yeah they do body counts too, ones relied upon by our military for part of thier data about the successof the so called surge.

funny i dont see him questioning their credibility in that regard..

“The designation of lawful and unlawful combatants is set out in the Geneva Convention.Lawful combatants are nonmilitary personnel who operate under their military’s chain of command. Others may carry weapons in a war zone but may not use offensive force. Under the international agreements, they may only defend themselves.”

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-blackwater15oct15,0,3330051.story?coll=la-home-center

As for Issa, campaign contributions are probably his largest motivation for supporting Blackwater, despite actual evidence of wrong doing. His flaying around to blame the supporters of this bill as “not supporting the troops” is a complete straw man. While many of these contractors are ex-military, they are EX-military…no longer the “troops.” Our active duty troops in Iraq don’t like them and don’t trust them. I guess that means our troops “don’t support the troops” either.

Since then, we’ve had a parade of Republicans attacking Democrats by name, always injecting falsehoods to make their case.

All part of that “Uniter not divider” and “spirit of bi-partisanship” that the GOP promised us.

I traveled (TDY) often and spent much time on military bases both here and overseas. There always was a sense of serving a higher purpose, especially when hearing taps at the end of the day or watching aircraft take off from the flight line at the end of the day.

My progressive bent did come from the military. You were dedicated to serving a common good. Rank mattered and affected pay. However, pay disparity was nothing like in the civilian world. Benefits were fairly apportioned despite rank. There were faults in the system but it did seem to do far better than our current society.

Comment by foreyes — October 17, 2007 @ 2:00 pm

Only to Republicans. It’s always about the money with those money-grubbing cowards.

Comment by foreyes — October 17, 2007 @ 2:47 pm

It does seem that way, doesn’t it? Right now, they are headquartered here in my state (NC) in a very marshy, swampy area near the Atlantic Coast. Not exactly terrain resembling the middle east.

Comment by APEC not OPEC — October 17, 2007 @ 2:38 pm

There’s PLENTY of resistance from Potrero. However, the people of Potrero are being treated as if they are irrelevant — sort of like native species of wildlife on wetlands somebody wants to use for development.

I can’t find anything current on where the project stands — April 2007 is about the most recent. Here’s a RawStory item from that time:

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Massive_security_contractor_faces_growing_protest_0403.html

And here’s an article about Potrero and Blackwater:

http://www.sdreader.com/php/cityshow.php?id=1566

Hope this helps. I’m sorry I don’t know if the San Diego County Supervisors have ruled on this yet.

Comment by missmolly — October 17, 2007 @ 2:30 pm

missmolly, are you saying that Blackwater would like to operate in a US territory which resembles the Pakistan-Afghanistan border? Very interesting concept indeed.

Comment by missmolly

Thanks missmolly. do you know if going to happen or is there resistance?

Comment by APEC not OPEC — October 17, 2007 @ 2:14 pm

Yes, Blackwater is trying to build a training facility about three miles north of Potrero, a little California border town. Potrero is actually in Congressional District 51 — a new district, currently represented by Bob Filner, a Democrat. However, this patch of land used to be in District 50 when it was represented by Duke Cunningham, and currently lies very close to District 52, currently represented by Duncan Hunter.

Does Bush ever do anything for Americans ?

Comment by chriswyse — October 17, 2007 @ 2:01 pm

You are neither Christ-like nor wise. Your sad attempt at sarcasm has failed miserably! Pick on the lowliest and you will always gather a Republican crowd. Unfortunately for you, that crowd is made up of people who are going to be wiped out from the American political scene in the very near future. As they say: dinosaurs don’t live forever!

Comment by missmolly

Isn’t Blackwater trying to build a new training facility somewhere near San Diago? I kind of remember reading something about that not long ago? Anybody hear about this?