Xe called in NATO airstrikes, founder says

HOLLAND, Mich., May 5 (UPI) -- Private security contractors working in Afghanistan called in NATO airstrikes, Erik Prince, the founder of contractor Xe, was recorded as saying.

Prince, who founded the security company Blackwater, now doing business as Xe, said security forces working for his company in Afghanistan called in NATO support during operations in July.

Prince, in a secret recording from a Tuesday speech in his hometown of Holland, Mich., describes Xe contractors uncovering a weapons cache in southern Afghanistan.

"When the guys found it, they didn't have enough ammo, enough explosives, to blow it, they couldn't burn it all, so they had to call in multiple airstrikes," he said of the July operation. "Of course, you know, each of the NATO countries that came and did the airstrikes took credit for finding and destroying the cache."

The tapes were recorded in secret and obtained by the liberal news magazine The Nation.

Prince during his Holland speech responded to accusations that his contractors were potentially violating the Geneva Conventions by acting as unlawful combatants in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. He said militants there were "barbarians," adding, "They don't know where Geneva is, let alone that there was a convention there."

Prince rarely makes public appearances. He originally called for a media blackout of the Tuesday speech but later barred reporters from recording the event.