Zoning Board in Idaho Unanimously Backs Blackwater Plan

Blackwater won the resounding support of a county board in Idaho to build an indoor firearms training facility. Ordinarily this wouldn't be worth posting, but activists opposed to winning the war in Iraq have been challenging Blackwater at the grassroots, to prevent it from training US military and police.

A guy who says his name is Martin Hippie is leading the opposition.

Normal residents and officials seem pleased that the company is converting a noisy outdoor range into a quieter, indoor facility, according to the Galena Gazette.

Local police officer Andy Schroeder says, "Blackwater has been nothing but tremendous in allowing us the use of their property."

Local zoning board member Nick Tranel was upbeat about Blackwater: "It has met all the requirements of the special use standards."

Said board chairman Mel Grotton, "We live in a world where people do need to train to protect life and property," adding, "I don't know where you could better site a building like this."

Meanwhile, Hippie says he plans to continue his fight.

Blackwater Rejected Chinese Training Inquiries

Blackwater CEO Erik Prince reveals that he rejected the Chinese government's requests that Blackwater train its police forces in preparation for the upcoming Olympic games.

Asked by Army Times editors if he's turned down requests from any countries for training, Prince says, "Sure. We had a lot of inquiries from China a couple years ago wanting police training before the Olympics, and that's just not something we wanted to do."

Citing the regime's human rights violations, Prince adds, "we didn't want any of our training to be used in another Tiananmen Square-type faceoff. Simple."

Blackwater training goes online

Blackwater is bringing its law enforcement training online. The company has just acquired The Backup Training Corporation, a ten year-old company that provides "US law enforcement with useful low cost training tools, up to date professional information, and state of the art training tactics," according to a Blackwater news release.

"The Backup Training Corporation provides superior CD-ROM training courses and online access to training coursework. Their training products are used in over 9,600 police departments nationwide. With this acquisition Blackwater Worldwide continues to build its core capability as a premier training provider, delivering efficient, effective, and economical global training solutions for the 21st century."

Backup Training was developed in 1997 by businesswoman Yvonne Ellis of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.