Could be the end of Blackwater/Xe

ARTICLE: Blackwater Said to Pursue Bribes to Iraq After 17 Died, By MARK MAZZETTI and JAMES RISEN, New York Times, November 10, 2009

Depending on how this goes down, it could spell the effective end of Blackwater/Xe. Attempting to bribe foreign government officials, while a lot of other governments do this at will, breaks a key American rule set known as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

One thing to get past the "mistakes were made" shooting, but another to get caught in something premeditated like this.

Comments

[Worth MacMurray]

The legal and business issues facing Blackwater/Xe include not only the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) but also, as a government contractor, various Federal Acquisition Rule (FAR) provisions and meeting the "present responsibility" standard for future procurements. An additional possible factor is that the Department of Justice (DOJ) is increasingly emphasizing personal, as well as corporate liability in its FCPA investigations and prosecutions.

[David Sutton]

To me this has all the hall marks of the same arrogance that led to the crash.

That's not an indictment of US companies but rather the large economies that seem to have written their own rules.Not that I am anti corporation, as GP points out greed can be very good , but only if the company seeking to profit is able to do so in a way that actively engages with a nation state and offers connectivity plus benefits.

The Romans must build aqueducts to paraphrase Life of Brian.But when a large company walks in, takes control, kills people an then starts systematically trying to buy 8its way out of trouble, well that just the start of a bad airport novel isn't it.

Hmmm I 'm getting typing on that one.