Jeremy, lets begin with you. AMY GOODMAN: An excerpt from _Frontline_s program Private Warriors, documentary on the role of private military contractors working in Iraq. Helvenston arrived in Kuwait on March 18, where he was under the management of John and Kathy Potter, whom he knew from Combat Missions. tn_articleid: [72445], Now, they were ultimately to get to the other side of Fallujah. We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work. The U.S. attack was sparked by the gruesome killing of four private contractors inside Fallujah. This was not a roadside bomb, it was not any other explosive device. But it just shows sort of the breakdown. Blackwater is scooping up lucrative Homeland Security contracts. And Bush jokes about it. So on March 24 the company removed Potter as program manager, replacing him with McQuown, who, according to the families lawyers, was far more willing than Potter to overlook security considerations in the interest of profits. The killing was March 31. Youre out of your mind. They were standing outside our rooms when we got up in the morning. And it goes through all the other ones. Gen. Mark Kimmitt vowed, We will be back in Falluja. Several other contractors stepped forward, offering to go in his place. So what this lawsuit is about, its about creating accountability for those firms, those private military firms that are working in Iraq, and its also not only about holding Blackwater accountable for these four deaths, but its also about sending a message to the other private security firms out there that they cannot cut costs to increase their bottom line and put lives at risk. By the end of 2004 Blackwaters president, Gary Jackson, was bragging to the press of staggering 600 percent growth. They have no respect for me or the other mothers or brothers or children. Katy, of course, can talk about how Scott ended up going there. Im gonna take care of you. You know, just stuff like that, which obviously wasnt true. KATY HELVENSTON: He was told that he was going to be security for the ambassador, Paul Bremer. AMY GOODMAN: What did he think he was going to be doing? Unbeknownst to Helvenston, this goal would drive a series of events that would ultimately lead to his death. And I think there were ten in all. And then the reports are that E.S.S. Not so, say the families of the four men and their lawyers. And theres all sorts of Scott speaks to us posthumously through his email, and I just want to read from this. According to the suit, Blackwater was gung-ho to start in order to impress ESS and win further contracts. Once the cover boy on a Navy calendar, he also had several workout videos. It was about what happened to Scotty and Jerry and Mike and Wesley. We will hunt down the criminals. And Scott describes how his original team leader tried to appeal to Justin McQuown not to reassign Scott Helvenston at the last second, that this was an insane thing to do. In fact, from what I understand, and folks that we have talked to, they had asked for a map shortly before going out on their mission, and basically the individual who was in charge of handing out the maps said, Its too late for a map now, and sent them on their way. Blackwater founder Erik Prince personally delivered money to some of the families for funeral expenses, and the company moved to get the mens wives and children benefits under the governments Defense Base Act, which in some cases insures those on contract supporting US military operations abroad. And I do want to say we invited Blackwater on the program today. AMY GOODMAN: That was President Bush at Johns Hopkins, answering no, not a reporters question a students question. And five seconds after I connected to that line, Erik Prince was on the phone. But Katy mentioned the name of a guy named Justin McQuown, and I think its important to kind of back up for a second and explain who he is, because its a key part of this lawsuit. On occasion, Helvenston would attempt to politely assist McQuown by offering his expertise on the correct manner of the particular training exercise. We have seen numbers in the range of 20,000 to 30,000 contractors working in Iraq. Kathy Potter told the News and Observer that Regency would quote ESS a price, say $1,500 per man per day, and then tell Blackwater that it had quoted ESS $1,200. ESS then contracted with Halliburton subsidiary KBR, which in turn billed the government an unknown amount of money for the same security services, according to the paper. Also with us, attorney Marc Miles, who joins us from studio in Irvine, California. And I had actually flown up there one weekend and spent the weekend with them. JUAN GONZALEZ: Jeremy, in your article, you talk about some of the contracts that you were able to get copies of, where actually Blackwater