When Democracy Now! tn_subject: ['criminal-j', 'society', 'us-wars-an', 'war-and-pe', 'war-on-ter'], Please give today. I mean, thats I knew it was him from his looks, everything. 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. Lay out this story. Helvenston arrived for training at Blackwaters North Carolina campus around March 1, 2004. And she was told that they would have to sue Blackwater to get that information. And finally, about midnight, I just started I started when Scotty was born, and I went through his entire life to some other unknown person on the other end at Blackwater, because I knew he was gone, and at 3:00 in the morning they finally said, Hes gone.. The producer Paul Howard says Bohm merges, into his [] It was a simple thing, really, that kicked off Suresh's career shift. So they were easy to pick out. AMY GOODMAN: And then he was in a Survivor-like program called Combat Missions? KATY HELVENSTON: That exact incident. Lets see if we can screw with Scott. Those were like the last words that Scott Helvenston basically wrote before being sent over there to Baghdad. And only the one person that survived the thing, and the whole team had to survive, so if someone on a team didnt make it through, then the whole team was pretty much eliminated. Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License, Fighting in Sudan Persists Despite Extended Ceasefires as U.N. Helvenston v. Blackwater Security explained And I presume that thats the defense that Blackwater is going to make. He was ranked 12th in the nation in tennis. And I was just literally dumbfounded. Its thats how I work. 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. They got so lost that first day that they had to spend the night in a different camp, somewhere that they werent even intending on going. And when we come back from break, Katy, I want to ask you if Scott felt ready to go out on that day, March 31, 2004. Well, he was a Navy Seal for about 12 years, and he resigned from the Navy, and times got tough. Why cant I have it tomorrow? And I said, Are you going to rewrite it for my eyes only? I mean and I never did get that report. You dont just stick a Navy Seal on a brand new team with guys and send them into a combat zone. About 6,000 of these are security contractors. And like thousands and thousands of people in this war, their financial situation was one of the motivations that brought them to Iraq, where they could some of these guys would make $600 a paycheck in the United States, and they could make $600 a day by going to work for Blackwater or DynCorp or other companies. A Blackwater official later boasted, the suit says, that they saved two lives by not sending all six men. By the end of 2004 Blackwaters president, Gary Jackson, was bragging to the press of staggering 600 percent growth. Indeed, the real scandal here isnt that these men were sent into Falluja with only a four-person detail when there should have been six or that they didnt have a powerful enough machine gun to kill their attackers. This is viewer supported news. 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 . 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. We will hunt down the criminals. The suit further alleges that McQuown intervened and ordered only a four-man team be sent, although six were available, the other two remaining to perform clerical duties. He had two men with him that held Scotty down. These four guys were sent out without armor, without the adequate guns, without adequate personnel, and Blackwater takes it as a moment to say, 'Hey, we're famous now. You can read our Privacy Policy here. Justin Shreck Facebook, Instagram & Twitter on PeekYou KATY HELVENSTON: He refused to even speak to me. 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. He was told at that time that he was not going to be doing security for the ambassador, Paul Bremer, and he was going to escort a convoy of trucks to pick up kitchen equipment. But they assumed it based upon certain representations by Blackwater. Im going to call the secretary and say you brought up a very valid question, and what are we doing about it? And so, I called a really good friend of mine, and they were godparents to both my children. This is what delegationI dont mean to be dodging the question, although its kind of convenient in this case, but never[laughter] I really willIm going to call the Secretary and say you brought up a very valid question, and what are we doing about it? JUAN GONZALEZ: Now, even in the training period at Blackwater, he began to find problems in terms of the quality of the training that was going on? Its Departing Leader Recalls the Battle. According to Callahan, there was a safer alternative route that went around the city, which the men were unaware of because of Blackwaters failure to conduct a risk assessment before the trip, as mandated by the contract.
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