Mission Control – writing a Harvard thesis

Scahill reported this morning on alternet.org (and now its on HuffPo) that Erik Prince just announced he will leave Blackwater and focus on an entirely different business ( a private equity venture).  Joseph Yorio replaces Gary Jackson (now “former President”) and Danielle Esposito (who’s been with Blackwater for a decade) will become Exec. VP.  AP reports Prince will remain as Chairman but not CEO.

In a letter to staff, Prince acknowledged that the “PR challenges were bigger, more relevant than he realized”. Guess he was one of those CEOs who just surrounded himself with a small, tone deaf inner circle that couldn’t or wouldn’t pass on the bad news: many Americans didn’t approve of the way Blackwater conducted itself in Iraq. (Guess this is the exception to the rule that even bad publicity is better than none at all.)

How the cocky have fallen. First Shrub and now Prince. Not a big shock actually now that OIF is in far saner and grown-up U.S. hands.

A completely rational fear of Blackwater.

WaPo reports that the Pentagon came out with a memo in 2007 stating that contractors not working for the DoD were not subject to US criminal laws.  But the backdoor “save” on this issue may come from this part

contractors for other agencies can face charges only if their work assignments supported the Defense Department.

The Pentagon has said that DoS contractors are “accompanying the Armed Services”.

(Blackwater contractors and journalist Robert Pelton (middle) in Iraq (Danger Room/Wired)

WaPo and NYT are reporting that the Iraqi government will not issue Bwater a license to operate in Iraq.

WaPo writes

Blackwater employees who have not been accused of improper conduct will be allowed to continue as private security contractors in Iraq if they switch employers, Iraqi officials said Wednesday.

NYT reports

It appears likely that Blackwater will remain in Iraq at least until spring, when a joint Iraqi-American committee is scheduled to complete guidelines for private contractors operating in Iraq, officials said. The State Department extended its contract with Blackwater in April 2008, despite its lack of an Iraqi license to operate.

Blackwater response:

Blackwater president Gary Jackson told the AP the company has plans allowing the company to remove its nearly two dozen aircraft and 1,000 security contractors from Iraq within 72 hours of receiving such an order. “If they tell us to leave, we’ll pack it up and go,” Jackson said.

New YorkTimes says the other two WPPS companies, Triple Canopy and DynCorp, are submitting new proposals to pick up the work left by Blackwater. Neither of these two companies had aviation capabilities. There may be “new birds” over Iraq come April.

UPDATE: NYT reports that State has informed Blackwater it will not renew its contract.