Somalia: Blackwater XE CIA Africom black-op training zone

[Disco_Destroyer]

formerly
Somalia: Another CIA-Backed Coup Blows Up
Somalia: Another CIA-Backed Coup Blows Up

By Mike Whitney

"The Ethiopian invasion, which was sanctioned by the US government, has destroyed virtually all the life-sustaining economic systems which the population has built for the last fifteen years." Abdi Samatar, professor of Global Studies at the University of Minnesota, Democracy Now

December 02, 2008 "Information Clearinghouse" http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/ --- Up until a month ago, no one in the Bush administration showed the least bit of interest in the incidents of piracy off the coast of Somalia. Now that's all changed and there's talk of sending in the Navy to patrol the waters off the Horn of Africa and clean up the pirates hideouts. Why the sudden about-face? Could it have something to do with the fact that the Ethiopian army is planning to withdrawal all of its troops from Mogadishu by the end of the year, thus, ending the failed two year US-backed occupation of Somalia?

The United States has lost the ground war in Somalia, but that doesn't mean its geopolitical objectives have changed one iota. The US intends to stay in the region for years to come and use its naval power to control the critical shipping lanes from the Gulf of Aden. The growing strength of the Somali national resistance is a set-back, but it doesn't change the basic game-plan. The pirates are actually a blessing in disguise. They provide an excuse for the administration to beef up it's military presence and put down roots. Every crisis is an opportunity.

There's an interesting subtext to the pirate story that hasn't appeared in the western media. According to Simon Assaf of the Socialist Worker:

"Many European, US and Asian shipping firms – notably Switzerland's Achair Partners and Italy's Progresso – signed dumping deals in the early 1990s with Somalia's politicians and militia leaders. This meant they could use the coast as a toxic dumping ground. This practice became widespread as the country descended into civil war.
Nick Nuttall of the UN Environment Programme said, "European companies found it was very cheap to get rid of the waste."

When the Asian tsunami of Christmas 2005 washed ashore on the east coast of Africa, it uncovered a great scandal. Tons of radioactive waste and toxic chemicals drifted onto the beaches after the giant wave dislodged them from the sea bed off Somalia. Tens of thousands of Somalis fell ill after coming into contact with this cocktail. They complained to the United Nations (UN), which began an investigation.

"There are reports from villagers of a wide range of medical problems such as mouth bleeds, abdominal hemorrhages, unusual skin disorders and breathing difficulties," the UN noted.

Some 300 people are believed to have died from the poisonous chemicals.

In 2006 Somali fishermen complained to the UN that foreign fishing fleets were using the breakdown of the state to plunder their fish stocks. These foreign fleets often recruited Somali militias to intimidate local fishermen. Despite repeated requests, the UN refused to act. Meanwhile the warships of global powers that patrol the strategically important Gulf of Aden did not sink or seize any vessels dumping toxic chemicals off the coast.

So angry Somalis, whose waters were being poisoned and whose livelihoods were threatened, took matters into their own hands. Fishermen began to arm themselves and attempted to act as unofficial coastguards." (Socialist Worker)

The origins of piracy in Somalia is considerably different than the narrative in the media which tends to perpetuate stereotypes of scary black men who are naturally inclined to criminal behavior. In reality, the pirates were the victims of a US-EU run system that still uses the developing world as a dumping ground for toxic waste regardless of the suffering it causes. (just ask Larry Summers) In fact, the dumping continues to this day, even though we have been assured that we're living in a "post racial era" following the election of Barak Obama. Unfortunately, that rule doesn't apply to the many black and brown people who still find themselves caught in the imperial crosshairs. Their lives are just as miserable as ever.

ETHIOPIA'S PLAN FOR WITHDRAWAL

In 2006, the Bush administration supported an alliance of Somali warlords known as the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) that established a base of operations in the western city of Baidoa. With the help of the Ethiopian army, western mercenaries, US Navy warships, and AC-130 gunships; the TFG captured Mogadishu and forced the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) to retreat to the south. Since then the resistance has coalesced into a tenacious guerrilla army that has recaptured most of the country.

The Bush administration invoked the war on terror to justify its involvement in Somalia, but their case was weak and full of inconsistencies. The ICU is not an Al Qaida affiliate or a terrorist organization despite the claims of the State Department. In fact, the ICU brought a high level of peace and stability to Somalia that hadn't been seen for more than sixteen years.

