US Blackwater's boss accused of Crusader beliefs

The U.S. security firm formerly known as Blackwater faced new damaging allegations about its behavior in Iraq Friday after two former employees accused the firm's president of seeking to "wipe out Muslims and Islam" as part of his crusade in Iraq, U.S. weekly magazine The Nation reported Friday.

The former employees claimed in sworn affidavits lodged in a Virginia court that their boss Erik D. Prince "views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe," the oldest U.S. weekly magazine reported.

Allegations made against Prince by the employees whose identities were kept secret also included weapons smuggling and the deliberate slaughter of civilians.

One employee said Prince's company "encouraged and rewarded the destruction of Iraqi life," and claimed Prince used aliases referring to the crusading Knights of the Templarm, a notorious Christian military order known for its militant activities in Muslim lands during the Crusades in 1099 and declined in the 1100s.

"Mr. Prince intentionally deployed to Iraq certain men who shared his vision of Christian supremacy, knowing and wanting these men to take every available opportunity to murder Iraqis," the other former employee claimed. "Many of these men used call signs based on the Knights of the Templar, the warriors who fought the Crusades."

The allegations surfaced in pre-trial motions in an Eastern District of Virginia civil lawsuit brought on behalf of Iraqi civilians by Susan Burke, a private attorney working in conjunction with the Center for Constitutional Rights.

In another sworn statement, a former U.S. Marine who worked for Blackwater said he observed “multiple incidents of Blackwater personnel intentionally using unnecessary, excessive and unjustified deadly force.”

Still in business

The company denied any wrongdoing despite being embroiled in a major scandal involving the murder of 17 Iraqi civilians in 2007 that prompted it to rebrand itself as Xe (pronounced Zee) back in January in a bid for better publicity, while its lawyers have tried to place a gag order on the opposing legal team to stop all the bad publicity.

And just two days before the new allegations were made the Obama administration has reportedly assigned Xe a new contract worth $20 million for private security operations in Afghanistan.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki rescinded Blackwater's license to operate in the occupied country, calling it a "cold blooded company that did not care about the lives of Iraqis."

But the U.S. State Department continued to contract with company for more than $174 million in "security services" in Iraq and Afghanistan in addition to tens of millions more in "aviation services."

"They are a symbol of the occupation. Nobody will forget," said Farid Walid, who was shot in Nisour Square two years ago during the 2007 shooting.