[Marxism] Blackwater to backwater

[Greg McDonald <sabocat59@xxxxxxx>]

Blackwater scraps Philippines center, hits snags in California
By BILL SIZEMORE, The Virginian-Pilot
© April 13, 2007
Last updated: 6:39 PM Protestors gather at a hearing in San Diego on  
Blackwater's plans for a facility east of the city. Gina Ferazzi/Los  
Angeles Times

Special Report: Inside America's Private Army
Increasingly a magnet for controversy, Blackwater USA has encountered  
a bumpy road implementing its national and international expansion  
plans. The Moyock, N.C.-based private military company's plans to  
open an Asian branch in the Philippines have been scrapped and one  
stateside proposal has drawn considerable heat. "We are no longer  
pursuing a facility in the Philippines," Anne Tyrrell, a company  
spokeswoman, said this week. The company's plans for a jungle  
survival skills training center on the site of the former U.S. naval  
base at Subic Bay sparked calls for an investigation from a prominent  
member of the Philippines Senate last summer. More recently, the head  
of a United Nations work group on mercenary activity expressed  
concern about recruitment methods used by Blackwater and similar  
companies in the Philippines.

Closer to home, Blackwater's drive to open a West Coast outpost has  
run into a buzzsaw of public opposition. More than half the  
registered voters of a tiny rural community east of San Diego, the  
proposed site of "Blackwater West," have signed a petition opposing  
the project. A normally routine county planning meeting on the  
project last week drew dozens of chanting, sign-waving protesters.  
Attendees had to walk through a gauntlet of police officers and a  
metal detector.

It was just the latest in a series of brush fires Blackwater has been  
dealing with in recent months: An off-duty Blackwater contractor shot  
and killed an Iraqi security guard in Baghdad on Christmas Eve and  
was immediately flown home by the company. So far there is no word of  
any criminal charges being filed. In February, the company underwent  
a public grilling by a congressional committee about its security  
work in Iraq, including emotional testimony from relatives of four  
Blackwater contractors killed and mutilated in a convoy ambush in  
Fallujah in 2004. The Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from  
Blackwater, clearing the way for what could be a landmark lawsuit in  
a North Carolina state court over the Fallujah ambush. The victims'  
families are suing the company for wrongful death. Last month the Air  
Force dropped criminal charges against two officers involved in a  
road-rage incident with a Blackwater contractor in Afghanistan and  
launched an investigation into the possibility of witness tampering  
in the case.

In California, Blackwater proposes to build a western training center  
on an 800-acre chicken and cattle ranch near Potrero, a rural hamlet  
45 miles east of San Diego near the Mexican border. The project will  
require a rezoning and an environmental impact report, a process that  
could take up to two years. The company's plans for the property - a  
grassy valley and foraging ground for golden eagles - include firing  
ranges, a tactical driving track, training towers, an armory, a  
bunkhouse, a dining hall, an "urban simulation" training area, ship  
simulators, classroom buildings and a helipad.

The project won preliminary approval from the local planning board in  
December, but since then 320 residents have signed a petition  
opposing it. The town has 435 registered voters. It will ultimately  
need the approval of the county planning commission and the board of  
supervisors, a process that could take up to two years.

Last week, more than 100 protesters showed up at an informational  
meeting on the project held by the county planning department. They  
were met by three dozen police and sheriff's deputies and had to go  
through a metal detector to get into the meeting.
A county spokeswoman said the unusual security procedures were  
prompted by "a threat." She declined to be more specific. The display  
of firepower was puzzling, said Jan Hedlun, an opponent of the  
project who was recently elected to the Potrero planning board. "No  
one in our group had any intention of causing any problems," she  
said. "We just had questions."

The Blackwater project appears to have brought together an unusual  
coalition of opponents - rural residents, environmentalists and peace  
activists.
"The more I learn, the more my concerns grow," Hedlun said. "This is  
an agricultural area adjacent to a national forest. I left the city  
for peace and quiet, and that is not what these people are. They are  
not peaceful, and they are not quiet." Gordon Hammers, chairman of  
the planning board and a supporter of the project, said the opponents  
are spreading misinformation about Blackwater's intent. "They're not  
going to be training mercenaries out here," Hammers said. "As the  
truth comes out, I think a lot of people who have been questioning  
the project will say, 'Well, maybe it's not so bad after all.' "A lot  
of the people who are against this don't live in the community.  
They're outside Sierra Club people - this group, that group, ACLU.  
All the liberals have come out of the woodwork."

Tyrrell, the Blackwater spokeswoman, said only about 200 acres of the  
800-acre site would be developed. Much of the rest, she said, would  
remain devoted to agricultural use.
She also said training courses at Blackwater West would be aimed only  
at military and law enforcement personnel. The company does not plan  
to use that site to train its security contractors for duty in combat  
zones, she said.

Meanwhile, Blackwater's new northern base in Illinois - where the  
company had no local regulatory hurdles to overcome - opened quietly  
this week, offering a variety of courses in firearms use, law  
enforcement and military tactics. The 80-acre facility in Mount  
Carroll, 150 miles west of Chicago, is a miniature version of  
Blackwater's 7,000-acre spread in Moyock. It contains nine shooting  
ranges, a climbing/rappelling/shooting tower, a classroom building  
and pro shop. Some area residents objected to the proposal, but  
because the property had been used previously for firearms training,  
no local zoning or other regulatory approval was needed.

Reach Bill Sizemore at (757) 446-2276 or bill.sizemore@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx




________________________________________________
YOU MUST clip all extraneous text before replying to a message.
Send list submissions to: Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism