KATY HELVENSTON: He did call me that morning from I assume it was from that base that he stopped at. Blackwater sent my son and the other three into Falluja knowing that there was a very good possibility this could happen, says Katy Helvenston, the mother of 38-year-old Scott Helvenston, whose charred body was hung from the Falluja bridge. 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. In one, Man vs. Over a thousand people died because of what happened to Scotty that day, says Katy Helvenston. I called every hour and talked to them for like 15, 20 minutes, and Scotty had been so good about calling me and emailing me, and I kept thinking, you know, he would have called me and let me know he was okay, because he knew how worried I was. Wikizero - Helvenston v. Blackwater Security AMY GOODMAN: Now, he was on television before he went to Iraq, is that right? And the people he had been with in Kuwait City, all of a sudden he was no longer working in that team. The other guys were Army Rangers, and they were all very, very experienced combat soldiers. Instead, the men set out at 8:30 in the morning with just two men per car, each short a rear gunner. Promised Iraqis Justice. Now, thats not unusual for, you know, a lifelong Republican to give that kind of money. I sent them, I think, seven or eight more emails, including one that just said, If you dont comment, youre not going to be represented in the piece, other than what I can find in the media, because these are very serious allegations, and it looks bad for you to not say anything about it. KATY HELVENSTON: Well, apparently he had the audacity to suggest that maybe there was a better way of running these certain missions, in that the people who were subcontracting out with Blackwater would actually survive the mission. His family is linked in with Richard DeVos, the Amway founder who basically funded the Republican revolution of the 1990s. Unbeknownst to Helvenston, this goal would drive a series of events that would ultimately lead to his death. 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. Thats why the company moved swiftly to apply for benefits for the families under the Defense Base Act. Reading this, it would seem that Blackwater has a reasonable defense. In this e-mail, obtained by The Nation, he complained that the behavior of McQuown (referred to as "Justin Shrek" in the e-mail) was "very manipulative, duplicitive [sic], immature and unprofessional." He describes how his original team leader tried to appeal to Shrek not to reassign him, but, Helvenston wrote, "I think [the team leader] felt . Were talking about a groundbreaking lawsuit that has been filed against Blackwater. The insurgents made their own video of the aftermath. mcquown in a sentence - mcquown sentence And, in fact, the first day that they set out, they were so lost and it was getting late that they ended up staying at an army base on the east side of Fallujah. hidden potential 2020 AMY GOODMAN: What about the other families? And there are other people that have talked to Katy and Marc that have affirmed all of this. And so, this lawsuit represents the first whack at the giants legs, and if its successful, it will reverberate around the war profiteer community. If he had had the armored vehicle, if he had had the rear gunner, if he had been familiar with the area He asked. Helvenston arrived in Kuwait on March 18, where he was under the management of John and Kathy Potter, whom he knew from Combat Missions . Corporations are fictional entitiesthey only act through their personnel, explains Miles. Scott Helvenston Net Worth 2023: Wiki Bio, Married, Dating, Family This April at a forum at Johns Hopkins, Bush was asked by a student about bringing private military contractors under a system of law, to which Bush replied, laughing, that he was going to ask Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, I was going toI pick up the phone and say, Mr. Secretary, Ive got an interesting question [laughter]. And if you stop and you think about it, thats the size of some small towns here in America. I couldnt believe I was talking to the man. Since the Falluja incident, and also because of it, Blackwater has emerged as one of the most successful and profitable security contractors operating in Iraq. KATY HELVENSTON: He has two beautiful children, and he was an incredible father. So Donna and I think the check was like it was quite a bit of money. You can read our Privacy Policy here. Go ahead. But on March 12, 2004, Blackwater and Regency signed a subcontract, which specified security provisions identical to the original except for one word: armored. Blackwater deleted it from the contract. I did want to ask you, Katy Helvenston, about the email that we got from Blackwater, from Chris Taylor, who said, Out of respect for the families and the integrity of the judicial proceedings, I cannot join you. Your response? Obviously they concealed a material witness by hiring him and sending him out of the country. Callahan says Blackwater took advantage of the Potters financial straits to hinder the case against the company. So they were to escort these two E.S.S. Blackwater held a memorial service for the men at its compound. He went through the rigorous Navy Seal program at age 17. KATY HELVENSTON: And I had called I did several follow-up calls, and I said, I still dont have that information.. But while the families were grieving, Blackwater viewed it as a profit opportunity. They assumed the risk based upon a number of representations that Blackwater gave to them. He was dead. Its going to be deliberate. Help. Helvenston arrived in Kuwait on March 18, where he was under the management of John and Kathy Potter, whom he knew from Combat Missions. And Im thinking this isnt even close to what Blackwater told me. Company founder Erik Prince and his family have poured serious money into Republican causes and campaign coffers over the past twenty years. However, when youre talking about an assumption of the risk, youre talking about a calculated assumption of risk. We had argued about him going over there, she recalls. Kathy Potter told the News and Observer that Regency would quote ESS a price, say $1,500 per man per day, and then tell Blackwater that it had quoted ESS $1,200. ESS then contracted with Halliburton subsidiary KBR, which in turn billed the government an unknown amount of money for the same security services, according to the paper. is funded by you, and thats why were counting on your donation to keep us going. The GOPs War Against Trans People Is a War Against Democracy, Green Rationales for Harsher Immigration Policies Are Nothing New, Gun Violence: A Week of Response to the Weak Republican Response to Mass Shootings in the USA. Shortly after George W. Bush was re-elected in November 2004, Gary Jackson sent out a mass celebratory e-mail declaring, Bush Wins, Four More Years!! 