UPDATE: Here is a picture of the Bulletproof Security paramilitary mercenaries beating it out of town... probably back to Arizona, where they are from!
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You might have read my diary a few days back when I described the breaking news of paramilitary style "soldiers," masked, wearing camo, wielding semi-automatic weapons and stationed near the controversial drilling site of the Gogebic Taconite mine in Northern Wisconsin. This iron mine will rip a 20 mile by 4 mile gash in one of the most pristine and important waterways in all of North America. There is no good that will be brought to local communities, other than some very impermanent jobs. That diary hit a nerve. It and a few other progressive blog posts seemed to break through the mainstream media membrane. It brought needed, but unwanted, attention to this hostile act of intimidation perpetrated by GTac.
Well, guess what? It seems that Bulletproof Securities, the out of state company hired by GTac to patrol their drilling site, is not properly licensed in Wisconsin!
Oops! Stand down, men. (I thought you got the permits! No, I thought You got them!)
Oh, they'll get them, but meanwhile, Gogebic's belligerence is not winning any friends. According to the
Journal Sentinel Online, State Sen Bob Jauch, a Democrat who represents that area, "blasted Gogebic for employing Bulletproof, saying the firm's guards, outfitted with assault rifles and military-style fatigues, are intimidating to locals and have exacerbated the existing tension in his northern Wisconsin district over the mine."
The company is not registered, therefore they are not legally operating in the state. I am appalled," Jauch said of Bulletproof, adding that Gogebic's quick decision to hire the security firm shows it has "no respect for the public and no regard for the law."
I guess the mercenaries are gonna have to wait a week or so before they can go back to their nice north woods summer jobs. Bulletproof Securities President Tom Parella "…said Wednesday that Bulletproof had been hired with little notice and had not expected the public attention that has focused on the firm's role in the proposed mine site in Iron County."
That is thanks to you guys and the national play that the story received.
He also stated that "his guards have at times worn masks to prevent them from being later recognized and harassed or harmed by mine opponents and that the masks are not meant to intimidate."
That is thanks to a wild imagination, a tactical attempt to construct new domestic enemies under the rubric of "eco-terrorists," and some pretty serious backpedalling.