It was a hot dry afternoon in the rolling pastorial hills of northwest Illinois. Beneath the blue sky and bright sun a group of 80 citizens stood in the heat on Skunk Hallow Road to voice their outrage that Blackwater USA, the most powerful mercenary army in the U.S., opened a new training facility here.
For the first time in the history of the United States a group of unarmed citizens stood at the gates of a private military firm (private army base) to oppose the privatization of the American military and to oppose war profiteers.
In April Blackwater USA opened
a training facility in Jo Daviess county about 30 miles southeast of Galena, Illinois. Blackwater is also trying to open a training site near the border in southern California. Now with a site in Illinois, their headquarters in North Carolina, and the planned one for southern California Blackwater is flooding across the country. Wake up to the danger of this!
It was inspiring to be a part of this effort by Clearwater, a group of citizens and peace and justice groups from across northern Illinois and Chicago, to speak truth to power. With little media coverage it will be a shame that this moment will not be known to more people in this country.
Eric Prince with his private army to further his right wing extremist agenda is a threat to what is left of our democracy. All private military firms and war profiteers that privatize the military and take it out of the hands of the public and put it into the hands of a few powerful individuals undermine the foundation our country was founded upon.
Please pass the news of this historic moment. Please inform others of the danger Blackwater USA and other private military firms pose.
If you would like to learn more about Blackwater or the Clearwater citizen's group, or if you would like to get involved in a growing movement taking shape all across the United States to STOP BLACKWATER then visit http://www.noprivatearmies.org