Blackwater
From Bwtm
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Covert Canyon
Canyon shooting range gains planners' OK; concerns remain
County has prohibited such training on site http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080126/news_1m26covert.html
War Profit
Nobody should profit from war.
In any military conflict the US should be represented by US MIlitary personnel, not hired mercenaries.
US Troops should always be supported before paying hired mercenaries.
Even down to the troop level, profit should not be a motive for service.
If necessary, there should be a national draft or better there should compulsory national service.
news links
Blackwater bid is withdrawn. Security-training camp won't be built in Potrero. http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080308/news_1n8black.html
Vote unlikely to shut out Blackwater http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20071213-9999-1m13recall.html
Disputed in Iraq, Blackwater Now Splits California Town http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/11/us/11blackwater.html?_r=1&ref=us&oref=slogin
Brothers, Bad Blood and the Blackwater Tangle http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/17/us/17brothers.html?ref=world
‘Mercenary Is a Slanderous Term’ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21274130/site/newsweek/page/0/
Building Blackwater Founder Seeks 'Better, Smarter, Faster' Security As History, Iraq Shape the Firm's Fortunes http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2007/10/12/ST2007101202550.html?hpid=artslot http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2007/10/13/GR2007101300221.html?hpid=artslot http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2007/10/13/GR2007101300230.html?hpid=artslot http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/world/special/9/index.html?hpid=artslot
Five members of the Potrero planning group were voted off the panel Tuesday night in a recall election
Five members of the Potrero planning group were voted off the panel Tuesday night in a recall election that served as a symbolic referendum on a controversial training camp proposed by Blackwater Worldwide. The five incumbents all supported the proposed facility.
As the five were ousted, five candidates on an anti-Blackwater slate were voted in to replace the incumbents on the rural town's planning group.
“It should send a loud and clear message that Potrero does not want Blackwater in the community,” said Carl Meyer, a leader in the recall campaign and an anti-Blackwater candidate.
The incumbents will leave office next month.
The Blackwater proposal has divided the tiny community near the U.S.-Mexico border in East County. Many say the law enforcement training camp would result in more noise and traffic, while a smaller contingent of supporters says it would bring jobs and a greater police presence.
The vote received national attention because of the underlying political debate about Blackwater's role as a military contractor in Iraq, particularly in light of the shooting deaths of 17 Iraqi civilians in September by Blackwater guards in Baghdad.
Planning groups are advisory bodies that make recommendations to county officials on land-use issues. The county Board of Supervisors will make the ultimate decision on Blackwater's proposal.
Brian Bonfiglio, a Blackwater vice president, said the recall would not affect the company's plans in Potrero. He said company executives in North Carolina whom he talked to yesterday had no interest in the recall.
“I don't care one way or the other,” Bonfiglio said.
He said opponents should wait until an environmental report is released early next year before deciding what effect the project would have on the community.
Members of the county Registrar of Voters Office counted ballots last night, a process observed by the candidates, reporters and activists. The election was held by mail, although the registrar's office also allowed residents to turn in ballots yesterday at the Potrero General Store.
Martha Preciado was one of two residents who turned in their ballots at the store yesterday morning.
“I'm against Blackwater, and all the people I've spoken to are against it,” she said. Planning group members Gordon Hammers; Thell Fowler; Jerry Johnson; his wife, Mary Johnson; and Janet Wright lost their seats on the board. They were replaced by five candidates who oppose Blackwater: Meyer, Terry Stephens, Janet Goode, William Crawley IV and Tina McCunney.
Three other candidates who favor Blackwater's proposal failed in their quest for a seat on the board: Anita Meneses, Brenda Wise and Edward Boryla.
The nine-member board had voted its support for Blackwater's project last December. As word of the project spread and opposition grew, Meyer and other community members gathered enough signatures for the recall election.
Three members of the Potrero planning group were removed from their seats in the spring when officials determined they were never properly appointed. County Supervisor Dianne Jacob has said she will make those appointments after the recall election.
Planning group member Jan Hedlun, who took office in January, is the only member who opposes Blackwater and was not a recall target.
