American mercenary company Blackwater (now known as Academi, to ensure even more lucrative contracts) has an appalling record of human rights abuses. Gawker recently obtained a massive cache of documents that highlight this cowboy firm: Blackwater, the private mercenary firm that became synonymous with Bush-era war profiteering and reckless combat-tourism,announced yesterday that it has changed…
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Those poor military contractors in Iraq just need a good hug
Trouble in paradise, as a legacy of American war-making (privatised security) faces new challenges. CNN reports: With the removal of all U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of the year looking more likely, absent an agreement to extend legal immunity, a large contingent of U.S. contractors will still remain facing their own legal and…
Washington’s footprint in Iraq will continue for years to come
Wired explains that the American occupation of Iraq isn’t ending, despite what Barack Obama preaches: President Obama announced on Friday that all 41,000 U.S. troops currently in Iraq will return home by December 31. “That is how America’s military efforts in Iraq will end,” he said. Don’t believe him. Now: it’s a big deal that…
A blinkered view of the war on terrorism
My following book review appeared in last weekend’s Sydney Sun Herald newspaper: The Triple Agent Joby Warrick (Scribe, $32.95) Reviewed by Antony Loewenstein The war in Afghanistan is the longest in modern American history. This year has been the most deadly for Afghan civilians. British MP Rory Stewart wrote in The New York Times that…
Contracting in Afghanistan is turning that country into a deformed beast
My following investigation appears today in Crikey: In the 10 years since 9/11, millions of people have been killed but countless firms have benefited from the explosion in Western defence spending. Brian Michael Jenkins, senior adviser to the president at Rand Corporation, recently told National Defence that “the war on terrorism cost $3.8 trillion in…
US backed mercenaries in Somalia are how Obama does business
Recently The Nation’s Jeremy Scahill broke the story that the US was operating covertly in Somalia, including the use of an interrogation prison in Mogadishu. The New York Times expands on this tale, thankfully crediting Scahill, and includes the role of privatised forces in the war zone. The future of warfare is unaccountable: Richard Rouget,…
Who would trust firms to protect the public space?
Apparently the future in keeping us safe is to outsource intelligence to unaccountable corporations: In an age where cyberwarfare is more common than the physical battlefield, it may be necessary for the private sector to stop playing defense and go on offense, Gen. Michael Hayden said Friday. Hayden, who led the National Security Administration and…
At least some in US Congress recognise toxic culture of mercenaries in war zones
As we learn that the US has wasted tens of billions on contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan since 9/11, few American politicians are opposed to this explosion of privatisation. Here’s a statement by Bernie Sanders, US Senator from Vermont: Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) today introduced legislation that would phase out private…
Bin Laden wanted to re-brand his little firm
Fascinating, if true: As Osama bin Laden watched his terrorist organization get picked apart, he lamented in his final writings that al-Qaida was suffering from a marketing problem. His group was killing too many Muslims and that was bad for business. The West was winning the public relations fight. All his old comrades were dead…
Murder civilians and continue getting mercenary work
The future of warfare: The number of private security personnel working for the US military in Afghanistan rose to 18,919 at the end of last year, the highest level used in any conflict by the United States, a congressional report said. The Congressional Research Service report said that the number of private security contractor personnel…