Kind of People and Corporations who will govern us if we don't do something
Submitted by early-bird on May 1, 2007 - 12:58am.
Blackwater | democracy
THE RISE OF THE WORLD’S MOST POWERFUL
MERCENARY ARMY
Jeremy Scahill, a Polk Award-winning investigative journalist returns to Sacramento . A frequent contributor to The Nation magazine and a correspondent for Democracy Now, Scahill has reported extensively from Iraq , the former Yugoslavia and Nigeria . He is currently a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellow at The Nation Institute. Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army is his first book.
About BLACKWATER:
“The rise of this unchecked mercenary force, as Scahill understands, could presage the final stage in the collapse of American democracy.”
Chris Hedges, former New York Times Middle East Bureau Chief
“The most important and chilling book about the death throes of U.S. democracy you will read in years and a triumph of investigative reporting.”
Naomi Klein, author No Logo
"Of all the insane Bush privatization efforts, none is more frightening than the corporatizing of military combat forces. Jeremy Scahill admirably exposes a devastating example of this sinister scheme."
Michael Moore, Academy Award Winning Director
“In this terrifying and thrillingly written book, Jeremy Scahill introduces us to the shape of things to come, and to the kind of people and corporations who are likely to govern our lives if we don't do something about it pretty quickly.”
Arundhati Roy, author The God of Small Things
http://www.blackwaterbook.org/
Bush's Shadow Army
Jeremy Scahill
Jeremy Scahill reports on the Bush Administration's growing dependence on private security forces such as Blackwater USA and efforts in Congress to rein them in. This article is adapted from his new book, Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army (Nation Books).
On September 10, 2001, before most Americans had heard of Al Qaeda or imagined the possibility of a "war on terror," Donald Rumsfeld stepped to the podium at the Pentagon to deliver one of his first major addresses as Defense Secretary under President George W. Bush. Standing before the former corporate executives he had tapped as his top deputies overseeing the high-stakes business of military contracting--many of them from firms like Enron, General Dynamics and Aerospace Corporation--Rumsfeld issued a declaration of war.
"The topic today is an adversary that poses a threat, a serious threat, to the security of the United States of America," Rumsfeld thundered. "It disrupts the defense of the United States and places the lives of men and women in uniform at risk." He told his new staff, "You may think I'm describing one of the last decrepit dictators of the world.... [But] the adversary's closer to home," he said. "It's the Pentagon bureaucracy." Rumsfeld called for a wholesale shift in the running of the Pentagon, supplanting the old DoD bureaucracy with a new model, one based on the private sector. Announcing this major overhaul, Rumsfeld told his audience, "I have no desire to attack the Pentagon; I want to liberate it. We need to save it from itself."
The next morning, the Pentagon would be attacked, literally, as a Boeing 757--American Airlines Flight 77--smashed into its western wall. Rumsfeld would famously assist rescue workers in pulling bodies from the rubble. But it didn't take long for Rumsfeld to seize the almost unthinkable opportunity presented by 9/11 to put his personal war--laid out just a day before--on the fast track. The new Pentagon policy would emphasize covert actions, sophisticated weapons systems and greater reliance on private contractors. It became known as the Rumsfeld Doctrine. "We must promote a more entrepreneurial approach: one that encourages people to be proactive, not reactive, and to behave less like bureaucrats and more like venture capitalists," Rumsfeld wrote in the summer of 2002 in an article for Foreign Affairs titled "Transforming the Military."
Although Rumsfeld was later thrown overboard by the Administration in an attempt to placate critics of the Iraq War, his military revolution was here to stay. Bidding farewell to Rumsfeld in November 2006, Bush credited him with overseeing the "most sweeping transformation of America's global force posture since the end of World War II." Indeed, Rumsfeld's trademark "small footprint" approach ushered in one of the most significant developments in modern warfare--the widespread use of private contractors in every aspect of war, including in combat.
The often overlooked subplot of the wars of the post-9/11 period is their unprecedented scale of outsourcing and privatization. From the moment the US troop buildup began in advance of the invasion of Iraq, the Pentagon made private contractors an integral part of the operations. Even as the government gave the public appearance of attempting diplomacy, Halliburton was prepping for a massive operation. When US tanks rolled into Baghdad in March 2003, they brought with them the largest army of private contractors ever deployed in modern war. By the end of Rumsfeld's tenure in late 2006, there were an estimated 100,000 private contractors on the ground in Iraq--an almost one-to-one ratio with active-duty American soldiers.
To the great satisfaction of the war industry, before Rumsfeld resigned he took the extraordinary step of classifying private contractors as an official part of the US war machine. In the Pentagon's 2006 Quadrennial Review, Rumsfeld outlined what he called a "road map for change" at the DoD, which he said had begun to be implemented in 2001. It defined the "Department's Total Force" as "its active and reserve military components, its civil servants, and its contractors--constitut[ing] its warfighting capability and capacity. Members of the Total Force serve in thousands of locations around the world, performing a vast array of duties to accomplish critical missions." This formal designation represented a major triumph for war contractors--conferring on them a legitimacy they had never before enjoyed.
Contractors have provided the Bush Administration with political cover, allowing the government to deploy private forces in a war zone free of public scrutiny, with the deaths, injuries and crimes of those forces shrouded in secrecy. The Administration and the GOP-controlled Congress in turn have shielded the contractors from accountability, oversight and legal constraints. Despite the presence of more than 100,000 private contractors on the ground in Iraq, only one has been indicted for crimes or violations. "We have over 200,000 troops in Iraq and half of them aren't being counted, and the danger is that there's zero accountability," says Democrat Dennis Kucinich, one of the leading Congressional critics of war contracting.
While the past years of Republican monopoly on government have marked a golden era for the industry, those days appear to be ending. Just a month into the new Congressional term, leading Democrats were announcing investigations of runaway war contractors. Representative John Murtha, chair of the Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Defense, after returning from a trip to Iraq in late January, said, "We're going to have extensive hearings to find out exactly what's going on with contractors. They don't have a clear mission and they're falling all over each other." Two days later, during confirmation hearings for Gen. George Casey as Army chief of staff, Senator Jim Webb declared, "This is a rent-an-army out there." Webb asked Casey, "Wouldn't it be better for this country if those tasks, particularly the quasi-military gunfighting tasks, were being performed by active-duty military soldiers in terms of cost and accountability?" Casey defended the contracting system but said armed contractors "are the ones that we have to watch very carefully." Senator Joe Biden, chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, has also indicated he will hold hearings on contractors. Parallel to the ongoing investigations, there are several bills gaining steam in Congress aimed at contractor oversight.
Occupying the hot seat through these deliberations is the shadowy mercenary company Blackwater USA. Unbeknownst to many Americans and largely off the Congressional radar, Blackwater has secured a position of remarkable power and protection within the US war apparatus. This company's success represents the realization of the life's work of the conservative officials who formed the core of the Bush Administration's war team, for whom radical privatization has long been a cherished ideological mission. Blackwater has repeatedly cited Rumsfeld's statement that contractors are part of the "Total Force" as evidence that it is a legitimate part of the nation's "warfighting capability and capacity." Invoking Rumsfeld's designation, the company has in effect declared its forces above the law--entitled to the immunity from civilian lawsuits enjoyed by the military, but also not bound by the military's court martial system. While the initial inquiries into Blackwater have focused on the complex labyrinth of secretive subcontracts under which it operates in Iraq, a thorough investigation into the company reveals a frightening picture of a politically connected private army that has become the Bush Administration's Praetorian Guard.
A nation of sheep soon begets a government of wolves. - Edward R. Murrow
Blackwater: The Extreme-Right Mega-Millionaire Mercenary by LiberalLucy Sun Apr 29, 2007 at 07:53:17 AM PDT
Since the U.S.'s invasion into Iraq and Afghanistan, many American lives have changed. So many lives lost in a fight that is viewed by most of the country and world as unjust. So many families shattered, so many bright futures tragically cut short.
For one man, the War of Bush/Cheney/Haliburton Oil was his golden ticket to massive wealth and an extraordinary level of influence and menacing power. Meet Erik Prince, born and raised in Holland, Michigan, and one of the country's most dangerous men.
<!-- polls come after this -->
- LiberalLucy's diary :: ::
The Man, the Mercenary
Ted Roelof of the Grand Rapids Press has an extensive look into the reclusive Prince and a life built on ultra-conservative tenets and money.
Prince, son of Holland industrialist Edgar Prince and an ex-Navy SEAL, tapped his inherited wealth in 1996 to found a little-noticed North Carolina security firm that would become Blackwater USA.
Family connections helped. As brother to former Michigan GOP chairwoman Betsy DeVos and brother-in-law to her husband, 2006 GOP gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos, Prince had access to Capitol Hill power brokers.
But his business plan did not crystallize until the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
With the U.S. decision to go to war in Afghanistan and Iraq, a changing military looked to the private sector to complete a variety of missions.
Blackwater was in prime position to capitalize.
Roelof's Blackwater descriptor as a "security firm" is akin to calling Wal-Mart the mom and pop corner store. According to David Isenberg with the British American Security Information Council (BASIC), Blackwater is a private military company. Isenberg should know, he has been researching and writing on private military companies (PMC) since the early 1990s.
George Washington University professor of political science Deborah Avant had this to say about Prince in Roelof's piece -
"Blackwater is owned by one guy, who is very rich," Avant said. "He's very connected. He's very tied to the Christian right."
Prince's entire history is seeped in the ultra-conservative agenda, from political beliefs to campaign donations, Prince has been a stalwart of the Republican money machine.
In 1992, Erik Prince and his father split politically with his sister, Betsy DeVos, who was then 5th District GOP chairwoman. They backed Pat Buchanan for president. She supported President George H.W. Bush.
As a 22-year-old senior at Hillsdale, Prince explained his decision to The (Grand Rapids) Press.
"I interned with the Bush administration for six months," he said.
"I saw a lot of things I didn't agree with -- homosexual groups being invited in, the budget agreement, the Clean Air Act, those kind of bills. I think the administration has been indifferent to a lot of conservative concerns."
...
At age 19, Prince made his first political contribution: A $15,000 donation to the GOP. By 2006, his total contributions had swelled to more than $235,000 -- virtually all to Republican or conservative causes.
The Questionable Company
The problem isn't Prince's money, personal political beliefs or his sister and brother-in-law, fondly known here in Michigan as Mr. and Mrs. Amway Guy. As much as I may not agree with Prince, I respect his right to believe whatever he wants and have as much money as he wants.
The real problem is with what he's turned Blackwater into, how the company is being used to our ridicule country's justice system and the careless way in which its employees are being treated.
According to BASIC's Isenberg, private military companies like Blackwater use political campaign contributions and lobbying firms to influence the government.
On the lobbying front it was reported that Washington, D.C.-based PR and lobbying firm Alexander Strategy Group is working on behalf of Blackwater USA. Though ASG recently announced it was shutting down because of its ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and former House majority leader Tom DeLay, who has been indicted on money-laundering charges.
As if that's not bad enough, The Nation's Jeremy Scahill has done extensive research on Blackwater USA. Up till now, the facts have been kept quiet because they are so scary. Consider this from Scahill's August '06 report -
Government records recently obtained by The Nation reveal that the Bush Administration has paid Blackwater more than $320 million since June 2004 to provide "diplomatic security" services globally. The massive contract is the largest known to have been awarded to Blackwater to date and reveals how the Administration has elevated a once-fledgling security firm into a major profiteer in the "war on terror."
...
Blackwater was originally slated to be paid $229.5 million for five years, according to a State Department contract list. Yet as of June 30, just two years into the program, it had been paid a total of $321,715,794. When confronted with this apparent $100 million discrepancy, the State Department could not readily explain it. Blackwater's two years of WPPS (Worldwide Personal Protection Services, a little known State Department program) earnings exceed many estimates of the company's total government contracts, which the Virginian-Pilot recently put at $290 million combined since 2000. Six years ago the government paid Blackwater less than $250,000.
With this surmounting evidence, it seems as if Blackwater is up to its eyeballs in questionable transactions and the whole thing reeks of collusion and conspiracy.
The Sins of the Employer visit kill the Employees
To date, according to SourceWatch, Blackwater USA has receieved no-bid government contracts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and post-Katrina New Orleans, all from George W. Bush's administration.
Many Americans are perfectly willing to sit in their living rooms and cluck their tongues when they hear of corporate scandal and incest. For most, it's a problem within the boardroom, and even if they wanted too, what could they really do about it?
That's what was going on with Blackwater until that fateful day in Fallujah on March 31st, 2004. The world turned on their televisions and were met with a gruesome image of charred American bodies, burned and chopped up, hung in pieces to a bridge over the Euphrates River. The poor soldiers, everyone said. Jaws hit the floor when it was discovered that those poor men were not U.S. soldiers, they were Blackwater USA employees.
Even more stunning than the manner in which they died, is why they died. In a separate piece for The Nation, Scahill's Blood is Thicker than Blackwater reveals the truth.
According to former Blackwater officials, Blackwater, Regency and ESS were engaged in a classic war-profiteering scheme. Blackwater was paying its men $600 a day but billing Regency $815, according to the Raleigh News and Observer.
