the dead men's estates, Blackwater demanded that its claim and the families' existing lawsuit be handled in a private arbitration. By suing the families in arbitration, Blackwater has attempted to move the examination of their wrongful conduct outside of the eye of the public and away from a jury. This comes at the same time when Congress is investigating Blackwater.
Over 300 contractors have been killed in Iraq with very little inquiry into their deaths. The families claim that Blackwater is attempting to cover up its incompetence, its cutting of corners in favor of higher profits, and its over billing to the government. Due to lack of accountability and oversight, Blackwater's private army has been able to obtain huge profits from the government, utilizing contacts established through Erik Prince's relationships with high-ranking government officials such as Cofer Black and Joseph Schmitz.
In addition to assembling its litigation troops, Blackwater also stonewalled the families concerning any information about how the men were killed. Over the past two and a half years, Blackwater has not responded to a single question or produced a single document. When the families' attorneys, Callahan & Blaine, obtained a Court Order to take the deposition of a former Blackwater employee with critical information about the incident, Blackwater quickly re-hired him and sent him out of the country. When the witness returned to the United States more than a year later, the families obtained another Court Order for his deposition. Blackwater again prevented them from taking his deposition by seeking the assistance of the U.S. Attorney's Office to block the deposition under the guise that he possibly possessed national secrets. Following an investigation, the U.S. Army reported that the witness had no secret information and that it had no objection to the deposition.
Blackwater has now lifted this atrocity to a whole new level by going on the offensive and suing the families for $10 million. The families now find themselves looking down the barrel of a gun as Blackwater, armed with a war chest and politically-connected attorneys, is aggressively litigating against them. Blackwater has also threatened to hold the administrator of the estates personally liable to scare him into abandoning his position, and has threatened the families' attorneys as well.
The families are simply without the financial wherewithal to defend against Blackwater. By filing suit, Blackwater is trying to wipe out the families' ability to discover the truth about Blackwater's involvement in the deaths of these four Americans and to silence them from any public comment. In February, the families testified before Congress.
However, Blackwater's lawsuit now seeks to gag the family members from even speaking about the incident or about Blackwater's involvement in the deaths. This is a direct attack to their free speech rights under the First Amendment.
"I initially took this case because it was the right thing to do in helping the families find closure by discovering the events surrounding their loved ones deaths, " said Daniel J. Callahan, attorney for the families. "I have found the evidence concerning Blackwater's involvement in the deaths to be overwhelming and appalling. Even more disturbing though is the callous nature in which Blackwater has not only concealed the truth, but also outright sued to force the families to stop pursuing the case and to silence them." Blackwater has spent millions of dollars and hired at least five different law firms to fight the families, rather than meeting and addressing what should be Blackwater's top priority - the safety and well being of the mothers, wives, and children left behind. Blackwater has said that it will not pay one red cent to assist or console the surviving families, but instead has counter sued for $10 million.
Without help, Blackwater will succeed in avoiding scrutiny for its conduct, escaping accountability for its actions, and silencing the families of the four Americans killed in Fallujah. A defense fund has been established by which the public is able to donate money to assist the families with litigation costs and expenses.
© 2007 Independent Media Institute.
35 Comments so far
Show AllAt the expense of sounding paranoid I keep sorting through several recent developments and am hoping (but not eliminating entirely) that this scenario does not come true.
A terrorist event comes in the last days of the Bush administration, the recent development where Bush can invoke emergency powers to in effect declare martial law is in fact done and the infamous Blackwater group is put in play against the dissenters perhaps rounding then up and sending them to the prison complexes that Halliburton is building (for which purpose remains unclear).
Since Cheney seems to be the real power in this administration perhaps the act would involve the death of Bush and the ascendancy of Cheney.
Scary,,Eh?
I really hope I'm being delusional but all the legal powers to do this are now in place.
Well, I friggin love it when all you pompous Christians have no sympathy for the parents and those who were killed in a situation caused and abetted by our elected Government. You cant realize what it looks like to a soldier over there getting shot at and living just above the poverty line. That big money Black Water pays looks good and you know you can do the job because your a kid and your immortal and you are planning already what you will do with that money.
A lot of forces and influence came to create an American mercenary. It could have been your kid or mine.
No apologies needed. I agree with you. Peace pushers have long been a threat to money. Frankly, there is so much more money to be made from suffering and violence than from peace.
