Blackwater's Shadier Subsiduary

By Cernig

Over at MoJo, there's a very interesting and long-ish piece by Bruce Falconer and Daniel Schulman looking at Blackwater's even shadier subsiduary, Greystone. Unlike all the other Blackwater companies, this one is incorportated offshore, in Barbados. It might be a tax dodge but it's more likely it's to sidesptep US laws on the export of military services.

In February 2005, the company was inaugurated at an exclusive event at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Washington, D.C. There, a carefully selected coterie of foreign dignitaries and international businessmen strode past armored vehicles conspicuously parked near the entrance. Inside, they browsed tables stocked with military-grade weapons and equipment, including uniforms, boots, knives, and gas masks, according to one invited guest. The keynote speaker was Cofer Black, the former State Department and cia official who, as head of the Agency's Counterterrorist Center, famously promised after 9/11 to deliver Osama bin Laden's head to the White House in a box of dry ice. Just two weeks before the Ritz-Carlton shindig, Black (now chairman of Total Intelligence Solutions) [another Blackwater subsiduary providing subcontrcted intel for the CIA - C] had joined a parade of officials leaving government service to work for Prince. In his speech, he urged attendees to consider our "changing world," the "far different threats" America faces, and the "creative solutions and approaches" required to deal with them.

Black's rhetoric closely echoed Greystone's promotional materials. "In today's grey world," reads one of the company's pamphlets, "the solutions to your security concerns are no longer as simple as black and white." Greystone offers clients full protective details staffed by special operations, law enforcement, and intelligence personnel "for any threat scenario around the world." It is prepared to train indigenous forces "in developing a capability to conduct defensive and offensive small group operations." Greystone contractors can stage mock "red team" attacks on secure installations to identify potential vulnerabilities. The company will work "in support of national security objectives as well as private interests" and is prepared to deploy "proactive engagement teams"�suggestive of offensive forces, not just security guards. Prince's companies maintain a small fleet of aircraft, including Little Bird helicopters, commonly used in Special Forces operations, and casa-212s, rugged turboprops with high-mounted wings for moving cargo or up to 28 passengers. Blackwater also has sought to acquire at least one Embraer Super Tucano fighter�a lightweight plane used by several Latin American governments for counterinsurgency, pilot training, and monitoring. [ See my post here - C] In an early promotional video (see motherjones.com/greystone), Greystone operators, some wearing black ski masks, are shown doing everything from handing out food to refugees and protecting diplomats to jumping out of airplanes, running cars off the road, and landing strike teams on Iraqi rooftops�all to a synthesized drum-and-bass soundtrack.

"They have the ability to do whatever tickles your pickle," says one private-security contractor. "They have services literally from A to Z. Aviation. Special operations. Rescue. Ransom. You name it. If you got the money, they got the honey. You can hire 17 James Bonds with Arnold Schwarzenegger in charge, or you can knock on the same door and tell them, 'I'm a Kuwaiti businessman and would like protection for my convoys between Kuwait City and Baghdad, but I only have half a million dollars a month.' Greystone will take the contract, and they'll hire grunts."

In addition to being a regular subcontractor for Blackwater in Iraq, Burgess said Greystone has also been hired directly by "foreign governments and private sector clients to provide static security, K-9 support, [vulnerability] assessments, aviation maintenance and management, and training." He wouldn't specify clients or countries of operation "due to operational security concerns," except to say Greystone has worked "in various Middle Eastern countries."

One of Greystone's favorite activities is sub-contracting ex-military mercenaries from Columbia, Chile and other South American nations to use in Iraq. They offer far more money than the mercenaries could get in their own armed forces or as security contractors locally - but there have been persistent rumors of hirees being stiffed on their contracts. As might be expected, the sub-contracted folk carrying the money bag on their behalf number some less than savoury characters among their ranks - including one who has now been extradited to the US on drugs running charges and another who was shot in a Bogata street after allegedly swindling the paramilitaries he hired.

These men find the recruits and funnel them back up the chain until, finally, they are deployed alongside U.S. forces in Iraq. The practice also serves as a convenient firewall, shielding U.S.-based companies from direct liability for the actions of their subcontractors. "If a court is looking at these issues, where the contract is signed is a factor," explains Amnesty's Razook. "There is a lot there that would take it out of a U.S. court's control."

It's all very worth a read.

(There's also a mention of Larry Johnson, who was part of an "an investment group that was offered a crack at purchasing" Blackwater rival Triple Canopy when it went up for sale last year". Who knew Larry would be involved in such an investment choice, given his public antipathy to the uncontrolled excesses of Blackwater and other security contractors in Iraq? Johnson is quoted as saying that Triple Canopy and many other security contracting companies are "like a dollar wind machine...Dollars come in and dollars go out, but I don't see how they stay in business doing that." Given their dodgy contacts in South America and elsewhere, I think we can all guess how. )