Basic situation
Blackwater is a famous American mercenary and security company. 1997 was established by several retired soldiers of the US Navy special forces "SEALs" and opened in 1998. Company president Gary? Jackson worked in the navy for 23 years. Jim, the training director? Silavoski worked in the navy for 22 years. Black water is hidden in a pine forest in northeastern North Carolina, covering an area of 7,000 acres, which is hard to find outside. There are various training venues here, such as shooting ranges, buildings simulating hostage taking, and bunkers occupied by militants. Its equipment is very advanced, and the amphibious forces of the US Navy often train here.
Now, the company's training center has become the largest training center for private security personnel in the United States, and more than 50,000 people have received training. The company has also become a large security company covering five subsidiaries: training center, shooting range, police dog training, air guard and security consultant. Its clients include US Department of Defense, the State Council, Department of Transportation, federal law enforcement agencies, multinational corporations and foreign governments.
Background and development
Blackwater company specializes in hiring retired soldiers and police, and also recruits volunteer civilians. Most of them are in their thirties and forties, experienced and healthy. After special training, they became senior armed security personnel. This kind of work pays well, ranging from several hundred dollars to several thousand dollars a day. Some people can earn the money they earned the year before last in one month. In order to tap talents from the active forces, Blackwater Company offered a high salary of more than 100,000 yuan per year, and recruited some instructors and senior officers of special forces to join.
The family of eric prince, president of Blackwater Company, has been the main donor of the party's campaign funds. Blackwater is keen to hire officials who have served in the U.S. government, including Cofer Black, former director of counter-terrorism of the CIA, and Joseph Schmitz, former inspector general of the Pentagon.
1998, Blackwater Company was founded with only six employees, but in just ten years, it has developed from a small security company with only a few employees to the largest security company in the world, with an annual income of about120,000 US dollars. In May, 2006, in the exhibition of special forces equipment held in Amman, Jordan, Black, vice chairman of Blackwater Company, announced that Blackwater's mercenaries could go to any war-torn area in the world to perform their tasks. At present, Blackwater has 2,300 employees in 9 countries around the world, 20,000 employees are on standby and 20 planes are on standby.
According to US government archives, since June 2004, the Bush administration has paid Blackwater a "global diplomatic security service fee" of 320 million US dollars. Some people think that Blackwater's success, the success of profit, depends entirely on the funding of the US government. "Through war and reconstruction, a lot of public funds were transferred to private pockets, and then they spent a lot of dollars on the presidential campaign." Therefore, the Spanish newspaper El Pais called the four-year war in Iraq a "private war".
Related to the Iraq war
At present, in Iraq, there are 6.5438+0.2 million people employed by private security companies such as Blackwater, which is almost equal to the total number of US troops stationed in Iraq. February 24th, 2007, less than 1 month from the 4th anniversary of the Iraq war. A report by the Associated Press has aroused widespread concern: "The news of more than 3,200 American soldiers killed in the past four years is not comprehensive. More than 800 mercenaries serving the US military were killed and more than 3,000 were injured." Since the United States launched the Iraq war in 2003, it is not uncommon for employees of American private security companies to kill innocent people in Iraq. The shooting of 1 1 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad by the security guards of Blackwater Company of the United States on September 6th this year was only a typical incident that was exposed.
According to a new investigation report released by the US Congress, Blackwater Security Company has employed 122 people with criminal records as security guards in Iraq in the past three years, accounting for one seventh of the number of security guards it employs in Iraq. According to The New York Times, a new report from the US Congress points out that Blackwater Security Company has been involved in nearly 200 shootings in Iraq since 2005. In most of these incidents, Blackwater's bodyguards have no regard for local casualties. The report also accused the State Council of poor supervision of Blackwater, even helping the company to send its "guilty" employees outside Iraq, or instructing the company on how to make peace. It is reported that Blackwater attempted to "appease" the victims' families with money in at least two shooting incidents, and obtained permission from the State Council.
Blackwater Private Security Company of the United States, which was recently involved in the shooting incident in Iraq and caused the deaths of many civilians, was sued by a surviving injured person and three families of the deceased in the shooting incident last month on June 5438+1October 65438+1October 0, 2007. The plaintiff filed a lawsuit in the US District Court in Washington on the same day. They pointed out that Blackwater Company has obtained government contracts worth more than 1 billion dollars since 200 1, but connived at its employees' violation of American laws, which led to the shooting incident in Baghdad in September 16, resulting in the death of more than 10 Iraqi civilians. As the plaintiff's litigation representative, Warren, head of the American NGO Center for Constitutional Rights, said that Blackwater "turned recklessness into profit" and "at the expense of innocent lives". A spokeswoman for Blackwater said that the company had been informed of the lawsuit, but as the shooting incident is still under investigation by the FBI, it is not convenient for the company to express its opinions, but it will try its best to defend itself.