It's why the Bible reputedly has Jesus saying "You cannot serve God and mammon (money)". You have to pick one or the other. Most people picj mammon, believing that what their God wants.
So, while I do have sympathy towards any victim of violence, at some point a mercenary has to realize that that the same laws apply to us all: what goes around, comes around. So don't act surprised with what you see coming around. The only thing you have control over is what goes. You control what you give. And if you're just giving the world BS, then the world will reciprocate.
An iconoclast all my life, my two boys have been exposed to my debunking the American myth for all of their lives. And yet the brainwashing expertise that this capitalistic society has perfected is breathtaking. My oldest visited one evening carrying on about the "ultra-liberal Hillary Clinton!" I didn't even know what to say, all I could do was shake my head. I can only attribute it to youthful inexperience.
I have been much more deliberate with my youngest (still at home) in trying to explain the cognitive dissonance he experiences caused by what his old man says as opposed to what America at large says. The result? As he begins to truly understand, he is increasingly isolated and ridiculed at school and he fears the future. The truth may set you free, but it probably won't make you happy.
Having served in the Army during the transition from the draft to a volunteer force I understand the type that become mercenaries, as I served with many of them. The love of uniforms, weapons, military regalia and regimentation. The object in the gunsight is not a person, is not alive, it is just an object to aim at. A confusion of nationalism (my country right or wrong) with patriotism, and a strong belief that might does indeed make right.
Humanity has always assassinated the prophets of non-violence: Jesus, Ghandi, King. Because they threaten the very foundations of the existing paradigm. I have no doubt that the next effective prophet of non-violence will also meet a violent end. It is interesting - and instructive - to note that all three mentioned above knew what fate awaited them, yet they followed their conscience to the end. And is it more inspiring to believe that Jesus was the son of god - a god himself - unencumbered by the frailties and foibles of us mere humans, or is it more hopeful to realize that he was just an "ordinary" human being that truly made the grade?
Sorry for the rambling nature of this post; it is so very difficult to put meager words around the plight of humanity today.
[quote]
expatincebu June 9th, 2007 8:30 pm
NO SYMPATHY!
Four criminals (mercenaries are criminals!) got killed and now their families want to sue. Boohoo, to bad. Sounds just like family and friends of Gotti crying over his arrest.
I remember when these men were killed. I cheered the Iraqis for what they did and I still do. I hope every Blackwater employee meets the same fate.
[/quote]
But what about the soldiers who volunteered to serve in the U.S. military, and are now serving in Iraq? Didn't most of them sign up for the money, which they were promised, so they can pay for college or whatever. What's the difference? Do they also not deserve our sympathy? After all, they volunteered. After all, they get paid to do what they do. Surely not as much as Blackwater employees, but that's just a matter of degree. And how do you know what these people working for Blackwater actually did. Maybe they weren't killing or hurting anybody, who knows...
What I am trying to do is establish what is the difference between a soldier and a mercenary. You say that a soldier fights for his country but a mercenary fights for the money. But soldiers get paid and I am sure mercs feel they are helping their country too. What if we suddenly started paying our soldiers the same wages as Blackwell pays its people. Would they then become mercenaries?
I have no love for hired mercenaries, but still I must assert that we, here on this board, don't know the type of psychological conditioning our society has bred into these people. We don't understand fully their mindsets. They could be bloodthirsty killers, fine, but I'm just not going to blame them for the brainwashing that made them think and act the way they do. Our fine society does a fine job of making people into violent, ignorant citizens.
Look at the U.S. Military. Our soldiers who are dying in Iraq - they are killers just as much as any mercenary, but we wouldn't say that we have no sympathy for them. They are basically getting paid to kill. I don't really see the difference.
What makes the families of one killer any less deservant of sympathy or closure than the families of another?
Were the Blackwater guys in NOLA "poor schlubs".
Here's a quote from the article...
"Blackwater mercenaries are some of the most feared professional killers in the world and they are accustomed to operating without worry of legal consequences."
"Professional killers"
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0910-07.htm
Again, the contractor in a non-combat role, I don't hate. In fact, that person must really need or want the money to put themselves through such a situation.
I want all the death to stop. I don't want anymore Iraqis or Americans to die. It's one thing to serve one's country, but these guys are basically getting paid to kill. I can't feel for people like that. Maybe it's one of my flaws.
read the posts of ballsy, tweck, and sir melvin cleophus again. most contractors, btw, are NOT in combat roles (those these 4 in fallujah may well have been; doesn't it say something about blackwater, unlike the us military, that blackwater would just abandon them to their fate and try to cover it up?)
