Blackwater's Sudan operations ignored U.S. sanctions

Quote: The U.S. official close to the case, who asked that neither he nor his agency be named, indicated that there are differences over whether there's sufficient evidence to support a successful prosecution. Moreover, he said, Xe has improved its export control practices. The official also emphasized that "southern Sudan was a very unique beast," a U.S.-backed enclave within a country that was under stiff American sanctions. Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said the department doesn't comment on internal deliberations. "The Justice Department follows the facts and the evidence wherever they lead in investigations and prosecutions, and will continue to do so," he said. If the renamed Blackwater were indicted under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, it could be suspended from doing business with the U.S. government. That would cost Xe Services more than 95 percent of its business. As Blackwater, that business included protecting the CIA's Kabul station and participating in a never-implemented program to hunt down and kill al Qaida leaders. Blackwater's failed foray into Sudan began as an attempt to branch out from its work in Iraq, which peaked in 2006, where it first gained international attention after four of its security guards were ambushed and killed, and two of the charred bodies hung on a bridge in the town of Fallujah in March 2004. Africa was a new market, and Sudan's Christian-Muslim divide looked to some within Blackwater as a front in Bush's "war on terrorism." Several officials with knowledge of Sudan policy said the State Department and CIA initially encouraged Blackwater to explore providing protection for southern Sudan's leaders, fearing they could be targeted for assassination. The Bush administration promised protection, secure communications and air transport to Garang, the long-time southern Sudanese rebel leader, said a U.S. official with years of experience in Sudan. The promise went unfulfilled, however, and Garang's untimely death in July 2005 caused bitterness among his backers in Washington. A month earlier, Prince had met with Bradford Phillips, who knew Garang, to discuss possible Blackwater training for the southern Sudanese leader's security detail. The two men had met years earlier through their fathers, industrialist Edgar Prince and conservative activist Howard Phillips, both prominent in the Christian conservative movement.