Except for maybe Halliburton, Blackwater Worldwide is one of the biggest symbols for war profiteering in America during this on-going war in Iraq. Both make money by exploiting the troops and the American taxpayer. After five years of this mess, people are starting to understand who the main culprits are and Blackwater has been marked. That goes double for San Diego, where residents successfully blocked an outdoor facility on the east side of the county. Well now they are going after another one of Blackwater's attempts at installing more facilities in the area.
From The San Diego Union-Tribune:
OTAY MESA – 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.
First of all approval permits need to be shown to the public before they get the official go-ahead, regardless of who is building what. The fact that Blackwater applied for the permit under a sub-contractors name shows their deceptiveness. Second, A place to train mercenaries isn't exactly what one would call a vocational school. Technically you are learning how to kill for profit, but I doubt that is what the citizens of San Diego have in mind when they think of a place for people to learn a skill. Finally, as for Bonfiglio's remark that this isn't animosity towards the site, he's wrong about that. The site is a symbol of the recklessness that is Blackwater Worldwide's operations and if that happens to be fueled by anti-war sentiment, so be it. Even those that oppose war do not look kindly upon mercenary groups. We are supposed to be supporting soldiers, not for-hire killers.
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