Whose Guarding the Green Zone? Contractors defending the Military

[babylonsister]

This is worthy of a repost; Blitzer was actually upset at the news of Blackwater being kicked out. Who will guard the 'diplomats'?

Whose Guarding the Green Zone? Contractors defending the Military

This is a repost, but with the current fiasco going on in Iraq with Blackwater I thought it should be brought back up.


As the Bush Administration plays 4th Branch politics on television nightly, their true crimes against the American public are being committed out of the media spotlight. This Administration is quietly outsourcing U.S. military operations around the globe. When no bid contracts come to mind, one thinks Halliburton, KBR, Bechtel....yet, the contracts the media are not talking about is this Administration's hiring of private sub 'machine gun' contractors to do the tasks of the U.S. military. Blackwater USA, has a companion...Welcome Triple Canopy Inc., America's Green Zone Defenders.

With increasing concerns of the U.S. military being pushed to its limits, the Administration is finding other ways to continue the war effort. Since 2004, Triple Canopy Inc., have been performing security operations for many U.S. military enclaves peppered throughout Iraq. Triple Canopy Inc., founded in 2003 by former U.S. Delta force and Green Beret veterans, has been guarding the Green Zone since they were awarded the winning bid in 2005 over a British based security firm. These private armies pose a 'national security threat' to the United States itself.

"No open policy debate took place; no executive order was publicly issued, And who is in charge of overseeing these armed men? One thing is sure: they are crucial to the war effort.", stated Daniel Bergner of the NY Times.

We already have a military? Do we really need to use privately funded corporate armies, as well? Although Triple Canopy Inc.'s founders might be American, not all their employees hold the same credentials. The current expansion of sub 'machine gun' contractors in Iraq is depleting the ranks of America's special forces veterans. With companies such as Blackwater USA, DynCorp and Triple Canopy Inc., being awarded more and more contracts from the U.S. government the search for qualified 'security consultants' has gone global. Their ranks need to be filled. The search for a qualified pool of talent has taken Triple Canopy Inc. and others to Latin America raising concerns of compromising U.S. military and diplomatic security throughout Iraq.

"...ads seeking former members of the armed forces and police officers interested in working as a security personnel in exchange for "excellent wages" began to appear in newspapers in Lima... ...Hundreds of people applied" stated Angel Paez of IPS

"...about 200 of them American and almost all the rest from Chile and Fiji" wrote Bergner in 2005. "Another concern is that Triple Canopy employees have been recruited mainly in Latin America and speak little English...'A delay in communicating a problem because the guard cannot speak English down his walkie-talkie can have fatal consequences'"

Stop this nonsense. For every sub 'machine gun' contractor added to the ranks of these corporate private armies, another U.S. soldier is replaced by someone not accountable to military justice or the U.S. justice system. The world views these 'employees', not as independent contractors, but as the U.S. Military itself.

more...

http://newssophisticate.blogspot.com/2007/09/whose-guarding-green-zone-contractors.html