SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
To donate by check, phone, or other method, see our More Ways to Give page.
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
Erik Prince, then-chairman of the Prince Group, LLC and Blackwater USA, holds up a picture showing the aftermath of a car bomb while testifying during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on Capitol Hill October 2, 2007 in Washington D.C. (Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
Blackwater founder Erik Prince on Wednesday faced fresh accusations of being a war profiteer in response to reporting that he's charging $6,500 per person for a seat on an evacuation flight out of Kabul.
The reporting by the Wall Street Journal comes amid ongoing evacuations from Afghanistan of civilians, including at-risk Afghans, and follows President Joe Biden's Tuesday statement he still wants an August 31 deadline for the withdrawal of U.S. troops.
The Journal said that "chartered planes are flying out of Kabul with hundreds of empty seats," further reported that Prince would put an additional charge to get those trapped in their homes to the airport. However, it was unclear he had the capability to execute the flights.
\u201cFor context, that piece of absolute shit, Erik Prince is charging $6500 per person to evacuate them from Afghanistan.\u201d— Fred (@Fred) 1629906074
"After making millions of dollars off the Afghanistan war, Erik Prince is back at it, exploiting people's desperation for cash," tweeted journalist Maria Abi-Habib. "Prince is charging $6,500 a person to get people out of Afghanistan while planes organized by NGOs leave Kabul empty."
Prince--the brother of former President Donald Trump's billionaire Education Secretary Betsy DeVos--previously pushed Trump to privatize the U.S. war in Afghanistan.
Last year, Trump pardoned four contractors of the now-defunct Blackwater who were convicted of killing over a dozen unarmed citizens in Baghdad's 2007 Nisour Square massacre. Earlier this year, a United Nations report accused Prince of violating an arms embargo by sending weapons to Libyan warlord and former CIA asset Khalifa Haftar.
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Blackwater founder Erik Prince on Wednesday faced fresh accusations of being a war profiteer in response to reporting that he's charging $6,500 per person for a seat on an evacuation flight out of Kabul.
The reporting by the Wall Street Journal comes amid ongoing evacuations from Afghanistan of civilians, including at-risk Afghans, and follows President Joe Biden's Tuesday statement he still wants an August 31 deadline for the withdrawal of U.S. troops.
The Journal said that "chartered planes are flying out of Kabul with hundreds of empty seats," further reported that Prince would put an additional charge to get those trapped in their homes to the airport. However, it was unclear he had the capability to execute the flights.
\u201cFor context, that piece of absolute shit, Erik Prince is charging $6500 per person to evacuate them from Afghanistan.\u201d— Fred (@Fred) 1629906074
"After making millions of dollars off the Afghanistan war, Erik Prince is back at it, exploiting people's desperation for cash," tweeted journalist Maria Abi-Habib. "Prince is charging $6,500 a person to get people out of Afghanistan while planes organized by NGOs leave Kabul empty."
Prince--the brother of former President Donald Trump's billionaire Education Secretary Betsy DeVos--previously pushed Trump to privatize the U.S. war in Afghanistan.
Last year, Trump pardoned four contractors of the now-defunct Blackwater who were convicted of killing over a dozen unarmed citizens in Baghdad's 2007 Nisour Square massacre. Earlier this year, a United Nations report accused Prince of violating an arms embargo by sending weapons to Libyan warlord and former CIA asset Khalifa Haftar.
Blackwater founder Erik Prince on Wednesday faced fresh accusations of being a war profiteer in response to reporting that he's charging $6,500 per person for a seat on an evacuation flight out of Kabul.
The reporting by the Wall Street Journal comes amid ongoing evacuations from Afghanistan of civilians, including at-risk Afghans, and follows President Joe Biden's Tuesday statement he still wants an August 31 deadline for the withdrawal of U.S. troops.
The Journal said that "chartered planes are flying out of Kabul with hundreds of empty seats," further reported that Prince would put an additional charge to get those trapped in their homes to the airport. However, it was unclear he had the capability to execute the flights.
\u201cFor context, that piece of absolute shit, Erik Prince is charging $6500 per person to evacuate them from Afghanistan.\u201d— Fred (@Fred) 1629906074
"After making millions of dollars off the Afghanistan war, Erik Prince is back at it, exploiting people's desperation for cash," tweeted journalist Maria Abi-Habib. "Prince is charging $6,500 a person to get people out of Afghanistan while planes organized by NGOs leave Kabul empty."
Prince--the brother of former President Donald Trump's billionaire Education Secretary Betsy DeVos--previously pushed Trump to privatize the U.S. war in Afghanistan.
Last year, Trump pardoned four contractors of the now-defunct Blackwater who were convicted of killing over a dozen unarmed citizens in Baghdad's 2007 Nisour Square massacre. Earlier this year, a United Nations report accused Prince of violating an arms embargo by sending weapons to Libyan warlord and former CIA asset Khalifa Haftar.