February, 23 2010, 10:02am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Michael Briggs (Sanders) 202 228-6492
Trevor Kincaid (Schakowsky) 202 226-6898
Stop Outsourcing Security
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders
(I-Vt.) today introduced legislation that would phase out private security
contractors in war zones.
The
United States last year employed more than 22,000 hired guns in Iraq and
Afghanistan. They protected diplomats, trained military and police officers,
repaired and maintained weapons systems. Contractors also were involved with
interrogations and intelligence gathering.
WASHINGTON
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders
(I-Vt.) today introduced legislation that would phase out private security
contractors in war zones.
The
United States last year employed more than 22,000 hired guns in Iraq and
Afghanistan. They protected diplomats, trained military and police officers,
repaired and maintained weapons systems. Contractors also were involved with
interrogations and intelligence gathering.
"The
American people have always prided themselves on the strength, conduct, and
honor of our United States military. I therefore find it very disturbing
that now, in the midst of two wars and a global struggle against terrorism,
we are relying more and more on private security contractors - rather
than our own service members - to provide for our national
defense," Sanders said.
"The
behavior of private contractors has endangered our military, hurt relationships
with foreign governments, and undermined our missions overseas,"
Schakowsky added.
The
Stop Outsourcing Security Act would restore the responsibility of the
American military to train troops and police, guard convoys, repair weapons,
administer military prisons, and perform military intelligence. The bill also
would require that all diplomatic security be undertaken by U.S. government personnel.
The White House could seek exceptions, but those contracts would be subject
to congressional oversight.
The
legislation also would subject contracts exceeding $5 million to
congressional oversight. Agencies with military contractors would have to
report the number of contractors employed, disclose the total cost of the
contracts, and make public any disciplinary actions against employees.
High
pay for contract workers in war zones both burdens taxpayers and saps
military morale, Schakowsky and Sanders said. While some soldiers who risk
their lives for their country struggle to support their families, private
security company employees are paid two or three times as much, sometimes
pocketing as much as $1,000 a day.
Military
officers in the field have said contractors operate like "cowboys,"
using unnecessary and excessive force uncharacteristic of enlisted soldiers. In
2007, guards working for a firm then known as Blackwater were accused of
killing 17 Iraqis, damaging the U.S. mission in Iraq and hurting our
reputation around the world. Later that year, a contractor employed by
DynCorp International allegedly shot and killed an unarmed taxi driver.
Late
last year, photos surfaced of lewd and drunken conduct by workers for ArmorGroup
North America, a firm the State Department hired to provide security at the
U.S. embassy in Kabul.
Some
private security contractors have a history of fleecing taxpayers. The House
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform investigated Blackwater's
employment practices and found that the company classified security guards in
a way that may have allowed the firm to skirt paying Social Security,
Medicare, and Federal income taxes. A separate Small Business Administration
investigation found that Blackwater may have made misrepresentations in order
to qualify for $110 million in government contracts set aside specifically
for small businesses.
To
read the bill, click here.
To read a summary, click here.
LATEST NEWS
US Abstains as UN Security Council Demands 'Immediate Cease-Fire' in Gaza
"This resolution must be implemented," said U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres. "Failure would be unforgivable."
Mar 25, 2024
The U.S. on Monday declined to veto but still abstained from a United Nations Security Council on Monday to adopt a resolution demanding an "immediate cease-fire for the month of Ramadan" in the embattled Gaza Strip, a move that came amid an ongoing Israeli genocide in which more than 114,000 Palestinians have been killed or wounded and hundreds of thousands of others are starving.
The Security Council voted 14-0, with the U.S. abstaining, to approve a resolution for the cessation of hostilities during the Muslim holy month after member states overcame a sticking point over the removal of the word "permanent" from an earlier draft version. Instead, the resolution calls for an "immediate" cease-fire.
The U.S. had vetoed three of the previous four cease-fire resolutions.
"This resolution must be implemented," U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said following Monday's vote. "Failure would be unforgivable."
As the U.N. Newsexplained:
The resolution is a bare-bones call for a cease-fire during the month of Ramadan, which began on March 11. It also demands the return of about 130 hostages seized in Israel and held in Gaza and emphasizes the urgent need to allow ample lifesaving aid to reach a starving population in the besieged enclave.
The demand to end hostilities has so far eluded the council following the Israeli forces' invasion of Gaza in October after Hamas attacks left almost 1,200 dead and 240 taken hostage.
Since then, Israel's daily bombardment alongside its near-total blockade of water, electricity, and lifesaving aid has killed more than 32,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the health ministry there, where a recent U.N.-backed report showed an imminent famine unfolding.
Palestinians—especially children—are starving to death in Gaza. Hospitals are under attack, with Israeli forces reportedly executing large numbers of people inside al-Shifa Hospital.
Meanwhile, the approximately 1.5 milllion Palestinians in the southern city of Rafah—most of them refugees forcibly displaced from other parts of Gaza—are bracing for an anticipated ground invasion, which Israeli leaders say will proceed despite a warning from U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris that such an operation would have "consequences."
Monday's vote followed intense negotiations over the measure introduced by 10 non-permanent Security Council members—Algeria, Ecuador, Guyana, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, South Korea, and Switzerland.
The United States—which, despite growing frustration over genocidal atrocities, still arms Israel—brushed off a threat from far-right Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to cancel a planned visit to Washigton by a high-level Israeli delegation if the U.S. did not veto the resolution.
The Associated Pressreported Netanyahu followed through with his threat and canceled the trip.
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Death Sentence for Thousands': Israel Bars UNRWA Food Aid to Northern Gaza
"By preventing UNRWA to fulfill its mandate in Gaza, the clock will tick faster toward famine and many more will die of hunger, dehydration, and lack of shelter," UNRWA's commissioner-general said.
Mar 25, 2024
Israel will no longer permit the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East to drive convoys bearing food aid into northern Gaza, even as the area is on the brink of famine.
Israeli officials informed the U.N. of the new restrictions on Sunday, prompting outrage and dire warnings from U.N. officials and other human rights advocates.
"By preventing UNRWA to fulfill its mandate in Gaza, the clock will tick faster toward famine and many more will die of hunger, dehydration, and lack of shelter," UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini posted on social media. "This cannot happen, it would only stain our collective humanity."
"I have urged Israel to lift all impediments on aid to Gaza. Now this—MORE impediments."
In his response, Lazzarini said that UNRWA was the largest organization operating in Gaza with the greatest capability to distribute aid.
"This is outrageous and makes it intentional to obstruct lifesaving assistance during a man-made famine," Lazzarini said. "These restrictions must be lifted."
The news comes as medical workers and international aid organizations have sounded the alarm about famine in Gaza. At least 23 children in northern Gaza have already died from starvation or dehydration, and one-third of children under two years old suffer from acute malnutrition, according to the United Nations' International Children's Emergency Fund. A new Integrated Food Security Phase Classification report published on March 18 found that famine was "imminent" in Gaza's northern governorates and likely to begin "anytime" between the report's publication and May. In the northern governorates, where around 300,000 live, almost two-thirds of households endured at least 10 days and nights when they did not eat at all in the last 30 days.
"Blocking UNRWA from delivering food is in fact denying starving people the ability to survive," World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on social media. "This decision must be urgently reversed. The levels of hunger are acute. All efforts to deliver food should not only be permitted but there should be an immediate acceleration of food deliveries."
U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths also called for Israel's decision to be "revoked."
"I have urged Israel to lift all impediments on aid to Gaza. Now this—MORE impediments," Griffiths posted on social media, calling UNRWA the "beating heart of the humanitarian response in Gaza."
UNRWA Communications Director Juliette Touma toldBBC World on Monday that a quarter of a million people in the north rely on UNRWA food aid, yet the agency has not been able to deliver to them in two months. An attempt on February 5 had to turn back after the Israeli Navy fired on an aid convoy even as it traveled along a pre-approved route.
Touma told BBC World that more than 1 million people in Gaza now live in UNRWA shelters.
"They lost everything, and they need everything," Touma said.
Touma added that the most important commodity people in Gaza need is food, but they also need "safety, and they need protection, above all, and a cease-fire, which is very, very much overdue."
The U.N. Security Council finally succeeded in passing a resolution on Monday calling for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and the release of all hostages as the U.S. abstained from the vote.
Outside the U.N., former Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth said on social media that the food aid decision showed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's "starvation strategy at work," as well as his "vendetta against Palestinian refugees."
CEO of Medical Aid for Palestinians Melanie Ward also decried Israel's decision to permanently block UNRWA convoys from the north.
"This would be a death sentence for thousands," Ward said on social media. "They cannot be allowed to do this."
Keep ReadingShow Less
'The Law Is the Law': EU Investigates Apple, Google, Meta for Anti-Monopoly Violations
"the days of these tech giants exploiting monopoly positions in different markets are over," said one expert.
Mar 25, 2024
The European Commission signaled Monday that it has no intention of waiting for powerful tech companies to change their practices in order to comply with a landmark anti-monopoly law passed by the European Union earlier this month, as officials informed Apple, Facebook parent company Meta, and Google parent company Alphabet that they were being investigated for potential violations.
"The law is the law," Thierry Breton, E.U. commissioner for internal market, told reporters at a press conference in Brussels announcing the probe. "We can't just sit around and wait."
The commission told the tech giants it is investigating whether Apple and Alphabet are complying with the Digital Markets Act's (DMA) measure requiring companies to allow users to be directed to offers available outside the firms' own app stores. The two companies may be imposing "various restrictions and limitations" on users to unfairly favor their own stores, including by charging fees to prevent apps from promoting offers outside the Apple and Google app stores.
The commission is investigating Meta's practice of allowing users to pay a monthly fee for ad-free versions of Facebook and Instagram, which allow them to avoid having their personal data used for ad-targeting.
"The commission is concerned that the binary choice imposed by Meta's 'pay or consent' model may not provide a real alternative in case users do not consent, thereby not achieving the objective of preventing the accumulation of personal data by gatekeepers," said the European Commission.
Margrethe Vestager, executive vice president of the commission, said in Brussels that the companies have announced some steps to comply with the DMA, which took effect on March 7, but that some of the measures "fail to achieve their objectives and fall short of expectations."
Compliance "is something that we take very seriously," said Vestager.
The DMA identifies Alphabet, Apple, and Meta as three of six digital "gatekeepers" that are required to end anti-competition practices. New regulations require the companies to allow third parties to operate with the gatekeepers' own services, allow business users to access the data they generate when using the companies' platforms, allow users to un-install any pre-installed software or app if they choose to, and treat their own services and products equally to those offered by third parties.
The commission has 12 months to complete the investigations and could fine the multibillion-dollar companies up to 10% of their global revenue if they find them to be in violation of the DMA.
John O'Brennan, professor of European politics at Maynooth University in Ireland, said the investigation signals that "the days of these tech giants exploiting monopoly positions in different markets are over."
The E.U. fined Apple $1.8 billion earlier this month for suppressing competition from rival music streaming apps such as Spotify. The company is also under scrutiny in the U.S., with the Department of Justice joining 16 states last week in filing a lawsuit accusing Apple of illegally monopolizing the smartphone market.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular