The "contractors" were protecting food convoys? Read this

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101040412-607775,00.html

TIME - When Private Armies Take to the Front Lines

The security contractors killed in Fallujah represented a little known reality of the war in Iraq


A nation that goes to war on principle may not realize it will then have to hire private soldiers to keep the peace. The work of the four American civilians slaughtered in Fallujah last week was so shadowy that their families struggled to explain what exactly the men had been hired to do in Iraq. Marija Zovko says her nephew Jerry said little about the perils of the missions he carried out every day. "He wouldn't talk about it," she says. Even representatives for the private security company that employed the men, Blackwater USA, could not say what exactly they were up to on that fateful morning. "All the details of the attack at this point are haphazard at best," says Chris Bertelli, a spokesman for Blackwater. "We don't know what they were doing on the road at the time."

What the murder of the four security specialists did reveal is a little known reality about how business is done in war-torn settings all over the globe. With U.S. troops still having to battle insurgents and defend themselves, the job of protecting everyone else in Iraq—from journalists to government contractors to the U.S. administrator in Iraq, L. Paul Bremer—is largely being done by private security companies stocked with former soldiers looking for good money and the taste of danger. Pentagon officials count roughly 20 private companies around the world that contract for security work, mainly in combat areas. They are finding plenty of it in Iraq. Scott Custer, a co-director of Custer Battles, based in Fairfax, Va., says as many as 30,000 Iraqis and "several thousand expats" are working for private outfits in Iraq. Security contractors make a lot more than the average soldier, but last week's events suggest that they may also be turning into more attractive targets for insurgents. "If they can chase us out," says Custer co-director Mike Battles, "then in a void, they become more powerful." snip

The current business boom is in Iraq. Blackwater charges its clients $1,500 to $2,000 a day for each hired gun. Most security contractors, like Blackwater's teams, live a comfortable if exhausting existence in Baghdad, staying at the Sheraton or Palestine hotels, which are not plush but at least have running water. Locals often mistake the guards for special forces or CIA personnel, which makes active-duty military troops a bit edgy. "Those Blackwater guys," says an intelligence officer in Iraq, "they drive around wearing Oakley sunglasses and pointing their guns out of car windows. They have pointed their guns at me, and it pissed me off. Imagine what a guy in Fallujah thinks." Adds an Army officer who just returned from Baghdad, "They are a subculture."

Indeed, the relationship between the private soldiers and the real ones isn't always collaborative. "We've responded to the military at least half a dozen times, but not once have they responded to our emergencies," says Custer. "We have our own quick-reaction force now." But the private firms are usually cut off from the U.S. military's intelligence network and from information that could minimize risk to their employees. Noel Koch, who oversaw terrorism policy for the Pentagon in the 1980s and now runs TranSecur, a global information-security firm, says private companies "aren't required to have an intelligence collection or analytical capability in house. It's always assumed that the government is going to provide intelligence about threats." That, says Koch, means "they are flying blind, often guessing about places that they shouldn't go."

more

[The Magistrate]

1. 'Custer Battles," My Friend

Does not sound like a good bunch to work for....

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"

[PATRICK]

7. "says Custer"

Where do they get these names! Every day I hear some neogoon or bigwig with an awesomely symbolic Dickensian name. Of course what strikes one immediately is the blindness to irony so aptly advertised. Is this all some massive joke?

[DrWeird]

2. People are awful quick to swallow propaganda.

Protecting food convoys my ass

It's as bad as the "poll" that showed most Iraqis want us there.

[tom_paine]

4. Yep. Another Bushevik Lie

Jus assume they ae lying. The Emperor* and his Chimps tell the truth so infrequently that you can scarcely go wrong with this tactic.

[fryguy]

3. privatized war

This is what happens when the party that seeks to privatize the government goes to war - we have mercenary armies.....I wonder how much Blackwater, Custer Battles, et al have contributed to bushco?

[mouse7]

5. Didn't I read that Mercs were guarding delivery to Hyatt?

I haven't been posting or reading many of the treads on this issue becasue I'm torn on the issue. I don't support corporate mercenaries but I certainly don't blame the 4 poor schmucks who were forced to pay for a bad policy with their lives.

Anyway, back to the food delivery. There's a difference between humanitarian food deliveries and guarding the food imported from US to luxury hotel from starving Iraqis. Again, I say I haven't been reading the threads, so I'm not certain this is what happened. Could someone check that?

[swinney]

6. If you are American they want to destroy you Why?

You slaughtered about 15,000 of our fathers, husbands, sons, daughters, brothers. Each loss creates (est) 20 grievers. 20 X 15,000=300,000 seeking revenge due to broken hearts.

If one killed your two little girls would you not want to kill them. I would. So would you.

There is no sensible justification for what America (you and I ) did in Iraq. None.

[F.Gordon]

8. Re-post of my thread killing post

Sinking away in GD....

From the links I've provided you can "surf" on your own. Some real strange-dark shit going on with these foke'.
===============================================================

Blackwater Lodge*, Moyock, N.C., is being awarded an estimated $35,667,512 indefinite-delivery and indefinite-quantity, multiple award, delivery order contract for turnkey and instructor-only force protection training that includes force protection fundamental training; shipboard security engagement weapons training; visit, board, search and seizure training; armed sentry course training; and law enforcement training. Work will be performed in Norfolk, Va. (78 percent); San Diego (15 percent); and San Antonio (seven percent), and is to be completed by September 2007. Contract funds in the amount of $38,668 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured under an electronic request for proposals, with one proposal solicited and six offers received. The Naval Air Systems Command, Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division, Orlando, Fla., is the contracting activity (N61339-02-D-0015).

Surgical Shooting, Inc.*, Ramona, Calif., is being awarded an estimated $12,292,920 indefinite-delivery and indefinite-quantity, multiple award, delivery order contract for turnkey and instructor-only force protection training, including force protection fundamental training; shipboard security engagement weapons training; visit, board, search and seizure training; and armed sentry course training. Work will be performed in Groton, Conn. (55%) and San Diego (45 percent), and is to be completed by September 2007. Contract funds in the amount of $38,500 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured under an electronic request for proposals, with one proposal solicited and six offers received. The Naval Air Systems Command, Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division, Orlando, Fla., is the contracting activity (N61339-02-D-0016).

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Sep2002/c09162002_ct471-02.html

The Human Systems Department supports basic and applied research, and advanced technology development leading to applications for the Departments of Navy and Defense, and U.S. Industry. We are committed to active exploration programs that are at the leading edges of medical science, human performance, biotechnology, training and human factors, neural information processing, and biorobotics.
Programs supported by the divisions range from molecular biology to the development of advanced medical therapies for saving lives and strategies for preserving a healthy and fit fighting force. Investigations are conducted of neural, perceptual, and cognitive levels of organization, with an emphasis on the reverse engineering of biological systems to develop devices for fleet operations. Additional emphasis is placed on the study and exploitation of biological processes toward protection of the environment.

http://www.onr.navy.mil/sci_tech/personnel /

Within the Naval Air Systems Command, the NAVAIR Training Systems Division (TSD) is the Navy's source for a full range of innovative products and services that provide complete training solutions. This includes requirements analysis, design, development and full life cycle support. Of significance is NAVAIR TSD's ability to provide continuous learning across a wide variety of applications (aviation, surface, undersea, etc.). NAVAIR TSD integrates the science of learning with performance-based training and measurement of training effectiveness focused on improving the performance of Sailors and Marines. We continually engage the warfighter to understand challenges, solve problems, create new capabilities and provide essential support.

http://www.ntsc.navy.mil /

[PragMantisT]

9. On the bright side

Caesar was killed by those closest to him.

Are these the POMO Praetorian guards?

[madrchsod]

10. posted yesterday - these

guys want to start carrying belt fed machine guns and hand grenades. they are seriously out gunned and have no protection against rpg`s. no wonder the regular army can`t stand these goons...

[Pablo420]

11. Food supplies my bum

More like protecting a WMD planting.

[newyawker99]

12. Hi Pablo Esquandolis!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[NNN0LHI]

13. kick