was subcontracting to others, but in their contract they deleted certain provisions of the protections of these men, and the men actually complained about it, the superiors complained about it. They were not provided with the armored vehicles or able to do the pre-trip inspection or the risk assessment. In the presentation, called Managing Contracting Risks in Battlefield Conditions, Capace laid out a legal strategy for deflecting the kind of lawsuit Blackwater now faces. Had they been, I sincerely believe that theyd be alive today. Justin McQuown is 50 years old and was born on 11/17/1972.Justin McQuown lives in Virginia Beach, VA; previous city include Joint Base Lewis McChord WA.Justin L Mcquown and Justin L Mcqvuwn are some of the alias or nicknames that Justin has used. During training, McQuown would often improperly instruct the class or provide erroneous information, tactics or techniques, the suit alleges. AMY GOODMAN: What about the other families? Sign up for our free daily newsletter, along with occasional offers for programs that support our journalism. Copy may not be in its final form. They didnt have a rear gunner. Helvenston et al. I called every hour and talked to them for like 15, 20 minutes, and Scotty had been so good about calling me and emailing me, and I kept thinking, you know, he would have called me and let me know he was okay, because he knew how worried I was. [6] And so, what happened is they set out on their mission, but because they didnt have G.P.S., because they didnt have maps of the area, because they werent able to do a pre-trip inspection of the route, they didnt necessarily know where they were going, so they essentially got lost. COL. JOHN A. TOOLAN, U.S. Marines: Contractors were easily identified on the roads because they were all in brand-new SUVs 2004 SUV, tinted windows. While the Iraq war has helped the company Blackwater USA see its profits soar, the company is facing a major battle here at homethis time in court. Full Interview: Frank Mugisha on New Anti-, Former Guantnamo Prisoners Ask Biden to Let Them Keep Art They Made to Escape Inhumane Conditions. He went through the rigorous Navy Seal program at age 17. Help. Locations: Summerfield FL, Ocklawaha FL, . Anyway, there was a safer route that they could take north of the city that would take them about three hours to get to the other side. As they tell it, after demanding answers about how the men ended up dead in Falluja that day and being stonewalled at every turn, they decided to conduct their own investigation. Helvenston arrived in Kuwait on March 18, where he was under the management of John and Kathy Potter, whom he knew from Combat Missions. AMY GOODMAN: And who told them that they would have to sue? Blackwater is being sued for the wrongful deaths of Stephen Scott Helvenston, Mike Teague, Jerko Zovko and Wesley Batalona by the families of the men slain in Falluja. Well, he was a Navy Seal for about 12 years, and he resigned from the Navy, and times got tough. Jane and did a few stints on reality television. Hooyah! While some of that may be legitimate defense tactics, the lawyers argue that the company has actively prevented court-ordered depositions from taking place, including taking steps to prevent a key witness from testifying: John Potter, the man who blew the whistle on Blackwaters removal of the word armored from the contract and was subsequently removed. Helvenston et al. tn_subject: ['criminal-j', 'society', 'us-wars-an', 'war-and-pe', 'war-on-ter'], He is currently a Puffin Writing Fellow at the Nation Institute. When we cover the climate emergency, our reporting isnt sponsored by the oil, gas, coal or nuclear companies. Copyright (c) 2023 The Nation Company LLC, By signing up, you confirm that you are over the age of 16 and, agree to receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support. The Uniform Code of Military Justice does not apply to these contractors in Iraq. With regard to the wrongful death of these four men, that face is Justin McQuown of Blackwater. The company refused to comment on the case, but McQuowns lawyer, William Crenshaw, told The Nation there are numerous serious factual errors in the lawsuit, saying, On behalf of Mr. McQuown, we extend our sincerest sympathies to the families of the deceased. It was clear. tn_author: ['jeremy-s'], He said, Im gonna go over there, make some money, maybe make a difference. They do not deny that the men were aware of the risks they were taking, but they charge that Blackwater knowingly refused to provide guaranteed safeguards, among them: They would have armored vehicles; there would be three men in each vehiclea driver, a navigator and a rear gunner; and the rear gunner would be armed with a heavy automatic weapon, such as a SAW Mach 46, which