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Detroit Free PressEx-chief says despite controversy, firm's missions successfulHOLLAND -- Erik Prince, former head of the controversial international security firm Blackwater, defended the value of liberty, self-reliance and action in a speech Wednesday at his home city of Holland's Tulip Time Festival.
Prince, also a former Navy SEAL, was straightforward and unapologetic in describing his view of the country and the role he and his former company have played in it.
The use of private military contractors by the government is necessary and as old as the republic, he said, dating to the Revolutionary War.
While most of the news media attention on Blackwater has focused on controversy, especially a 2007 shooting in Baghdad, Iraq, in which 17 Iraqis were killed, Prince said the company performed 40,000 personal protection missions in Iraq without an injury or death among the politicians and dignitaries who availed themselves of the service. Blackwater employees discharged weapons only about 200 times, Prince said.
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Meanwhile, Blackwater has successfully executed hundreds of missions in the U.S. and abroad, including hurricane relief in Louisiana and the rescue of three Michigan college students trapped in civil strife in Kenya, that the government couldn't or wouldn't perform, he said.
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"We are a nation being bled dry by debt, litigation and regulation," he said.
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http://www.freep.com/article/20100506/NEWS06/5060448/Blackwater-record-defended
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