Down the Blackwater Wormhole

by: Lucas O'Connor

Wed Jun 11, 2008 at 11:23:04 AM PDT

There's a protest from 3-5pm today at Blackwater's new Otay Mesa facility, and tomorrow Jeremy Scahill will be doing a special Courage Campaign Conversation tomorrow afternoon at 4pm.

In a little noticed vote yesterday, the Merida Initiative passed easily through the House of Representatives 311-106. It provides $1.6 billion with an emphasis on training and equipment to fight drug cartels in Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America, because as Rep. Brian Bilbray explained:

"Either we can go after these cartels in Ensenada, or we can fight them in Escondido," said Rep. Brian Bilbray (R-Carlsbad), who voted for the plan. "I'd prefer that we move now and take care of this problem south of the border. The drug wars in Mexico and in other regions have grown horrendously violent, and their destructive ways must be quashed."

It's tough to directly take issue with any of that, but where does it lead? Potentially to some unpleasant places. In September, the Defense Department opened up five year contracts in support of counter-narcoterrorism efforts to five private companies, including Blackwater USA. "The indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract could be worth up to $15 billion for the awardees." The Army Times analyzed the content of the contracts, describing:

What Is An Ex-Blackwater Lobbyist Doing In CA's Department of Homeland Security?

by: Todd Beeton

Fri Apr 20, 2007 at 17:21:30 PM PDT

Blackwater, the private contracting firm that sent its employees into the warzone of Iraq unprepared and unprotected, the very one that is currently under investigation by the Government Oversight Committee, is looking at California and seeing dollar signs. Robert Salladay had an excellent post the other day that connects the comments of Jeremy Scahill, author of Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army, who said the following on Fresh Air recently:

"[Blackwater] has applied for operating licenses in all of the coastal states of the United States and...they're opening military and law enforcement training facilities in Illinois and California."

...and the Nov. 2005 hiring of Chris Bertelli as deputy director of the CA Office of Homeland Security (you can watch him HERE appearing to take glee in the prospect of CA's coming disasters.)

His qualifications? Salladay puts it this way:

[Chris Bertelli] once did consulting work for Blackwater

Scahill put it quite another on yesterday's Democracy Now:

Bertelli was Blackwater's leading lobbyist, working for the Alexander Strategy Group, the powerful K Street Republican firm staffed and founded by former senior staffers of Tom DeLay. Bertelli was one of the people steering Erik Prince and other Blackwater executives around Capitol Hill after the Fallujah ambush in 2004. 

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