Blackwater Created Cutout to Continue Receiving Government Contracts
March 2nd, 2010Via: Guardian:
Employees of American defence contractor Blackwater took more than 500 assault rifles that were intended for the Afghan police force and routinely carried weapons without permission, it emerged in a hearing of the Senate armed services committee today.
It also emerged that to shed its sullied reputation and win contracting business in Afghanistan, Blackwater created what one senator called a shell company. Senators said that company, Paravant, deceived US officials into thinking Blackwater was not involved even as it laid claim to Blackwater’s past performance to establish a track record. “They made representations here that are wildly false,” said Senator Carl Levin, a Democrat. “Everyone knew in the field it was Blackwater trying to get rid of a negative name.”
Steven Ograyensek, a US army contracting officer who testified, said: “There is no indication that they were part of Blackwater.”
Blackwater has come under intense scrutiny in recent years for its employees’ involvement in a 2007 Baghdad shooting in which 17 Iraqi civilians were killed, and other allegations. The company has since sought to rebrand itself as Xe, and in order to win the training contract in Afghanistan, created a firm called Paravant.
Paravant represented itself as a separate company, even as the training personnel were aware they had been hired by Blackwater, according to witnesses and senators.
wow, you mean to tell me that Blackwater didn’t undergo conversion to flower-strewing hippies when they changed their name? My faith in mankind is utterly destroyed! Haha, like Joe Lieberman really became a Democrat when he switched party’s, Ted Haggard really isn’t gay, and on, and on, and on…same sad story, different day…just listening to Erik Prince speak of his self-entitlement and ideas about his mission being some kind of “God driven crusade” would tell you any name change was purely superficial…
A really smart guy would totally disband and re-org with a completely new front of public unknowns while he worked the background with his network of Christian Crusaders to start giving those multi-mil contracts to the new entity…oh, that’s right, he kinda did, just not as subtle as one would expect…