Political analyst James Petras summed it up like this:

"The ICU was a relatively honest administration, which ended warlord corruption and extortion. Personal safety and property were protected, ending arbitrary seizures and kidnappings by warlords and their armed thugs. The ICU is a broad multi-tendency movement that includes moderates and radical Islamists, civilian politicians and armed fighters, liberals and populists, electoralists and authoritarians. Most important, the Courts succeeded in unifying the country and creating some semblance of nationhood, overcoming clan fragmentation."

The Bush administration is mainly interested in oil and geopolitics. According to most estimates 30 per cent of America's oil will come from Africa within the next ten years. That means the Pentagon will have to extend its tentacles across the continent. Washington's allies in the TFG promised to pass oil laws that would allow foreign oil companies to return to Somalia, but now all of that is uncertain. It is impossible to know what type of government will emerge from the present conflict. Many pundits expect Somalia to descend into terrorist-breeding, failed state for years to come.

The latest round of fighting has created a humanitarian disaster. 1.3 million people have been forced from their homes with nothing more than what they can carry on their backs. Over 3.5 million people are now huddled in tent cities in the south with little food, clean water or medical supplies.

According to the UN News Center: "Nearly half the population is in crisis or need of assistance....Continuing instability, coupled with drought, high food prices and the collapse of the local currency have only worsened the dire humanitarian situation in recent months. The UN estimates that 40 per cent of the population, are in need of assistance. In addition, one in six children under the age of five in southern and central Somalia is currently acutely malnourished." (UN News Center)

The war between the occupying Ethiopian army and the various guerrilla factions has steadily intensified over the last two years. Fighters from the ICU, Al-Shabaab and other Islamic groups have moved from the south to the vicinity of Mogadishu where fighting could break out at any time. It's "game-over" for Bush's proxy army and the transitional federal government. They cannot win, which is why the Ethiopian leaders announced a complete withdrawal of troops by the end of the year. By January 1, 2009, the occupation will be over.

In a recent Chicago Tribune article, "US Appears to be Losing in Somalia", journalist Paul Salopek sums it up like this:

"(Somalia) is a covert war in which the CIA has recruited gangs of unsavory warlords to hunt down and kidnap Islamic militants...and secretly imprison them offshore, aboard U.S. warships. The British civil-rights group Reprieve contended that as many as 17 U.S. warships may have doubled as floating prisons since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks...

"Somalia is one of the great unrecognized U.S. policy failures since 9/11," said Ken Menkhaus, a leading Somalia scholar at Davidson College in North Carolina. "By any rational metric, what we've ended up with there today is the opposite of what we wanted." (Paul Salopek, "US Appears to be Losing in Somalia" Chicago Tribune)

The CIA has done its job well. It's created a beehive for terrorism and the potential for another catastrophe like 9-11.

Currently, negotiations are underway between the guerrilla leaders and the TFG over a power-sharing agreement. But no one expects the talks will amount to anything. The moderate ICU may regain power but the country will still be ungovernable for years to come. At best, Somalia is a decade away from restoring the fragile peace that was in place before Bush's bloody intervention.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21375.htm

[QuitTheirClogs]

Project Censored: Top 25 Censored Stories for 2010

#3. Toxic Waste Behind Somali Pirates

http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/articles/3-toxic-waste-behi nd-somali-pirates/

The international community has come out in force to condemn and declare war on the Somali fishermen pirates, while discreetly protecting the illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fleets from around the world that have been poaching and dumping toxic waste in Somali waters since the fall of the Somali government eighteen years ago...


Update by Mohamed Abshir Waldo

The crises of the multiple piracies in Somalia have not diminished since my previous article, “The Two Piracies in Somalia: Why the Word Ignores the Other,” was written in December 2008. All the illegal fishing piracy, the waste dumping piracy and the shipping piracy continue with new zeal. Somali fishermen, turned pirates in reaction to armed foreign marine poachers, have intensified their war against all kinds of ships in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.

On international response, foreign governments, international organizations and mainstream media have been united in demonizing Somalia and described its fishermen as evil men pillaging ships and terrorizing sailors (even though no sailors were harmed). This presentation is lopsided. The media said relatively little on the other piracies of illegal fishing and waste dumping.

