The Corporate War
The Bush regime has failed to build the coalition of the willing, so instead it has build a coalition of billing. Bush has assembled a corporate army in Iraq that’s larger than our uniformed fighting force. There are 180,000 so-called private contractors operating alongside 169,000 U.S. troops. Our military is the junior partner in the coalition that’s occupying Iraq.
According to the Pentagon we have 169,000 troops and 12,400 coalition forces stationed in Iraq. Bush has a preference for contracting out government functions to the corporate world, both at home and in Iraq. The situation in Iraq raises questions of whether our troops have become so dependent on corporate contractors that they could not function properly without them.
More than 180,000 Americans, Iraqis and nationals from other countries work under federal contracts to provide security, gather intelligence, build roads, improve infrastructure, forge a financial system and transport needed supplies in Iraq.
Blackwater USA is the most dangerous and heavily armed mercenary army. Blackwater was awarded a $50 million no-bid contract to protect Paul Bremer, the original ambassador to Iraq. Without continued congressional funding of the war in Iraq, Blackwater USA wouldn’t exist. The head of the Blackwater company is Eric Prince, who is a radical right wing Christian evangelical and a major bankroller of political campaigns of Bush and his allies in Congress. Blackwater literally is making a killing off the escalation of violence and bloodshed in Iraq.
A Blackwater guard got drunk at a Christmas party in the Green Zone and boasted to his friends that he was going to kill someone. According to both Iraqi and U.S. officials, he stumbled out and went to an area where a high-ranking Iraqi politician lived. He argued with an Iraqi security guard, and shot him once in the chest and three times in the back. The next day, Blackwater put this premeditated killer on a private plane and flew him out of the country.
There have been numerous allegations that Blackwater operatives have shot civilians and some of their operatives have used blended metal type of ammunition that’s banned by our military, and were then overheard bragging about watching the Iraqi victim’s stomach explode.
Recently, Blackwater guards killed 20 Iraqis at a traffic stop, including a woman and a child. Even, Bush acknowledged at a news conference that “evidently” innocent lives were lost in the incident.
Blackwater is trying to declare itself above the law. It’s being sued for wrongful death by families of former employees. Blackwater claims it should be entitled to same immunity from civilian litigation as the military. However, Blackwater’s highly paid lobbyists complain that it would be inappropriate to place them under the uniform code of military justice because they’re civilians. Thus, they’ve declared themselves above the law.
It has taken Congress four years to wake up to the fact that there are more contractors than troops in Iraq, and there’s no punishment for the crimes these mercenaries are committing.
Rep. Jan Schaknowsky of the House Intelligence Committee said: “We know virtually nothing... We think that about forty cents of every dollar goes to private military contractors. We think about eight hundred of them have been killed in Iraq, but we don’t know that. They’re not even counted... And we can’t find out.
Democratic Rep. David Price from North Carolina has sponsored two bills that would bring all security contractors under federal criminal codes and the FBI would be required to set up units in Iraq to investigate suspected misconduct. More importantly it would require that the Pentagon provide more information about the cost and duties of private contractors.
Rep. Price has inserted rules in the defense authorization bill, which is being debated in the Senate, to set standards for the rules of engagement and hiring of private-security contractors, along with improved communication between contractors and the military.
Last year, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham inserted into the defense authorization bill a clause that made contractors working with the U.S. military subject to courts-martial. However, the Pentagon hasn’t drawn up specific guidelines, according to a security expert with the Brookings Institution in Washington.
The concern that Blackwater’s hired guns have itchy trigger fingers is outlined in a 15 page report prepared for the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Among the findings, Blackwater has been involved in 195 escalation of force incidents in Iraq since 2005 and 84 percent of the time fired first.
The congressional memo cites previously unreported Iraqi deaths at the hands of Blackwater forces, which include a civilian being shot in the head, the alleged cover-up of a shooting that killed an innocent bystander and a traffic accident that left an Iraqi vehicle in a ball of flames.
According to the Pentagon we have 169,000 troops and 12,400 coalition forces stationed in Iraq. Bush has a preference for contracting out government functions to the corporate world, both at home and in Iraq. The situation in Iraq raises questions of whether our troops have become so dependent on corporate contractors that they could not function properly without them.
More than 180,000 Americans, Iraqis and nationals from other countries work under federal contracts to provide security, gather intelligence, build roads, improve infrastructure, forge a financial system and transport needed supplies in Iraq.
Blackwater USA is the most dangerous and heavily armed mercenary army. Blackwater was awarded a $50 million no-bid contract to protect Paul Bremer, the original ambassador to Iraq. Without continued congressional funding of the war in Iraq, Blackwater USA wouldn’t exist. The head of the Blackwater company is Eric Prince, who is a radical right wing Christian evangelical and a major bankroller of political campaigns of Bush and his allies in Congress. Blackwater literally is making a killing off the escalation of violence and bloodshed in Iraq.
A Blackwater guard got drunk at a Christmas party in the Green Zone and boasted to his friends that he was going to kill someone. According to both Iraqi and U.S. officials, he stumbled out and went to an area where a high-ranking Iraqi politician lived. He argued with an Iraqi security guard, and shot him once in the chest and three times in the back. The next day, Blackwater put this premeditated killer on a private plane and flew him out of the country.
There have been numerous allegations that Blackwater operatives have shot civilians and some of their operatives have used blended metal type of ammunition that’s banned by our military, and were then overheard bragging about watching the Iraqi victim’s stomach explode.
Recently, Blackwater guards killed 20 Iraqis at a traffic stop, including a woman and a child. Even, Bush acknowledged at a news conference that “evidently” innocent lives were lost in the incident.
Blackwater is trying to declare itself above the law. It’s being sued for wrongful death by families of former employees. Blackwater claims it should be entitled to same immunity from civilian litigation as the military. However, Blackwater’s highly paid lobbyists complain that it would be inappropriate to place them under the uniform code of military justice because they’re civilians. Thus, they’ve declared themselves above the law.
It has taken Congress four years to wake up to the fact that there are more contractors than troops in Iraq, and there’s no punishment for the crimes these mercenaries are committing.
Rep. Jan Schaknowsky of the House Intelligence Committee said: “We know virtually nothing... We think that about forty cents of every dollar goes to private military contractors. We think about eight hundred of them have been killed in Iraq, but we don’t know that. They’re not even counted... And we can’t find out.
Democratic Rep. David Price from North Carolina has sponsored two bills that would bring all security contractors under federal criminal codes and the FBI would be required to set up units in Iraq to investigate suspected misconduct. More importantly it would require that the Pentagon provide more information about the cost and duties of private contractors.
Rep. Price has inserted rules in the defense authorization bill, which is being debated in the Senate, to set standards for the rules of engagement and hiring of private-security contractors, along with improved communication between contractors and the military.
Last year, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham inserted into the defense authorization bill a clause that made contractors working with the U.S. military subject to courts-martial. However, the Pentagon hasn’t drawn up specific guidelines, according to a security expert with the Brookings Institution in Washington.
The concern that Blackwater’s hired guns have itchy trigger fingers is outlined in a 15 page report prepared for the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Among the findings, Blackwater has been involved in 195 escalation of force incidents in Iraq since 2005 and 84 percent of the time fired first.
The congressional memo cites previously unreported Iraqi deaths at the hands of Blackwater forces, which include a civilian being shot in the head, the alleged cover-up of a shooting that killed an innocent bystander and a traffic accident that left an Iraqi vehicle in a ball of flames.
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