Nation Newspaper Breaks Blackwater Story Almost Eleven Months After Original Story

Posted on August 24, 2008 by | 17 Comments

The Nation’s Jeremy Scahill describes the rise of Blackwater USA, the world’s most powerful mercenary army.

Blackwater in Barbados?
Published on: 8/24/08.

by TONY BEST

BLACKWATER WORLDWIDE, one of the globe’s best-known but highly controversial security companies, has established a corporate presence in Barbados. That’s according to the Guardian, a leading British newspaper and online news service published in London. It told its readers that the United States company, which has found itself embroiled in several controversial and deadly incidents in Iraq and Afghanistan, has established an offshore company, “Greystone Limited,” in Bridgetown.

Source: Nation Newspaper

We don’t intend to bore the BU family by continuing to bash our friends on Fontebelle but when a BU family member sent us the heads-up this morning, we could not resist sharing. The Nation newspaper highly decorated US correspondent Mr. Tony Best has highlighted in his Sunday Sun column today, the Blackwater connection to Barbados. The BU family can have a read for those who are not aware of the connection. It is a story which Mr. Best gives credit to the Guardian newspaper.

What should be embarrassing for the the Editors at the Nation newspaper is the fact that BU blogged about the Blackwater Barbados connection in September, 2007 and we gave credit to the same source as Tony Best, the Guardian newspaper!

It makes us want to hang our heads in and wonder…

BU’s Blackwater Story

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17 responses to “Nation Newspaper Breaks Blackwater Story Almost Eleven Months After Original Story”

  1. Pingback: Nation Newspaper Breaks Blackwater Story Almost Eleven Months After Original Story

  2. Anonymous | August 24, 2008 at 9:48 AM |

    OK, so Greystone in Barbados is a branch of mercenary operation, Blackwater.

    Who is going to hire Greystone?

    Will it be the Government, when they want some special “law enforcement” over and above what RBPF and the Defence Force can provide?

    Or will the big local companies hire Greystone to do security work?

  3. Carson C. Cadogan | August 24, 2008 at 9:50 AM |

    Update: A Private War In Iraq ~ The Barbados Connection

    As usual the Nation newspaper is late with a story. This was highlighted here a long time ago.

    Talk about Rip Van Winkle.

  4. Green Monkey | August 24, 2008 at 11:20 AM |

    Blackwater: “Enough firepower to bring down a small country”.

    Blackwater: bulging biceps fueled by ideological purity

    BLACKWATER, the secretive private army now emerging into public view, is a perfect hinge linking two key elements of the Republican political base: America’s war machine and a muscular form of fundamentalist Christianity.

    Military contractors such as Halliburton and Blackwater are the brainchild of Vice President Dick Cheney and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. A major goal of Cheney when he was secretary of defense in the first Bush administration was to privatize as much military work as possible, ostensibly to make it more efficient. He commissioned a study by Halliburton, which predictably liked the idea and wound up as America’s largest military contractor. Cheney was hired as Halliburton’s chief officer, awaiting the return of a Republican administration.

    When that occurred, Cheney and Rumsfeld enthusiastically promoted privatization, and went so far as to include private contractors in the “Total Force” of the American military, standing never before given to contractors. When Rumsfeld left the Pentagon in 2006, there were nearly as many private contractors in Iraq (100,000) as American troops (130,000). Contractors provided food, fuel, housing and, in the case of Blackwater, heavily armed soldiers with a license to kill and an aggressive attitude.

    Blackwater operated basically without oversight since proconsul Paul Bremer gave it a no-bid $27.7 million security contract in 2003, with immunity from Iraqi law. In 2004, four of its soldiers were ambushed in Fallujah and their bodies desecrated, bringing retaliation that killed hundreds of Iraqis, leveled the city and fueled the insurgency. A month ago, Blackwater guards killed 17 Iraqi civilians, in an incident that has drawn the attention of Congress and the FBI.

    Blackwater soldiers, often with Navy SEAL or Army Special Operations backgrounds, are paid from $500 to $1,500 a day, far more than regular-duty troops. Their image is straight from central casting: young men, tanned biceps bulging from black T-shirts, wearing wraparound sunglasses and brandishing automatic weapons. For young veterans who loved military action but couldn’t afford to stay in, Blackwater offered big money and plenty of opportunities to order people around. Blackwater’s aggressive guards became the image of American cultural insensitivity, sometimes erasing the best efforts of our uniformed soldiers.

    Blackwater is the private empire of billionaire Erik Prince, a major Republican fundraiser and bankroller of several fundamentalist Christian organizations. His private army employs some 2,300 active gunners and boasts a register of 21,000 ready to serve on call. He has the largest privately held arsenal in the country and the expertise and firepower to bring down a small country.

    In 2006, Prince expanded internationally, forming a new subsidiary in Barbados, outside American taxes and regulation, to train foreign forces, often funded by American military aid. Elite Blackwater soldiers have conducted secretive “black jobs” for the CIA or other spy agencies.

    http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2004012110_floyd14.html

  5. David | August 24, 2008 at 1:40 PM |

    Is it not a shame that if Barbadians want to read analysis about the CARIFORUM EU EPA, a good place to go is the Stabroek Newspaper out of Guyana, CARICOM matters we recommend the Jamaican Observer & Gleaner, the stunner is that we recommend the Miami Herald for good analysis of several Caribbean issues as well.