The unofficial tallies: Should Jerry Johnson be recalled?: Yes – 187; No – 93
Should Terry Stephens succeed?: Yes – 176
Mary Johnson be recalled:
Yes – 189; No – 91
Janet Goode succeed: Yes – 177
Gordon Hammers be recalled:
Yes – 196; No – 84
Carl Meyer succeed: 170
Brenda Wise succeed: 68
Janet Wright be recalled:
Yes 186; No 94
William Crawley IV succeed: 177
Edward Boryla succeed: 48
Thell Fowler be recalled:
Yes – 176; No – 104
Tina McCunney succeed: 161
Anita Meneses succeed: 55
Note: 280 were counted yesterday; 10 remain to be counted; 509 people in the community were eligible to vote.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20071212-0112-bn12potrero.html
Looking out for America in Iraq
October 11, 2007 In mid-September, the hired guards for American diplomatic personnel in Baghdad – Blackwater USA, the guards call themselves – engaged “suspected troublemakers” in a firefight that cost the lives of 11 to 17 Iraqi civilians. (The exact number depends on the varying reliability of eyewitnesses.)
Descriptions of what happened that day (Sept. 16) vary only slightly. The driver of one of four Blackwater Suburbans mistook an oncoming civilian vehicle as a possible attacker. Machine-gun fire ensued from the entire Blackwater convoy, which then hightailed back to “Green Zone” safety. There is no evidence its assault had prompted return fire from Iraqi civilians, although – in addition to the dead – 27 people were injured by gunfire or the ensuing collisions in a heavily trafficked intersection.
Contributing to a sense of panic were two Blackwater helicopters.
Almost immediately, there emerged a “joint U.S.-Iraqi government announcement,” released by a spokeswoman in the American Embassy. Pending an investigation of the unfortunate shootout, it said U.S. and Iraqi officials agreed it was OK for Blackwater to resume riding shotgun for American VIPs venturing beyond their heavily walled embassy in Baghdad's Green Zone.
Experience tells me to regard such public utterances as this with the same level of belief you'd give suspected cocaine pushers, maybe, or professional wrestling promoters. In its offhand clearance of Blackwater, we see, that announcement conveyed the inherently bogus suggestion that governments of the United States and the Republic of Iraq are essentially equal international entities bent on resolving an unfortunate incident.
But our country and Iraq are in no way equal – certainly not in a physical nor even in a legal or diplomatic sense. We are an occupying power, imposing our will with the presence of 150,000 military and heaven knows how many hirelings such as Blackwater's on the ground there. America's stance is far closer to that of the storied legions of ancient Rome, who ruled all of their era's known world.
Indeed, a few more Blackwater-style incidents, and Americans overseas will be every bit as unpopular as those far-flung procurators of old. (The name of Judea's Pontius Pilate comes to mind.)
But back to things as they are today. It should not escape notice that Iraqi's elected leaders – feeble and U.S.-dominated as we had assumed them to be – finally have shown some guts. Exactly 26 days after the Sept. 16 fatalities – an interval marked mainly by Blackwater's bluster and an embarrassing silence of American officials on the scene – Iraq formally voiced its own assessment of what happened.
Absent the dulcet tones of that U.S. Embassy spokeswoman pretending to speak for them, Iraqi leaders offered seemingly irrefutable proof that Blackwater's machine-gun fire was unprovoked, and that those Blackwater helicopters had added to the confusion. The statement urged that our embassy find more responsible ways of protecting any personnel who feel they must venture beyond their walled haven.
And get this – Iraq wants the families of Blackwater's shooting victims compensated with not less than $8 million each.
So the bloom is off the rose. This government in Iraq may not be all that Washington had hoped – but it's tired of playing patsy, too. Like legislators elsewhere, they've doubtless been hearing voter complaints. Across a nation where no recent reconstruction seems to get done on time, and folks must make do with a few hours of electric power each day, they've watched this biggest of all embassies nearly completed in a year's time – and flood-lit with power provided around the clock.
I'd suppose some Americans might be wondering about the purpose of this grand enclave nearly a dozen time zones distant? Equal in size to the Vatican, our mammoth new headquarters in Baghdad was scheduled to open in September, but the opening has been delayed by a host of problems. Its full 104 acres include six square blocks of residential apartments, plus a sports center, beauty salon and Baghdad's largest swimming pool. It might be newsworthy if someone in authority – Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, say, or even the man in the Oval Office – were to tell us why all this must be maintained in so parlous a location anytime in the future.
I'm looking to a happy day when the “surges” will be done, Gen. Petraeus is at work on his memoirs and our troops are brought home. Meanwhile, if the nearly 1,000 American diplomatic personnel already stationed there cannot venture beyond their heavily fortified enclave without Blackwater's guns to bolster their courage – well, can these neo-Roman counterparts be expected ever to establish a haven of serenity in that part of the world?
Van Deerlin represented a San Diego County district in Congress for 18 years.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20071011/news_lz1e11vandeer.html
