Lawsuit accuses Xe (Formally Blackwater) contractors of murder, kidnapping, child prostitution
Source: The Virginian-Pilot
A just-amended lawsuit alleges six additional instances of unprovoked attacks on Iraqi civilians by Blackwater contractors.
Three people, including a 9-year-old boy, are said to have died.
Also added to the suit is a racketeering count accusing Blackwater founder Erik Prince of running an ongoing criminal enterprise involved in, among other things, kidnapping and child prostitution.
The latest charges, filed this week in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, bring to more than 60 the number of Iraqis allegedly killed or wounded since 2005 by armed Blackwater contractors guarding U.S. diplomatic personnel in Iraq.
The Moyock, N.C.-based security company, since renamed Xe, earned more than $1 billion under that contract before the State Department, under pressure from the Iraqi government, let it lapse in May.
One of the new plaintiffs is the estate of Akram Khalid Sa’ed Jasim, 9, who died when Blackwater shooters allegedly opened fire on a minivan returning from the Baghdad airport on July 1, 2007. The boy was traveling with his extended family, who had gone to the airport to apply for passports.
The Blackwater guards also shot the boy’s mother in the back as she bent over trying to shield her 3-month-old daughter, who nevertheless was shot in the face, according to the lawsuit. The boy’s father, uncle and cousin also were wounded.
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