I understand that they were dupes. I don't hate the guy who's getting paid to drive a truck in Iraq. But these Blackwater guys are bad news and are essentially hired killers.
Let me clarify, the true owners of the USA is not Blackwater, but the Executive Branch of the U.S. Government and the Military Industrial Complex...NOT "We The People."
tweck nailed it right on the head. I have read this article and all the posts written. Believe it or not, I am a VERY hard-core leftist. One needs to understand that people are people. What a horrible state humankind is right now. I think this whole situation is ethically immoral on both sides. This report should be told on mainstream media for the global community to get a taste of what Blackwater is truly about. They may go out of business if there is any hope for positive morality to exist. When a human being passes away tragically, it is truly sad...no matter how the deceased conducted their lives or what their names were. Why? Because they were human beings, just like every other person on the planet. They died doing their job. Acquiring money, to do the epitome of negative moral action, cost them their lives; but hey, this is still tragic on many levels nonetheless. Does Cyberspace agree from a moral standpoint?
What I find most disturbing about this report is that Blackwater has the audacity to file a lawsuit against the deceased's family members who were doing their job for said company. Wow! I mean, this is unbelievable! More than that. Downright incomprehensible! Does Blackwater embody Evil? I mean...REAL Evil? The respectible action is to at least give the surviving family the wages, but to file a lawsuit?! (shakes head)
The lawyers who are representing Blackwater REPRESENT THE TRUE OWNERS OF THE USA! Indeed! Quite literally...
Why are so many people slamming the families of dead workers? Seriously, you don't know how these people were brought up, what lies they were led to believe, how their minds were controlled by corporate advertising, lying CEOs and mindless patriotic slogans and whatnot - they are not to blame for this, sorry. You think everyone should just be able to snap their fingers and believe the truth when lie upon lie has been shoved into their minds their whole lives?
What about the Halliburton workers who were told they weren't going to be driving trucks through war zones, that they'd be perfectly safe, not to worry, lie after lie, and they believed it, because we're bred to believe that our big, corporate daddies are there to support and protect us, so they went, and the callous rich bastards in charge sent them right through the blood and death because it was decidedly less expensive to lose a few expendable workers than to live up to their promises and keep people safe??
People are trying to be people, and it's really hard in this age of propaganda and corporate brainwashing and fearmongering to find one's way to reality, and companies like this FEED off this mental corruption so they can line their fat pockets with our tax money.
Yet somehow even the truly liberal among us blame the poor brainwashed people who are just trying to do what they think is right for the suffering they go through, perpetrated by the heinous actions of corporate criminals!
Amazing.
i can't believe **all** of you posters here are missing the point. i'm not justifying these mercs, but most of them are poor schlubs being shafted by the american economy like the rest of us. They are economically shaghai-ed with very lucrative offers that they can't get anywhere else. having talked to some of these contractors, these are not very astute people. despite the horrible things we know many contractors have done in iraq, many of them are defacto economic conscripts, and certainly are DUPES of the american propoganda/war machine. certainly their **families** are victims of the callousness, inhumanity, and economic imperatives of the imperial juggernaut.
anything that sheds light on blackwater and has any potential to dismantle this horrible system deserves our support and understanding. the war machine manufactures enemies (iraqis, in this case) and destroys the lives of those sent to fight the "enemy." how many of you said similar things about cindy sheehan when she turned against the war b/c her son was killed? none of you. nobody said she was a bad mom, etc., etc. what the f--- is this then?
Why does all of this not surprise me????? The people who are now complaining about treatment from Blackwater elite are no doubt the same bunch who voted this bunch of criminal's into office! So, I am like to many people, I don't feel to sorry for them! Their relative's became 'hired thugs' for a 'hired thug' (George W Bush) , now they want compensated for their waking up to discover they were screwed! Well, when you lie down with dogs you get flea's!
I can just imagine the sort of violent, degrading, addict-surrounded childhood one would need to have in order to end up seeking work in a private army decimating the occupied people of a foriegn country; in which case, I don't care about these people's "feelings" when they obviously failed their children so completely.
Until recently, I thought "black water" was the stuff that RVs spilled at dump stations. Why anyone would choose to name their company that, I have no idea. I guess it's an indicator to would-be employees that "this place is the sh*ts".