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. Hes protecting Paul Bremer. But the day went on, and all of a sudden it was Blackwater. There he was. Simply Ernest: Pity the poor mercenary - Blogger The commander responsible for Fallujah was Marine Colonel John Toolan. 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. Can you talk about that a little bit? So they announced there was going to be a memorial service after you made the call to the head of Blackwater, asking for an incident report. And I had actually flown up there one weekend and spent the weekend with them. Altogether an estimated 20,000 non-Iraqi civilian contractors are now working for the United States inside Iraq. But Blackwater was not aware of that. The families were gathered in a conference room, where they thought they would be told how the men had died. KATY HELVENSTON: I called Blackwater at about 7:00 at night. AMY GOODMAN: But you did meet at the memorial service. Helvenston v. Blackwater Security - Alchetron, the free social encyclopedia I wasnt kidding. STUDENT: My question is in regards to private military contractors. Instead, each vehicle had only two men and far less powerful Mach 4 guns, which they had not even had a chance to test out. They were not provided with the six folks that they were supposed to have in each vehicle. And this becomes very important, as Marc Miles talks about, because you have to prove intent. Scott Helvenston, Katys son, was the youngest Navy Seal ever. After the training session, Helvenston got on a plane to Kuwait, where he touched down on March 18. The suit alleges that Blackwater trainer Justin "Shrek" McQuown resented Helvenston and deliberately reassigned Helvenston to the team that was ambushed. JUAN GONZALEZ: Id like to ask Marc Miles, on the day then that these four Blackwater employees are killed, theyre sent into Fallujah. On the one hand, you have the allegations that Blackwater systematically defrauded these men by not providing them with the armored vehicles, the weapons, the adequate personnel for the mission, the opportunity to do a pre-trip risk assessment, etc., all the things that Marc Miles has laid out. He was an extremely accomplished Navy Seal, was popular with other guys, and it seems very plausible that he viewed Scott Helvenston as a threat. 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. Helvenston v. Blackwater Security Wikipedia Republished // WIKI 2 Locations: Summerfield FL, Ocklawaha FL, . v. Blackwater Security is the lawsuit for wrongful death filed by the families of the four contractors for Blackwater Security (since renamed Academi) murdered in the 31 March 2004 Fallujah ambush. It was good money, but it was never enough, his mother remembers. And the email, its incredible, because Scott sort of makes all these apologetics. Justin Timberlake deserved better in the Shrek movies - Polygon Copyright (c) 2023 The Nation Company LLC, By signing up, you confirm that you are over the age of 16 and, agree to receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support. Our Daily Digest brings Democracy Now! He didnt want to give up his gun. He was divorced but continued to support his ex-wife and two children. On April 17, President Bush spoke at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. And the noon news, it had this just all of a sudden it caught my attention, and I looked over there, and I thought, Oh, my god, you know. I was thinking of construction when they said contractor. And a couple hours later, they said security contractors, and I said, My god, Scotty is a security contractor, but hes not in Fallujah. And it all stems back to the point: if these folks had known that Blackwater was going to cut costs and was going to not provide them with everything that they were promised, would they have still done it? Scott Helvenston - Interesting stories about famous people, biographies 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. Justin McQuowns nickname, according to documents weve gotten and to other people who were in Kuwait and Iraq at the time, was Shrek, after the green ogre character, and it doesnt sound like he was too popular of a guy and really sort of targeted Scott Helvenston. This is viewer supported news. Instead of being . MARC MILES: Because what happened here is the issue is framed in the context of: Did these folks know what they were getting into? My family wouldnt let me read any of the articles, they were so graphic. In an expose in the new issue of the Nation magazine, independent journalist Jeremy Scahill tells the story of the struggle of the four families of the slain Blackwater contractors to hold those responsible for their deaths accountable. He said, Give us a map. And they said, Youre going to have to wing it.. People should understand, Scotty Helvenston wasnt even in Iraq for more than 48 hours before he was sent to Fallujah. It seemed like an ideal situation for him, as two of his friends from his days on the reality TV show Combat Missions were helping to run the Blackwater operations: John and Kathy Potter. But he says he was, quote, very manipulative, duplicative, immature and unprofessional.. And I had no idea it was Scotty, but I saw this burning vehicle, and I just said, This is insane. And I switched stations. If you visit us daily or weekly or even just once a month, now is a great time to make your monthly contribution. Since the team was driving without a rear-gunner and did not have armored vehicles, the insurgents were able to literally walk up behind the vehicles and shoot all four men with small arms at close range, the suit alleges. -Amy Goodman. Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License, Fighting in Sudan Persists Despite Extended Ceasefires as U.N. [6] Our tasks are dangerous and while we feel sadness for our fallen colleagues, we also feel pride and satisfaction that we are making a difference for the people of Iraq., The company swiftly rose to international prominence: Journalists were flooding Blackwater with calls, and military types were clamoring to sign up for work. Helvenston arrived in Kuwait on March 18, where he was under the management of John and Kathy Potter, whom he knew from Combat Missions. Its that the United States has opened Iraqs door to mercenaries who roam the country with impunity. 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. 2004 Fallujah Ambush - Ron Paul Forums And they said contractor, and I was thinking of maybe they were working on the pipelines, oil lines or something. tn_author: ['jeremy-s'],
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