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Blackwater Founder Is Said to Back African Mercenaries
New York Times ^ | January 20, 2011 | MARK MAZZETTI and ERIC SCHMITT

Posted on 01/20/2011 4:31:05 PM PST by Pan_Yan

WASHINGTON — Erik Prince, the founder of the international security giant Blackwater Worldwide, is secretly backing an effort by a controversial South African mercenary firm to insert itself into Somalia’s bloody civil war by protecting government leaders, training Somali militias, and battling pirates and Islamic militants there, according to Western and African officials.

...

His efforts to wade into the chaos of Somalia appears to be Mr. Prince’s latest endeavor to remain at the center of a campaign against Islamic radicalism in some of the world’s most war-ravaged corners.

...

Saracen International has yet to formally announce its plans in Somalia, and there appear to be bitter disagreements within Somalia’s fractious government about whether to hire the South African firm. Somali officials have said that Saracen’s operations — which would also include training an antipiracy army in the semiautonomous region of Puntland — are being financed by an anonymous Middle Eastern country.

...

Mr. Prince, who said that moving to Abu Dhabi would “make it harder for the jackals to get my money,” said he intended to find business opportunities in “the energy field.”

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: banglist; blackwater; saracen; somalia; southafrica

1 posted on 01/20/2011 4:31:08 PM PST by Pan_Yan
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To: Pan_Yan
This needs a The Wild Geese bump!

....best African killing movie since Zulu!

2 posted on 01/20/2011 4:44:37 PM PST by DCBryan1 (FORGET the lawyers...first kill the "journalists". (Die Ritter der Kokosnuss))
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To: Pan_Yan
This needs a The Wild Geese bump!

....best African killing movie since Zulu!

3 posted on 01/20/2011 4:44:40 PM PST by DCBryan1 (FORGET the lawyers...first kill the "journalists". (Die Ritter der Kokosnuss))
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To: Pan_Yan
At least he's not doing it on my tax money. I'll look forward to reading the details in SOLDIER OF FORTUNE.
4 posted on 01/20/2011 4:53:31 PM PST by JoeFromSidney
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To: Pan_Yan

So...Affirmative Action then? This is good, right?


5 posted on 01/20/2011 4:55:50 PM PST by Still Thinking (Freedom is NOT a loophole!)
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To: Pan_Yan
Mr. Prince, who said that moving to Abu Dhabi would “make it harder for the jackals to get my money,” said he intended to find business opportunities in “the energy field.”

But it does affect the political landscape in which he must operate.

6 posted on 01/20/2011 5:21:19 PM PST by marron
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To: Pan_Yan
said he intended to find business opportunities in “the energy field.”

The kinetic energy field :)

7 posted on 01/20/2011 5:24:26 PM PST by Spirochete (Sic transit gloria mundi)
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To: JoeFromSidney

I’m guessing that the EU and UN will threaten to turn off the spigot if the Somali Transitional Federal Government hires them. However, Puntland, where many of the pirates are from, might be more willing.


8 posted on 01/20/2011 5:25:04 PM PST by Pan_Yan
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To: DCBryan1

You must give serious consideration to District Nine. Of course in that flick the natives are ‘the good guys’


9 posted on 01/20/2011 6:03:25 PM PST by STD (** Obama: “They Bring a Knife…We Bring a Gun”)
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To: JoeFromSidney

I subcribed to Soldier of Fortune and 3 years ago, they had a great spread on Christian ex-US, Aussie and UK Spec Ops who were “helping” the Christian Sudanese defend themselves against their muslim neighbors who were being backed by al qaeda.


10 posted on 01/20/2011 8:31:41 PM PST by max americana
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