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TechnoratiActivists Serve Blackwater With 'Statement of Foreclosure for Moral Bankruptcy'
Activists march on Blackwater’s Illinois facility, saying no matter how many times it changes its name, Blackwater can’t hide from its bloody history or its lawlessness.
Other speakers who addressed the conference were Kathy Kelly, the co-founder of Voices for Creative Non-Violence and Col. Ann Wright. Kelly recently has been campoing out at Creech Airforce Base protesting the US bombing of Pakistan using weaponized drone aircraft. Col. Wright is an outspoken former US diplomat who reopened the US embassy in Kabul post-9/11 before publicly opposing the Bush administration’s wars. She has since worked tirelessly in campaigning against US war policy and for accountability for US torturers and their bosses. The conference comes as Blackwater continues to operate in Iraq and the Obama administration has made clear its intention to use private forces in US war zones, as well as in Israel/Palestine. (See here and here for details).
![[(photo: Jeremy Scahill)]](http://www.commondreams.org/files/article_images/blackwater_jodavies.jpg "blackwater_jodavies.jpg")
Today, activists are marching on Blackwater’s Jo Daviess facility where they will engage in a nonviolent direct action protest. Within the larger protest, twenty people are planning to do civil disobedience, which could result in arrest. “The citizens will be going onto Blackwater’s property to serve a notice of foreclosure on the property of a company that is morally bankrupt,” says Dan Kenney of Clearwater. “Even though they are making billions of tax dollars, Blackwater, who recently changed their name to Xe to hopefully escape public attention, is also being investigated for tax evasion, they are being investigated by the AFT for illegal possession of firearms at their North Carolina site, they are under investigation for illegal smuggling of weapons into Iraq, and are fighting in the courts nine wrongful death lawsuits. Five of their contractors are also facing voluntary manslaughter charges for the shooting in September of 2007 that led to the death of 17 unarmed, innocent Iraqi citizens.”
Below is the statement issued by the activists this morning:
STATEMENT OF FORECLOSURE
DELIVERED TO BLACKWATER (Xe) FOR
MORAL BANKRUPTCY
April 27, 2009
As Catholic Workers and other concerned citizens of the United States we come today to this northwest Illinois Blackwater training site in an act of nonviolent protest. We are here to make a citizens foreclosure on this property of a company that is morally bankrupt. We are here to reclaim it for the people of this nation who promote democracy and security by humanitarian efforts.
We stand here today as citizens who live in solidarity with and in service to fellow citizens who struggle with joblessness, homelessness, and inadequate wages. We are here to stop the flow of billions of tax dollars to the privatization of our military and the miniaturization of our police by companies like Blackwater; a company that is responsible for:
· Killing innocent Iraqi civilians
· Smuggling weapons illegally into Iraq
· Tax evasion
· Illegal possession of firearms
We are here to hold them accountable for all their illegal and immoral actions.
No matter how many times this company changes its name, it can run but it cannot hide from its bloody history or its lawlessness.
15 Comments so far
Show AllThe following is based on fact and "opinions" if they are said. If I made an error,it was not intended. Our intent is to REVOKE the permit. Grading could begin soon. No EIR was done on this 200-acre site.
A Blackwater-esque paramilitary operation, which is NOT built yet,is to be located in Homeland CA in Riverside County. It's named Procinctu, which means "Gird for Battle - Prepare for War." "Private" proposals to the Naval SpecialWarfare Group" in San Diego list names of three Blackwater Staff Members. Prisoner handling and sniper training are taught there, etc. John Choate, CEO, says there is no connection or association to Blackwater and the men named are just "examples" of who will be hired. They are NOT examples;they are listed as key personnel.
NEWS ALERT: The March 17th morning taped meeting of the Supervisors, has been removed(twice) from the public records. Approximaely ten of us purchased the tape, so it is available for review.
>>Also, two other major tapes, one 3-hr tape of the public meeting was DAMAGED, so there is no record, other than the printed page.
LOCATION: NEXT TO A CHURCH! IN A RESIDENTIAL RURAL AREA! ABOUT A QUARTER MILE FROM ONE SCHOOL. ANOTHER A MILE AWAY. NO SOLID WALL AROUND STRUCTURE!EASY ACCESS FOR HIKERS. CLIENTS WILL BE ABLE TO LEAVE IN EVENINGS IF THEY WANT. SIGHT DOES NOT NEED TO BE REVISITED UNTIL THE YEAR 2027. IT IS IN Supervisor Marion Ashley's District, off Briggs, just past Norden to Gunther.
