Blackwater founder says he was made scapegoat

[unhappycamper]

Blackwater founder says he was made scapegoat
By Mike Baker - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Dec 2, 2009 16:52:33 EST

RALEIGH, N.C. — The man who built Blackwater USA into one of the world’s most respected and reviled defense contractors feels that he was thrown under the bus after serving the nation’s security interests for years.

Erik Prince’s company, which renamed itself Xe Services in February after an uproar over its Iraq operations, has worked closely for years with the CIA, the State Department and the U.S. military. But it became the target of a series of federal investigations and congressional probes, primarily for its Iraq work. Most recently, officials disclosed that the CIA tapped the company to work under a program to capture or kill terrorists.

The 40-year-old heir to a Michigan auto parts fortune told Vanity Fair in an interview released Wednesday that Xe now pays $2 million a month in legal bills. The company is headquartered in Moyock in northeastern North Carolina,

“I put myself and my company at the CIA’s disposal for some very risky missions,” Prince told Vanity Fair for its January issue. “But when it became politically expedient to do so, someone threw me under the bus.”

Prince likened his case to the leak of former CIA operative Valerie Plame’s identity — a disclosure that led to a special prosecutor investigating the matter.


Rest of article at:http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/12/ap_blackwater_founder_prince_120209w/

[peacebird]

1. seems appropriate that someone as egotistical as he should have his article come out in Vanity Fair