He swam like a fish. !, The White House, for its part, has turned the issue of accountability of Blackwater and other private security companies into a joke, literally. has denied any relationship to this and wont talk about it anymore. navy seal scott helvenston death video - indigocreativity.com And Im reading these articles, and all of a sudden . In fact, Blackwaters then-general counsel, Steve Capace, gave a workshop last May on the subject to an International Super-Conference for contractors. He was an incredible athlete his whole life. Blackwater was paying its men $600 a day but billing Regency $815, according to the Raleigh News and Observer. And this Justin McQuown was the instructor there at Moyock, and he was outraged that Scott had the audacity to even suggest that there was a better way. The suit further alleges that McQuown intervened and ordered only a four-man team be sent, although six were available, the other two remaining to perform clerical duties. Helvenston began training at Blackwater USA's facilities in March 2004, and developed a personal conflict with head trainer Justin "Shrek" McQuown. It goes through multiple hands, at least three or four layers per contract. I mean, Scotty excelled at anything he attempted, and he always had to be the best. And I said, What do you mean you dont know? And they said, We dont know. And I said, Well, dont you know where your employees are? And they said, Not really., And I was on the phone. He believed in what he was doing. He also had a financial motivation. Donna got so mad, she just tore up the check and threw it at Erik Prince, and I thought, You go, girl! But weve never gotten the report, obviously. So, essentially, they had G.P.S. The killing was March 31. JUAN GONZALEZ: And this is a series of articles about this incident? The man heading the training was Justin McQuown, nicknamed Shrek, after the green ogre movie cartoon character. The suit alleges that Blackwater trainer Justin "Shrek" McQuown resented Helvenston and deliberately reassigned Helvenston to the team that was ambushed. slotId: "thenation_right_rail_72445", He is currently a Puffin Writing Fellow at the Nation Institute. Before Helvenston, Teague, Zovko and Batalona were ever sent into Falluja, the omission of the word armored was brought to the attention of Blackwater management by John Potter, according to the families lawyers. is funded by you, and thats why were counting on your donation to keep us going. On April 17, President Bush spoke at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. AMY GOODMAN: Did they say it was Fallujah? I called every hour and talked to them for like 15, 20 minutes, and Scotty had been so good about calling me and emailing me, and I kept thinking, you know, he would have called me and let me know he was okay, because he knew how worried I was. And Scotty finally went to casting, and he said, This guy is just not going to work, because he will not get in the water. So, Scotty did play a small role. And the guard that was in charge of me, I said, You know, you really need to do something about these helicopters. You know, and he left for a minute or two, and finally the helicopters went away. And to understand what all of these shortcomings that day resulted in, you have to go back to March 31, 2004, and actually Marc Miles, the lawyer, can talk about some things that happened before that, as well. KATY HELVENSTON: I was given a number. After the killings, Katy Helvenston joined the families of Mike Teague, Jerko Zovko and Wesley Batalona in grieving and in seeking details about the incident. And so, literally, the people that killed them were able to walk up and open fire on them. Hidden Potential Official Site. We can send our men out to die so that we can pad our bottom line, and if anybody comes back at us, we have insurance. Its essentially insurance to kill.. They could have easily traveled this route in a single day, and it would have been extremely less dangerous. (In fact, the suit contends that Blackwater fabricated critical documents and created a pre-trip risk assessment after this deadly ambush occurred.), The men entered Falluja with Helvenston and Teague in one vehicle and Zovko and Batalona in the other. Trumps Blackwater Pardons Took It Away. And then you are sending them in undermanned. KATY HELVENSTON: I think thats total garbage. STUDENT: My question is in regards to private military contractors. Democracy Now! We rely on contributions from you, our viewers and listeners to do our work. Without the big gun, without the third man, without the armored vehicle, they were sitting ducks, says Callahan. AMY GOODMAN: Were you all in the same hotel? Justin Timberlake voices King Arthur, Fiona's distant cousin and next in line for the throne of Far Far Away after Shrek (who understandably just wants to return to his swamp). v. Blackwater Security is the lawsuit for wrongful death filed by the families of the four contractors for Blackwater Security (since renamed Academi ) murdered in the 31 March 2004 Fallujah ambush. Theyre the whores of war.. It was like $19,000-something. He reported . [Blackwater] then flew him to Jordan for ultimate deployment in the Middle East, Miles says. They said Blackwater.. They were told that they were able to do a pre-trip inspection of the routes and be able to familiarize themselves with the area before going on routes. The suit alleges that there were six guards available that day, but McQuown intervened and ordered only the four to be sent. mcquown in a sentence - mcquown sentence And I had turned off the ringer on my bedroom phone, and he left this message, and he said, Mom, Im okay. The U.S. attack was sparked by the gruesome killing of four private contractors inside Fallujah. According to Department of Labor statistics, at least 425 U.S. civilians have died in Iraq including at least 22 Blackwater contractors. And so, what happened is they set out on their mission, but because they didnt have G.P.S., because they didnt have maps of the area, because they werent able to do a pre-trip inspection of the route, they didnt