{"id":1978,"date":"2007-12-13T00:51:41","date_gmt":"2007-12-13T00:51:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/contributions\/general\/blackwater-mercenaries-on-the-usa-mexico-border\/1978\/"},"modified":"2007-12-13T00:51:41","modified_gmt":"2007-12-13T00:51:41","slug":"blackwater-mercenaries-on-the-usa-mexico-border","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/contributions\/general\/blackwater-mercenaries-on-the-usa-mexico-border\/","title":{"rendered":"Blackwater Mercenaries on the USA-Mexico Border"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Nancy Conroy<\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In San Diego County, California, a firestorm has erupted over plans to build a Blackwater mercenary training camp in the hills behind Potrero, a remote area east of the city. <\/span>The residents of San Diego are opposing the idea on the grounds that firing ranges are noisy and mercenaries would be undesirable neighbors. <\/span>So far the controversy has been a localized, \u201cnot in my backyard,\u201d type of debate involving planning commissions and citizen\u2019s action groups.<\/font><\/p>\n

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Americans tend to think in an American way, and therefore nobody seems to have noticed that the location of this camp is right on the US-Mexico border, just a few miles from Tecate.<\/font><\/p>\n

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From an international perspective, there are a number of geopolitical reasons that could explain why this border location was selected. <\/span>This is probably not merely an issue for the local planning commission, given that the idea of mercenaries along the border has broader international implications.<\/font><\/p>\n

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Blackwater USA is a private army based in Louisiana that has received billions of dollars in US government contracts to assist with the Iraq war. <\/span>These \u201ccontractors\u201d are highly trained ex-military specialists, many of whom come from foreign countries with poor human rights records.<\/font><\/p>\n

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Blackwater, at its website, identifies itself as \u201c\u2026 not simply a \u2018private security company.\u2019 <\/span>We are a professional military, law enforcement, security, peacekeeping, and stability operations firm who provides turnkey solutions.\u201d<\/font><\/p>\n

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The presence of Blackwater in Iraq has generated controversy over the concept of an \u201coutsourced\u201d war, using mercenaries instead of regular US troops. <\/span>The mercenaries do not answer to US military commanders, their conduct is not governed by the Geneva Convention, and they answer only to the people who are signing their paychecks.<\/font><\/p>\n

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Critics often compare them to the Nazi brownshirts.<\/font><\/p>\n

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A Blackwater camp on the border may be a covert attempt to militarize the border without going through congressional oversight or public debate. <\/span>A so-called \u201ctraining camp\u201d could probably also function as an operational base. <\/span>Perhaps Blackwater will obtain government contracts to patrol the border, gradually edging out US agents and putting border security into the hands of a private army away from public scrutiny.<\/font><\/p>\n

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And Blackwater could run immigrant detention camps using the same methods they use in the Middle East. <\/span>Even if this is not the plan, the Mexicans would have good reason to suspect this motivation.<\/font><\/p>\n

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The proposed training camp is located near international drug supply routes controlled by the Sinaloa Cartel. <\/span>The remote, mountainous terrain is like Afghanistan, where Blackwater has years of experience running covert operations.<\/font><\/p>\n

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Six miles from the proposed Blackwater camp, northern Mexico has a serious problem with \u201cMen in Black\u201d who coincidentally look, dress, and act just like the Blackwater people. <\/span>In Mexico, the Men in Black are kidnappers, corrupt police officers, fake federal agents, or Zetas, a narco-paramilitary group. <\/span>Although Americans may still be swallowing the argument that Blackwater is a \u201cmilitary auxiliary\u201d outfit, the Mexicans are not fooled about who the Men in Black are, what they do, and who they work for. <\/span>That these same people are now camped out on the US border, or are somehow involved in border enforcement, will lack credibility in Mexico.<\/font><\/p>\n

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Since the Iraq war, business at Blackwater has been booming, which is why they need the new \u201cBlackwater West\u201d facility. <\/span>Most of Blackwater\u2019s contracts come from the US government, at least those that are publicly disclosed. <\/span>But, Blackwater is a private army that is available to run \u201ccorporate security\u201d missions for anyone that can afford it. <\/span>This suggests another possible motivation for the border location: to serve emerging markets in northern Mexico.<\/font><\/p>\n

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There are surely plenty of possible clients with money in the Baja California area who need special operations. <\/span>Since Blackwater personnel look just like the Mexican Men in Black, they should have no trouble blending in.<\/font><\/p>\n

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Another possible reason for the border location is the potential to perform \u201cextraordinary renditions\u201d into Mexico. <\/span>\u201cExtraordinary renditions\u201d is a euphemism for off-the-record prisoner processing, the subjects of which are known in Latin America as \u201clos <\/em>desaparecidos<\/span><\/em>\u201d (\u201cthe disappeared\u201d). <\/span>Blackwater conducts extraordinary renditions in the Middle East, quietly transferring prisoners to third countries where interrogation techniques are not monitored. <\/span>From their new border location, Blackwater could perform extraordinary renditions into northern Mexico far away from prying eyes.<\/font><\/p>\n

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Blackwater has said that the reason for the site selection is to be close to the San Diego area, where many branches of the US military need extra training. <\/span>Still, the location so close to the US-Mexico border raises international issues that local San Diego citizen\u2019s groups are not aware of and generally do not think about. <\/span>Americans should consider the possible international dimensions, and responsible Mexican citizens should evaluate the potential impact of this camp on their own country.<\/font><\/p>\n

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As well, if Mexicans were more informed about this issue, the specter of mercenaries along the border has the potential to create an international controversy.<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Nancy Conroy   In San Diego County, California, a firestorm has erupted over plans to build a Blackwater mercenary training camp in the hills behind Potrero, a remote area east of the city. The residents of San Diego are opposing the idea on the grounds that firing ranges are noisy and mercenaries would be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,1616],"tags":[49],"class_list":{"0":"post-1978","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-general","7":"category-usa-news","8":"tag-usa-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1978\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}