Holland Sentinel on Blackwater author visit

Analysis:

This story is also based upon a lecture by journalist and author Jeremy Scahill in Holland, Michigan on May 19. The Holland Sentinel reporter does state that “Scahill’s book highlights government contracts paying private companies, such as Blackwater, to provide military-type services but not being held accountable by the U.S. government.” However, the story doesn’t provide any details about how there is no accountability. The story cites Scahill twice but gives as much space to a Holland man who was at the talk. No other sources are cited in the story.

The article does mention “There has been an increased interest by Congress about the accountability of the private contractors in recent months,” but provides no specifics about investigation on legislative propsals to create more accountability of these private contractors, particularly Representative Jan Schakowsky’s proposed amendment on military contractor oversight. The article does mention that the founder of Blackwater is Erik Prince and that he is the son of Edgar Prince from Holland, Michigan, but no deatils of the influence that the Prince family has had in far right politics. Considering how much Scahill shared with the audience on Iraq, privatization, New Orleans, government oversight, human rights abuses and the role of the religious right in Blackwater’s philosophy, it is amazing that so little information appeared in this story.

Story:

Best-selling author Jeremy Scahill was in Holland Saturday, on the home-turf of Erik Prince, a man whose company was the focus of Scahill’s book.

The Democratic Club of West Michigan invited Scahill, author of “Blackwater — The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Private Mercenary Army” to speak at the Soccer Stop in Holland Township. Scahill will be at Leaf & Bean, Too 451 Columbia, at 10 this morning.

Scahill’s book highlights government contracts paying private companies, such as Blackwater, to provide military-type services but not being held accountable by the U.S. government. The book also notes Prince’s connections with influential political figures such as Dick DeVos and Ken Star.

“I really knew very little about the mercenary army (until reading this book),” said Jay Payne of Holland. “The American public knows nothing about the fact that their tax dollars are being used to pay mercenaries around the world.”

These mercenaries, via government contracts, were sent to New Orleans in the aftermath of the hurricanes, toting armor and weapons. “The people there needed food and water,” said Payne. They didn’t need rifle-toting mercenaries, he added.

This was Scahill’s first time in the area, but said he didn’t view being here differently than the other 29 cities he’s visited in the past two months, even though Holland is Prince’s hometown.

Prince bought Blackwater, a private security company in North Carolina, reportedly with money he inherited from the sale of Prince Corp. to Johnson Controls Inc.

“The company is one of the most powerful private actors in the global war on terror,” said Scahill. “The government and military say contractors (not Blackwater specifically) aren’t coordinating movements with the military,” Scahill said.

Contractors in Iraq are referred to as “cowboys” and “rock stars” by soldiers, said Scahill. The contractors have better body armor and equipment. Scahill foresees more accountability of private contractors in the future.

There has been an increased interest by Congress about the accountability of the private contractors in recent months.

“Finally Congress is waking up to the dangers of privatized warfare,” said Scahill. Prince, a Holland Christian graduate, was a Navy SEAL. He is the son of the Edgar Prince, who owned Prince Corp. in Holland. The business was sold to Johnson Controls in 1996, a year after Edgar Prince’s death. ?