Blackwater private military
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Mercenary
Soldier who fights for hire
For other uses, see Mercenary (disambiguation).
"Hired Gun" redirects here. For other uses, see Hired Gun (disambiguation).
A mercenary is a private individual who joins an armed conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any other official military.[1][2] Mercenaries fight for money or other forms of payment rather than for political interests.
Beginning in the 20th century, mercenaries have increasingly come to be seen as less entitled to protection by rules of war than non-mercenaries. The Geneva Conventions declare that mercenaries are not recognized as legitimate combatants and do not have to be granted the same legal protections as captured service personnel of the armed forces.[3] In practice, whether or not a person is a mercenary may be a matter of degree, as financial and political interests may overlap.
International and national laws of war
See also: Law of war, Privateer, Letter of marque, and Private military company
Protocol
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Academi LLC (formerly Xe and Blackwater Worldwide)
last updated: October 9, 2019
Please note: The Militarist Monitor neither represents nor endorses any of the individuals or groups profiled on this site.
Academi LLC is a private military company that was formerly called Blackwater Worldwide and later Xe Services LLC. It adopted the name Academi in December 2011[1] and in 2014 was incorporated into a new company called Constellis Holdings.[2] At one point during the Iraq War, Blackwater was the largest State Department security contractor, providing security services in Iraq and other “war on terror” combat zones.[3]
Founded in 1997 by Erik Prince, a former Navy SEAL who left the company in 2010,[4] the firm has been notorious for various high-profile scandals, including allegations of fraud and death threats, weapons trafficking, and involvement in the massacre of civilians in Iraq.
Controversy
Business at Blackwater boomed after the 9/11 attacks. According to an October 2007 congressional memorandum, Blackwater’s government contracts grew “exponentially during
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Blackwater (company)
American private military contractor
"Academi" redirects here. For the literary agency, see the Academi. For other uses, see Academy.
Academi, formerly known as Blackwater and Blackwater Worldwide, is an American private military contractor founded on December 26, 1997,[2] by former Navy SEAL officer Erik Prince.[3][4] It was renamed Xe Services in 2009, and was again renamed to Academi in 2011, after it was acquired by a group of private investors.[5] In 2014, Academi merged with Triple Canopy to form Constellis Holdings.[6][7][8]
Constellis and its predecessors provide contract security services[9] to the United States federal government. Since 2003, it has provided services to the Central Intelligence Agency.
In 2007, Blackwater received widespread notoriety for the Nisour Square massacre in Baghdad, when a group of its employees killed 17 Iraqi civilians and injured 20. Four employees were convicted in the United States and later pardoned on December 22, 202
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