DESCRIPTION: A privately owned police, military, and governmental agency tactical training center. It was given a "Public Use Permit" even tho it's a Private for Profit company planning to train our "police and law enforcement.
OTHERS DESCRIBE IT AS A PARAMILITARY GROUP.
APPROVED BY ENTIRE PLANNING COMMISSION AND BOARD OF SUPERVISORS even tho the Planning Dept Head said We cannot "process or support" this project as there is nothing that allows this project to be built in this residential-agricultural area.
John Choate, CEO, says in front of Riverside Supes there is only indoor fire, but in news articles he states outdoor live fire and will only use blanks -records don't support that. >> Private records show he will train the "private sector," but he disregards it when asked directly. Who are these "private" sector people? Also, in another proposal to the SEALS stresses the training for Personal Security Detail overseals to protect "overseas dignitaries, etc.
>>RE: outdoor live fire: It's for 5 days a year, but Noise Ord 847,allows the firm or others to file for a "CONTINUOUS EVENTS EXCEPTION" that could be all year long? Once he is encamped, I hear, then it is easy for this to happen. When this happens, this is where serious lead contamination of the area can ha seep into the eco-sensitive water shed.
SERIOUS HEALTH EFFECTS: An EIR consultant reports that this property sets on the San Jacinto Watershed, 15ft below ground level. He says, "The potential for dissolved lead entering the water is very real, but what we've read, which is little,this threat is barely mentioned in papers filed in the Fast Track Permit.
THERE IS NO SAFE LEVEL FOR LEAD as stated by Birnbaum. The records indicate that the lead needs only to be picked up once a year, which is not enough.
OTHER WEAPONS: SIMULATED BOMBS, HAND GRENADES, MORTARS, ROCKETS, LAND MINES, ETC. which may contain lead as well as arsenic and nitrites, can be found at military training sites when weapons of this kind are used. SUCH SITES HAVE BEEN CONTAMINATED.
WEBSITES: www.citizensagainstprivate armies.org, www.copswiki.org, www.citizensfordemocracytv.com, Join our yahoo group - not4privatearmies@yahoogroups.com,
Important: We need Native American Indians to step forward to help. It definitely appears their rights have been disregarded.
SIGN OUR PETITION: www.thepetitionsite.com/291/petition-to-revoke-private-military-training-facility-in-riverside-county
IMPORTANT: PLEASE PASS THE ABOVE INFORMATION ALONG TO PEOPLE WHO CAN HELP IN OUR EFFORT TO REVOKE THIS PERMIT.
CONTACT COORDINATOR: ann3weston@aol.com,
Make moral behavior a precondition for state protection of property rights? Fantastic! Go people go! Build your society on an ethical foundation. Then you won't need the flying buttresses.
Blackwater (now re-branded as "Xe") are the modern equivalent of the Pinkertons. They are also as politically disruptive as the Mamertines.
I like the photo.
Interesting--how the logo represents the globe with a clawed footprint over it representing the "we shall remain" mentality...a symbol of conquest.
I was referring to the bloody handprints on it, but yes that too. Corporations are immortal...especially those with their own armies.
The only way I know to stop war profiteering and mercenary armies is to bring back the draft.
ezeflyer
No draft. Volunteers choose to serve. Draftees don't get the option.
It depends how you look at it. What if it's a lack of options, rather than a choice? Is it still a volunteer force?
Yes, I believe it is. There are always other options. The belief that someone has no other choice is just not viable.
Believe me when you look at that paper that says "HI There! You've just won an all expense paid trip to Southeast Asia" you really would think a volunteer service is a better idea. A choice is always better.
"The belief that someone has no other choice is just not viable..." The mere fact that someone BELIEVES that she/he has no other choice makes it real, at least to that person, however flawed the premise; and each youngster who joins the armed forces of any country or military/insurgent organized resistance will have an averaged death footprint...In this sense, everything is "viable".
We need to be thinking ahead...We just need to anticipate...
...do you ever get the sense that you are preaching to the choir?
I would say its past time we stop making those kids think that way. Making them believe they have no future, making them believe they are sub-standard, telling them they can't compete, thery are not as good as others........................
Its time we jettisoned the failed theories of lowered expectations or everyone gets a trophy thinking.
Not going to war might help, too.
zmann
Better idea.
You cannot spend $1 Billion a year on weapons and not fight someone. We don't have weapons in case we need to go to war...We go to war because we have weapons.