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Blackwater CEO Thick as Thieves With Bush, Christian Right

Posted Oct 2, 07 2:20 PM CDT in Politics,  US 

(Newser) – The CEO of embattled Blackwater USA has deep ties to the GOP and the religious right, beginning with a college internship in the first Bush White House. Erik Prince’s security firm's federal contracts have grown from under $1 million in 2001 to over $1 billion today, and he's made personal donations of $300,000 to Republicans and their causes, Salon reports.

Prince’s father was key to the creation of the Family Research Council, and his mother has served on the board of Focus on the Family—two evangelical institutions inextricable from the current administration. Prince is also affiliated with the shadowy Council for National Policy, where Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld supposedly mingle with Ralph Reed and James Dobson.

Source Salon

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Blackwater USA founder Erik Prince is sworn in on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2007, prior to testifying before the House Oversight Committee hearing examining the mission and performance...   (Associated Press)
In this still video image from ABC News released on Friday, Sept. 28, 2007, one of two Blackwater convoys is seen escorting a U.S. State Department motorcade in western Baghdad, Iraq on Sunday, Sept....   (Associated Press)
In this still video image from ABC News released on Friday, Sept. 28, 2007, a car bomb explosion is seen near a financial compound, shown at left, in western Baghdad, Iraq on Sunday, Sept. 16, 2007 where...   (Associated Press)
When House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif. announced a hearing on the U.S. military's use of private contractors, the State Department directed Blackwater...   (Associated Press)
Members of the US Blackwater private security company fly a Hughes 500 helicopter over the Tigris river in Baghdad, during a patrol 05 May 2004. The US contractor provides security for Paul Bremer, the...   (Getty Images (by Event))
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrives for a visit at the Harriet Tubman School P.S. 154 in Harlem, New York, Monday Oct. 1, 2007. The State department recently directed Blackwater not to testify...   (Associated Press)
President Bush, right, shakes hands with the Iraq President Jalal Talabani, left, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2007. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)   (Associated Press)
Blackwater USA founder Erik Prince prepares to testify on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2007, before the House Oversight Committee hearing examining the mission and performance of the private...   (Associated Press)
Blackwater USA founder Erik Prince, right, arrives on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2007, to testify before the House Oversight Committee hearing examining the mission and performance of...   (Associated Press)
Blackwater USA founder Erik Prince testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2007, before the House Oversight Committee hearing examining the mission and performance of the private military...   (Associated Press)
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Bush "dodges" a question on the lawlessness of Blackwater.   (indianindian23 (YouTube))

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Tags

Dick Cheney  • Blackwater  • religious right  • George H. W. Bush  • Donald Rumsfeld  • James Dobson  • Jerry Falwell  • Erik Prince  • Focus on the Family  • Family Research Council


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