Thread: California Secretive Expansion by Military Firm Blackwater

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May 02, 2008

Southern California Residents Gear Up for New Fight to Stop Secretive Expansion by Military Firm Blackwater
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. [includes rush transcript]

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Guests:

Raymond Lutz, Local resident who has fought Blackwater’s expansion into the San Diego region. He runs the websites stopblackwater.net and Citizens Oversight.

Rep. Bob Filner, Democratic Congress member representing California’s 51st congressional district.

Rush Transcript
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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.


Joining me here in San Diego in the PBS station KPBS is Raymond Lutz. He is a local resident who has fought Blackwater’s expansion into the San Diego region. He runs the websites stopblackwater.net and citizensoversight.org.
We’re also joined on the telephone by Democratic Congressmember Bob Filner. He joins us from Washington, D.C.


We did invite Blackwater to join us on the program, but the spokesperson Anne Tyrrell said no one from the company was available.


Ray Lutz, lay out the story right now.


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 towelâ€

Several local officials question how Blackwater’s presence will affect US-Mexican relations. The site is located just three blocks from the international border.

Thats a receipe for DISASTER!

I just read a day or two ago that Blackwater plans a large training compound for North Idaho.

Be aware of some very tricky laws coming down the pike in the next few months . The people in power know about this and said nothing . I take that to mean "They don't like us" . To say it nicely