Backdoor Blackwater

No wonder they gave up on the San Diego Potrero site:

Just two months after local opposition thwarted its effort to build a massive outdoor training facility near San Diego, the private military company Blackwater USA is being accused of secretly trying to build a new one just blocks from the US-Mexico border. Blackwater received approval for the 61,000 square-foot indoor facility in Otay Mesa, California, by filing for permits using the names of two subsidiaries.

AMY GOODMAN: We’re on the road in San Diego. The private security company Blackwater USA is being accused of trying to secretly build a military training facility in San Diego, right here, just blocks from the US-Mexican border. Blackwater received approval for the 61,000 square-foot indoor facility in Otay Mesa, California, by filing for permits using the names of two subsidiaries. It was only last week when San Diego officials learned Blackwater was behind the project.

The news comes just two months after local residents successfully blocked Blackwater from opening an 824-acre military complex known as Blackwater West in the rural hamlet of Potrero, California.

Opposition is now growing to Blackwater’s plans in Otay Mesa. Last week, Democratic Congressmember Bob Filner led a protest at the site of Blackwater’s future facility. Several local officials question how Blackwater’s presence will affect US-Mexican relations. The site is located just three blocks from the international border.

The interview by Amy Goodman with Raymond Lutz:

RAYMOND LUTZ: Well, I got the tip from an anonymous like yahoo.com email address person who said he was an ex-friend of a former Blackwater employee. He told me that this site was being put in and was ready to open. I drove down to check it out, and indeed I could see the ventilation equipment out the back of the building, which is apparently necessary for the indoor shooting range that they’re intending to put in. I went down to—and I checked all the news media at the time and everyone I could find. No one had heard anything about this.

They had secretly started this last September, about a month before our big rally out in Potrero. So the rally really had an effect. In other words, at that time, they were saying, “We’re throwing in the towel” on this other thing, but they weren’t letting the cat out of the bag, when in the process of filing these permits under the names Raven Development and Southwest Law Enforcement. And then, I understand that’s under a shell company out in Puerto Rico.

They went in calling this a vocational school. None of the permits, which I just saw last—yesterday at the Department of Planning of the City of San Diego, had any real notation on it about the fact that this is going to be—have an indoor shooting range and have firearms and so forth inside.

But after I received the tip, I went down, and sure enough, everything panned out that the guy was telling me. I talked to the news media, and they confirmed with Brian Bonfiglio, the VP of Blackwater, that they were trying to put that in.

Such a nice Christian company! Sneaky, feral, lying, shadowy, unaccountable...

So, are they planning to invade Mexico? Or just shoot families as they struggle across the border?

Blackwater withdraws military base project near San Diego

It's not a retreat, it's a withdrawal:

Blackwater Worldwide officials have announced they are pulling their application to build a training center on an 824-acre site in the East County community of Potrero.

The North Carolina-based company dropped off a letter to the county planning department today notifying officials of their decision not to pursue plans for the project on a former chicken and cattle ranch.

“Although our project would have brought a great benefit to San Diego County, – providing local, state, and federal law enforcement with access to low-cost superior training facilities while bringing much-needed jobs to the area – the proposed site does not meet our business objectives at this time,” states the letter from Blackwater vice president Brian Bonfiglio.

Bonfiglio said noise tests the company conducted at the site did not meet county standards, and the cost of reducing the noise was too expensive. He said Blackwater had spent well over $1 million in its effort to get government approval for the site.

[snip]

Bonfiglio said opposition to the project played no role in the company's decision to withdraw the project.

Opponents of the project were stunned and pleased to hear the news.

That's wonderful, but now we don't know where they are going to pop up next and what kind of plans they'll have while they have White House protection. Border patrol with a shoot-to-kill mandate? Detention Centers for citizens as well as illegal immigrants where no lawyers ever set foot? Training and infiltrating local police with training for martial law?

To prevent the cancer from metastasizing we have to be always alert to what this megabillion dollar company wants to do next.

crossposted at SteveAudio

Blackwater's saga continues in Iraq and California

Why is our government having to clean up after Blackwater?:

BAGHDAD, Oct. 24 -- The U.S. Embassy on Wednesday began offering tens of thousands of dollars in payments to victims and families of victims of the Sept. 16 shootings in Baghdad involving security guards from the firm Blackwater Worldwide, according to relatives and U.S. officials.

Family members of several victims turned down the compensation, out of concern that accepting the funds would limit their future claims against the North Carolina-based security contractor and its chief executive, Erik Prince. Others said that the money being offered -- in some cases $12,500 for a death -- was paltry and that they wanted to sue Blackwater in an American court.

Shouldn't Blackwater be making the payments? It's not like it is running out of money.

