"They're just trying to get a piece of the mercenary action," he said.

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/01/AR2007060102261_pf.html

Judge Halts Award Of Iraq Contract

By Alec Klein and Steve Fainaru
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, June 2, 2007; D01

A federal judge yesterday ordered the military to temporarily refrain from awarding the largest security contract in Iraq. The order followed an unusual series of events set off when a U.S. Army veteran filed a protest against the government practice of hiring what he calls mercenaries, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The contract, worth about $475 million, calls for a private company to provide intelligence services to the U.S. Army and security for the Army Corps of Engineers on reconstruction work in Iraq. The case, which is being heard by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, puts on trial one of the most controversial and least understood aspects of the Iraq war: the outsourcing of military security to an estimated 20,000 armed contractors who operate with little oversight.

Brian X. Scott, a 53-year-old Colorado man, filed the complaint in early April. He argues that the military's use of private security contractors is "against America's core values" and violates an 1893 law that prohibits the government from hiring quasi-military forces. snip

The Army has been narrowing the field of candidates for the Iraq security contract. One is Aegis Defence Services, a British security firm. Aegis won the initial Iraqi security contract in 2004. That contract, worth $293 million, was set to expire in May but has been extended as others have filed protests. Scott said he was indifferent that his court claim had complicated the Erinys and Blackwater protests. "They're just trying to get a piece of the mercenary action," he said.

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1. I find these private armies run by the Republicans very disturbing

High priority needs to be given to busting up these merc outfits and prosecuting any who have committed crimes.

Otherwise we are going to find ourselves living in a police state.

Don