The allied navies of the world—fleets of over forty warships from over ten Asian, Arab, and African countries as well as from many NATO and EU member countries—stepped up their hunt for the Somali fishermen pirates, regardless of whether they are actually engaged in piracy or in normal fishing in the Somali waters. Various meetings of the International Contact Group for Somalia (ICGS) in New York, London, Cairo, and Rome continue to underline the demonization of the Somali fishermen and urge further punitive actions without a single mention of the violation of illegal fishing and toxic dumping by vessels from the countries of those sitting in the ICGS and UN forums in judgment of the piracy issue.

At the ICGS Anti-Piracy meeting in Cairo on May 30 2009, Egypt and Italy were two of the loudest countries calling for severe punishment of the Somali fishermen pirates. As the ICGS are meeting in Rome today (June 10, 2009), two Egyptian trawlers full of fish illegally caught in Somali waters and an Italian barge that had been towing two huge tanks suspected of containing toxic or nuclear waste are being held in the Somali coastal town of Las Khorey by the local community, who invited the international experts to come and investigate these cases. So far, the international community has not responded to the Las Khorey community’s invitation.

It should be pointed out that both the IUUs and waste dumping are happening in other African countries. Ivory Coast is a victim of major international toxic dumping.

[QuitTheirClogs]

Channel 4 report on record recovery of fish stocks off Kenyan coast -- all because of the Somali “pirates”

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1184614595?bctid=46246 531001

[TonyGosling]

The SAS Invade Somalia ( 0) Print This
By T.J. Coles. Axis of Logic
Axis of Logic
Saturday, Jul 21, 2012


Up to sixty commandos of the UK’s elite Special Air Service (SAS) have invaded Somalia. In violation of the UN Charter, Britain’s Attorney General, Dominic Grieve, authorised the commandos to invade the country with the professed aims of quelling the al-Shabaab militia,1 which is battling the UK-created and installed Transitional Federal Government (TFG).

This is an old British ploy: create a proxy militia, use it to wreck a country, and then send in the heavy artillery when it proves too incompetent to finish the job. In the late 1990s, the UK secret services backed the terrorist Kosovo Liberation Army in order to beat the drums for war in Serbia. In 2010, the secret services began training and arming anti-Gaddafi elements (following a botched 1995-6 effort), using Gaddafi’s crackdowns as a pretext for NATO bombing. Ditto Syria.

The press reported that the SAS commandos in Somalia are collaborating with the Kenyan military—which Britain also trains and arms—on the Somalia-Kenya border. Not newsworthy, however, were the quarter of a million Somali refugees living in dire conditions in Kenyan camps, driven from Somalia in 2006-2009 by the scorched-earth tactics of the TFG: that is Britain’s terrorism, so it is unmentionable.2

Also unmentionable is the UK-Kenyan terrorism of SAS-backed air strikes on Somali refugee camps. Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch, said: “Kenya’s Somalia operation has resulted in apparent attacks on a camp for displaced people and a fishing boat.” On October 30 2011, the Kenyan Air Force, using British weapons and tactical training, bombed an internally displaced persons’ camp near Jilib, Somalia. Médecins Sans Frontières treated 45 wounded people, including 31 children, and confirmed that 5 civilians died as a result.3

Also unmentionable is the fact that the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), which the TFG deposed in 2009 and from which al-Shabaab sprang, was a socialist, non-extremist government, according to US Congressional documents;4 that the ICU eliminated piracy (not with violence but with job creation);5 and that al-Shabaab’s core are MI6-MI5 double-agents, and British fighters in Somali were radicalised by MI5-MI6 agents like Haroon Rashid Aswat and Abu Qatada.6

Most unmentionable of all is that Somalis depend on piracy for survival, because EU vessels are illegally over-fishing their waters, according to unreported House of Lords documents;7 and that according to the Red Cross, nearly one million Somalis depend upon food aid: any increase in UK-led violence could starve hundreds of thousands of people.

http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_64765.shtml?

[outsider]

[TonyGosling]

Blackwater in Somalia?
http://www.pravdareport.com/hotspots/conflicts/13-01-2010/111632-black water-0/#comments

Reuters reports a spokesperson from the Islamist Al-Shabaab group in Somalia claiming that the US mercenary group Blackwater/Xe Services is in Somalia, is recruiting and is planning a series of spectacular terrorist attacks against civilians to discredit his movement in Mogadishu.

