Meet Your Friendly 'Civilian Contractors'

[CatWoman]

ALTHOUGH the media repeatedly refers to the men killed in the recent attack in Iraq as 'civilian contractors' they were in fact mercenaries used as part of the US government's outsourcing of jobs too messy, too dull, or too questionable to be carried out by standard troops for whom the president and his aides might be held responsible. These firms include Blackwater, the one involved in the recent incident as well as Dyncorp and the Steele Foundation. The Steele Foundation, the third largest supplier of mercenaries, has 500 troops in Iraq and recently distinguished itself by - depending on who's telling the story - failing to protect Haitian president Aristide from kidnapping by the U.S. government or participating in the act.

http://www.prorev.com/indexa.htm

[agates]

1. Isn't "contractor" in this setting

a euphamism for CIA agent? I figured those mercinary firms were CIA covers.

[Bozita]

2. Twice as many "civilian contractors" as British troops in Iraq

15,000 vs 7,500

Heard this evening on one of the network evening news shows. I'm not certain, but I believe it was ABC.

[Cleita]

3. Dan Rather had this in his report tonight,

soldiers of fortune hired by supposedly American companies. I think we should demand to know who these people are,were, and what their nationalities were, and were the companies really Americans or some eastern european gangsters hired by the Booshevists?

[chookie]

7. "A booming cottage industry"

This is how a reporter on CNN spoke of the "security firms" that have been created and have been thriving since the invasion of Iraq. He described a certain portion of them as behaving like "cowboys" -- although he did not feel that the firm the killed men worked for was disreputable.

Our tax dollars at work. I wonder how much money these guys were getting. What a rotten way to die -- but not exactly completely surprising given their line of work. One can only hope that they truly understood and accepted the risk they brought upon themselves by taking this job. But maybe they had not been prepared for what they found themselves in. Maybe they bought into the "cakewalk" and "greeted with flowers" BS and thought it was a quick way to make a lot of money, and then saw they were way, way way over their heads in this mess.

Why were they needed there? Well, one of the first things Viceroy Bremer did when he began to sit on Saddam's throne was to disband the Iraqi army and the police force.

Ooops. Anyone who studies revolutions and takeovers knows that you *have* to retain these people, just as you have to retain all the bureaucrats, or you will cripple your chances for success. Garner knew that, at least.

Was this yet another really stupid mistake by the Bushistas, or is it yet another example of maximizing profit which has gone awry? I mean, how much can Halliburton charge if they use already in place Iraqi policemen, when they can control immense contracts for imported mercenary security? Maybe Joe Albaugh would not get as big a cut as he felt entitled to by creating himself as the portal for "economic investment" in Iraq.

[stevedeshazer]

4. I wonder how many know that US Northern Command is privatized

It's from July 2003 but very relevant to this thread:

<snip>

When Blackwater opened in 1998, the business of war didn't look like such a sure bet. "This was a roulette, a crapshoot," recalls Jackson, a former Navy seal. During the Gulf War, the Pentagon had begun replacing soldiers with private contractors, relying on civilian businesses to provide logistical support to troops on the front lines. Blackwater's founders were banking on predictions that the military was eager to speed up the process, privatizing many jobs traditionally reserved for uniformed troops. Their investment paid off: Since the attacks of September 11, the company has seen its business boom--enough to warrant a major expansion of its training facility this year. "To contemplate outsourcing tactical, strategic, firearms-type training--high-risk training--is thinking outside the box," Jackson says. "Is this happening? Yes, this is happening."

As the U.S. military wages the war on terrorism, it is increasingly relying on for-profit companies like Blackwater to do work normally performed by soldiers. Defense contractors now do more than simply build airplanes--they maintain those planes on the battlefield and even fly them in some of the world's most troubled conflict zones. Private military companies supply bodyguards for the president of Afghanistan, construct detention camps to hold suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay, and pilot armed reconnaissance planes and helicopter gunships to eradicate coca crops in Colombia. They operate the intelligence and communications systems at the U.S. Northern Command in Colorado, which is responsible for coordinating a response to any attack on the United States. And licensed by the State Department, they are contracting with foreign governments, training soldiers and reorganizing militaries in Nigeria, Bulgaria, Taiwan, and Equatorial Guinea.

and <snip>

Because they operate with little oversight, using contractors also enables the military to skirt troop limits imposed by Congress and to carry out clandestine operations without committing U.S. troops or attracting public attention. "Private military corporations become a way to distance themselves and create what we used to call 'plausible deniability,'" says Daniel Nelson, a former professor of civil-military relations at the Defense Department's Marshall European Center for Security Studies. "It's disastrous for democracy."

more, long but enlightening: http://www.indyweek.com/durham/2003-07-23/cover.html

[supernova]

5. Go here

http://www.blackwatersecurity.com/

[mike_c]

6. gee, and all this time I thought they were file clerks and...

...telephone sanitizers. I'm so disillusioned.

[Karenina]

8. They were "civilians"

engaged in "humanitarian" projects!!! There was EVEN a woman amongst them!!! *corpamurika's "best and brightest." This OURAGE must be AVENGED! We got a sale on airborne inventory!

[Disturbed]

9. VP Cheney

That war profiteer is all for these "Private Agents". When they get caught or killed they are called "civilian contractors" and the Govt. has no accountablity.