Blackwater Watch

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Blackwater Watch is a not-for-profit, non-governmental watchdog organization spun off of North Carolina Stop Torture Now in 2007 to monitor Blackwater Worldwide specifically, and private armies/mercenaries generally, with respect to human rights, legal immunity, cronyism, war profiteering, lobbying, war and conflict. Blackwater Watch represents a growing contingent of concerned individuals and groups including, but not limited to, human rights and peace activists, people of faith, civil libertarians, and veterans. Despite Blackwater being headquartered in North Carolina, there had been little to no public protest of the firm until Blackwater Watch was formed. In September 2007 the organization brought Jeremy Scahill, author of Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army^[1] to North Carolina Central University. In October 2007, Blackwater Watch, in conjunction with Catholic Worker, staged the first ever protest at the gates of Blackwater headquarters in Moyock, North Carolina. The protest received considerable press coverage and a film of the event is available on youtube.

Blackwater Watch representatives have been quoted in the Seattle Times ^[2], the Chicago Tribune, ^[3], and the Guardian ^[4].

[edit] References

1. ^ 464 pages; published by Nation Books, New York, N.Y. 2007: ISBN 1560259795
2. ^ "Blackwater shooting incident — bane or boon?", Seattle Times, 20 September 2007
3. ^ "Blackwater in gray area again", the Chicago Tribune, 19 September 2007
4. ^ "Iraq's hired hands under fire as the pot of gold starts to run low", the Guardian, 22 September 2007