Erik Prince, war profiteer:



Always widening the business ventures:

We couldn't make this stuff up. Brian Bonfiglio, vice president of Blackwater West, "I see a tactical operation center for East County fires," said Bonfiglio, noting that Blackwater's proposal includes water tanks capable of holding 35,000 gallons. "Can you imagine how much of a benefit it would be if we were operational now?"

This takes great big balls. This is from the guy who takes orders from billionaire Erik Prince, whom Congressman Waxman is now investigating for tax fraud, among other abuses. It's from the same company that sent an email Tuesday asking its undoubtedly well-paid supporters to lobby congress for Blackwater and help promote a newer, softer logo.

Mr. Bonfiglio has learned at the Mark Penn School of PR, where George Orwell lives. As a reminder, Hillary Clintons' top advisor, Mark Penn, runs a huge PR firm called Burson Marstellar which was hired by Mr. Prince before he appeared before Mr. Waxman's committee.

The article continues:

Fires of historic proportion break out all over southern California, including an as yet to be contained fire in Potrero, hundreds of yards from where Blackwater wants to open its 824 acre base including eleven live fire ranges. As Courage Campaign and 10,000 others wrote to Senators Feinstein and Boxer weeks ago, one of the major concerns people have about such a mercenary training facility is the risk of fire. It already happened without Blackwater there; think what would have happened had Blackwater been there with tons of live ammunition? And what about a spark from a live round used in training? Blackwater would be required by law to have 35,000 gallons of water on such a facility as a minimal defense to prevent itself from blowing up the neighborhood. That's equivalent to just under three DC-10 tanker runs. It's taken hundreds of such flights and a shift in winds to begin to contain the fires. It is literally inconceivable that the wilderness and small towns near such a base would be safer by having Blackwater there.

But here's the Mark Penn/ George Orwell/Blackwater summation: Blackwater needs to build a base in an environmentally sensitive fire hazard area because we'll make you safer.

Blackwater wants the base in San Diego

And doesn't seem to care the neighbors don't want it there:

Moyock, NC (AHN) - Controversial private security firm Blackwater USA, the company under investigation by the United States Congress for deadly shootings in Iraq, runs its own battle ground in America in a huge complex.

Now the company wants to expand its training center and build a complex in San Diego County, California. According to reports, Erick Prince, 38, chief of Blackwater USA, owns a real army along with modern weapons, bomb-sniffing dogs, airstrip, aircraft, armored cars and more.

The company is under scrutiny by the U.S. House committee and was widely criticized by the Iraqi government as its security personnel were reportedly involved in a fatal shooting on Sept. 16 in Baghdad, which killed around 17 Iraqi civilians.

According to The Seattle Times, the company has gotten most expensive contracts that exceed $600 million last year. Two months ago, Blackwater was awarded a $15 billion five-year contract shared with four other security companies to train personnel in counter narcotics.

[snip]

But after the deadly shooting episodes, the Bush administration has decided to reduce the use of private companies managing security in Iraq. However, the measure by the government doesn't seem to slow down on the expansion plan of Blackwater.

Blackwater Vice President Brian Bonfiglio confirmed to the Union-Tribune newspaper that the North Carolina-based company will go ahead with its plan to open a law enforcement and military training center in Potrero. The center, if opened, will be located around 45 miles east of San Diego.

"[Our] charter is to make this thing work even more now," Bonfiglio told the newspaper.

Um... right. Blackwater owner Erik Prince concedes the mercenaries in Iraq might have .. just might have made a mistake... maybe:

Charlie Rose: Why are you so convinced that this was not one of those cases where because of the fog of war, your guys made a mistake?

Erik Prince: I'm not saying it's impossible they made a mistake. I'm saying on the front end, we do a very thorough job of finding the best of the best. These are true proven professionals that come out of the US military that have significant positions of responsibility already. We put them through extensive vetting, psychological evaluations, we put them through more vetting and procedures dictated by the State Department than most soldiers in the US military do. So, yes, it is a very tough job. It required the tightest of judgment. Is it possible they made a mistake? Yes.

Charlie Rose: But they have assured you in what they have said to you, they didn't make a mistake, that there was provocation before they acted.

Erik Prince: In the statements I've seen, that is the case.

Charlie Rose: I want to give you a chance, because you feel like the media and others have made baseless allegations.

Erik Prince: Yes, but I'm also not prejudging to say that they're completely
innocent. I'm saying from their track record, as proven individuals working in high-threat situations for the past many years, almost all those guys were military veterans of Iraq or Afghanistan, serving there as an active duty member of the armed forces. They had good service then. There is no reason to believe that suddenly they went rogue. I don't believe they did. Is it possible one of them had bad judgment? Yes, it is possible. But the fact is, I'm very confident that there are bullet impacts in their vehicles to the point that one of them was disabled.

Great. I just love the idea we have a fully equipped mercenary army in the United States, just ready to go at a moment's notice... within the U.S. To the highest bidder.

King maker and deposer, anyone? I give you the 21st century version of the Praetorian Guard.