We read staff of British multinational Serco are suing for excessive suffering in Australia: The federal government is facing a new multi-million-dollar litigation threat from dozens of ex-detention centre officers, citing psychiatric harm suffered at the centres. University of NSW psychiatry expert Dr Zachary Steel said several such cases were pending in courts around the…
Showing all posts tagged privatisation
Is Serco really able to handle Australia’s asylum seeker trauma?
Thankfully and finally, Australia’s Ombudsmen will be investigating the high rate of self harm in immigration detention and the role, responsibility and actions of British multinational Serco. But, according to this report in today’s Australian by Paige Taylor, the contractor has little understanding of the conditions under which refugees find themselves (and where the government…
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…
We’re funding the Afghan insurgency and we feel fine
The head of the World Bank says that the Afghan economy is in desperate need of support and the West should give more money to the corrupt Karzai regime. Good move. Here’s the reality of what that support has given in the last years: A year-long military-led investigation has concluded that U.S. taxpayer money has…
US wastes billions on dodgy contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan
The future of Western warfare is corporations making billions on the suffering of citizens under occupation: The United States has wasted some $34 billion on service contracts with the private sector in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a study being finalized for Congress. The findings by a bipartisan congressional commission were confirmed…
This is what Iraqis have been given; unaccountable mercenaries
Sigh: By January 2012, the State Department will do something it’s never done before: command a mercenary army the size of a heavy combat brigade. That’s the plan to provide security for its diplomats in Iraq once the U.S. military withdraws. And no one outside State knows anything more, as the department has gone to…
Private contractors now intergral to Afghan occupation
The US Congress may express concern at the cowbody behaviour of many mercenaries in Afghanistan (which, of course, lessens local support for the glorious liberation they’ve experienced since 2001), but such things don’t concern former IDF prison guard Jeffrey Goldberg. He writes a curious post about protecting these brave souls who are presumably doing America’s…
How we’re “winning” in Afghanistan; backing death squads
Stunning report in the UK Independent. Adding to this detail is the presence of private mercenaries working alongside Afghan and Western forces committing acts that may be illegal. Accountability is non-existent. Much more on this in time: Covert forces of CIA-trained Afghan paramilitaries are being built up to continue the US-led war on the Taliban…
Our glorious wars are increasingly privatised
Governments know this and embrace it. As our “brave boys” come home from war zones, mercenaries replace them. Accountability? What’s that? With U.S. and Western military forces planning to gradually withdraw their troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, there will be an increasing demand for private military contractors to provide security in both politically-troubled countries. As…
Feeling sorry for Serco?
British multinational Serco, the company that runs Australia’s immigration detention centres, is facing constant fines from the government. A story in yesterday’s Australian (headlined in the paper edition, “Breaches sending detention firm bust”, which is completely untrue) shows the dysfunctional nature of the relationship between contractor and government. No transparency exists: The company running Australia’s…