Shocking Hazing at U.S. Embassy in Kabul

Source: CBS

On August 4, rockets land near the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. On August 15, a suicide bomber hits close by killing or wounding 98. The attacks punctuate the dangers faced by hundreds of American diplomats and staff who work there. Yet some of the Embassy's own security guards are alleging shocking work conditions that put American lives at risk.

In numerous e-mails, the guards describe a crisis in discipline and morale, understaffing, sleep deprivation, "threats and intimidation." One guard refers to a group of guards and supervisors from the security contractor ArmorGroup as "sexual predators, deviants running rampant."

Guards provided dozens of graphic photos and videos depicting shocking scenes of hazing and humiliation by superiors, most of them too lewd to show. The guards recount a climate of fear and coercion where those who refuse to participate are retaliated against, even fired.

The State Department contracts with a private security firm - ArmorGroup North America, owned by Wackenhut. ArmorGroup employs 450 guards at the Kabul Embassy - two-thirds from Nepal and India, the rest from the U.S. and other English-speaking nations. Fifteen guards have brought their concerns about embassy security to the watchdog group Project on Government Oversight, reports CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson.

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/09/01/eveningnews/main5280465.shtml

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http://www.cbsnews.com/elements/2009/09/01/home/photoessay5280529.shtml">Images of alleged hazing (Graphic Content)

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5280628n&tag=related;photovideo">Additional video of Kabul hazing (Graphic Content)

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/09/01/world/main5279801.shtml?tag=cbsnewsSectionContent.3">Group: U.S. Embassy security in Kabul risky

http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/Sec_Clinton_Letter_09-01-09.pdf">Letter to Sec. Clinton describing abuses (.pdf)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuzAUJ8NZ4Q">CNN report on this (Video)

I see em bloom...for me and for you
And I think to myself...what a wonderful world...:puke:

and bacchanal around a bonfire.

I wonder where I can join up!

Security Contractors Under Scrutiny at U.S. Embassy in Kabul

A nonpartisan watchdog on Tuesday charged that language barriers, overwork, and lewd behavior by U.S. government contractors are undermining security at the American embassy in Kabul. Margaret Warner reports.

MARGARET WARNER: Just two weeks ago, outside NATO headquarters in Kabul, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-filled car at a checkpoint. The blast killed seven people and wounded 91.

But the real target, said a Taliban spokesman, was not the NATO mission, but the U.S. Embassy, part of the same huge installation just down a closed road from the NATO site. As more American troops and treasure pour into Afghanistan, there are new questions about whether one of the most tempting U.S. targets for terrorists, the American Embassy, is being adequately protected.

Today, the Project on Government Oversight, an independent watchdog group, laid out allegations of serious misconduct and security lapses by ArmorGroup. That's the private security company that guards the Embassy, under a $189 million contract with the State Department.

ArmorGroup, which is owned by a Florida-based firm called Wackenhut deploys a force of 450 men in Kabul. One hundred and fifty are so-called expats, former military and policemen from English-speaking countries. Three hundred are so-called Gurkhas from Nepal or Northern India.

The watchdog group's letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today detailed allegations from more than a dozen current and former expat ArmorGroup guards.

Continues: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/asia/july-dec09/embassy_09-01.html

PBS Streaming Video: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/video/module.html?mod=0&pkg=1092009&seg=4

YouTube version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHuG0P3nWes

The classic Wackenhut business model at work for prosperity.

^^^^^^^

:yourock:

just like blackwater. private profits and no accountability. Not only is the alleged behavior appalling, so it the fact that we outsourced our embassy security in such a dangerous country. This is just another way for a corporate entity to make a profit off of the taxpayers. They don't care about the job being done right,and have no public accountability, it's all about the money. Sounds like they outsourced much of it to low wage countries to increase their profit. This is the same problem that happened in Iraq with contractors. I hope Obama and Clinton take notice and use this as an opportunity to cut off the outsourcing contractor spigot.

Our Puppet Charlie




Newly appointed puppet in our 52nd state.

nt

These pictures really provide a window into the psyche of those typically given to rabid anti-gay sentiment. How many times do we have to see blatantly homoerotic behavior in people who would otherwise become violent at the idea of being "gay," before we recognize that homosexual behavior is a normal human variant?

J

This is deviant, mentally sick, depraved bullying of the worst kind.
These fuckers represent America to the locals in other countries. These psychos represent you and me.
And they are paid with our tax dollars.

ENOUGH CRAZY-ASS MERCENARIES RUNNING LIKE COWBOYS ON BEHALF OF THE US GOVERNMENT!

PRIVATE SECURITY CONTRACTS NEED TO STOP NOW!

The Wackenhut contract should be immediately cancelled.

A disgrace.