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OPINION: Prince is composed, direct -- and wrong about The N&O(News & Observer, The (Raleigh, NC) (KRT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Jul. 13--Seven months ago in this space, I urged Blackwater's principal owner, Erik Prince, to talk with two of our reporters who had been trying to interview him for years. Blackwater is the private security and training company based in northeastern North Carolina. Its guards in Iraq often have been in the news. We've reported extensively on the company, but after four years of trying, we'd not been able to talk with the top guy. To his credit, Prince took me up on my offer. Last month, he visited The N&O and talked with members of the opinion and news staffs, including reporters Jay Price and Joseph Neff, and me. Prince, a former Navy SEAL, was impressive. He was composed and direct. Anyone who will take questions from Price and Neff for nearly two hours has my respect. But I disagreed -- and still do -- with his opening comments. Prince said that he had come not only to answer questions but also to correct errors in our reporting. "I think we've had a lot of misunderstanding from this newspaper, and I'm happy to clarify what is truth versus lies, slander and downright libel," he said. We might have had misunderstandings, but we've never lied about Blackwater, and we surely have not slandered nor libeled it. In the meeting, Prince and Gary Jackson, Blackwater's president, said our May 18 story, "Blackwater survives rough time," contained three errors: --We reported that Presidential Airways, a sister company to Blackwater, had received a $91 million contract for air charter work in Guam. Prince said it was much smaller. When we provided documents, Blackwater responded that The N&O was "not as misguided as we thought." --We reported that Presidential won a small-business contract for companies with fewer than 1,500 employees. Jackson said the threshold was 1,000 employees. Federal documents show the threshold was 1,500 employees. --We reported that Blackwater, despite huge growth since 2001, still lists itself as a small business. Blackwater objected. It has a point, although so did we. While Presidential has won aviation contracts as a small business, Blackwater has not pursued State Department security contracts as a small business. Blackwater now objects to two recent stories. On June 19, we published the story, "Use of Islamic law urged in suit." The suit was filed by the widows of three American soldiers who died on a Presidential Airways flight that crashed in Afghanistan. The lawsuit "is governed by the law of Afghanistan," Presidential argued in federal court. "Afghan law is largely religion-based and evidences a strong concern for ensuring moral responsibility. ..." It also does not hold a company responsible for the actions of employees performed within the course of their work. Blackwater says we're wrong to say it wants the suit decided by Islamic law. A spokeswoman wrote: "Presidential has urged the court to dismiss the lawsuit on a straightforward application of American legal principles, which require the judge to determine ... what law would apply if the lawsuit were to proceed." I stand by the story. Decide for yourself. You can read it and the filing at newsobserver.com. Blackwater also objects to our June 22 story that said the company had skirted federal laws that block private parties from buying automatic weapons. Blackwater bought 34 automatic weapons, gave ownership to the Camden County sheriff but kept most of the guns at Blackwater's armory. Blackwater says our story was "questionable" and that its contract with the sheriff is legal. Two days after our story was published, federal authorities seized 22 of the weapons from Blackwater. Our story was on target. I'm glad Prince visited. At the end, we all shook hands and he invited us to visit his training facility in Moyock. We'll keep reporting aggressively on Blackwater. [email protected] or (919) 829-4515. Read The Editors' Blog atnewsobserver.com. To see more of The News & Observer, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.newsobserver.com. Copyright (c) 2008, The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |