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CA Fires Topic - Blackwater, arson, etc. (11 posts)

  1. Victronix
    Member

    Fire Chief: Who Ever Started This Fire KNEW What they were doing

    Fire officials are now stating that the Orange County Santiago fire was purposely set and there is speculation that other fires may have also been deliberate. http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/2007/10...


    email sent to sf911truth@googlegroups.com -

    As I write this, massive fires are raging across Southern California. While it is quiet and normal at my house in Los Angeles, I can see smoke in the distance and smell it in the air. And I keep thinking about the good people of Potrero -- a serene small community in East San Diego County -- that I met just a few weeks ago as we rallied together to block Blackwater from building a base in their tiny, beautiful town.

    These concerned community members have been working for months to stop Blackwater from building a mercenary training facility on 824 acres, consisting of 11 firing ranges, a helipad, and an emergency vehicle operator's course covering the equivalent of 10 football fields. As we watch the fire burn across the area today, one can only imagine what might have happened if an armory full of ammunition and explosives were located inside this box canyon. I was inspired and proud to march with the good folks of Potrero, people who are not usually political, but who know that if they do not stand up against Blackwater in their own community, then no one will.

    Beyond the damage and destruction to life and property, the timing of this wildfire could not be much worse. This fire exploded just as the people of Potrero were preparing for a recall election on December 11 to kick out the planning group members who approved Blackwater's base. With ballots scheduled to be mailed in early November to less than 600 registered voters in this historic vote-by-mail recall, Potrero residents were preparing for an intense campaign over the next six weeks.

    But the actual landscape -- and the political landscape -- of Potrero have been transformed over the last 48 hours.


    Blackwater Remains Determined To Build In Fire-Ravaged Potrero

    Incredibly, Blackwater West Vice President Brian Bonfiglio says that Blackwater's planned mercenary training camp in San Diego County would decrease the risk of wildfires, even though the huge Blackwater facility would have live-fire exercises and ammunition dumps in the middle of a fire-prone canyon. http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/community/post...


    Tragic Fires Highlight Danger of Blackwater

    You might think that Blackwater would meekly withdraw their plan to destroy even further the wilderness around Potrero, but given their history of arrogance we are likely to see Blackwater politicize the fire to its advantage. Blackwater's giant mercenary firing ranges, explosives testing, and tank race tracks make the areas around them much more dangerous. While Blackwater will probably make a statement saying that they would have a few fire trucks to help in situations like this, the truth is that Blackwater is more likely to start fires than to put them out. (We don't need mercenary corporate fire trucks -- California and our National Guard are working hard and we thank them for their brave service.) http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/community/post...

    Posted 17 years ago #
  2. Victronix
    Member

    California Arson Suspect Killed, Another Arrested - Reward Offered

    October 24, 2007

    Amid worries of new blazes adding to the firestorm already afflicting the region, a man in Hesperia has been arrested on suspicion of arson, and police reported shooting and killing another arson suspect after chasing him out of scrub behind Cal State San Bernardino. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-arson25oct...

    Posted 17 years ago #
  3. truthmover
    Administrator

    Oooo. This smell bad.

    We're off into some speculative territory here, but I heard Randi Rhodes going on about how suspicious this all seemed today on her show.

    Did they really burn those people out so they could build their training camp? Rep. Duncan Hunter is the congress person from that district, and is also running for President. I bet he got a sizable campaign contribution from Blackwater.


    Last June, Congressman Duncan Hunter and San Diego County Supervisor Dianne Jacob met with Blackwater representatives and listened to a sales pitch in which the mercenary group would set up shop in Potrero. http://uruknet.info/?p=m37043&s1=h1

    If you are unfamiliar with Hunter, here's a segment from his Wikipedia entry. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duncan_hunter


    In 2006, Hunter earned an "environmental harm demerit" from the watchdog group Republicans for Environmental Protection for "efforts to downsize Channel Islands National Park by seeking to transfer Santa Rosa Island to the Department of Defense. (!!!)


    Hunter became chairman of the House Armed Services Committee in 2002. As such, he has sponsored legislation authorizing defense department fiscal year activities from FY2004 to FY2007. During consideration of the FY2006 Defense Authorization Act, Hunter offered an amendment to the bill clarifying enacted policy restricting women from direct combat units.


    On January 31, 2007, Hunter held a press conference on the 2007 Chinese anti-satellite missile test, stating that it "represents the commencement of a new era of military competition in space." He contended that the United States' ability to engage in warfare depends heavily on its space assets, and opined that the country must take steps to "ensure our forces cannot be targeted through an adversarial space strike."

    This guy is probably DIA. If not, certainly way deep in the military or intelligence establishment. People were protesting, and now their homes are gone. Blackwater had yet another controversy on their hands and now that is also gone. And people died.

    Well, Blackwater now has their burned out valley to build on.

    Posted 17 years ago #
  4. NicholasLevis
    Member

    This is how it's been happening in Greece for years: fires clear forest on public lands in advance of development.

    It should be noted there are three key sociopolitical trends or factors at work in creating an environment where wildfires thrive - population flight from the land (meaning uncultivated fields, meaning unrestricted underbrush growth), acute underfunding of first response (2 firefighters for every 1,000 people in Greece, as opposed to 13 in Germany), and shameless dumping of garbage by idiots (summer visitors as well as locals) in rural areas.

    But the most important factor of all has been that Greek governments have redesignated public lands hit by fire for development - repeatedly, no matter what party was in power, many times through the years. Most of the fires are started by arsonists dispatched by those aiming to profit from future development. It's a travesty and a tragedy, and an all-too common m.o. worldwide that is killing us all!

    If Americans don't riot after this - but they didn't after Katrina. Why do we think 9/11 truth would make the difference?

    Posted 17 years ago #
  5. Victronix
    Member

    redesignated public lands hit by fire for development

    Yes, this seems to be the pattern. Probably 99.9% of the population has no idea of anything that went on after Katrina.

    The Blackwater situation in CA is pretty awful. It's interesting that there is one group really fighting this hard.

    Do We Want a Mercenary Army in California?

    "You would never imagine that California would need or want a Blackwater mercenary training facility. And you'd be right: California and the residents near where Blackwater wants to set up shop really don't want Blackwater. After all, the Marines at Pendleton, a few miles down the road, keep us pretty safe.

    . . . Thursday night, KNBC spent nearly eight minutes of its thirty minute news program shining a bright light on this secretive, privately held company's plans to set up an 824 acre training facility in East San Diego County. If seeing is believing, then have a look. The piece was a few months in the making and caught producer Frank Snepp's attention because of his own CIA background and because 3,500 members of Courage Campaign here in California have petitioned our senators and Governor to stop this insidious band of rogues before they stop civil society in our state.

    . . . The company's vice chair, Cofer Black, serves as senior advisor to Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney and as our friends at AlterNet point out, now heads a new Blackwater division designed to privatize the CIA." http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/2007/08/do...

    Posted 17 years ago #
  6. truthmover
    Administrator

    Is something being hidden?

    So now that we have a convenient story about some kid setting the fires, who are these suspects that were killed and captured? We're certainly hearing nothing further about them from the MSM. Was that just a snafu, with a big lawsuit to follow, or is there something deeper going on here?

    Posted 17 years ago #
  7. Victronix
    Member

    I saw a report where a woman saw a MAN on motorcycle set a fire and they caught him later, and also one where someone apparently rammed a police car trying to get away, then they killed him.

    I think they will try to muck it all up in the public's mind as the kid and a childish prank.

    Posted 17 years ago #
  8. Victronix
    Member

    http://origin.mercurynews.com/news/ci_7698680?ncli...

    Calif. town recalls planning board that endorsed Blackwater plan By ALLISON HOFFMAN Associated Press Writer Article Launched: 12/12/2007 12:51:24 AM PST

    SAN DIEGO—A small community in San Diego County won a skirmish with Blackwater Worldwide as residents voted to recall five members of a planning board that endorsed the global security contractor's plan to build a firing range in a nearby valley.

    The results were announced early Wednesday, several hours after the last ballots were cast in Potrero, a village tucked into the desert mountains east of downtown San Diego.

    "All five were recalled," said registrar Deborah Seiler, adding that final vote certification would come later Wednesday.

    The members—chairman Gordon Hammers, Jerry Johnson, Mary Johnson, Janet Wright and Thell Fowler—lost by wide margins, according to the voting tallies.

    Posted 16 years ago #
  9. NicholasLevis
    Member

    Wow, it's good news for a change - via democracy, even. Thank you vic!

    Can the new board now rescind the plan?

    Posted 16 years ago #
  10. Victronix
    Member

    Below is the message from Courage Campaign (my work intranet blocks the website so I can only send the content of the message). Good news . . . we won one.

    Dear Friend,

    Have you heard the wonderful news?

    From the Associated Press: "Military security contractor Blackwater Worldwide has pulled its plans to build a training facility in a remote area about 45 miles east of San Diego."

    It's a modern-day story of David vs. Goliath, a grassroots victory of monumental proportions. After a long battle to block the building of Blackwater's mercenary base, the people of Potrero (population: 899) are rejoicing. Blackwater is gone. Gone from this pristine area of East San Diego County. Gone from California.

    As you may know, for the last year the Courage Campaign has been working to help the people of Potrero get their message out to Californians. We wanted to amplify the stories of people like farmer Carl Meyer, a soft-spoken community leader who was the subject of a short, poignant video on our "Block Blackwater" web site.

    In December, Carl and a slate of "Save Potrero" community leaders shocked the world, overwhelmingly winning a recall election to replace all five Potrero Planning Group members who had previously approved Blackwater's plans to build a mercenary base in their beautiful and serene small town.

    Under people-powered pressure, Blackwater caved. You can watch our short, two-minute YouTube video highlighting Carl's activism and send a message of congratulations to the people of Potrero by clicking here:

    http://www.couragecampaign.org/congratulations

    Jan Hedlun is one of these amazing "accidental activists" -- one of the many residents of Potrero who didn't expect to devote over a year of their lives to fighting with Blackwater. They organized daily to battle Blackwater over noise, traffic, water, pollution, endangered species, and whether Blackwater was the kind of "neighbor" they wanted in their community.

    Until the resounding recall of all five pro-Blackwater members, Jan was the only Planning Group member openly voicing opposition to Blackwater's plans. Under the intimidating glare of Blackwater, Jan ably represented the concerns of an overwhelming majority of Potrero citizens who did not want this mercenary training camp to ruin their town.

    Jan has written a heartfelt letter of thanks to Courage Campaign members, recognizing the 13,137 people who signed our Blackwater petitions and the concerned citizens who wrote 1,079 letters to the people of Potrero after the California wildfires in October. Here's an excerpt:

    "Thank you so much for your assistance during this very long year (plus). Thank you for your petition. Thank you for sending us those wonderful letters of comfort during the Harris Fire. Thank you for offering to support "Save Potrero" during the recall election but standing by to let the people Potrero handle our own campaign. Thank you all very much for helping us prove that the American way still exists."
    

    You can read the rest of Jan's letter, watch the short YouTube video about Carl, and send a note of congratulations to the people of Potrero by clicking here:

    http://www.couragecampaign.org/congratulutions

    As Jan said, thanks go out to everyone who helped defeat Blackwater in California, in Potrero and across California and the country. This is a victory for community organizing and bottom-up, grassroots people power. And it is a victory made all-the-more surprising by the fact that 62% of people in this traditionally conservative rural community voted for George W. Bush in 2004.

    We've come a long way since the invasion of Iraq in March, 2003. And we've got a long way to go.

    For now, Californians can savor this sweet moment. And, instead of battling Blackwater, Potrero residents can focus on rebuilding after the wildfires that ravaged their community.

    Thank you for everything you did to make this wonderful news possible.

    Rick Jacobs Chair

    Posted 16 years ago #
  11. Victronix
    Member

    This includes the information of how Blackwater got around the grassroots effort to block them from building a base in Southern CA. We need to keep fighting it. Interestingly, couragecampaign is blocked on the VA intranet where I work. So is Richard Gage's site. -- Vic

    Ban Blackwater From Iraq

    By Lucas O'Connor, Courage Campaign - Apr 29th, 2008 http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/community/post...

    On the ground in San Diego, Blackwater's latest move to impose itself on the local community has been a shock. Obscuring their purpose on any number of levels, it's a game of catch-up just to establish the ground on which we'll fight back. What's clear above all else is that these guys aren't going to give up. No matter how many times local activists pull together to fight them off, they'll always come back. It has to find a federal solution.

    That's where the whole country needs to continue in the anti-Blackwater business just like San Diegans are revving up for another knock-down and drag-out. The long term solution here comes from bills like the Stop Outsourcing Security Act, and Rick Jacobs has the rundown on how we can help get things rolling a little faster:

    Blackwater is back in California.

    Just a few months after the courageous people of Potrero kicked Blackwater out of their small town on the California border, Blackwater has announced plans to open a 61,600 square-foot "training facility" in San Diego just THREE blocks from Mexican border.

    In other words, Blackwater is using your tax dollars on a mercenary war in Iraq -- $320 million paid so far, over 60% in no-bid contracts -- to subsidize building a base of operations inside California.

    Blackwater's border bait-and-switch has shocked the citizens of San Diego. Shortly before pulling their plans on Potrero, the private military contractor quietly used a shell company called "Southwest Law Enforcement" to gain city permits for a "vocational trade school" a stone's throw from the Tijuana Airport. While Blackwater denies that this deception is a trojan horse to land border security contracts from the federal government before George W. Bush leaves office, the ominous writing is on California's wall.

    What will it take to stop Blackwater for good in California and Iraq? Local and national pressure. This time, the Courage Campaign plans to fight a two-front battle against Blackwater -- on the border in San Diego and in the halls of Congress.

    To block Blackwater in California for good, we need to put them out of business in Iraq forever. That's why we're supporting Rep. Jan Schakowsky's "Stop Outsourcing Security Act" (H.R. 4102), which would phase out private security companies like Blackwater in Iraq and Afghanistan. An identical bill in the Senate (S. 2398) has been co-sponsored by Senator Hillary Clinton.

    If Senator Clinton can call for Blackwater to be banned from Iraq, so can Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

    And so can you. Please join us now in asking Speaker Pelosi -- California's most powerful member of Congress -- to take leadership by supporting the "Stop Outsourcing Security Act." On Monday, we will deliver thousands of your signatures to Speaker Pelosi's offices in Washington D.C. and San Francisco. Please add your signature and spread the word today:

    http://www.couragecampaign.org/BanBlackwater

    Rep. Schakowsky's bill in the House requires that within six months of passage, "the secretary of State shall ensure that all personnel at any United States diplomatic or consular mission in Iraq are provided security services only by federal government personnel."

    Senator Clinton was unequivocal in her support for this ground-breaking legislation:

    "From this war's very beginning, this administration has permitted thousands of heavily-armed military contractors to march through Iraq without any law or court to rein them in or hold them accountable. These private security contractors have been reckless and have compromised our mission in Iraq. The time to show these contractors the door is long past due. We need to stop filling the coffers of contractors in Iraq, and make sure that armed personnel in Iraq are fully accountable to the U.S. government and follow the chain of command."
    

    The bill is also gaining momentum in the progressive grassroots and netroots as a foundational piece of the "Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq" -- the people-powered plan we told you about a few weeks ago that has now been endorsed by 55 congressional candidates for Congress.

    This Thursday, May 1, True Majority will deliver the "Responsible Plan" to members of Congress across America on the fifth anniversary of President Bush's "Mission Accomplished" declaration. On Monday, May 5, we'll follow up by delivering your signatures to Speaker Pelosi's offices in Washington D.C. and San Francisco.

    With funding for the war in Iraq being considered by Congress right now, there's no better time to shine a light on Blackwater. If we can convince Speaker Pelosi to stop Blackwater from privatizing national security with our tax dollars, it could be the beginning of the end for Blackwater in Iraq. And California.

    Please take a stand and spread the word today, before we deliver your signatures to Speaker Pelosi on Monday:

    http://www.couragecampaign.org/BanBlackwater

    Time is not on our side. Blackwater claims that it may be able to begin operations in San Diego as early as this summer. Meanwhile, the Iraq contract that Blackwater is operating under -- the State Department's "Worldwide Personal Protective Services" contract to guard infrastructure and diplomats -- is up for renewal in May.

    We need to go on offense now, locally and nationally, to stop the outsourcing of our security operations in Iraq and on the Mexican border. That means blocking Blackwater from San Diego and banning Blackwater from Iraq before it's too late.

    Please forward this email to your friends today and ask them to sign our petition to Speaker Pelosi before Monday at 9 a.m.

    Thank you for everything you are doing to make 2008 a new era for progressive politics in California. And the world.

    Rick Jacobs Chair

    P.S. The people of Potrero spoke out loud and clear that Blackwater was not welcome in San Diego County. Now it's up to the Mayor and the San Diego City Council to stand up against these mercenaries setting up shop on in California. In a few days, we'll give you an update on the battle brewing over Blackwater's new base on the border and what you can do to stop it.

    But first, we need your help to ban Blackwater from Iraq. Please sign the petition to Speaker Pelosi now:

    http://www.couragecampaign.org/BanBlackwater

    Posted 16 years ago #

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