The spokesperson is Sheikh Ali Mohammed Rage of the Al-Shabaab group (The Youth), an Islamist faction fighting government forces in southern and central Somalia. In an interview with Reuters, he claimed that mercenaries from Blackwater (now called Xe Services) have started planning bomb plots in Mogadishu to discredit Al-Shabaab.

“US agencies are going to launch suicide bombings in public places in Mogadishu. They have tried it in Algeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan”. He added that the target will be the market of Bakara. The source apparently warned a meeting of tribal elders that Xe Services (formerly Blackwater) has entered Somalia and has already started recruiting operationals to carry out its attacks.

Blackwater massacres

5 mercenaries from Blackwater were accused of murdering 17 Iraqi civilians in a massacre in Nisour Square, Baghdad in September 2007. The decision by US Federal judge Ricardo Urbina this month to set the accused free on the grounds that their constitutional rights had been violated (a former agreement by the Bush regime with the Iraqi Government, since revoked, had exempted US security personnel from prosecution) has caused outrage in Iraq, where Prime Minister Noori al-Maliki answered the news by claiming that Baghdad “rejects the decision by the US court to absolve the firm from the crime of murdering several citizens”. Labelling the decision as “unacceptable and unfair”, the Iraqi Government has stated that it will aid the families of the victims to bring other actions in US courts.

The five mercenaries were accused of 17 counts of murder, 20 counts of attempted murder and one count of violation of arms carrying laws. A sixth mercenary had pleaded guilty and had agreed to cooperate with the authorities.

In Afghanistan, 2 mercenaries employed by Blackwater have been formally accused of the murder of two Afghan civilians in 2009 in Kabul. Justin Cannon (27) from Texas and Christopher Drotleff, from Virginia are accused of 13 counts, including homicide, for which they could be sentenced to death.

UN Human Rights experts demand justice

Human Rights experts from the UNO have requested that the United States of America bring the Blackwater mercenaries accused of the Baghdad massacre to justice, claiming that Baghdad and Washington should work together to solve the question.

Shaista Shameen, Chair of the independent group of experts in human rights from the UNO declared “We respect the independence of the US Justice system and its requirements for due process but we are concerned that the recent decision to reject the case against the Blackwater guards will lead to a situation in which nobody is held responsible for the serious human rights violations”.

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY

Читайте больше на http://www.pravdareport.com/hotspots/conflicts/13-01-2010/111632-black water-0/#comments

[TonyGosling]

How very neat and tidy
The man who warned of Blackwater blowing up Mogadishu is dead

Al Shabaab confirm its spokesman Ali Dheere dead, Kenya Defense Forces May Have Killed Al-Shabaab Spokesman, Ali Dheere
http://terrorfreesomalia.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/kenya-defense-forces-m ay-have-killed-al.html

It Is Official,spokesman of Al-Shabaab Ali Dheere Bites the Dust (Hammertime)
BREAKING: Al Shabaab confirm its spokesman Ali Dheere dead, according to this Somali website

Coordinated airstrikes, commando operations and joint task force
raids led by Kenya Army in Somalia have led to the killing of 37 Al-Shabaab terror group commanders.

In one of the raids, an airstrike launched by the Kenya air force, the overall leader of Al-Shabaab, Muktar Abdirahman Godane (Muktar Robow) escaped two minutes before the first bomb destroyed a camp in Birta Dheere area of Somalia.

The airstrike killed more than 30 Al-Shabaab leaders who had assembled for a strategic meeting on leadership and militant deployment.

Others sustained serious injuries and later succumbed to those injuries.

One of the top commanders killed in the airstrike was Ali Rage also known as Ali Dheere.

Another of the senior commanders killed was a Kenyan from Garissa known only as Gamadhere.

Others killed in the airstrike are Zakur Bin Khalid, an experienced militant, Abdi Malik and Ubeyda.

All three are of Arab origin.

Another commander killed by the Kenyan forces was Abdirahman Halane, a man of Somali origin who coordinated the militant activities in Birta Dheere.

Two commanders of British origin besides four others of different nationalities were killed in the attack.

Intelligence gathered by, ASWJ in Gedo, Kenyan intelligence and its military intelligence wing facilitated the attack.

Kenya military ranks as 46th in the world as most powerful and disciplined.

