2008/11/14: Coloma Township voters reject Blackwater

Submitted by staff on Fri, 11/14/2008 - 1:16pm

Illinois activists are celebrating a victory over Blackwater, after voters in Coloma Township voted "yes" by a margin of 2185 to 2050 to a ballot initiative stating: "Private military corporations shall not receive state funds for the training of law enforcement personnel and security guards." Blackwater has a training facility in Mount Carroll, Illinois that has drawn strong opposition from its neighbors, and from people outraged by Blackwater's record of indiscriminate killing of Iraqi civilians.

UPDATE: Federal prosecutors are drafting an indictment against Blackwater gunmen responsible for killing seventeen unarmed Iraq civilians in Baghdad's Nisour Square last November. Read more...

Photo: Sign on Blackwater property in Illinois