necessarily know where they were going, so they essentially got lost. Anyway, there was a safer route that they could take north of the city that would take them about three hours to get to the other side. I believe that we should have gone into Afghanistan, but I never believed we should have gone into Iraq, and Scott bought the whole story about Saddam Hussein being involved with Al Qaeda and all that. This is life and death were talking about here, and as Marc Miles says, the commodity that Blackwater deals in is human beings. PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: Yeah, I appreciate that very much. KATY HELVENSTON: It was probably 24, maybe 30-some hours before he was murdered. Blood is Thicker Than Blackwater - Alternet.org Blackwater, in turn, was billing a Kuwaiti company more than $800 for Scott Helvenstons services, and then that Kuwaiti company, in turn, billed a Cypriot company called E.S.S., which was the company that provides catering services to military operations, basically the U.S. military bases. And so, what happened that particular day from the evidence that Ive accumulated is that they were basically told to escort three flatbed trucks, which I understand were going to pick up some kitchen equipment, far different from what Scott Helvenston had understood, that he would be guarding an ambassador. KATY HELVENSTON: Yes, and Mark Burnett produced that movie. In an expose in the new issue of the Nation magazine, independent journalist Jeremy Scahill tells the story of the struggle of the four families of the slain Blackwater contractors to hold those responsible for their deaths accountable. KATY HELVENSTON: He refused to even speak to me. COL. JOHN A. TOOLAN: Unfortunately, it was going out on CNN. Gen. Mark Kimmitt vowed, We will be back in Falluja. AMY GOODMAN: What did he think he was going to be doing? I was thinking of construction when they said contractor. And a couple hours later, they said security contractors, and I said, My god, Scotty is a security contractor, but hes not in Fallujah. Instead, the men set out at 8:30 in the morning with just two men per car, each short a rear gunner. When less business is being done, and you have more time on your hands, we wanted to bring something positive to your . And Scott says, Youre nuts, you know, he says, Im not goin in there to Falluja. We had argued about him going over there, she recalls. Regards, Chris Taylor of Blackwater.. We do not accept funding from advertising, underwriting or government agencies. But today, Blackwater is facing a potentially devastating battlethis time not in Iraq but in court. And I presume that thats the defense that Blackwater is going to make. Theyre angrytheyre saying, Let me go over,' Blackwater spokesman Chris Bertelli told the Virginian-Pilot ten days after the killings, adding that applications to work for Blackwater had increased considerably in that time. The suit further alleges that McQuown intervened and ordered only a four-man team be sent, although six were available, the other two remaining to perform clerical duties. And this is something that I actually think Marc Miles would be very good on, but just in short, in studying this case, you sort of look at the pyramid scheme that exists in these war zones, where Blackwater is paying these guys $600. AMY GOODMAN: When was it after the killing? Blackwater seems to understand money. President Bush issued a statement through his spokesperson. JEREMY SCAHILL: Per day. Scotty chose Blackwater, because they had a two-month contract, and he could be back home. When Helvenston set off for the Middle East, his family thought he was going to be working on Blackwaters high-profile job of guarding the head of the US occupation, Paul Bremer. The fact that these four Americans found themselves located in the high-risk, war-torn City of Fallujah without armored vehicles, automatic weapons, and fewer than the minimum number of team members was no accident, the suit alleges. But they had put all of the news stuff in a closet, and I pulled it out, and I got the names of the other three families. There was a local minister that spoke, and then Erik Prince spoke. Sign up for our free daily newsletter, along with occasional offers for programs that support our journalism. AMY GOODMAN: What about the other families? The suit alleges that the four men should have had a chance to gather intelligence and familiarize themselves with the dangerous routes they would be traveling. KATY HELVENSTON: It was a brand-new area. KATY HELVENSTON: And I had called I did several follow-up calls, and I said, I still dont have that information.. It mostly was, Mom, please dont worry, Im OK. Im gonna be home soon and Im gonna see ya. The Zovko family asked Blackwater to see the After Action Report detailing the incident. You know, I need to meet with these people.. The suit further alleges that McQuown intervened and ordered only a four-man team be sent, although six were available, the other two remaining to perform clerical duties. Its a well-connected, Republican-controlled business that has made its fortune because of the Bush Administration. Blackwater had told all of us that none of us wanted to communicate with each other. Domination, Sing Your Song: Remembering Harry Belafonte, Who Used His Stardom to Help. When they took that word armored out, Blackwater was able to save $1.5 million in not buying armored vehicles, which they could then put in their pocket, says attorney Miles. If he had had the armored vehicle, if he had had the rear gunner, if he had been familiar with the area He asked. Altogether an estimated 20,000 non-Iraqi civilian contractors are now working for the United States inside Iraq. Corporations are fictional entitiesthey only act through their personnel, explains Miles. You need to show intent. It was one of these reality TV things. JEREMY SCAHILL: I think, just in closing, you know, this is such an incredible tragedy, and whats clear from this the allegations in this lawsuit is that it really appears like it was preventable.
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