Blackwater

Blackwater’s Black Ops

September 17, 2010 by Source

by Jeremy Scachill / The Nation / (current issue – October 4, 2010)

Over the past several years, entities closely linked to the private security firm Blackwater have provided intelligence, training and security services to US and foreign governments as well as several multinational corporations, including Monsanto, Chevron, the Walt Disney Company, …

Blackwater’s Secret War in Pakistan

November 23, 2009 by Source

By Jeremy Scahill / The Nation / November 23, 2009

At a covert forward operating base run by the US Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, members of an elite division of Blackwater are at the center of a secret program in which they plan targeted assassinations of suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives, “snatch and grabs” of high-value targets and other sensitive action inside and outside Pakistan, an investigation by The Nation has found. The Blackwater operatives also assist in gathering intelligence and help run a secret US military drone bombing campaign that runs parallel to the well-documented CIA predator strikes, according to a well-placed source within the US military intelligence apparatus.

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Southwestern College cancels shooting-range contract with Blackwater

October 24, 2009 by Source

by East County Magazine

On October 14, Southwestern College District Governing Board approved cancellation of its agreement with Xe . The agreement allowed the college’s law enforcement students to use a training facility in Otay Mesa operated by Xe Systems LLC, the company formerly known as Blackwater. Blackwater, which gained notoriety for its activities in Iraq, was also the center of controversy in East County, where the company sought to open a private military training base at Potrero but withdrew following massive public opposition.

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Blackwater Founder Implicated in Murder

August 5, 2009 by Source

By Jeremy Scahill / Peace Resource Center / August 4, 2009

A former Blackwater employee and an ex-US Marine who has worked as a security operative for the company have made a series of explosive allegations in sworn statements filed on August 3 in federal court in Virginia.

The two men claim that the company’s owner, Erik Prince, may have murdered or facilitated the murder of individuals who were cooperating with federal authorities investigating the company.

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Blackwater Changes Its Name

February 14, 2009 by Source

Blackwater Worldwide is abandoning its tarnished brand name as it tries to shake a reputation battered by oft-criticised work in Iraq, renaming its family of two dozen businesses under the name Xe. The parent company’s new name is pronounced like the letter z.

Blackwater Lodge & Training Centre – the subsidiary that conducts much of the company’s overseas operations and domestic training – has been renamed US Training Centre Inc., the company said today.

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A Whitewash for Blackwater?

December 9, 2008 by Staff

The federal manslaughter indictment of five Blackwater Worldwide security guards in the horrific massacre of more than a dozen Iraqi civilians in Baghdad may look like an exercise in accountability, but it’s probably the exact opposite — a whitewash that absolves the government and corporate officials who should bear ultimate responsibility.

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Blackwater Guards to Surrender to FBI in Utah Monday, Dec 8

December 7, 2008 by Staff

Five Blackwater Worldwide security guards indicted in Washington for the 2007 shooting of Iraqi civilians plan to surrender to the FBI today in Utah, a person close to the case said, setting up a fight over the trial site. The five guards, all military veterans, were indicted for their roles in a 2007 shooting in Baghdad that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead.

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Blackwater To Be Fined Amid Allegations Over Shrink-Wrapped Weapons

November 13, 2008 by Staff

Blackwater USA, the State Department’s largest personal security contractor in Iraq, is set to be hit with a multi-million dollar fine for shipping automatic weapons to that country without the necessary permits. Go here.

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100 San Diegans Protest Blackwater’s Otay Mesa Training Facility & the Media Ignored It

September 13, 2008 by Frank Gormlie

Local Mainstream Media Boycott Demonstration – Politicians Are a No-Show OTAY MESA, San Diego, CA. One hundred San Diegans protested on a warm Saturday afternoon, in the middle of an industrial park. They were protesting the training facility of Blackwater, the mercenary outfit that is operating just a couple blocks from the U.S.- Mexican border. […]

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5 Reasons to Demonstrate Against Blackwater Today – Sept. 13th – at Otay Mesa

September 13, 2008 by Frank Gormlie

There’s a demonstration against Blackwater being in San Diego County today. From 3pm to 5pm down at their Otay Mesa facility. Here’s five reasons to protest their incursion into our region: 1. Blackwater is a mercenary group responsible for the massacre a year ago in Iraq. Blackwater Worldwide has a history of killing innocent civilians. […]