...
All this was shady enough--but the real danger for (murdered Blackwater employee Scott) Helvenston and the others lay in Blackwater's decision to cut corners to make even more money. The original contract between Blackwater/Regency and ESS, obtained by The Nation, recognized that "the current threat in the Iraqi theater of operations" would remain "consistent and dangerous," and called for a minimum of three men in each vehicle on security missions "with a minimum of two armored vehicles to support ESS movements." [Emphasis added.]
But on March 12, 2004, Blackwater and Regency signed a subcontract, which specified security provisions identical to the original except for one word: "armored." Blackwater deleted it from the contract.
"When they took that word 'armored' out, Blackwater was able to save $1.5 million in not buying armored vehicles, which they could then put in their pocket," says attorney Miles. "These men were told that they'd be operating in armored vehicles. Had they been, I sincerely believe that they'd be alive today. They were killed by insurgents literally walking up and shooting them with small-arms fire. This was not a roadside bomb, it was not any other explosive device. It was merely small-arms fire, which could have been repelled by armored vehicles."
When the facts of the case revealed themselves, the families of the murdered men were horrified. It was discovered that Scott Helveston and other Blackwater employees knew about the shortcuts and mistreatment, and attempted to bring it to Blackwater's attention. Their complaints were swept under the rug and the families would not find out about it until after that fateful day in Fallujah.
Erik Prince and Blackwater played the role of grieving employer well, until the families wanted some answers.
After the killings, Katy Helvenston joined the families of Mike Teague, Jerko Zovko and Wesley Batalona in grieving and in seeking details about the incident. Blackwater founder Erik Prince personally delivered money to some of the families for funeral expenses, and the company moved to get the men's wives and children benefits under the government's Defense Base Act...
...
But then things started to get strange. Blackwater held a memorial service for the men at its compound. The families were gathered in a conference room, where they thought they would be told how the men had died. The Zovko family asked Blackwater to see the "After Action Report" detailing the incident. "We were actually told," recalls Zovko's mother, Danica, "that if we wanted to see the paperwork of how my son and his co-workers were killed that we'd have to sue them."
Thus began the legal battle between Blackwater and the dead men's families. In one of its few statements on the suit, Blackwater spokesperson Chris Bertelli said, "Blackwater hopes that the honor and dignity of our fallen comrades are not diminished by the use of the legal process."
Katy Helvenston calls that "total BS in my opinion," and says that the families decided to sue only after being stonewalled, misled and lied to by the company. "Blackwater seems to understand money. That's the only thing they understand," she says. "They have no values, they have no morals. They're whores. They're the whores of war."
Prince and Blackwater do seem to understand money quite well. They hired convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff's former employer, Greenberg Traurig, the influential DC law firm as their lead counsel. With their vast financial resources, Blackwater's legal team has managed to delay the case for almost 3 years now with tricky moves and one fluff motion after another.
According to another article in The Nation, in early October 2006, Blackwater dumped Greenberg Traurig and hired former Whitewater investigator Kenneth Starr to file motions in front of the U.S. Supreme Court regarding the suit.
There are undeniable benefits to having Starr, the US Solicitor General under President George H.W. Bush, represent Blackwater--a highly partisan GOP company--in front of a Supreme Court stacked with Bush appointees. Starr also has a personal connection to Blackwater. Starr and Joseph Schmitz, the general counsel and chief operating officer of Blackwater's parent company, the Prince Group, have both worked closely with the arch-conservative Washington Legal Foundation. Since 1993 Starr has served on the legal policy advisory board of the organization for which Schmitz has frequently acted as a spokesperson and attorney.
The case is in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, and a decision is being awaited. U.S. Congressman Henry Waxman (D-California) chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is holding hearings into the allegations that Blackwater purposely shorted its employees of necessary equipment.
As the country awaits the two decisions, we need to stare the grim reality of this situation of corruption, greed, and complete disregard for American lives straight in the face and change the system. The ultimate tragedy will be if we, the People, turn a blind eye and allow people like Erik Prince and corporations like Blackwater to continue to make a farce out of our brave men and women and the laws that exist to protect them.
A nation of sheep soon begets a government of wolves. - Edward R. Murrow
This is a situation that needs addressing before it becomes anymore dire. It's been seriously worrying me for some time.
Joy
are like me you wish the government and the media hadn't gone to the dogs so real life - the one we need to attend to and DO WELL would be not so sidetracked - BUT IT IS..... rats and colorful sayings I won't type
get into the habit if you've had good ideas - you have good ideas if you get in the habit: the Voice
Hopefully you've already heard Christine Craft talk about this on her show. If not, then let me tell you that Blackwater (Bush's private mercenary army - Fallujah, Iraq / New Orleans) is trying to open a private military training facility here in California (near San Diego). Apparently Gov. Arnold is fully supportive of this.
We must stop this NOW before it's too late!
Please read the emails below from a San Diego activist and the Sierra Club and send your calls / faxes / emails before this Friday @ 4pm.
Please tell this to everyone you know!!
Thanks for your help with this important issue,
Bill
----- Original Message -----
From: Patricia Gracian
Your FAXes, calls, and emails needed before Friday 4PM:
Blackwater USA, the private military contractor that trains mercenaries and is under investigation by Representative Henry Waxman's Committee on Oversight and Government Reform plans to build an 824-acre training facility in Potrero, a small town in southeast San Diego County.
The Blackwater plan to set up base next to San Diego, in Potrero in Dianne Jacob's district is not just an environmental disaster. It is a threat to our constitutional liberties and to our freedom from a developing police state.
This is NOT paranoia.
This group has already been involved in the criminal treatment of Iraqi civilians and of our own fellow citizens in New Orleans.
We need your help to stop this project!
Some resources about Blackwater USA:
View short video at
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070402/scahill
San Diego Reader article, Feb. 22, 2007, on
"Blackwater West"
http://www.sdreader.com/php/cityshow.php?id=1566
The public comment period regarding environmental impacts ends on Friday 4/27, 4PM. PLEASE plan your message from the Sierra Club information below. It need not be long or complicated. It just needs to be forceful and to the point.
Please FAX your letter to the County Department of Planning and Land Use,
Attn: Mr. Jarrett Ramaiya, Project Manager,
at 858-694-3373.
Please also send your comments to all the San Diego County Board of Supervisors when you can:
Districts 1-5
1. Greg Cox- http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/bos1/
2. Dianne Jacob-
http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/cnty/bos/sup2/reach/index.html
3. Pam Slater-Price-
http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/bos3/index.html
4. Ron Roberts-
http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/cnty/bos/sup4/contact.html
5. Bill Horn-
http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/cnty/bos/sup5/District5/index.html
----------------------------------------------------------
Forwarded message from Sierra Club:
(Please, please state your concerns. This is serious and you don't need to be an expert! This is worth spending some time on.)
Your voice is needed! Please comment on the Notice of Preparation of an Environmental Impact Report (NOP/EIR) for an inappropriate development of a Blackwater mercenary training facility proposed in the tiny rural town of Potrero.
Comments are due by this Friday, April, 27th, 4PM. Please FAX to the County Department of Planning and Land Use, Attn: Mr. Jarrett Ramaiya, Project Manager, at 858-694-3373.
The NOP (Notice of Preparation) can be reviewed at
http://www.sdcounty,ca.gov/dplu/ceqa_public_review.html.
It is also available in the Sierra Club Office.
County Contact: Jarrett Ramaiya -phone 858-604-3015.
The backcountry along Hwy 94 and residents of Campo, Boulevard, Potrero, Dulzura, Jamul, and even as far as Spring Valley, Lemon Grove, La Mesa and El Cajon would be directly
impacted by this development. All of San Diego would be impacted by the introduction of this unsavory mercenary element into our region.
For the Hwy 94 dwellers, impacts include increased traffic with the accompanying hindrance to emergency vehicles. Fire hazards from shooting and from storage of explosives and fuels,
noise and light pollution could reach us. Potrero will lose its rural community character and suffer intolerable noise along with the other impacts.
The proposed development would sit on an agricultural preserve which is not supposed to be developed according to the general and community plans, and in the Cleveland National Forest. Light and noise impacts would be very harmful, in addition to the loss of buffer area provided by the forest land and agricultural (ag) zoning. This is prime ag land which we have a lack of. Shooting will be directed away from the community, which likely means toward the
Cleveland National Forest and the Hauser Wilderness Area.
Adjacent to Hauser Wilderness are two Wilderness Study Areas that are Wilderness Proposal Areas in a recently introduced bill by Senator Barbara Boxer. I personally participated in the
field-mapping of these areas for the bill. One of the proposed Wilderness Areas is Hauser
Canyon which is below and south of the existing Wilderness. Hauser Creek runs the length of the canyon, and is a drinking water supply link from Lake Moreno to Barrett Lake. Hauser
Mountain, just south of a portion of the canyon hosts consists of rare habitat and a wide variety of micro habitats important to many plants and creatures. Both areas host endangered species and portions of the Pacific Crest Trail as well as many beautiful hiking and riding trails.