Intelligence reports from Strategic Intelligence Resources in Somalia hint Kenya Defense Forces have killed Al-Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Ali Dheeere.If Al-Dheere is dead, then this is worst and most lethal blow to the Al-Shabaab leadership.

He was not only their spokesperson, but a key player in the command chain of the militants.

Kenya Defense Forces have been carrying out preemptive airstrikes and commando raids in Somalia targeting Al-Shabaab bases and leadership.
The killing of Al-Dheere is the most lethal blow to Al-Shabaab leadership.It shows Kenya forces can anytime infiltrate and kill the top leadership of the militant-terror group that has destabilized Somalia.

In the past two months, Kenya Defense Forces have successfully destroyed bases, killed hundreds of militants, and pushed the terror network out of its key forward bases.

Ali Dheere has been on the wanted list of terror operatives.

[TonyGosling]

Blackwater founder's FSG signs security deal with Somali region
George Obulutsa
https://www.reuters.com/article/somalia-frontier-service/blackwater-fo unders-fsg-signs-security-deal-with-somali-region-idUSL8N1IE2O9

NAIROBI, June 22(Reuters) - Frontier Services Group (FSG) , co-founded by Erik Prince who created the U.S. security firm Blackwater, said on Thursday it would provide logistics, aviation and security services for a regional development project in Somalia.

Hong Kong-listed FSG said the deal was signed with the Free Zone Investment Authority of the South West State of Somalia, one of the federal regions set up under efforts in the Horn of Africa nation to rebuild its political structures and economy.

The president of the South West State region, Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden, said in a statement that the project was part of the region’s move to attract local and foreign investors.

Some investment has started returning to Somalia as it recovers from two decades of conflict, but much has come from Somali expatriates and most has focused on Mogadishu. Some Turkish and other foreign firms are among the new investors.

“The project will include an integrated solution of air-land-sea logistics capabilities and advanced security management,” FSG said in a statement about the deal.

South West State’s plans include building a seaport, airport, residential areas and setting up agricultural zones, FSG said in its statement.

“We have brought together strong international business leaders to team-up with talented Somali entrepreneurs to make development in South West Somalia a reality,” the regional president said, according to the FSG statement.

He did not give details about costs or timelines.

The Free Zone Authority’s website offered no further information. The regional president’s office could not be reached for comment.

Many rural areas and small settlements in South West State, which lies south of Mogadishu, are controlled by al Shabaab, an al Qaeda-linked group which regularly launches attacks in its bid to oust the nation’s Western-backed, federal government.

The Lower Shabelle region, which also lies in South West state, has also suffered clashes between two big, rival clans.

Prince, a former U.S. Navy Seal who is FSG’s executive chairman, founded U.S. military contractor Blackwater which drew international criticism for its actions in Iraq. He later sold Blackwater, which then changed its name. (Additional reporting by Feisal Omar in Mogadishu; Editing by Edmund Blair)

[TonyGosling]

Al-Shabaab-CIA Connection
Title: Blackwater/Xe Mercs Arrive In Somalia, Al-Shabab Says
Date: January 12, 2010
https://sites.google.com/site/trutherswitzerland/AL-SHABAAB-TERROR/Al- Shabaab-CIA-Connection

Abstract: At least 18 people have been killed in clashes between rival factions in southern and central Somalia, and there are reports that Blackwater/Xe mercenaries have entered the country.

A battle broke out between the pro-government Ahlu Sunnah militia and Hizbul Islam fighters in the town of Baladwayne on Sunday and went well into Monday, during which at least 13 people lost their lives, witnesses said.

In addition, five people were killed when Hizbul Islam fighters engaged Al-Shabab fighters in the town of Dhobley near the Kenyan border, Reuters reported.

There are also allegations of US-sponsored bomb plots in the capital.

The bombings will be carried out in order to create a pretext to launch a campaign against Al-Shabab, a spokesman of the group, Sheikh Ali Mohammed Rage, told Reuters.

"We have discovered that US agencies are going to launch suicide bombings in public places in Mogadishu," he told reporters. "They have tried it in Algeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan… We warn of these disasters. They want to target Bakara Market and mosques, then use that to malign us."

At a meeting with tribal elders in Mogadishu on Monday, the Al-Shabab spokesman said that mercenaries of the Xe private security firm — formerly known as Blackwater — have arrived in the Somali capital, the Press TV correspondent in Mogadishu reported on Monday.

