Jesse Jackson: War Privatization is Public Scandal

[babylonsister]

http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0206-28.htm

War Privatization is Public Scandal
by Jesse Jackson

They guard U.S. officials. They patrol the Green Zone, the U.S. headquarters in Iraq. They supply the food, the oil, clean the barracks and fix the machines. They aren't U.S. soldiers; they are private contractors. The Bush administration has privatized war. The second-biggest army in Iraq consists of armed security forces supplied by private contractors.

They act above the law -- and with unclear lines of authority. They work abroad, so they are largely beyond the reach of U.S. law. On contract from the U.S. government, they are beyond the reach of Iraqi law, as established in an order issued by the U.S. Authority there before turning power over to the Iraqi government. When the Abu Ghraib prison torture scandals were revealed, private security forces and interrogators were at the center of it. But none was held accountable.

The British have followed suit. The British charity, War on Want, reported last year that there are three British private security guards to every British soldier in Iraq.

Congressional investigators are about to unearth massive abuses and corruption in Iraq, but the mercenaries operate across the world. In 1998, for example, DynCorp security agents in Bosnia were implicated in a sex-slave scandal. The firm quickly recalled at least 13 agents; none faced criminal prosecution.

The modern-day mercenaries also operate largely free of government scrutiny or oversight. Companies, unlike government agencies, are not subject to the Freedom of Information Act and often stonewall congressional inquiry.

Under President Bush, the use of private contractors generally has doubled to about $400 billion a year in 2006, as the administration is driven by a philosophy to privatize everything it can. Finally, with Democrats reviving congressional oversight, questions are being asked.

more...

[Just-plain-Kathy]

1. You would never know it was a "public scandal"...not many are willing to talk about it.

Go Jesse!! :patriot: