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TechnoratiPrivate US Security Companies Involved in Iraqi Hostilities
US private security companies are getting increasingly involved in military action in Iraq, fighting insurgents, enduring attacks and taking hundreds of casualties that have been sometimes concealed, The Washington Post reported Saturday.Citing unnamed US and Iraqi officials and company representatives, the newspaper said that while the military has built up troops in Baghdad, the security companies, funded by billions of dollars in US military and State Department contracts, have been engaged in a parallel surge.
They have boosted manpower, added expensive armor and stepped up evasive action as attacks increase, the report said.
One in seven supply convoys protected by private forces has come under attack this year, the paper said, citing previously unreleased statistics.
One security company reported nearly 300 "hostile actions" in the first four months.
The majority of the more than 100 security companies operate outside of Iraqi law, The Post said.
Blackwater USA, a North Carolina firm that protects US Ambassador Ryan Crocker, and several other companies have not applied for Iraqi licenses, according to the report.
Blackwater said that it obtained a one-year license in 2005 but that shifting Iraqi government policy has impeded its attempts to renew, the paper said.
The security industry's enormous growth has been facilitated by the US military, which uses the 20,000 to 30,000 contractors to offset chronic troop shortages, according to The Post.
Armed contractors protect all convoys transporting reconstruction materiel, including vehicles, weapons and ammunition for the Iraqi army and police. They guard key US military installations and provide personal security for at least three commanding generals.
US officials and security company representatives emphasized that contractors are strictly limited to defensive operations, the report said.
But company representatives in the field said insurgents rarely distinguish between the military and private forces, drawing the contractors into a bloody and escalating campaign, the paper reported.
The US military has never released complete statistics on contractor casualties or the number of attacks on privately guarded convoys, The Post said.
According to Victoria Wayne, who served at the Reconstruction Logistics Directorate of the Corps of Engineers in Iraq, the military wanted to hide information showing that private guards were fighting and dying in large numbers because it would be perceived as bad news, the paper said.
In an operational overview updated last month, the logistics directorate reported that 132 security contractors and truck drivers had been killed and 416 wounded since fall 2004. Four security contractors and a truck driver remained missing, and 208 vehicles were destroyed. Only convoys registered with the logistics directorate are counted in the statistics, and the total number of casualties is believed to be higher.
Copyright © 2007 AFP
19 Comments so far
Show Allsundiego.. Satire I hope..
Or just a shroll at work..
Nobodies thinking is really that fcuked up after all this time is ity? IS it ??
You paint these 4 Americans as baby killers, thugs, renegades and individual's who got what they deserved: being mutilated and hung from a bridge. Bullshit!
The picture you painted is representative of our own military: rape, assualt, murder, a litlle pilferaging, then more rape, a kidnapping here and there, a few sodomy sessions, some more rape, and of course, lots of murders including women and children.
You're right-- why pay a private security company to perform the services of what some sick members of our armed forces will deliver, for a fraction of the cost.
The only sensible comments are those that cite the gross amount of money we pay for these firms, and the need for greater control and accountability. And, perhaps, that some damn politicians are war-profiting-- next to prostitution, war profiteering is the oldest industry.
Now the $50K question to the idiot author whose thoughts are above: would you rather have a radical Islamic nut living next door-- who's plotting how to kill our children, destroy our way of life and communities-- or would you rather live next door to a Blackwater contractor that if necessary, will 'slice and dice' that crazy finatical Islamic bastard and send him gift wrapped to Allah?
Hoo-yah!
What else could they have done to assist "convenience" and "deja vue all over again?"
How do you know it was them that blew up the mosque?
Best if they never come back. But most of these mercenaries will come back to the U.S.A. and they will cooperate when our Constitutional Government is suspended indefinitely. This will come after a crises which the mercenaries will create themselves under the direction of those who seek total power. They blew up the mosque in Iraq which expanded greatly the violence between Shia and Sunni. They are willing to create incidents which guarantee their continued employment. What they did in Iraq they will not hesitate to do here.
I also posted it on behalf of the million souls silenced through out the Middle East thanks to Bu$hCo's bloody handiwork......
Please allow me to recite my newest haiku ;0.
"Blackwater"
your name betrays you
out of reach, or so you think
history dives deep
The privatized security guards are outside any legal Iraq or US. They are not responsible to the military leaders or to the military's code of behavior. In fact they have even commanded US troups to fire. They were also used in the aftermath of Katrina. Their salaries are many times that of US forces.
The head of Blackwater is a strong supporter of the radical religous right and a big doner to GWB. See Jemery Scahill's Blackwater and a recent Common Dreams article by Chris Hedges for what is at stake.
Are mercenaries compatable with democracy? WE fought ou Revolution in part to protest the British use of mercenaries. There is nothing to stop Bush from using these troops against the US military and citizens.
Robert Settgast- I love the word you used "republic". It tells the tale of our democracy all too well. I need not preach to the choir on the problems of mercenaries or corrupt politicians. We know all to well. The problem lies with the ones who can't discern what they read or hear.
Teachur- The fight is on against our fellow citizens. The well/over educated that cant read the truth in front of them is the enemy, not the dumb tv watcher who won't leave the couch. I find many who think the right wing is doing a good job. These are our citizens who hold the power of office and are insulated from thought outside of the box.
Remember Reagan who had never seen a barcode scanner at a grocery store but who said "if you've seen one redwood you've seen them all"? These are our leaders?
My biggest concern with this country will be when the war is over and all the troops and privateers are home again, free of morals, living next to you and your family. Not like Michael Jackson living in Dubai where they "except" that sort of thing.
Bring back the draft and draft their ass first.
Just as the entire Bush administration is guilty of international war crimes, so are all the mercenaries they hired. Some day we may need to make a choice: support the arrest, detention and trial for all those giving and following orders (yes, even our own troops) to attack and kill citizens from the autonomous countries we have invaded; or free citizens of the U.S. (the few of us who may be left) to man the barricades to fight these criminals.
Harsh words, I know, but facts are facts. WE are the world's greatest arms supplier, war criminals and terrorists. "We the people" may soon have to submit to these megalomaniacs or man the barricades against them. It may have been several years since I received my considerable combat training, but will I have to use it in my own country--against my fellow citizens?
All my flags fly upside-down to show where I stand. Where do YOU stand?
The establishment of this renegade mercenary force (unprecedented in our republic) is only one example of this administration's efforts to jeopardize our democracy. Mercenaries are motivated only by their handsome compensation, which they could never command in normal life. Unlike our regular forces they have no military sence of duty or loyalty Hence many would be willing to sell their services to the highest bidders, even our adversreries.
Given the severity of this threat, it is imperative that Americans force congress to seize war powers from the president, even if this means removal from office; and then pursue a logical conclusion to this horrific Iraq misadventure. This would include recognition of the recent advisory commissions recommendations (which were ignored), dismantling the mercenary force even if this means reinstatement of the draft, and curbing and punishing the profiteers.
All Too Relevant Quote: How is the World Ruled, & and; how do wars start?---
Diplomats tell lies to journalists, & and then believe what they read.
(Karl Kraus, Austrian Press,1874-1936)
Why is ambassador Crocker protected by Blackwater rather than the Marines, the traditional embassy guards? Possibly because the Marines will be leaving sooner than we think and the responsibility for dominating the Iraqi oil fields will fall on an army of mercenary soldiers who are beyond the law. As Machiavelli said very clearly to the Prince, he who resorts to mercenaries is doomed.
"The majority of the more than 100 security companies operate outside of Iraqi law",
As if another company, which shares are publicly traded on open market, a.k.a. the US Government, Inc, operate within US law.
Law? What law? Debates? What debates?
Good Christian greed with guns! Killing for dollars in God's Army! Shoot dem feriners, receive a cash bonus! But whatever you do - DO NOT CATCH OSAMA, because, well, hell, we're out of scary boogie men to distract from our anti-American "policies!"
Hey, Iraq, question for ya - why the hell are you still upholding "laws" written by Bremmer and his team of flying f**king loyal Bushie morons, none of whom have been held to account? Is it really the will of the Iraqi people to grant immunity to foreign mercenaries whose loyalty is only to the greenback? Here's an idea: rescind said illegal "law," and start rounding up the guns for hire, then watch as the rest run for the hills. What's the worst that could happen? It's not like we can re-invade what's left of your country, or cut off the "reconstruction" funds we never really forked over anyway.
Every American should be horrified over these 'Rent a Thugs'! They are a disgrace to this country! What have we come to??? What happens when these rogue security companies get so much power they start threatening our own military and eventually us? The mess Bush has made out of this war is sickening. These people are bleeding the American taxpayer dry from the waste while American's set on there ass and do nothing about it. I don't understand what has happened to morals in this country? It's like they instantly left when the first plane hit the world trade center. And it was replaced by ignorance and misplaced patriotism. Why doesn't someone do something about these criminal's?????
In 1950 U.N. International Law Commission adopted the Nuremberg Principles. The basic premise of the principles is that no person, no matter what their office, stands above international law…..
Principle I
Any person who commits an act which constitutes a crime under international law is responsible therefore and liable to punishment.
Principle Vl
The crimes hereinafter set out are punishable as crimes under; international law:
a. Crimes against peace:
i. Planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances;
ii. Participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of any of the acts mentioned under (i).
b. War crimes:
Violations of the laws or customs of war which include, but are not limited to, murder, ill-treatment or deportation to slave-labor or for any other purpose of civilian population of or in occupied territory, murder or illtreatment of prisoners of war, of persons on the seas, killing of hostages, plunder of public or private property, wanton destruction of cities, towns, or villages, or devastation not justified by military necessity.
c. Crimes against humanity:
Murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation and other inhuman acts done against any civilian population, or persecutions on political, racial or religious grounds, when such acts are done or such persecutions are carried on in execution of or in connection with any crime against peace or any war crime.
Principle VII
Complicity in the commission of a crime against peace, a war crime, or a crime against humanity as set forth in Principles VI is a crime under international law.
Potentially, the "Bush/Cheney Crime syndicate" WOULD BE GUILTY AS CHARGED….
simonhhh, thanks for the nuremberg stuff. the problem is, based on those principles, much of the leadership of the country is guilty. the MSM is complicit, most of congress, some of the judiciary, many business leaders, most of the members of the national security state (DOD, CIA, NSA, FBI, etc.)
it'll be a long war crimes trial...
ballsy June 17th, 2007 10:14 am
EXACTLY, THAT'S WHY I POSTED IT....
TO DEMONSTRATE HOW DEEP IN THE SHIT THE ADMINISTRATION HAS PREVARICATED....