and whipping up shia revolts in the middle east so erik prince seems to be making good on that whether or not it was sanctioned by the obama administration would really require probing from people on in congress and not just the five people that wrote this letter it would require committees with subpoena power going after them and that was that didn't happen even when the democrats were in control so i think it's going to be left to the usual suspects who do make this and regularly and that's case of the neo cons down to bomb iran then i guess our individual citizens will get to stare out the rest they're wonderful at development they're living on c.n.n. i know it said until they completely different topic but it really does look at the situation is reaching a critical mass there and i know you've reported on this issue extensively and i just want to know what you make of the u.s. response so far i mean we saw hillary clinton expressing deep disappointment and sol as if it was some sort of a child and not a dictator or essentially a client of the united states they support it for years

operations i'm talking of course about mercenary forces all of this in light of blackwater founder erik prince is the latest exploits in the united arab emirates there's a lot to talk about here and for more i'm joined by jeremy scahill he's a national security correspondent for the nation magazine he's also the author of this book here blackwater the rise of the world's most powerful mercenary army journey it's great to have you back on the program thank you so much for being with us and before we get to the real news with the an implacable outer quick reaction to netanyahu speech today i mistakenly thought i was watching a twenty eight twelve nomination party before i realized as just his address to congress right i mean he had at least thirty or forty standing ovations depending on who you ask for warmer reception than president obama has received certainly from the republicans but you could argue also from the democrats it seems as we enter a political season here in the united states that you know you could potentially get the nomination for either the democratic or republican party i mea

soldiers as well as british german and french veterans and guess who's in the middle of it all erik prince the founder and former owner of blackwater according to the contract was released to the times the crown prince of doggie is made a deal for five hundred twenty nine million dollars and promises billions more if the venture proved successful and the force is reportedly intended to conduct special operations missions inside and outside the country depend on oil pipelines and skyscrapers from terrorist attacks and put down internal revolts making the possible effects all that more palpable considering the arab spring the take in the middle east and northern africa by storm this year apparently prince has one rule car no muslims as they can't be counted on to kill their fellow muslims so is this starting a new era of hired guns and mercenary armies and is it completely legal here discuss this with me is christopher swift a fellow at the university of virginia law school's center for national security law christopher thank you so much for being here tonight great to be back this is this i

agree and on this program last week talked at length about the sort of legal issues associated with erik prince as the new ventures as you've written yourself his new company what was it reflexive reflex reaction the likes of reactions or are too hard to write hopefully it's not going to the same kind of reflects some reaction that they had an unfortunate tragedy in. all right that was jeremy scahill he's a national security correspondent for the nation magazine and author of blackwater now with the discovery of osama bin laden right under pakistan's nose that country's value as an ally to the united states has come under scrutiny now pakistan has gotten more than twenty eight billion u.s. dollars since nine eleven making it the third largest recipient of american foreign aid that's not a small sum now of course outraged lawmakers on capitol hill have just now discovered that there's been sending all of that money abroad to a country that's not exactly the closest of allies and you know what they're saying no more take a listen thank you stan is most recognized united states does not give out b

erik prince as well. there's trying to persuade local governments to hire and use him so that may have even been the genesis of this relationship and i will die now as to the legal side it's a very complex situation we have a neutrality act going back to the early days of the american republic but essentially says american citizens are not too important. in military matters and complex outside the united states other than in connection with the united states and u.s. armed forces that's the law it has penal sanctions on the other hand us imports member or has been i was selective i always insightful analysis from scott horton contributing editor of harper's magazine now yesterday evening you may have caught a rather interesting collision of two worlds on television jon stewart and miracles most trusted newsman appeared in bill o'reilly show to debate one of the most pressing issues of this country now it wasn't the economy or wars or even the future of this country now the hot topic of that evening was a

