Blackwater was founded as a small company with 6 employees, but now it has become one of the largest private security companies in the United States, with more than 1,000 employees working in Iraq alone. The rapid rise of Blackwater was mainly due to war factors.
After the "9·11" incident, Blackwater's business was booming, its phone numbers were almost exploded, and its net profit was US$1 billion. Prince is recruiting troops from all over the world, and there are many famous people under his command, such as former CIA counter-terrorism chief Kofer Black and former US Department of Defense Director Joseph Schmitz.
The current strength of Blackwater, as one US congressman said, can overthrow the governments of many countries.
According to the investigation of the book "Blackwater Insider", Blackwater has deployed more than 2,300 private soldiers in various countries (including the United States); 21,000 former special forces members, retired soldiers and retired law enforcement officers are stored in the database data, they can be summoned to participate in military operations at any time; with more than 20 aircraft, including armed helicopters and a surveillance airship detachment. The 7,000-acre headquarters in Moyock, North Carolina, is the largest private military installation in the world. Tens of thousands of federal and local law enforcement officers, as well as military personnel from “friendly countries,” are trained each year. Blackwater has its own intelligence unit and employs former senior military and intelligence officials as top executives. It holds more than $500 million in government contracts—not including secret projects for U.S. intelligence agencies or private companies and foreign governments.
Since 2003, the White House has outsourced the protection of America's most senior civilian officials in Iraq to Blackwater. Different from the meager salary of active-duty personnel of the US military, the annual salary of Blackwater security guards in Iraq is more than 100,000 US dollars, and the standard daily salary of private security guards rises to 600 US dollars. As the Times of London said: "In Iraq, the hot business after the war was not oil, but security." Chris Hedges, the former Middle East bureau director of the New York Times, commented that the rise of this Guards heralded Author of "The Final Stages of the Collapse of American Democracy."
On September 16, 2007, Blackwater security guards shot and killed 17 Iraqi civilians while escorting a U.S. diplomat in Baghdad, the capital of Iraq (known as the "Blackwater incident"), causing The world is outraged. The Iraqi government immediately revoked Blackwater's business license in Iraq. The U.S. Department of Defense asked the military to strictly discipline security companies in Iraq. The United Nations also called for prosecution of illegal security companies.
These voices come to an end. And Eric Prince continued to use the words: the behavior was "appropriate" and "in compliance with the law."
On February 13, 2009, in the face of unanimous condemnation from the outside world, Blackwater adopted a retreat strategy. CEO Gary Jackson said that the company would no longer actively seek new private security contracts. The focus has shifted from security services to training and logistics. Their official website lists a large number of training photos. The muscular men and women have calm faces, as if they are just bodyguards who have advanced scientific weapons and training methods to protect the safety of Americans in peacetime. However, their slogan is very eye-catching: “Today’s training is for tomorrow’s challenge.
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