Blackwater/Xe mercenaries plan to carry out bombings in Mogadishu in order to accuse Al-Shabab of being the culprits in the attacks, the Al-Shabab spokesman added.

He went on to say that the Blackwater/Xe mercenaries have already recruited many lackeys to help them carry out bombings targeting prominent individuals and innocent civilians.

The Al-Shabab spokesman also told the tribal elders that a system based on Islam should be established in Somalia (Press TV, 2010).

Title: Somali 'Cleric Spying For CIA' Is Killed By Al-Shabab
Date: January 31, 2011
Source: BBC

Abstract: A Somali man accused of spying for the CIA has been killed by firing squad in the capital, Mogadishu.
Ahmed Ali Hussein, 44, was also accused of belonging to a sect opposed to Islamist group al-Shabab, which runs much of southern and central Somalia.

An al-Shabab judge said Mr Hussein had admitted helping the US for the past 16 months.

Correspondents say those who criticise al-Shabab, which is linked to al-Qaeda, are often accused of spying and killed.

Meanwhile, at least six people have been killed in fighting in Mogadishu between pro-government forces loyal to different commanders.

Journalist Mohamed Sheikh Nor says Mr Hussein was chained and riddled with bullets as hundreds of people were forced to watch the execution.

Al-Shabab said Mr Hussein was a cleric with the Ictizam sect which opposes al-Shabab policies but the group did not confirm this.

Judge Sheikh Omar said Mr Hussein had admitted helping the CIA find information about those behind the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, which killed 224 people.

US officials have long accused al-Shabab of links to those behind the twin attacks.

Last week, Tanzanian Ahmed Ghailani, 36, was sentenced to life for conspiracy over the bombings.

Somalia has not had a functioning national government for 20 years - al-Shabab is battling the UN-backed administration for control of Mogadishu (BBC, 2011).

[TonyGosling]

NOTORIOUS MERCENARY AND $$ DONOR ERIK PRINCE IS ADVISING TRUMP FROM THE SHADOWS
Jeremy Scahill
January 17 2017, 8:42 p.m.
https://theintercept.com/2017/01/17/notorious-mercenary-erik-prince-is -advising-trump-from-the-shadows

ERIK PRINCE, AMERICA’S most notorious mercenary, is lurking in the shadows of the incoming Trump administration. A former senior U.S. official who has advised the Trump transition told The Intercept that Prince has been advising the team on matters related to intelligence and defense, including weighing in on candidates for the Defense and State departments. The official asked not to be identified because of a transition policy prohibiting discussion of confidential deliberations.

On election night, Prince’s latest wife, Stacy DeLuke, posted pictures from inside Trump’s campaign headquarters as Donald Trump and Mike Pence watched the returns come in, including a close shot of Pence and Trump with their families. “We know some people who worked closely with [Trump] on his campaign,” DeLuke wrote. “Waiting for the numbers to come in last night. It was well worth the wait!!!! #PresidentTrump2016.” Prince’s sister, billionaire Betsy DeVos, is Trump’s nominee for education secretary and Prince (and his mother) gave large sums of money to a Trump Super PAC.

In July, Prince told Trump’s senior adviser and white supremacist Steve Bannon, at the time head of Breitbart News, that the Trump administration should recreate a version of the Phoenix Program, the CIA assassination ring that operated during the Vietnam War, to fight ISIS. Such a program, Prince said, could kill or capture “the funders of Islamic terror and that would even be the wealthy radical Islamist billionaires funding it from the Middle East, and any of the other illicit activities they’re in.”

Prince also said that Trump would be the best force to confront “Islamic fascism.” “As for the world looking to the United States for leadership, unfortunately, I think they’re going to have to wait till January and hope Mr. Trump is elected because, clearly, our generals don’t have a stomach for a fight,” Prince said. “Our president doesn’t have a stomach for a fight and the terrorists, the fascists, are winning.”

Prince founded the notorious private security firm Blackwater, which rose to infamy in September 2007 after its operatives gunned down 17 Iraqi civilians, including a 9-year-old boy in Baghdad’s Nisour Square. Whistleblowers also alleged that Prince encouraged an environment in which Iraqis were killed for sport. At the height of the Blackwater scandals in 2007, another prominent Trump backer, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, praised Prince, who once worked in his congressional office. “Prince,’’ Rohrabacher said, “is on his way to being an American hero just like Ollie North was.’’