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Blackwater Is Here to Stay

July 24, 2008 by Staff

Despite reports that the company is leaving the mercenary business, Blackwater’s future is secure by Jeremy Scahill / The Guardian / July 23, 2008 It seems that executives from Blackwater Worldwide, the Bush administration’s favourite hired guns in Iraq and Afghanistan, are threatening to pack up their M4 assault rifles, CS gas and Little Bird […]

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Blackwater Joins Other Corporate “bad-boys” Being Inducted Into Hall of Shame

July 16, 2008 by Staff

Blackwater, Archer Daniels Midland, and Wal-Mart Inducted into Corporate Hall of Shame BOSTON – On July 9, 2008, Corporate Accountability International announced the 2008 inductees into the annual Corporate Hall of Shame: military contractor Blackwater, agribusiness giant Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) and big box retailer Wal-Mart. More than 30,000 votes were cast online and through […]

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ATF raids Blackwater No. Carolina armory, seizes automatic weapons

June 26, 2008 by Staff

Federal agents raided a Blackwater armory Tuesday and seized 34 automatic rifles that the company purchased and stored on behalf of a local law enforcement agency, the Associated Press reports.Anne Tyrrell, a Blackwater spokeswoman, tells AP that ATF agents searched the Moyock, N.C., facility. The raid came after reports on a deal in which the […]

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Federal Judge Grants Blackwater Okay to Continue Border Training Facility

June 17, 2008 by Staff

City Attorney Aguirre to pursue appeal, says City Council has right to make land-use decisions By Tanya Mannes / UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER / June 17, 2008 SAN DIEGO – A federal judge has granted an injunction to Blackwater Worldwide, allowing the company to continue operating its military training center in Otay Mesa. The company’s permits […]

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Blackwater’s Private Spies

June 12, 2008 by Staff

by Jeremy Scahill / The Nation / June 5, 2008 This past September, the secretive mercenary company Blackwater USA found its name splashed across front pages throughout the world after the company’s shooters gunned down seventeen Iraqi civilians in Baghdad’s Nisour Square. But by early 2008, Blackwater had largely receded from the headlines save for […]

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U-T Reports: 70 Protest Blackwater Facility at Border

June 11, 2008 by Staff

By Tanya Mannes / UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF / June 11, 2008 OTAY MESA – About 70 people, many wearing green “Stop Blackwater” T-shirts, protested Wednesday afternoon across the street from the warehouse facility where Blackwater Worldwide is training Navy sailors in law-enforcement tactics. Tom Lamb, a retired geologist who lives in Deer Horn Valley, held a […]

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SAY NO TO BLACKWATER! DEMONSTRATION, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11, 3-5 pm.

May 31, 2008 by Staff

STOP WAR PROFITEERS — STOP BLACKWATER We’ve had enough of this administration and their private mercenary guard, BLACKWATER, twisting the rules to get into town! NO BLACKWATER BULLIES ON THE BORDER. Wednesday, Jun 11, 3-5 p.m. — STOP BLACKWATER RALLY/PROTEST — 7685 Siempre Viva Rd, San Diego, CA 92154. Join the community in making our […]

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Court Decision On Blackwater’s TRO Against City of San Diego Delayed

May 30, 2008 by Frank Gormlie

SAN DIEGO, CA. Today, May 30, U.S. District Court Judge Marilyn L. Huff said that she will not decide whether to issue Blackwater’s request for a Temporary Restraining Order against the City of San Diego until next Tuesday, June 3. At that hearing, she will decide whether to order San Diego City officials to issue […]

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ACTION ALERT: Blackwater’s Motion To Be Heard in Federal Court Friday, May 30th

May 29, 2008 by Frank Gormlie

Protest Against Blackwater Friday at 12:30 at Federal Courthouse SAN DIEGO, CA. Apparently, Blackwater’s motion for a temporary restraining order against the City of San Diego will be heard Friday, May 30th in the early afternoon. People are being asked to please come to the Federal Court House at 12:30 p.m. for a demonstration! Bring […]

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BLACKWATER SUES CITY OF SAN DIEGO

May 27, 2008 by Frank Gormlie

Mercenary company initiates legal action against San Diego in order to open their “vocational school” on time SAN DIEGO, CA. Local peace activists have learned today that the Blackwater parent company has filed a lawsuit against the City of San Diego to restrain the City from denying the company’s installation of a weapons training school-under […]

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City Attorney Aguirre finds fault in Blackwater permits – Sanders halts work at border site

May 17, 2008 by Staff

By Tanya Mannes / San Diego Union-Tribune / May 17, 2008 OTAY MESA – Mayor Jerry Sanders yesterday ordered work to stop on Blackwater Worldwide’s proposed military training facility in Otay Mesa. The mayor was prompted by a legal opinion issued earlier in the afternoon by San Diego City Attorney Michael Aguirre. The opinion found […]

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New Blackwater Cartoon Has Heads Turning

May 15, 2008 by Staff

See this great Blackwater cartoon video. Go here.