Every death is a tragedy. My heart goes out to the families regardless of the motives and actions of their departed loved ones. May a benevolent God forgive them their sins and also "forgive us our sins (trespasses) as we forgive those who sin (trespass) against us".
Let Bush revel in the deaths of his enemies. Let him smirk during his State of the Union address about the terrorists we don't have to worry about anymore. I hope that I will never be glad of anyone's death. I hope and pray that my compassion will only grow with age. May that remain another difference between me and those I oppose.
Sure Blackwater are profiteering, but I don't have a lot of sympathy for mercenaries that try to capitlise on a bad situation either. You live by the sword, you die by the sword, that's what happens when you are a soldier of fortune.
Guns for hire should be banned, there problem solved.
Agreeing with Frank's insight above: Blackwater's groundless suit? Isn't a harassment-revenge suit a waste of court time? And isn't charter revocation (Jack Nelson Steward, above) also an answer to BW's vengeful and petty suit? And isn't BW unlawful and silly at base itself: How can any corporation whose basis exists as the secret(and private) personal army of the White House be capable of any kind of official Secret or Top Secret clearance? How many of BW's officers and employees have actually received vetted and certified Top Secret clearance? Who's ultimately in charge of the blackshirt BW? Nobody because that, too, is secret?
Hey I'm sorry . . . really sorry that they came it to end that they did. But I don't think you hire on with an organization like Blackwater for the honor and glory of your country. You hire on for the money. This company should be under the investigation by our congress. Never mind the family of those that volunteered because of the money they would receive. If this were a "just and honorable war" there would not be a need "I'll sue you and you can sue me back." But we all know what is going on here and this business is nothing but an extention of the politics that made this war happen in the first place. Those that believed that this war was necessary in the beginning and allowed it to happen and then supported it with there bodies for the money they would receive have nothing to complain about. I am sorry for them and there lose but I can't get behind this . . .
Erik Prince of Blackwater, is the brother of Betsy DeVos, former chairman of the Michigan GOP and wife of Dick DeVos, Amway mogul (who shipped Amway jobs to China), Dominionist and financial supporter of Dr. James Kennedy of Coral Ridge Ministries and his Dominionist/Christian Reconstructionist ambitions, and failed (thank God!) gubernatorial contender in the last election in Michigan.
The hypocrisy and mendacity of the Christian "uber" right is simply beyond contempt. They profess to be followers of Christ but, apparently, have no idea what the New Testament actually says. What kind of maniac gets into the mercenary business? An obscenely greedy one.
On the other hand, maybe they just need an army when the Christian Right is ready to establish their Theocracy in North America.
NO SYMPATHY!
Four criminals (mercenaries are criminals!) got killed and now their families want to sue. Boohoo, to bad. Sounds just like family and friends of Gotti crying over his arrest.
I remember when these men were killed. I cheered the Iraqis for what they did and I still do. I hope every Blackwater employee meets the same fate.
I must have missed something, sorry: What is the cause of action for Blackwater's suit? What are they suing these families for? Are they suing to gag, for libel, what?!
Blackwater will win and the dead mercenaries' families will have learned their lesson big time. The only chance the families have is to counter-sue. There, they will probably lose, too. When a muliti-billionaire corporation in bed with the U.S. Federal government's Military wants someone silenced, they always win. Most likely, Blackwater will later move their headquarters off-shore and be untouchable to all lawsuites and taxes. The future is here and us little people (albeit big Americans) are nothing but roadkill.
Normally I'm opposed to the use of nuclear weapons, but in this case...ok, ok, just kidding (sorta)
(cheers, iwarrior -- from Jack Murtha's district)
I really have to question the morals of anyone who would want to work for a company such as Blackwater. What are they but hired thugs?
I thought mercenaries were supposed to be the bad guys. Wasn't calling someone a "merc" the equivalent of "scab" or some other slur?
Here's an article from one of our local papers on the privatization of the military...
http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A31593
If only the hundreds and thousands, indeed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis could sue, or at least get some inkling of justice, unfortunately it's never going to happen.
Lets all feel sorry for the mercs, and their families, boo hoo.
I've no sympathy at all. They accepted the money, along with the risks. They were in the wrong place at the wrong time, IRAQ.
