Blackwater Worldwide

This Page: copswiki.org/Common/BlackwaterWorldwide

Read and endorse our Open Letter To Congress regarding dismissal of Blackwater and enactment of the Stop Outsourcing Security Act.

Blackwater Worldwide (formerly BlackwaterUSA) is part of the PrinceGroup and one of the largest private military contractors in the world. Their name was officially changed to Xe (Pronounced "Zee") Services, LLC, but to avoid getting confused, we will continue to use the old name here.

• Stop Blackwater Presentation, by Raymond Lutz -- This video is your best starting point! (updated April, 2009)

Hot news

• Open Letter to Congress - We've seen enough of the expansion of Blackwater and other private mercenary firms, and we want it stopped! PLEASE SIGN ON TO OUR OPEN LETTER TO CONGRESS and help us put pressure on the administration to pull all funding and do away with the trend toward privatizing our public military and putting in the hands of profiteers --> OpenLetterToCongress.
• BlackwaterInSouthwesternCollege - a proposal to let Blackwater use on-campus conference rooms in trade for students using shooting range in BlackwaterOtay facility. We worked for 10 months on this project, and we finally got the SouthwesternCollegeDistrict to discontinue the agreement with Blackwater! Put another feather in the hat of the public, but we have a long way to go. Keep your eyes out, they're bound to pop up somewhere else... maybe in your back yard!

Background

• Main Corporate site: http://www.blackwaterusa.com
• BlackwaterPotrero - Details public resistance to the Blackwater Mercenary Camp in Potrero, just miles from the US-Mex border. We won this one, due primarily to intense public scrutiny and outcry.
• BlackwaterOtay - Their secret facility in Otay Mesa, just blocks from the US-Mex border was "outed" on April 22, 2008. Blackwater claims their permits were legitimate under the names SouthwestLawEnforcement and RavenDevelopment .
• BlackwaterInSouthwesternCollege - a proposal to let Blackwater use on-campus conference rooms in trade for students using shooting range in BlackwaterOtay facility.
• BlackwaterInMoyock - Their North Carolina facility is in Moyock. Includes aerial photos.
• BlackwaterNorth - About 125 miles west of Chicago.
• "Blackwater Rising" Chicago abc segment on Blackwater North: http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=investigative&id=5267983
• http://www.noprivatearmies.org - Activist group organizing to fight the BlackwaterNorth facility.
• Other Blackwater-like facilities:
• ProcinctuGroup - located in Riverside County, California
• CovertCanyon - located in East San Diego County, California
• WindZero - located in Imperial County, California, just east of San Diego County.

• CongressionalOversightOfBlackwater - Rep. Henry Waxman chairs the oversight committee charged with investigating the misdeeds of Blackwater. Collected documents, video, and comment.
• BlackwaterRelatedLegislation - A number of bills have been proposed to help counter the privatization trend and make contractors accountable to law.
• AgenciesUsingBlackwaterTraining -- A list of law enforcement agencies who do use or have used Blackwater for training.

• Family members of Blackwater employees killed in Fallujah testify on capitol hill: View Video Rep. Waxman investigates waste, fraud, and abuse by layers of federal contractors.
• Journalist JeremyScahill Charts the Rise of Blackwater USA on NPR's Fresh Air: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=8992128
• AreBlackwaterEmployeesMercenaries - Discussion and editorial about this difficult question.
• BlackwaterRevenue - How much do they make??
• BlackwaterWorldwideRelationshipMap is interactive. Click around to explore relations in the map. (Moved to its own page as it was slow loading.)
• BlackwaterFederalFirearmsLicense - Records from the Federal Firearms License relating to Blackwater
• BlackwaterGsaOfferings - GSA contract information, including pricing.

Recent Articles and Media:

* All BlackwaterNewsMedia - This page contains all the news media about Blackwater that has been submitted to the site. Some media that is very important was recently submitted to the site but has an earlier publication date... You can find it here. This is the most recently published 20 articles, most recent first.

• M1959 2020-11-14 A Brief History of Citizens' Oversight Projects -- RayLutz CitizensOversight
• M1570 2015-04-14 BLACKWATER GUARDS SENTENCED IN DEATHS -- Men deny guilt in killing of 14 unarmed civilians in Baghdad traffic circle in 2007 -- Spencer Hsu UnionTribune
• M1511 2014-10-23 Coalition Moves to Stay San Onofre Settlement to “clean house” of corruption at the CPUC -- RayLutz Citizens Oversight Coalition To Decommission San Onofre
• M1460 2014-05-29 THE RISE OF THE OLIGARCHS Empire interview with Erik Prince -- AlJazeera
• M1438 2014-05-13 RATEPAYER ADVOCATES TO SPEAK ON $3.3 BILLION SAN ONOFRE BAILOUT OF GIDDY UTILITY INVESTORS -- RayLutz CoalitionToDecommissionSanOnofre
• M1356 2013-05-02 Jeremy Scahill on 'Dirty Wars' in San Diego -- JeremyScahill CitizensOversight
• M1260 2012-05-08 Imperial County Board of Supervisors Rescind Approval of Wind Zero (AKA Coyote Wells) Project -- RayLutz CitizensOversight
• M1237 2012-02-02 Judge rules training center eviction was legal -- JHarryJones UnionTribune
• M1837 2011-10-10 Tribe wants training center off reservation -- JHarryJones UnionTribune
• M1175 2011-09-10 Eagle Rock Training Center Should be Shut Down -- RaymondLutz CitizensOversight
• M1173 2011-05-26 News 8 takes rare tour inside Eagle Rock Training Center - San Diego, California News Station - KFMB -- News 8
• M1167 2011-05-15 Secret Desert Force Set Up by Blackwater’s Founder -- Mark Mazzetti NewYorkTimes
• M1166 2011-05-14 Afghanistan: The Internet is Mightier than the Bullet -- RaymondLutz CitizensOversight
• M1164 2011-05-09 Meshaal told to choose between committing to Quartet's conditions and Bin Laden's fate -- Middle East Monitor
• M1162 2011-05-02 Bin Laden Dead -- RaymondLutz CitizensOversight
• M1158 2011-04-23 Marines, SEALs confirm training on Indian reservation -- JHarryJones UnionTribune
• M1159 2011-04-23 Ex-Blackwater Guards Face Renewed Charges -- James Risen NewYorkTimes
• M1152 2011-04-14 Military training facility on Indian reservation is revealed -- JHarryJones UnionTribune
• M1148 2011-02-24 At what risk? Correcting over-reliance on contractors in contingency operations -- Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan
• M1129 2011-02-07 Virtual Warfare Escalates on US-Mexico Border -- Kanya D Almeida TruthOut

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