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Info on two bushgang private military actions - paid for by americans

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donsu Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-01-03 12:34 PM
Original message
Info on two bushgang private military actions - paid for by americans

the first one:

http://www.corpwatch.org/news/PND.jsp?articleid=8650

Liberia: Northbridge Services Group Under Investigation

On August 7, 2003, The Financial Times reported the Federal Bureau of Investigation was investigating the role of the Northbridge Services Group, an Anglo-American private military company (PMC), about its role in the Liberia civil strife on behalf of the rebel group, Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (Lurd), especially a plan to arrest former Liberian President Charles Taylor and take him to the Sierra Leone Ad Hoc Tribunal to answer charges. The investigation raises many cases generally about the role of PMCs in the law of war and related areas.

-snip-

According to a media report for several months Northbridge had tried to obtain funding from the Sierra Leone Ad Hoc Tribunal to fund the planned operation to arrest Mr. Taylor. Apparently the Tribunal said it was open to the Northbridge operation, but did not have funds. It is said to have privately suggested the U.S. Government might pay for the operation to arrest Taylor.

Northbridge and Lurd reportedly had also discussed having Northbridge deploy up to 2,000 men to "enforce" peace in Liberia ahead of the arrival of a UN peacekeeping force. Some of the discussions with Northbridge occurred with T.Q. Harris, the Lurd's California-based negotiator and a former Liberian presidential candidate. Mr. Harris said his opposition group had raised funds to hire Northbridge, but stopped because of the deployment of Nigerian peacekeeping troops.
-snip-

(continues with detailed information)
-----------------------

and the second one:

http://www.news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1081922003

Specialists in suits train new Iraqi army

-snip-

But to train them in these critical tasks, the United States is turning to a group of grey-suited specialists under contract from the Vinnell Corporation, a subsidiary of the American defence giant, Northrop Grumman.

Vinnell is one of more than a dozen private military companies, often called PMCs, hired by the Pentagon to augment US forces in Iraq in ways that have occasionally raised the eyebrows of real soldiers and occupation officials.

-snip-

At a time when the overstretched US military is struggling to convince other nations to send troops to help secure Iraq, the private military contractors can relieve some of the pressure on American forces.

"If you’re going to keep the number of troops down, this is the way to do it," said Mr Wempen. "The expense is the same or more. But politically it’s much less expensive."
-snip-
much, much more
--------------------------------

our money is paying for this - from our pocket to the bushgang pocket via the military/pentagon
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bigtree Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-01-03 12:41 PM
Response to Original message
1. Northrup-Grumman shills in the adninistration
Edited on Wed Oct-01-03 12:43 PM by bigtree
-James G. Roche Secretary of the Air Force- Northrop Grumman Corp. (Former President)
-I. Lewis Libby - White House, Chief to the President | Northrup-Grumman Consultant
-Dov Zakheim - Defense; Under Secretary for Comptroller | Paid advisory board Northrup-Grumman
-Douglas J. Feith - Defense; Under Secretary for Policy, director of Iraq Reconstruction| President and managing partner of former law firm, Feith & Zell; clients include Northrop Grumman
-Paul Wolfowitz - Defense; Deputy Secretary | Northrop Grumman Consultant
-Nelson F. Gibbs - Air Force; Assistant Secretary for Installations, Environment and Logistics | Former corporate comptroller ,Northrop Grumman
-Sean O'Keefe - NASA Administrator | Paid advisory board: Northrop Grumman, Raytheon
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Unknown Known Donating Member (829 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-01-03 12:41 PM
Response to Original message
2. And guess who's connected with Vinnell - David Kay!
Another war profiteer. Why do you think they're dragging this thing out? It's called "CORPORATE WELFARE"! Kay will be a big recipient of part of that $87 billion!

David Kay's company, SAIC, is a subsidiary of Vinnell -

Kay has also been involved with one of the nation's major defense contractors, serving as a Senior Vice President for the San Diego-based Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). The company's Web site proudly describes itself as "the nation's largest employee-owned research and engineering company, providing information technology, systems integration and eSolutions to commercial and government customers." According to a mid-August report by Katrin Dauenhauer and Jim Lobe in Asia Times, "Of the six billion dollars it earned in revenue last year, about two thirds came from the US Treasury, mostly from the defense budget."

SAIC, heavily involved with homeland security projects, has already acquired several reconstruction contracts in Iraq, and Kay and a number of other former company employees are firmly planted in country. The company "has been running the Iraqi Reconstruction and Development Council (IRDC) since the body was established by the Pentagon in February," Dauenhauer and Lobe reported. "SAIC is also a subcontractor under Vinnell Corporation, another big defense contractor that has long been in charge of training for the Saudi National Guard, hired to reconstitute and train a new Iraqi army." And SAIC is also running the recently established Iraqi Media Network (IMN) project, whose charge was to "was to put together a new information ministry, complete with television, radio and a newspaper, and the content that would make all three attractive to average Iraqis."


http://www.globalexchange.org/countries/iraq/1038.html
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