Reckless private security companies anger Afghans

[laststeamtrain]

Source: AP

Reckless private security companies anger Afghans

By SEBASTIAN ABBOT (AP) – 8 hours ago

HUTAL, Afghanistan — Private Afghan security guards protecting NATO supply convoys in southern Kandahar province regularly fire wildly into villages they pass, hindering coalition efforts to build local support ahead of this summer's planned offensive in the area, U.S. and Afghan officials say.

The guards shoot into the villages to intimidate any potential militants, the officials say, but also cause the kind of civilian casualties that the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan has tried repeatedly to stop.

"Especially as they go through the populated areas, they tend to squeeze the trigger first and ask questions later," said Capt. Matt Quiggle, a member of the U.S. Army's 5th Stryker brigade tasked with patrolling Highway One, which connects Afghanistan's major cities.

The troops say they have complained to senior coalition officials and have even detained some guards to lecture them about their conduct, but the problem has continued.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iNFTCCDUQmsI1SV67vO0WCd8EcOwD9FDGDMO0

[Webster Green]

1. The scumbags might want to think about what happened in Fallujah.

Charred bodies of blackwater bad-asses hanging from a bridge.