Ultimately, Prince sold Blackwater and now heads up a Hong Kong-based company known as Frontier Services Group. The Intercept has previously reported on Prince’s efforts to build a private air force for hire and his close ties to Chinese intelligence. One of his latest schemes is a proposal to deploy private contractors to work with Libyan security forces to stop the flow of refugees to Europe.

Prince has long fantasized that he is the rightful heir to the legacy of “Wild Bill” Donovan and his Office of Strategic Services, the precursor to the CIA. After 9/11, Prince worked with the CIA on a secret assassination program, in addition to offering former SEALs and other retired special operators to the State Department and other agencies for personal security.

Blaming leftists and some congressional Democrats for destroying his Blackwater empire, Prince clearly views Trump’s vow to bring back torture, CIA-sponsored kidnapping, and enhanced interrogations, as well as his commitment to fill Guantánamo with prisoners, as a golden opportunity to ascend to his rightful place as a covert private warrior for the U.S. national security state. As we reported last year, “Prince — who portrays himself as a mix between Indiana Jones, Rambo, Captain America, and Pope Benedict — is now working with the Chinese government through his latest ‘private security’ firm.” The Trump presidency could result in Prince working for both Beijing and the White House.

The Blackwater founder has also endorsed some of Trump’s overtures to Russia, saying: “Think about it: If FDR, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, can deal with Stalin to defeat German fascism in World War II, certainly the United States of America could work with Putin to defeat Islamic fascism. We don’t have to agree with the Russians on everything, or even on a lot, but we can at least agree that crushing ISIS in the Middle East is a very good idea.” Prince described Democrats as “anti-Catholic, anti-Evangelical,” saying the DNC hacks and leaks revealed “the disregard, the disdain they have for the average American voter and citizen.”

Prince has a close relationship with Breitbart News and Steve Bannon, Trump’s senior counselor and chief strategist. Prince has appeared frequently — and almost exclusively — on Breitbart Radio. In August, Prince offered praise for Trump’s candidacy, telling Breitbart’s Milo Yiannopoulos: “I even like some of his projects that have gone bankrupt, because people that do things, and build things, and try things, sometimes fail at doing it, and that’s the strength of the American capitalist system.” Prince added: “We have kind of turned our back on the fact that hard work, sacrifice, risk-taking, innovation, is what made America great. Washington did not make America great.”

In September, Prince backed Trump’s proposal to commandeer Iraq’s 2 million barrels of daily oil output. “For Mr. Trump to say, ‘We’re going to take their oil — certainly we’re not going to lift it out of there and take it somewhere else, but putting it into production, and putting a tolling arrangement into place, to repay the American taxpayers for their efforts to remove Saddam and to stabilize the area, is doable, and very plausible,” Prince said on Breitbart Radio.

Prince’s sister, Betsy DeVos, is Trump’s nominee for education secretary and she has all but vowed to embark on a crusade to push a privatization and religious agenda in education that mirrors her brother’s in military and CIA affairs. Prince has long been a contributor to the campaign of fellow Christian warrior Mike Pence, and he contributed $100,000 to the pro-Trump Super PAC Make America Number 1. Prince’s mother, Elsa, pitched in another $50,000. That organization, run by Rebekah Mercer, daughter of billionaire hedge funder Robert Mercer, was one of the strongest bankrollers of Trump’s campaign.

According to New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, in December Prince attended the annual “Villains and Heroes” costume ball hosted by Mercer. Dowd wrote that Palantir founder Peter Thiel showed her “a picture on his phone of him posing with Erik Prince, who founded the private military company Blackwater, and Mr. Trump — who had no costume — but joke[d] that it was ‘N.S.F.I.’ (Not Safe for the Internet).”

Not even Trump is brazen enough to give Prince a public post in his administration. But Prince is operating in the shadows, where he has always been most at home.

Top Photo: Erik Prince listens during an interview in Washington on Jan. 31, 2014.

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CONTACT THE AUTHOR:
Jeremy Scahill
jeremy.scahill@​theintercept.com
@jeremyscahill

[TonyGosling]

That'll be the one that's working for the CIA and Africom then!