Additionally, the proposed development area itself sits in a water basin. Groundwater could be contaminated by lead from the bullets, fuel, etc. With predicted water shortages (a recent
report states that CA is heading toward permanent drought) and ever increasing groundwater contamination, S. California cannot afford to mess with its water supply.
Politically, Blackwater is a very scary entity, avoiding accountability even to our government. The organization and its operations are blanketed in secrecy. Even Congress has had trouble
obtaining records. If the trend toward increased privatization of war continues it will likely lead to increased seeking of profits from war, which leads to more war. Fighting this development is one way we can deter such an increase. Blackwater is currently the subject of Congressional hearings, as you probably already know, and efforts are being made to increase contractor accountability. This could eventually even impact the entire country and our freedom. These people can work for anyone or any country. Recently our Constitutional Clause, Posse Comitatus, (see http://www.dojgov.net/posse_comitatus_act.htm) which protected us from Martial Law, has been removed by the Bush Administration. He could declare martial law at any time without Congressional approval...at his whim. Is this our country?
Locally, rumor from Potrero residents is that one planning group member, pushing this project against the will of the people, has a business that will benefit financially from this development. The will of the people has not been fairly considered. Concerned citizens
say that they have been bamboozled by their own planning group.
This project is against the will of the people, against the community plan, and against county and federal regulations.
(Please see further info on this and the waste of taxpayer money in the Sierra Club comments below the links.)
Please speak against this proposed atrocity. Also please send your comments to Dianne Jacob, who seems to be acting favorably to this proposal, contradicting some of the very reasons she is using to defend us from a Jamul Casino and contrary to her support of wilderness.
Thanks!
Cheryl Reiff
Here are some links to articles for more info:
http://www.sdreader.com/php/cityshow.php?id=1566
Published on February 22, 2007
Tiny Potrero Battles County and Blackwater USA
By Don Bauder
---
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Massive_security_contractor_faces_growing_protest_0403.html
---
And a map of the facility:
http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/dplu/docs/PR/4-27-07/0620001-location-map.pdf
http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/dplu/docs/PR/4-27-07/0620001-plot.pdf
---
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070402/scahill
---
http://www.blackwaterbook.com/?gclid=COaFhOyi3IsCFRAvhgodqFdsWA
---
More info from the Sierra Club Land Use Chair:
B. Local Land Use Issues: Compliance with General
Plan 2020
Blackwater's proposed use of the Potrero Valley as a mercenary base is in gross violation of the County's own plan. Your Website states: "General Plan 2020 will form a framework into which the unincorporated communities will grow, shaping the future of San Diego County."
Are you going to throw away a comprehensive plan that the taxpayers spent millions of dollars to prepare, and that took years of time from administrative staff throughout the County?
Three regional advisory committees and 18 Cities guided the development of the 2020 General Plan. The Plan has been approved by the Planning Commission and the County Board of Supervisors.
No where is there a mercenary base called for in the plan. The Potrero Valley, is zoned for agriculture.
C. State, Federal and International and Native American Land Use Issues
The Potrero Valley is protected from development by federal law. It is proposed as an Area of Critical Environmental Concern under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act.
The Potrero Valley contains species that are protected by the Endangered Species Act. The Golden Eagle is known to breed in the Valley.
The Potrero Valley is the entrance to the Hauser Wilderness Area. Two adjacent areas, the Hauser Cyn and Hauser Mt Wilderness Proposals, are included in the California Wild Heritage Act, recently introduced by Senator Barbara Boxer.
The Potrero Valley is included in the Las Californias Binational Conservation Initiative, a bi-national initiative to protect priority conservation areas in the Las Californias region.
The Potrero Valley is located between Tecate and Little Tecate Peaks, which are of extreme religious and spiritual importance to the Kumeyaay people. Tecate Peak is where the Kumeyaay Shaman obtain their knowledge and power.
Don't just think outside the box -- find a way to tear the walls down.
Cheryl Reiff
Chapter Coordinator
Sierra Club, San Diego Chapter
3820 Ray Street
San Diego, CA 92104-3623
619-299-1741
creiff@sierraclubsandiego.org
http://sandiego.sierraclub.org
A nation of sheep soon begets a government of wolves. - Edward R. Murrow