    We urge Roxanne Gibbs to review the operations of the Nation as a matter of urgency.

    What makes our observation so hard to swallow is the fact that the literacy rate of Barbados, which we boast about should be manifesting itself in how our media houses are doing their jobs. Have we become so fat and a slave to the status quo that our educated journalist are happy to regurgitate news?

    A while back we listened to a caller to one of the radio programs lamenting the diminishing ability of educated Barbadians to put forward cogent arguments. He called for a national debate on the matter.

  6. Bajan Overseas | August 24, 2008 at 3:12 PM |

    Is it too much to ask for Bajans to start another newspwer?

  7. Adrian Loveridge | August 24, 2008 at 3:14 PM |

    What is interesting is the company referred to as the subsidiary or associate company of Blackwater was actually registered in Barbados back on 13th May 2004. Registration #23762
    Greystone LIMITED.

    But since then another company Greystone SRL has been registered #803 on 3rd September 2007.

    Perhaps one of our legal/accounting readers could define the benefits of a SRL (Society with Restricted Liability)?

    ie: 3S (Barbados) SRL

    What about all the income taxes/national insurance payments for these mercenaries, which Government collects these?

  8. Keltruth Corp. | August 24, 2008 at 3:39 PM |

    Interesting. I noticed this with another company. “Europe’s Best” has “Europe’s Best International Inc.” with a St. Michael, Barbados address on its products, but is registered at the same address as “Europe’s Best International SRL”

    Escape Artist describes the Barbados SRL:
    http://www.escapeartist.com/library/barbados.htm

  9. Keltruth Corp. | August 24, 2008 at 3:42 PM |

    Source: Escape Artist, Asset Protection Library

    On January 2nd 1996 the Societies with Restricted Liability Act 1995 was proclaimed in Barbados bringing into force legislation that allowed for another form of business association in the rapidly developing financial sector of the island.

    An SRL, as these entities have become known, is neither a company nor a partnership, but is rather a hybrid entity which has been designed to take advantage of the significant benefits that can be obtained by having the status of a corporation in Barbados, if its by-law are so constructed, but being classified for U.S. tax purposes as a partnership. It is similar in many respects to the Limited Liability Companies that are well utilized in civil law jurisdictions.

  10. Chris Halsall | August 24, 2008 at 3:43 PM |

    @Bajan Overseas: “Is it too much to ask for Bajans to start another newspwer?”

    We have. It’s called “The Barbados Blogs”… (wink)

  11. Keltruth Corp. | August 24, 2008 at 3:46 PM |

    Adrian,

    This is interesting:

    ” SRLs do not need to have any physical presence in Barbados, but must maintain a local registered agent and registered office; they are classed as exempt or non-exempt.”

    http://www.lowtax.net/lowtax/html/jbscos.html#srl

  12. Keltruth Corp. | August 24, 2008 at 3:52 PM |

    OH MY …. This is too GOOD to be TRUE.
    Here is what Barbados Govt says about SRls!

    # Tax on income on a sliding scale, from a maximum of 2.5% to a minimum of 1%
    # Exemption from all withholding taxes
    # No capital gains tax or estate duty
    # Complete freedom from exchange control
    # Books of account may be kept outside Barbados
    # No minimum capital or ‘thin capitalisation’ rules
    # Bearer shares are permitted

  14. David | August 25, 2008 at 7:15 AM |

    The BU family can read some more about Blackwater, Greystone and Barbados compliments of the Washington Times. Maybe Tony Best can do a follow-up!


    Blackwater Worldwide, Wal-Mart of modern war
    David Isenberg UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
    Sunday, August 24, 2008

    Say whatever you want about Blackwater Worldwide – and hardly a day goes by when something isn’t being said about it – it does not put all its eggs in one basket.

    Erik Prince, CEO and chairman of Blackwater Worldwide, has built a private security service that has been called the Wal-Mart of military outsourcing. (Michael Connor/The Washington Times)

    Long before the company’s recent announcement that it would seek to de-emphasize its personal security work in the future, it had created a diversified corporate structure. To use military terminology, it is a combined arms operation.

    While most attention is focused on Blackwater Security Consulting, the unit that provides contractors for work in Iraq and elsewhere, there is far more to it than that.

    Blackwater has long sought to be a one-stop shopping center, a sort of Wal-Mart for all the U.S. government’s military outsourcing needs, and a review of its business units shows it has gone a long way toward meeting that goal.

    Full Article

  15. Adrian Loveridge | August 25, 2008 at 8:41 AM |

    Do we know if Greystone SRL is an exempt or non-exempt entity Registration # 803 registered 3rd September 2007?

    And in the interests of transparency WHY didn’t the authorities designate the two types of entities differently, ie: SRL (E) and SRL (NE)?

    IF Greystone SRL is a exempt entity that means it cannot trade with Barbados and Caricom, is that right?

    Does that mean it cannot hire mercenaries who are citizens of Barbados or Caricom?

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