Blackwater chief makes a run for it

Prince’s seems to be a Western version of Osama Bin Laden. Both men have inherited billions from their families and have private armies with global outreach at their disposal. Now the Blackwater chief is reportedly headed to the United Arab of Emirates. Should the government permit a former mercenary to live there?

Mercenary-in- chief and head of Blackwater, Erik Prince is reportedly moving to the United Arab Emirates to avoid prosecution or indictment in United States. The report comes from ultimate Blackwater watchdog Jeremy Scahill. Almost all of Scahill’s reports on Prince and his company have been authentic and congressional committees on Capitol Hill have even summoned Scahill to testify.

Prince’s plans to move to the United Arab Emirates were influenced by many different factors, prominent amongst them is the indictment of long time confidant and a former president of the company, Gary Jackson. Two other senior executives and founding members of Blackwater were also indicted.  One week before news of Princes’ planned move to Dubai surfaced it was announced that the company was for sale.

Simultaneously, the Department of Defense has renewed Blackwater’s ( now known as Xe Services) $120 million contract in Afghanistan.

Prince has spent enough time in the Washington to realize that the noose is tightening. George Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld are long gone. Not only were they aligned ideologically and politically, their businesses profited the most from the wars they waged.  The justice department under the Obama administration has vowed to vigorously take forward investigations into the illegal activities of Blackwater.  Surely, Prince is going to be a prime suspect, given the nature of the affidavits that former Blackwater employees have filed.

However, Prince’s move to the region could be quite dangerous. In a sworn affidavit before a grand jury, a former Blackwater executive reveals Prince’s fanaticism saying he“views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globePrince has also confessed in his infamous interview with Vanity Fair magazine, that his boys were a trigger pull away from assassinating the father of the “Islamic” bomb, Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan.

Based on these affidavits Prince’s seems to be a Western version of Osama Bin Laden. Both men have a great deal in common.  Prince inherited billions from his family, just like Bin Laden.  Both have a private army, with a global outreach at their disposal, with the ability to shake the foundation of relationships between not only nation-states but civilizations. The premise of their ideology is also dangerous. Bin Laden is accused of orchestrating the murder of thousands in New York and Washington DC on 9/11. The Jamat-e- Islami and other groups in Pakistan openly accuse Blackwater of being involved in various terror acts here.

A senior Hamas leader was killed by Mossad agents in UAE, after which the local government vowed to step up security and protect its citizens from non-state actors. The United Arab Emirates must consider the sentiments of its Muslim population before allowing an orchestrator of anarchy like Prince to reside in the country.