Question for the lawyers: any chance of a legal action to revoke Blackwater's corporate charter? Sure, it's never attempted really anymore, but surely a little research would reveal they were somehow in violation of something, seeing as how they're "loyal Bushies," and we know what that means:
Laws are for "the people," not the "friends of the family."
These mercenaries were/are international criminals. If they had been attacking the USA how much worse would their treatment have been considering how savage the Americans have shown themselves to be in this war?
I have no sympathy for them, and their families are foolish to think they deserve sympathy.
To the families of the dead "Mercs". Take the insurance money you no doubt received from your "loved ones" death, donate it to UNICEF or another charity which serves the innocent children and others that your "loved ones" helped to destroy the lives of. Then you will be making a positive statement. Without that, your words seeking sympathy are like "smoke in the wind".
This, from a USMC Veteran of the Vietnam era, a Native American who was exempt from the draft, in accordance with the Geneva accords: which the USA abandoned at the beginning of this illegal war of aggression.
Yellow Horse
"Blackwater"... creepy. Uh-oh. I'm getting a haiku itch.
"Blackwater"
your name betrays you
out of reach, or so you think
history dives deep
ALOHA !!
I have to say that the old saying "live by the sword, die by the sword" certainly applies here. God only knows what these families "loved ones" did to the families of innocent Iraqis before they were beheaded. Do you think there was a reason these guys got beheaded and dragged through the streets? Or do you think Iraqis do that to any old AK-47 toting Godless mercenary invading their country? I am sure "beheading" was not part of their job description when they signed up to kill people! These lawsuits on both sides are laughable ... Perhaps Iraqi families should sue Blackwater as well!
I marvel at how adept a 4F Vietnam chicken like Cheney is at sending other people's kids to die in Iraq. What's his gay daughter doing for the War On Terror? Also what the heck is that other chicken Bush doing? During the Vietnam War Bush hid out in the National Guard totally avoiding any chance of being on the front lines thanks to his Daddy! These two "war-doggers" are running the US Military!!! WOW ... no wonder this whole Iraq War has been such a total failure ... Our leaders have absolutely no experience at combat yet they both have a PhD in avoiding it! Mr. Bush send your two daughters to Iraq and maybe you'll have some credability!
Here is the bottom line. When Bush and Cheney hid out and ditched their duty to serve on the front lines of Vietnam back in the 1960's they were replaced by two other unknown faceless kids who perhaps did not come back.
Of course then you have our ally over in the UK ... Apparently sending Prince Harry to Iraq would be too dangerous! Send the "commoner's" kids over there instead ...
We need to return to the times of the dark ages when the leaders that chose to go to war led the charge to battle and did not play hide and seek in taxpayer "bunkers"!
"It is incredible that the those mercenaries,their families,friends and legal advocates should expect sympathy from the American public in the legal fight with Blackwater. Both "labour and management"of Blackwater are two sides of the evil coin."
I don't disagree with Ronald White that these mercenaries and what they do is despicable. But these are the families of the perpetrators who are suing and being sued. There is a difference. I read nowhere that they are trying to justify what their loved ones were doing. They want to get to the bottom of what happened, as should all Americans who, like it or not, are paying these thugs millions of dollars.
American taxpayers are the ultimate employers of Blackwater, albeit unwillingly for the most part, I expect, so Congress should get to the bottom of this ugly mess caused by a private army set up to avoid negative reaction from voters had the Bush administration retored the draft. Another neat Cheney plan, with juicy profits for corporate cronies.
"are reaching out to the American public to help protect themselves against the very company their loved ones were serving when killed"
These mercenaries are guns for hire earning probably ten times the salaries of American militaty servicepeople doing equivalent jobs. It is incredible that the those mercenaries,their families,friends and legal advocates should expect sympathy from the American public in the legal fight with Blackwater. Both "labour and management"of Blackwater are two sides of the evil coin.
Never mind who wins the lawsuits , the only positive result that will come out of this fight is the gained wisdom of thousands of potential Blackwater recruits that although the pay is excellent , the chances of being shafted by Blackwater is also excellent.
May the same warning also apply to potential military recruits.
If Bush resorts to draughting 15-60yr.olds to keep troops occupied in Iraq the same way Hitler used this same age-group to defend the fatherland then just remember he's only doing what Americans allow him to do including those whiney Blackwater employees and families.
American melodrama makes me puke.
Defense fund info at AlterNet.org
This is where Blackwater goes down, let them sue. God Bless Them.