can fire up to 850 rounds per minute, allowing the gunner to fight off any attacks from the rear. Theyre the whores of war.. And the email, its incredible, because Scott sort of makes all these apologetics. And this Justin McQuown was the instructor there at Moyock, and he was outraged that Scott had the audacity to even suggest that there was a better way. Is it your sense that this is an isolated situation that happened with these men, or are you exploring the possibility that there have been systematic problems with the way these contractors have been handling security? Helvenston began training at Blackwater USA's facilities in March 2004, and developed a personal conflict with head trainer Justin "Shrek" McQuown. KATY HELVENSTON: He refused to even speak to me. And thats the type of conduct at Blackwater that were dealing with. The insurgents made their own video of the aftermath. The man heading the training was Justin McQuown, nicknamed Shrek, after the green ogre movie cartoon character. He was an extremely accomplished Navy Seal, was popular with other guys, and it seems very plausible that he viewed Scott Helvenston as a threat. A new firefighter goes through the academy, is shown all these big hook-and-ladder trucks and pumpers and engines, all this equipment, and then is told to run into a burning building where a family is inside, but is given nothing other than a squirt gun. KATY HELVENSTON: I was in my home office doing research, and I was on the computer and I had CNN on. And they said contractor, and I was thinking of maybe they were working on the pipelines, oil lines or something. HAROLD VIDINHA: The first thing that came up was a camera bouncing toward this SUV, and it went right into the car. KATY HELVENSTON: They said Fallujah, and I said, well, Scotty, hes in Baghdad. Helvenston arrived in Kuwait on March 18, where he was under the management of John and Kathy Potter, whom he knew from Combat Missions. Hidden Potential Official Site. The lawsuit alleges that these men were defrauded, because Blackwater failed to provide them with the basic minimal guarantees of their contract, among them that they would be in armored vehicles, that they would have heavy weapons, something like a SAW Mach 46 machine gun that could fire up to 850 rounds per minute, and its very key. By signing up to receive emails, you agree to receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nation's journalism. This is what delegation - I dont mean to be dodging the question, although its kind of convenient in this case, but never- I really will. And the noon news, it had this just all of a sudden it caught my attention, and I looked over there, and I thought, Oh, my god, you know. Helvenston's contract It wasnt just a compilation of everything that was going on. correspondent Jeremy Scahill. According to the suit, McQuown lacked the credentials of Helvenston and other ex-SEALs. And I called them, and I said, Thats just not acceptable. Blackwater seems to understand money. JUAN GONZALEZ: And this is a series of articles about this incident? The families of the four men, led by Scott Helvenston's mother Katy Helvenston-Wettengel and Donna Zovko, Jerry Zovko's mother, filed suit against Blackwater with lawyer Daniel . As it turned out, Helvenston was slated to carry out a far less glamorous task. This is not even close. Corporations are fictional entitiesthey only act through their personnel, explains Miles. They were told that they were able to do a pre-trip inspection of the routes and be able to familiarize themselves with the area before going on routes. These men were told that theyd be operating in armored vehicles. AMY GOODMAN: You were all staying in a hotel? Find 1 person named Justin Shreck along with free Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok profiles on PeekYou - true people search. And I was just literally dumbfounded. But then, the other component to this is that the lawsuit alleges that this Blackwater manager, Justin McQuown, because of his personal animosity toward Scott Helvenston the lawsuit and Katy characterize it as Justin McQuown resented Scott. Katy Helvenston, thanks for joining us, and condolences on the death of your son Scott. I couldnt believe I was talking to the man. The real problem here is that we have corporate America involved. JEREMY SCAHILL: A couple things here. He was an incredible athlete his whole life. Blackwater was paying its men $600 a day but billing Regency $815, according to the Raleigh News and Observer. The suit alleges that the four men should have had a chance to gather intelligence and familiarize themselves with the dangerous routes they would be traveling. KATY HELVENSTON: That exact incident. Your article, Blood Is Thicker Than Blackwater, appears in The Nation magazine today, and we will link to it at democracynow.org. I would support them in any way I could, but they had to figure out how to get through college. And so, corporate America is primarily concerned with their bottom line. The GOPs War Against Trans People Is a War Against Democracy, Green Rationales for Harsher Immigration Policies Are Nothing New, Gun Violence: A Week of Response to the Weak Republican Response to Mass Shootings in the USA. It was like $19,000-something. And so, did they assume the risk? We had argued about him going over there, she recalls. He did some stunt work on the movie, but mostly he trained the cast of G.I. The suit alleges that Blackwater trainer Justin "Shrek" McQuown resented Helvenston and deliberately reassigned Helvenston to the team that was ambushed . Shortly after entering the city, they get stuck in traffic, and their small convoy is ambushed. For its part, Blackwater is represented by multiple law firms. At our rooms. Thats whats very upsetting. His mother says he took the job with Blackwater because the company offered short-term, two-month contracts, and Scott viewed it as an opportunity to turn his life around. The original contract between Blackwater/Regency and ESS, obtained by The Nation, recognized that the current threat in the Iraqi theater of operations would remain consistent and dangerous, and called for a minimum of three men in each vehicle on security missions with a minimum of two armored vehicles to support ESS movements. [Emphasis added.]. Unfortunately, what they didnt know was that there was a much safer route that took them around the north side of Fallujah. And so, Scotty got over to the Middle East, and he was in Kuwait City for about a week, and then he was sent up to Baghdad, and all of a sudden, this same guy, Justin McQuown is Scotts boss. Attorney Marc Miles says that shortly after the suit was filed, he asked the court in North Carolina for an expedited order to depose John Potter. Helvenston arrived in Kuwait on March 18, where he was under the management of John and Kathy Potter, whom he knew from Combat Missions . We will not be intimidated, he said. Lets see if we can screw with Scott. In addition, the paper reports, Blackwater billed Regency separately for all its overhead and costs in Iraq. Regency would then bill ESS an unknown amount for these services. KATY HELVENSTON: Well, apparently he had the audacity to suggest that maybe there was a better way of running these certain missions, in that the people who were subcontracting out with Blackwater would actually survive the mission. Did you have luck getting Blackwater responding? The suit alleges that Blackwater trainer Justin "Shrek" McQuown resented Helvenston and deliberately reassigned Helvenston to the team that was ambushed. This was not done, according to Miles, so as to pad Blackwaters bottom line and to impress ESS with Blackwaters efficiency in order to win more contracts. About 6,000 of these are security contractors. is a 501(c)3 non-profit news organization. He is the writer, with David Riker, and a producer of the documentary feature filmDirty Wars, released by IFC Films in 2013. It was the event that sparked the U.S. siege of Fallujah, in which hundreds and hundreds of Iraqis were killed, many of them who had nothing to do with this whatsoever women, children, others. Erik Prince, himself, for this piece I worked with the Center for Public Integrity, and we put together a profile of Erik Princes familys political contributions. Later that night, according to Scotts mother, McQuown came up to Helvenstons hotel room. The suit alleges that Blackwater trainer Justin " Shrek " McQuown resented Helvenston and deliberately reassigned Helvenston to the team that was ambushed. And the people he had been with in Kuwait City, all of a sudden he was no longer working in that team. And Donna, she misunderstood where this money was coming from. And so, then I started I had never read any articles. Now, imagine that every person in that small town in America has guns and is running around with weapons. So the next morning they were off.. Hooyah!!. McQuown And Scotty finally went to casting, and he said, This guy is just not going to work, because he will not get in the water. So, Scotty did play a small role. The families of four private security contractors killed in Fallujah in March 2004 have filed a ground-breaking lawsuit charging Blackwater USA with fraud and wrongful death. tn_pos: 'rectangle_1', Scott was tall, tan and chiseled and, by all accounts, a model soldier and athlete. MARTIN SMITH: By the time the press arrived, a mob had set the cars on fire. JEREMY SCAHILL: I was very diligent in trying to get Blackwater to make any comment. The Zovko family asked Blackwater to see the After Action