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FJL April 20, 2024 at 4:58 am on OB Planners’ Project Review Committee: 20 Units at 4705 Point Loma Ave., — Wed., April 17A fine time to remind how the corrupt conservatives in the SCOTUS beginning with Lewis Powell, Buckley v Vallejo, Bellotti v 1st National Bank of...
Thomas Gayton April 19, 2024 at 9:10 pm on The Beat of the Drums Goes OnRIGHT ON!
sealintheSelkirks April 19, 2024 at 7:46 pm on OB Planners’ Project Review Committee: 20 Units at 4705 Point Loma Ave., — Wed., April 17Oops. Correction: Typo! The Wbush 2008 crash NOT 1998! sealintheSelkirks
At the Edge of D7 April 19, 2024 at 6:07 pm on OB Planners’ Project Review Committee: 20 Units at 4705 Point Loma Ave., — Wed., April 17Holy smokes I can't believe my eyes. The first sentence of this darn proposal on the Project Review Committee Meeting Notice and Agenda has blatantly...
sealintheSelkirks April 19, 2024 at 4:26 pm on OB Planners’ Project Review Committee: 20 Units at 4705 Point Loma Ave., — Wed., April 17In 1974 I lived in a studio on Strandway between Liverpool Ct. and Lido Ct. in MB. A converted 1-car garage with a tiny bathroom...
kh April 19, 2024 at 3:41 pm on Reader Rant on the New Warehouse Plan for San Diego’s Unhoused CitizensI think in the interest of expediency, we should sign a lease without due diligence. And then later when we find out we can't use...
kh April 19, 2024 at 3:36 pm on 2 New Projects Proposed for West Point Loma Boulevard in Ocean BeachStrawman, if you transfer title to your children and they actually live there, they will be protected by Prop 13.
kh April 19, 2024 at 3:34 pm on 2 New Projects Proposed for West Point Loma Boulevard in Ocean BeachAre you suggesting that investor-driven real estate speculation doesn't contribute to higher housing prices?
kh April 19, 2024 at 3:32 pm on Why San Diego Should Not Be Awarded Anything for Its ‘Bonus ADU’ Program — Not One ADU Unit Has Been Built as Low-Income HousingMeh. City staffers live on these awards and back pats. We need to give them more awards. They would whither and die without these meaningless...
Sam April 19, 2024 at 3:27 pm on 2 New Projects Proposed for West Point Loma Boulevard in Ocean BeachTo what end? This will not bring down housing prices and you still won't be able to afford to buy.
kh April 19, 2024 at 1:11 pm on 2 New Projects Proposed for West Point Loma Boulevard in Ocean BeachAre you seriously trying to equate the tens of thousands in annual Prop 13 benefits some receive on their investment properties with the $9 writeoff...
sam April 19, 2024 at 1:10 pm on Reader Rant on the New Warehouse Plan for San Diego’s Unhoused CitizensThis lease was negotiated by the staff at the Real Estate Department, who clearly had no issues agreeing on terms, with the approval of management....
chris schultz April 19, 2024 at 11:49 am on Why San Diego Should Not Be Awarded Anything for Its ‘Bonus ADU’ Program — Not One ADU Unit Has Been Built as Low-Income HousingSANDAG spending a billion over the next 4 years for bike lanes is mind boggling.
paul krueger April 19, 2024 at 11:44 am on Why San Diego Should Not Be Awarded Anything for Its ‘Bonus ADU’ Program — Not One ADU Unit Has Been Built as Low-Income HousingExcellent and very revealing research! Thanks for sharing!
Paul Krueger April 19, 2024 at 11:43 am on Why San Diego Should Not Be Awarded Anything for Its ‘Bonus ADU’ Program — Not One ADU Unit Has Been Built as Low-Income HousingHere's a link to the city's news release on it's nomination for the 2024 "Ivory Prize for Housing Affordability": https://www.sandiego.gov/sites/default/files/2024-04/2024-04-16-city-of-san-diego-a-top-10-finalist-for-2024-ivory-prize-for-housing-affordability.pdf