| | |  Americas & Beyond 
Blackwater Goes on the Block
 Doug Thompson - Capitol Hill Blue
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June 08, 2010
| | Erik Prince: A mercenary gives up | |
The North Carolina-based mercenary firm formerly known as Blackwater USA is throwing in the towel.
Owner-founder Erik Prince says the company is for sale.
“Performance doesn’t matter in Washington, just politics,” Prince said in a statement.
The company, now known as Xe Services, provided security guards and other mercenary services to the U.S. government in Iraq, Afghanistan and other hot spots in the world. The massacre of Iraqi civilians in 2007 led to federal charges against the hired guns. A judge later threw out the charges, saying prosecutors mishandled evidence.
Prince and others have also been under federal investigation for purported threats against whistle blowers in the operation.
The company’s controversial behavior led Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Leven to urge the Pentagon to ban Xe from a $1 billion deal to train Afghan police.
Prince, a former Navy SEAL, was a heavy contributor to the Presidential campaign of George W. Bush. The administration repaid the favor by awarding the company exclusive “no bid” contracts to guard State Department personnel in Iraq.
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