WP: Under Fire, Private Army Emerges

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59516-2004Apr7.html

Under assault by insurgents and unable to rely on U.S. and coalition troops for intelligence or help under duress, private security firms in Iraq have begun to band together in the past 48 hours, organizing what may effectively be the largest private army in the world, with its own rescue teams and pooled, sensitive intelligence.

Many of the firms were hired by the U.S. government to protect its employees in Iraq. But because the contracts are managed by the Coalition Provisional Authority and the coordination between the CPA and the U.S. military is limited, and by their accounts inadequate, the contractors have no direct line to the armed forces. Most of the firms' employees are military veterans themselves, and they often depend on their network of colleagues still in uniform for coordination and intelligence.

"There is no formal arrangement for intelligence-sharing," Col. Jill Morgenthaler, a spokeswoman for the U.S. military command headquarters in Baghdad, said in an e-mail in response to questions. "However, ad hoc relationships are in place so that contractors can learn of dangerous areas or situations."

The demand for a private security force in Iraq has increased since the war ended, said officials with the CPA, the U.S.-led authority that is running the occupation of Iraq. There are about 20,000 private security contractors in Iraq now, including Americans, Iraqis and other foreigners. That number is expected to grow to 30,000 in the near future when the U.S. troop presence is drawn down after the July 1 handover to Iraqi authorities.

:evilfrown:

Our Marines should NOT be in Fallugah taking casualties to avenge the deaths of four bloody, well-paid mercenaries!!!!

Our Marines should NOT be in Fallugah taking casualties to avenge the deaths of four bloody, well-paid mercenaries!!!!

served in military hospitals.
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=21368

They are the scum of the earth.

...with charging the American wounded for their hospital meals? They may provide security for the hospital grounds, and they may provide security for convoys, but they've never been mentioned in regards to meals charged to the GIs.

They may also be scum, but please explain your comments more fully.

is a private for profit company awarded a contract for services performed/required by anyone, anywhere.

They only do this to make a profit, hence mercenary.

They work for Halliburton and should be considered a part of the Corporation just like any other worker in that Corporation. Halliburton charged our troops for their food. These "mercenaries" are part and parcel to that act. Fuck them. Why should US tax payers be paying them a Grand a day while our own GIs are on food stamps? Ain't "No Bid Contacts" Grand?

of these people!! My god, this is where your tax monies go to!! to support our occupation of a country to prop up CEOs profits, and put civilians and our kids in harms way!
My god where is the outrage??? this is Fascism at its most arrogant and most deadly
as I told my mother the other night
MOM WE are the bad guys. WE are the bad guys!
she still cant quite wrap her mind around that concept.

website i posted -do- this guy has to be x military and does have a different insight into what is happening...

Rumsfeld's DoD is missing over ONE TRILLION DOLLARS, surely only the naive haven't heard of the "grey" and "black" budgets.
That said, here is where a lot of the defense tax money has gone under the administration of George W. Bush aka The War President.

Post-War Contractors Ranked by Total Contract Value in Iraq and Afghanistan
http://www.publicintegrity.org/wow/resources.aspx?act=total

Campaign Contributions of Post-War Contractors
http://www.publicintegrity.org/wow/resources.aspx?act=contrib

Fuck them and the horse they rode in on.

Well said, Mari.

In Iraq, we see another America--the rise of something large, corporate and ugly that goes beyond even Eisenhower's warnings.

The rent-a-killer. The freelance exterminator.

Mr. Bremmer. He had a private service.

Smart looking aren't they



Love the Oakley's, so up to date

Also notice the Viceroy's bullet proof vest--- so stylish.

On Edit: Forgot to add ----Viceroy of the Amerikan Province of Eastern Iraq-Nam.

guys who were at the Turkeygate dinner?

Paramilitaries. One hopes that, like most paramilitaries, they won't turnout to be death squads. One hopes.

Be afraid. Be very afraid. Most mercs are decent enough guys, but they have strong survival instincts. If they are not adequately supervised/supported, and are "pooling resources" we can expect something really bad from this.

<http://www.warblogging.com>-"recent articles"-"those killed were not mercenaries" interesting read on the what these guys really are. this is a dam fine site,this guy has some really good ideas on what is happening..

bookmarked. The conflicting reports from the military are designed to confuse and convulate, a propaganda tactic.

Young Rafael Redondo and his mother try to avoid staying outside in their city where almost 300 people have been murdered this year


Sometimes the 11-year-old author of these lines, Rafael Redondo, awakens in the middle of the night and remembers gunfire. He is startled from sleep by memories of the day when a right-wing paramilitary squad stormed into his village in northern Colombia, killed two men and threatened to make the entire hamlet "disappear." Days later, on Christmas Eve 1996, Rafael, his parents and five brothers and sisters joined 14 other terrified families and fled the village for their lives.

When he wakes, Rafael discovers his nightmare is not over. Now resettled in a violent neighborhood in Colombia's oil center, Barrancabermeja, he still hears gunshots. A wave of murders has terrified his new hometown, leaving nearly 300 people dead so far this year.

"You can't stay out on the streets for long," Rafael said. "You never know when a shooting will break out and someone could fall over dead."


Instead of escaping the violence, Rafael's family moved into the middle of a widening war being fought by leftist guerrillas, paramilitaries and the army for possession of one of the country's most valuable regions. The target: Barrancabermeja, the largest city in a strategic river valley rich in oil, gold and, most recently, coca, the shrub used to produce cocaine.

Rafael hides his fear well. The smiling boy is playful and quick to compose poems describing his daily life. When he talks about the violence, however, he begins dreaming of home.

"I liked it there, back when we were still not in the middle of the conflict."

Rafael's words are echoed by a growing number of Colombians who have been swept up in the country's civil war, now nearly 40 years old, a conflict that has claimed more than 35,000 lives in the past decade and forced hundreds of thousands from their homes.




Young guerrillas drill at a FARC camp in Los Pozos. Teen-age guerrillas are becoming more common on the battlefields of Colombia.


more
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2000/colombia.noframes/story/reports/overv...

Could it be that this was part of the plan all along? To create a private army, answerable to no government body and totally funded by Iraq's oil revenues?

but the problem has been growing long before the reign of shrub

if "paramilitary" organizations are illegal to employ, why is it not illegal to operate a "paramilitary" business in the U.S.

And yes, I do believe that given the chance, corporate America will use them against us.

I can't imagine mercenaries can be any more than just another aspect of occupation. Just more American Impeialism. Only privitazed.

this would happen when we hire mercenaries. But hey! These folks need to protect themselves if that idiot Bremer and Rummy have lost control.

What about Kimmel? Hand picked...not enough troops. Sheesh!

And a great base for incursions into the rest of the Middle East, using the civilian population as de facto hostages...

The demand for a private security force in Iraq has increased since the war ended, said officials with the CPA, the U.S.-led authority that is running the occupation of Iraq. There are about 20,000 private security contractors in Iraq now, including Americans, Iraqis and other foreigners. That number is expected to grow to 30,000 in the near future when the U.S. troop presence is drawn down after the July 1 handover to Iraqi authorities.

It may be wrong for them to be there, but not telling them what is going on makes it more wrong. That increases the chances they'll be shooting at OUR guys.

I guess this is the logical outcome of the Cheney/Rumsfield/Bush doctrine. Hopefully the U.S. electorate will say "You're fired!" in November. Bunch of chickenhawk lying wankers.

Clearly, and understandably, these guys are interested in saving their own skins. Will they fight side by side with our brave soldiers or will they cut and run if it gets too hot. I wouldn't trust one of these guys to have my back.