Report detailing the incident. We will finish the job. Brig. But first we begin by going back to March 31 2004 the day Scott Helvenston and three other Blackwater contractors drove into Fallujah. tn_loc:'atf' We speak with Jeremy Scahill as well as Katy Helvenston, the mother of Scott Helvenston who was killed in Fallujah, and the attorney in the case, Marc Miles. What theyre trying to do is to say, Lookwe can do anything we want and not be held accountable. Now, back in the United States, these killings were taken as a threat or a challenge to Americas resolve in the White House and immediately became a sort of turning point in the war. Helvenston arrived in Kuwait on March 18, where he was under the management of John and Kathy Potter, whom he knew from Combat Missions. None of that was true, says attorney Callahan. MARC MILES: I wouldnt be surprised if there are other incidents like this. These men and women are never included in the death tolls provided by the Pentagon or reported on in the media. AMY GOODMAN: Jeremy Scahill, unfortunately, we were not able to get Blackwater on, writing us the letter and saying no. I sent them, I think, seven or eight more emails, including one that just said, If you dont comment, youre not going to be represented in the piece, other than what I can find in the media, because these are very serious allegations, and it looks bad for you to not say anything about it. Ill be home soon. He said, Im going to spoil you. And, you know, he was already dead by the time I got that. And by the end of the year, the companys president, Gary Jackson, was bragging of what he called a staggering 600% growth, and so Blackwaters prospects were very, very strong while the families were grieving. KATY HELVENSTON: In the rooms on the balcony, because we had gotten so paranoid, we thought maybe the rooms were tapped or something. COL. JOHN A. TOOLAN: Unfortunately, it was going out on CNN. tn_keyword: ['academi', 'security-c'], Can you talk about that a little bit? Im going to call the secretary and say you brought up a very valid question, and what are we doing about it? They have no values, they have no morals. Scotty had tried to call me in the middle of the night, Katy Helvenston remembers. JEREMY SCAHILL: Right. For most people, the gruesome killings were the first they had ever heard of Blackwater USA, a small, North Carolina-based private security company. has denied any relationship to this and wont talk about it anymore. One of the people profiled in the story is Katy Helvenston, the mother of 38-year-old Scott Helvenston, who was killed on that day in Fallujah. Lay out this story. And Im thinking this isnt even close to what Blackwater told me. KATY HELVENSTON: Yeah. KATY HELVENSTON: I was told that its unheard of. is funded by you, and thats why were counting on your donation to keep us going. The men got lost on the evening of March 30 and eventually found a Marine base near Falluja where they slept for a few hours. Were joined by Jeremy Scahill, who did the piece for The Nation magazine, out today, Blood Is Thicker Than Blackwater, appearing in the new issue; Katy Helvenston with us, mother of Scott Helvenston - today, she is speaking out in a national broadcast live for the first time -; and Marc Miles, attorney for the families of the four men, the Blackwater contractors killed in Fallujah. KATY HELVENSTON: Yeah. President Bush issued a statement through his spokesperson. The fact that these four Americans found themselves located in the high-risk, war-torn City of Fallujah without armored vehicles, automatic weapons, and fewer than the minimum number of team members was no accident, the suit alleges. The deposition was set for January 28, 2005, and Miles was to fly to Alaska, where the Potters were living. Helvenston began training at Blackwater USA's facilities in March 2004, and developed a personal conflict with head trainer Justin "Shrek" McQuown. Go ahead. ease arkansas phone number The fact that [McQuown]was being exposed infuriated him. Scotts mother believes, based on Scotts e-mails and conversations with contractors who served with her son, that McQuown feared that Scott might replace him at the company. They say Blackwater refused to redraft the contract. Its thats how I work. For Reprints and Permissions, click here. Blackwater has fought to have the case dismissed by claiming that all liability lies not with the company but the U.S. government. Im driven and Im not going to quit. According to Department of Labor statistics, at least 425 U.S. civilians have died in Iraq including at least 22 Blackwater contractors. This month marks the two-year anniversary of the first US siege of Fallujah, in which at least 600 Iraqis were killed.
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