Mercenary Pariahs

Posted by Digby, Hullabaloo at 4:14 AM on April 28, 2008.

Via TBOGG, I see that Blackwater can't find love anywhere in Southern California:

San Diego officials will challenge Blackwater Worldwide's permit for an indoor military training facility in South County, saying the public didn't know about the plan.

“Residents deserve to know when a facility like this is approved – before it is approved,” San Diego City Council President Scott Peters said.

The North Carolina company received a permit in March for a training site in Otay Mesa, an industrial section of south San Diego, shortly after abandoning its controversial proposal to build a larger facility in Potrero in East County.

The city Development Services Department granted the permit without public hearings. The site was already permitted for a vocational school, and city staff members decided Blackwater's training of Navy personnel qualified. The facility will have a shooting range, a simulated Navy ship and classrooms.

Brian Bonfiglio, a Blackwater vice president, said the opposition seems to originate from anti-war sentiment, not animosity toward the facility itself.

If that's so, then we are seeing a major sea change. San Diego is a super military town. If it's gone "anti-war" then you can pretty much guarantee that it's over for the pro Iraq crowd.

I don't know if it's actually true that San Diego is anti-war, but I think it's pretty clear that just about everybody is anti-Blackwater. This is an unAmerican company made up of war profiteers who have no loyalty to anyone but their own bottom line. The soldiers fighting over in Iraq on their third and fourth tours for peanuts certainly aren't crazy about the preening jackasses who make their job more dangerous.

These mercenary "security" companies do not adhere to American law and they don't answer to the American government. They are a very dangerous step toward a privatized military that answers to no one but its owners. The problem is that the rest of the world will hold Americans responsible for what they do and we will all pay the price.

Tagged as: california, blackwater, military contractors