22 Arrested at Blackwater's Illinois Compound

Rebel Reports (2009-04-28) Jeremy Scahill

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22 Arrested at Blackwater's Illinois Compound

More people have been arrested for protesting on Blackwater property than mercenaries who have killed innocent Iraqis

By Jeremy Scahill

Twenty-two people were arrested yesterday at the Blackwater/Xe compound in Jo Daviess County Illinois as they carried out a nonviolent direct action against a company at the center of some of the worst violence in Iraq. They were part of a larger group of about 75 people who marched on Blackwater to serve the company with a Notice of Foreclosure for Moral Bankruptcy.

“There’ve been more people arrested for trespassing on Blackwater property than Blackwater employees that have been held accountable for their illegal actions which include tax evasion, smuggling illegal arms into Iraq as well as illegal use of firearms on their facility in Moyock, North Carolina,” charged Dan Kenney, one of the organizers of the protest. From the Stockton Journal Standard :

[R]esident Martin Hippie said he finds it worrisome that local police are training with a company ejected from Iraq by its government for wrongdoing.

“It’s kind of like organized crime coming in and taking over a casino,” Hippie said. “We have laws against that and I think we have to have laws against private companies taking over our police forces and military training.”

Blackwater recently changed the name of its training facilities to the “US Training Center.” Monday’s demonstration at Blackwater came after a weekend conference focused on the company and its domestic expansion in the US. It was sponsored by the Clearwater Citizens group, the Midwest Regional Catholic Worker Movement and other groups.

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Photos from demonstration of those arrested. sent by Frank Cordaro.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/monashaw/sets/72157618344371092/

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Official site of the event:
http://www.desmoinescatholicworker.org/blackwaterretreat.html

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Slideshow of the conference
http://www.flickr.com/photos/monashaw/sets/72157617648515232/show/