Filner wants review of Blackwater (Training Center in CA)

[maddezmom]

He considers bill to stop Potrero plan
By Anne Krueger
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
April 14, 2007

Rep. Bob Filner says he is exploring legislation that would block a controversial proposal for a major defense contractor's training camp in the backcountry community of Potrero.

The proposal by Blackwater USA to build a training center on a former chicken and cattle ranch has torn apart the tiny community and brought protests by those opposed to the company's government contracts in Iraq.

Filner, D-San Diego, told The Associated Press that although his district includes Potrero, company officers did not contact him until after they met with county planners, and after the local planning group unanimously approved a preliminary proposal.

He told the AP that he is exploring legislation that would block the deal pending further review by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which has included Blackwater in its review of Iraqi war contractors.


more:http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20070414-9999-1m14black.html

[pberq]

1. Bush's Shadow Army

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070402/scahill

. . .Occupying the hot seat through these deliberations is the shadowy mercenary company Blackwater USA. Unbeknownst to many Americans and largely off the Congressional radar, Blackwater has secured a position of remarkable power and protection within the US war apparatus. This company's success represents the realization of the life's work of the conservative officials who formed the core of the Bush Administration's war team, for whom radical privatization has long been a cherished ideological mission. Blackwater has repeatedly cited Rumsfeld's statement that contractors are part of the "Total Force" as evidence that it is a legitimate part of the nation's "warfighting capability and capacity." Invoking Rumsfeld's designation, the company has in effect declared its forces above the law--entitled to the immunity from civilian lawsuits enjoyed by the military, but also not bound by the military's court martial system. While the initial inquiries into Blackwater have focused on the complex labyrinth of secretive subcontracts under which it operates in Iraq, a thorough investigation into the company reveals a frightening picture of a politically connected private army that has become the Bush Administration's Praetorian Guard.

Blackwater Rising

Blackwater was founded in 1996 by conservative Christian multimillionaire and ex-Navy SEAL Erik Prince--the scion of a wealthy Michigan family whose generous political donations helped fuel the rise of the religious right and the Republican revolution of 1994. At its founding, the company largely consisted of Prince's private fortune and a vast 5,000-acre plot of land located near the Great Dismal Swamp in Moyock, North Carolina. Its vision was "to fulfill the anticipated demand for government outsourcing of firearms and related security training." In the following years, Prince, his family and his political allies poured money into Republican campaign coffers, supporting the party's takeover of Congress and the ascension of George W. Bush to the presidency.

While Blackwater won government contracts during the Clinton era, which was friendly to privatization, it was not until the "war on terror" that the company's glory moment arrived. Almost overnight, following September 11, the company would become a central player in a global war. "I've been operating in the training business now for four years and was starting to get a little cynical on how seriously people took security," Prince told Fox News host Bill O'Reilly shortly after 9/11. "The phone is ringing off the hook now."

Among those calls was one from the CIA, which contracted Blackwater to work in Afghanistan in the early stages of US operations there. In the ensuing years the company has become one of the greatest beneficiaries of the "war on terror," winning nearly $1 billion in noncovert government contracts, many of them no-bid arrangements. In just a decade Prince has expanded the Moyock headquarters to 7,000 acres, making it the world's largest private military base. Blackwater currently has 2,300 personnel deployed in nine countries, with 20,000 other contractors at the ready. It has a fleet of more than twenty aircraft, including helicopter gunships and a private intelligence division, and it is manufacturing surveillance blimps and target systems.

[solara]

2. Looks like Blackwater will be in a great position

to take the place of our National Guard. Many wonder what will happen if, God forbid, we get another Katrina or worse since most of the National Guard is or will shortly be deployed in Iraq. Who will be left to guard our shores and "protect" us against panic in the streets? Blackwater has had at least one trial run. Two years ago they were "contracted" to "help" in NO after Katrina.


http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091005A.shtml

<snip>

    Blackwater Mercenaries Deploy in New Orleans
    By Jeremy Scahill and Daniela Crespo
    t r u t h o u t | Report

    Saturday 10 September 2005

"New Orleans - Heavily armed paramilitary mercenaries from the Blackwater private security firm, infamous for their work in Iraq, are openly patrolling the streets of New Orleans. Some of the mercenaries say they have been "deputized" by the Louisiana governor; indeed some are wearing gold Louisiana state law enforcement badges on their chests and Blackwater photo identification cards on their arms. They say they are on contract with the Department of Homeland Security and have been given the authority to use lethal force. Several mercenaries we spoke with said they had served in Iraq on the personal security details of the former head of the US occupation, L. Paul Bremer and the former US ambassador to Iraq, John Negroponte."

I don't know about you, but that sure makes me feel ALOT more secure. :sarcasm:




INVESTIGATE IMPEACH INDICT IMPRECATE INCARCERATE :banghead:

[MissWaverly]

3. I can't believe US Tax Dollars going to mercenaries