[Peace-discuss] Legislation to Limit Private Military Contractors in Illinois

[Barbara kessel]

*PRESS RELEASE*

Contact: Clearwater To Stop Blackwater

    Dan Kenney

               DAN at NOPRIVATEARMIES.ORG

               DKENNEY53 at HOTMAIL.COM

               815.793.0950

              Mary Shesgreen

*Rep. Hamos Introduces Limits on Private Military Contractors***

The citizens' group Clearwater to Stop Blackwater in Illinois congratulates
Rep. Julie Hamos, of Evanston , for taking the lead on the growing issue of
private military contractors in our state. On Wednesday February 18th, Rep.
Hamos introduced into the Illinois legislature House Bill 2272 the
"Limitations on Private Military Contractors Act. This is the first state
legislation of its type in the U.S. Clearewater is proud to support this
needed piece of legislation.



            Since 9/11 the presence of private military companies has
drastically increased. In a decade private military security companies have
grown into a $100 billion dollar per year business. These companies, such as
Blackwater Worldwide, newly re-branded as Xe, have also increased their
training operations nationally and globally. Blackwater employees were
responsible for the killing of 17 unarmed innocent Iraqi citizens including
children and injuring over 40 more, on a busy Baghdad square in September
2007; a shooting that was unjustified investigations by the Iraqi police,
the U.S. Army, the F.B.I. and the U.S. Justice department all found.
Blackwater is also under investigation for other human rights violations and
murders in Iraq . This private military company is also under many other
investigations as well, these investigations include the illegal smuggling
of arms into Iraq, tax evasion, and the most troubling at the state level,
they are being investigated by U.S. AFT for firearms violations at their
North Carolina training site. Now this same company with this history
of  illegal
behavior has  opened a training facility in Jo Daviess county Illinois in
2007 with-out any public input or governmental oversight.  They provide law
enforcement training to municipal police in Illinois and officers who come
to the site from around the U.S. This training is not certified by the
Illinois State Law Enforcement Standards and Training Board.



            Other states as well have been caught without legislation in
place to protect the integrity of their police training and to protect the
best interests of their citizens. The danger this represents was seen after
Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans when armed private military personnel came
into a natural disaster area. What they did or did not do during that chaos
is not clear.  But they began to police the victims of the storm by offering
themselves as hired guns to private entities and were, for some days,
unaccountable
to civilian authorities.   We believe Rep. Hamos has taken the first step to
put Illinois in the lead with Illinois HB 2272.



            The Act requires training to be directly supervised by and
training personnel to be certified by the Illinois State Law Enforcement
Standards and Training Board or the Illinois State Police. The legislation
also prohibits use of private military personnel from being used as an
"armed force" except under an emergency order of the Governor of the State
of Illinois . The Clearwater group feels this is a necessary step to ensure
the rights and well being Illinois citizens in the rapidly changing
landscape of the private military and security industry.



            We urge all Illinois citizens to become involved in this
important debate so that Illinois will not be caught unprepared for the
continued growth of private military companies within their borders as other
states have been. We also urge citizens to contact their local state
representatives and ask them to sign on to this bill as co-sponsors.
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