Blackwater Chief Welcomes Extra Oversight
Founder Erik Prince Says Blackwater Guards Came Under Fire In Controversial Shooting
-
Play CBS Video
Video
Blackwater Welcomes Oversight
The founder of Blackwater welcomes additional oversight the U.S. government would impose on his armed guards stemming from the shooting incident in Baghdad in which 17 Iraqis died. Lara Logan reports.
-
Video
Blackwater Under Fire At Home
Iraq is adamant that Blackwater be expelled from the country after a shoot-out killed 17 Iraqis. The security contractor also faces private lawsuits and a congressional inquiry. Seth Doane reports.
-
Photo
Erik Prince (CBS)
-
In The Spotlight
Under Fire
A look at Blackwater USA, the State Department's top private security contractor.
- Blackwater Chief Interviewed
But some of those men are now under investigation for the killing of 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad last month. It's not the first time the company has been accused of reckless Rambo-like behavior.
The man who founded Blackwater, former Navy SEAL Erik Prince, doesn't like talking to the press but with his company under attack, he agreed to do an interview with 60 Minutes' Lara Logan this past Friday to defend his men and reject charges that they are arrogant guns for hire, mercenaries, accountable to no one.
"I'm an American working for America. Anything we do is to support U.S. policy. You know the definition of a mercenary is a professional soldier that works in the pay of a foreign army. I’m an American working for America," Prince says.
60 Minutes met Prince at his sprawling headquarters, 7,000 acres carved out of swampland in a remote part of North Carolina. This is the staging ground for Blackwater operations in Iraq. The company has a manufacturing plant which makes its own brand of armored personnel carriers. There's also an aircraft hangar where brand-new helicopters are being tuned up to transport and defend State Department personnel in Iraq, which is Blackwater's main mission in the war. The contract is worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The company's security contractors, who earn as much as $20,000 a month, have developed a reputation of shooting first and asking questions later.
"Some of the words that are commonly used to describe your guys, at the risk of making you angry, 'blond guerrillas,' 'cowboy attitude,' 'reckless,' 'arrogant,' 'aggressive,' 'excessively aggressive,'" Logan remarks.
"That's not an accurate allegation," Prince says. "Our guys, most of them are decorated military veterans from either Iraq or Afghanistan already."
Asked why he thinks this perception about Blackwater exists, Prince tells Logan, "General misunderstanding because we've not been able to communicate what we do and what we don't do these last few years."
In our interview, Prince was eager to communicate Blackwater's version of what happened when 17 civilians were killed in Baghdad last month. He says it all started with a massive car bomb that exploded outside a building where Blackwater was providing security for an American government official.
What happened next is in dispute. Iraqi survivors and witnesses say a Blackwater convoy opened fire without provocation, shooting and killing unarmed civilians. Erik Prince disagrees.
"Bad things usually don't happen by themselves in Iraq," Prince tells Logan. "Our guys get shot at on an almost daily basis. They don't even record all the times they take fire."
Based on what he knows at this time, Prince doesn't believe that anybody did anything egregiously wrong. "I've not seen…any evidence to support any kind of egregious, malicious, intentional wrong behavior," he tells Logan.
"So, when you hear the Iraqi government complete an investigation in record time, I think, a matter of days and pronounce you 100 percent guilty, what's your reaction?" Logan asks.
"I take it all with a grain of salt because three of our full armored State Department trucks had bullet pockmarks in them. And one of them was even disabled from the enemy small arms fire," Prince says.
Produced By Tom Anderson, Jeff Newton, and Max McClellan
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.


- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- next
See all 222 Commentsmercenary chief who staged coups with or without
french government consent all over africa and
the middle east and the comoros islands specifically.
we americans are so full of our own bull. others
have far more irons in the fire than us, and can
take down an eagle with one blow also. they can
also throw a bull market into a tailspin with
the flick of a switch. like ulysses s. grant,
we take food for granted. the deuxieme bureau
is no piece of cake, and neither is the french
foreign legion. pour quois? s''il vous plait?
merci? mercy.
Why didn''t she give any face time to the victims or the Iraqi authorities or the U.S. military who investigated? Allowing that CEO to claim he''s just an American working for America without challenging him and in fact, trembling that she might "make him angry."
Unbelievable.
Rather than fawning simishly over the president of Blackwater, why not do a real news show?
I''m irate!!!
She basically just let Price skew the entire Blackwater operation into some kind of superhero BS.
Fmr. Blackwater guard Moonen is but one example.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/blackwater_fired_guard;_ylt=Askasx6l5MFKbUsOOQuUAmoDW7oF
Blackwater are akin to American terrorists in Iraq. Rather than seeking political objectives, Blackwater uses and will use reckless and malicious violence to ensure their profit margins.
Posted by l_linnell4 at 08:18 PM
So you applaud Blackwater''s killing of innocent people, and the fact that they are not held liable for any injustices they do, and now suddenly all of America is behind them?? LOL! Who elected you the voice of the people? I don''t remember seeing your name in any polls. However, you know you are always free to literally get behind them yourself by enlisting and taking a trip to Iraq.
No wonder that people in Middle East believe that their life is treated worthless.
The killing was a very serious and should have treated such.
60 minutes should have assigned this to a more seasoned reporter.
60 minutes should have assigned this to a more seasoned reporter.
You''re dang right. What has it come to when we are all so quick to believe people that are our own neighbors are so eager to kill innocent people for fun. Do you really believe that Rudy?? I think that''s really sad. Don''t worry about how many or our soldiers and innocent american civilians die by suicide bombers.
She also did not mention that Blackwater and other mercenaries are not covered by the Uniform Code of Military Justice (which covers American military personnel)or any Iraqi law (because the American occupation government made that determination in 2003.)
Ms. Logan should be doing human interest stories or maybe try out for "Access Hollywood" She''d be great
chasing down the latest Brittney sighthing.
Any fool can go on YouTube.com and see for themselves videos of BlackWater contractors killing people and shooting innocent civilians out of the back of a hummer. You people make me sick.
In listening to Lara Logan''s "nicey-nicey" interview with Prince, together with the following "report" on SuperMax (which turned out to be a warning to everyone that we all better be good, loyal children of the new USSA and the Great Emperor Bush II, or else!), I am totally convinced that Rather was right and investigative journalism is dead and buried, that no one came to the funeral, and it was killed off by Emperor George W Bush, the Republican party and corporate America.
SIG HEIL, BUSH!!!
But hey, Dubai has a Ski hill! Wow, hard hitting stuff 60 minutes. Maybe someday, because of Blackwater and America, every country in the middle east will have a ski hill.
It''s all about the $$$.
Thank goodness I read the Washington Post and know the truth about Blackwater...most of which was not explored by the lame reporter for 60 Minutes.
This story (if you can call it that) on Mr. Prince and Blackwater was the worst piece of propaganda journalism I have ever witnessed on TV. Is Ms. Logan sleeping with Mr. Prince or what??? What a piece of Ka Ka.
As for Blackwater... I suppose it''s a necessary evil but, this story insulted me as a taxpayer and an American citizen.
It seems as of late that the hard hitters are gone and 60 Minutes has continued on a downhill slant for the last couple of years. If it doesn''t get better I''ll be finding different ways to spend an hour on Sunday nights after a good many, many years of being a faithful viewer. And, until I get the bad taste out of my mouth...I''d prefer NOT to see Lara Logan on the program for a while. Have her talk to and learn from some of our past heavy hitters and see if she can improve. This story was just plain BAD!
Uh...what innocent American civilians are getting killed by suicide bombers? How come I have not heard about this?
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- next
See all 222 Comments