recreation panellist forty today it appears that the blackwater is again trying to rehab their image erik prince for longer owes the company and they've turned to former u.s. attorney general john ashcroft for help he's been hired as an independent ethics adviser for the services trying to salvage a good idea right after all the negative stories i think this company could use an ethics advisor maybe even ten of them. but let's also close to look at who is that they've chosen to do the job john ashcroft is really the guy that you want to help you with your ethics let's take a look to ask ross file as attorney general during president george w. bush's first term in office in two thousand and two the justice department advised the white house of the torture of al qaeda terrorist suspects might be illegal ashcroft was called to testify before congress about those minutes but he refused requests to make the memos public and wouldn't discuss any possible involvement by the president which led to a rather lively exchange between ashcroft and the late senator ted kennedy. january ninth two thousand true

billionaire family that they're the heirs of amway and actually they are actually the brother in law erik prince of blackwater fame so i mean if you want to talk about basically run the republican machine in the state of michigan i know they were up in michigan you know exactly and these people are pouring millions and millions of dollars into getting these vouchers schemes passed in wisconsin they actually had the seventh largest pac to nations of any and the entire state where the voucher folks and a lot of people didn't see this coming they elected you know they elected up to a dozen people and these people got in and they're starting to try to expand the milwaukee program which already doesn't work which is enriching a lot of private school. so basically this is just i mean there's an ideology here which has been demonstrated not to work and there's a bunch of hustlers for you know for profit companies that are making that and they're basically getting our tax dollars and making a profit on it and there's a bunch of religious groups that have their own obvious agenda who are also now getting

emirates according to new york times reports the crown prince of abu dhabi is now working with erik prince to set up a private for profit army that essentially all governments in that region put down any pesky reports the kicker this army of mercenaries has a strict no muslims hiring policy at former american soldiers and special ops commandos are busy training hired guns from colombia south africa and elsewhere in a deal that is reportedly given prince half of a billion bucks so far so what could possibly go wrong right where for more on this let's turn to someone who's quite familiar with the shady world of private security contractors horton is a contributing editor of harper's magazine and actually joins us live from moscow of all places scott great to have you on the program i know it's kind of late over there so we appreciate your time as always you know i understand that reinventing oneself is all the rage these days but this isn't the artist formerly known as prince coming out with a new cd album i mean this is the former head of one of the most notorious mercenary armies serving a

emirates according to a new york times reporter the crown prince of abu dhabi is now working with erik prince to set up a private for profit army that would actually help governments in that region pradelle knows annoying rebels and the kicker this army of mercenaries has a strict no muslims hiring policy now former american soldiers and special ops commandos are busy training hired guns from colombia and south africa and elsewhere in a deal that reportedly earns prince half a billion dollars so far so what could possibly go wrong right but earlier i posed just this question to someone who's very familiar with the shady world of private security contractors scott horton is a contributing editor at harper's magazine and here's part of my conversation with him i think we've seen the because it will make use of a major american motion picture if you know certainly every current star themselves and very very deep trouble in the united states he was even yours a name in a number of grand jury investigations that were going on there were a number of prosecutions graunt against blackwater other comp

. >> reporter: good morning, erik ka, a busy day of pomp and ceremony for the first lady. they arrived this morning with prince charles and his wife, camilla, in tow. a private meeting with william and kate just back from their honeymoon in the seychelles out in the indian ocean. an elaborate ceremony on the lawn of buckingham palace. a 41-gun salute and a 62-gun sa leet. the president said his thoughts and prayers are with the people of massachusetts and will be going there on sunday. >> much to happen throughout the rest of the day. what is on the itinerary for the president? >> reporter: he is going to westminster abbey for a tour and to lay a wreath at the tum omb the unknown war yoer. he'll be meeting with prime minister david cameron. the important discussion will be tomorrow. today, he will be meeting with him. they did an op ed together in the times of london in which they said it is not only a special relationship it is an essential relationship between the united states and the united kingdom. erica? >> chip reid, thanks. >>> jeff glor is at the news desk with a look at the rest of the morning headli