From Blackwater to Xe
Uneasiness Results after Working Circle Visits Training Facility
by Liz Sully, OP
Hesitancy and uncertainty within me surrounds the writing of this article. My need for clarity, transparency, and justice interfaces with another’s perception and understanding of and need for competence, autonomy, and service. I understand without agreeing. And there is much I do not know.
On April 5, the Sinsinawa Dominican Faith and Resistance Working Circle assembled with others in the Gathering Place and listened to Dan Kenney speak about Xe (formerly Blackwater) located on Skunk Hollow Road less than 30 miles from Sinsinawa. There was irony in our meeting at Sinsinawa, the corner of county roads Z and ZZ, as Blackwater changes its name to Xe (pronounced “z”) and its logo from a bear paw print to the American eagle. There was a gasp from the group―Sinsinawa, “home of the young eagle.” An angry-eyed eagle surveys “U.S. Training Center” on Xe’s web site.
I do not wish to instill fear or distort truth. Rather I seek clarity and to walk the talk of transparency. The intuitive feelings from our visit to the site on April 6 and from listening to the presentation by the director of the site disturbed my spirit. Eighty acres of land dedicated to honing shooting skills through target practice and gaining competence for SWAT teams seems harmless enough and perhaps serves the purpose of assisting persons in acquiring competence and accuracy in shooting. The aspect that remains disturbing is the historical record of Xe and the substantiated violence of its mercenaries in Iraq who, without oversight or accountability, caused many Iraqi deaths.
Human rights, trust, truth, and transparency have not been Xe’s guiding principles. As with any mercenary group, the “enemy” is whoever pays them less. As hired forces, obedience is to the authority who hires Xe.
Our site visit did not alleviate our uneasiness about the company. We met with the director who said the organization was located in northwest Illinois because of the location’s proximity to O’Hare Airport for clients from all states. The stated mission of the company is to offer a service to police in the area and to train clients in all things related to guns, gun safety, and shooting skills with the exception of automatic weapons, which are not allowed. Questions that referred to the Xe training and Xe forces in Iraq that might be connected to the mission of Xe in this rural area were answered with, “I don’t know anything about that.” Our need for transparency, truth, integrity, security, peace, and oversight were matched by the staff person’s speaking of competency, skill, security, autonomy, and service.
Spent cartridges lay everywhere at the shoot house, a structure designed of steel surrounded by clapboard. The structure, looking somewhat like a house and used for training SWAT teams, had no ceilings on the rooms. A catwalk above the rooms provided space for instructors to view the design or plan of the SWAT team below in their practice of apprehending a suspect in the building. There were no windows, just cold, hard cement. “No exit” takes on new meaning.
We learned that Boy Scout troops come to the premises to do a service project, picking up spent cartridges. The instructor reported that the police in Freeport and Stockton love the free target practice and rifle range.
So why the uneasy feeling and doubt? Policies of the company and its stated mission counter their past actions related to clarity and transparency. Being egalitarian is a quality I value.
The director stated that the company wants to provide a service to both the surrounding area police and to paying clients. Questions remain. What are the long term intentions of a company with a mercenary history? The director stated that many returning military go into police work, which raises concerns. The mission of police is to protect and serve local people and communities in a compassionate manner with focus on our common humanity. The mission of the military is the protection of our nation and involves soldiers being trained for war and killing with the euphemism “collateral damage” used to designate civilians killed. The disturbing reality is that many military come back traumatized by their experience of war action. Little is done by our government or communities to rehabilitate these military personnel so as to provide healing from the training techniques that may have dehumanized them. Reentry work that would reincorporate a soldier back into civilian life is absent. Thus many people going directly from the military to police work bring with them military tactics and techniques used in war which are inappropriate and harmful to a police force. Observing what has happened in other countries, such training and circumstances have led to police states.
Ideally, the protective use of force is a last resort of police and is used only when all dialogue available has been exhausted. Even then, when the protective use of force is used when necessary, once used, parties seek to return to dialogue. Humanity calls out for dialogue, not aggression.
As the community in the tri-state area of Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin discusses, learns, protests, and engages Xe and its intentions and motivations, one is reminded of the gap that exists between knowledge and wisdom. Our desire to connect with life-giving ways of being in the world draws us on in our peace quest.
Xe leaves me uneasy.
Recommended books:
Waking the Tiger by Peter A. Levine and Ann Frederick
On Killing by David Grossman