Fitz!

Mora!

Great title and graphic.

I drew the graphic on MS Paint.

Have to wait until I get back, but I know I’m gonna love this one!

We should only be sending our own military to fight overseas. We have no place dispatching mercenaries and corporate warriors into other nations to fight our battles.

OT: Media Whore Margaret Carlson takes a cheap shot a Leaverman.

The money graph:

Deciding to run as an independent was a tough call for Lieberman, the three-term incumbent. Polls show he would win a general election but might lose a low-turnout primary to Ned Lamont, his antiwar, anti-Bush challenger. Voters motivated enough to show up in the dog days of August for a primary are likely to be ideologues angry at Lieberman.

He couldn’t wait to find out.

(It’s on Huffington Post!)

These contractors not only get so much more money, as best I understand it they are there with immunity from prosecution protections as well vis a vis the Iraqi govt (like our troops) and have no chain of command to clamp down on them.

They also have back up, protection, supply route protection, etc. when they need it from soldiers and generally have better equipment and protection.

The Pentagon hides their contract info all the time, in black budgets or under other secrecy assertion. IIRC, two of the contractors implicated at Abu Ghraib were not even listed by Rumsfeld on the supposed “complete” list of contractors and contracts supplied to Congress for Iraq operations.

It’s a huge issue that needs to be addressed and has been a problem (from the immunity front) in earlier administrations too.

The worst aspect of this to me is the fact that the corporate military contractors are operating outside of any structures of accountability. They are not subject to the uniform code of military justice, nor Iraqi law, nor US civilian law.

One would think that if we - the DOD or some other branch of government - are paying for these contractors, we could at least hold them accountable in some way for their actions.

Perhaps the Armed Services Committee would be the place to start . . . a law that requires those who are contracting with the DOD to provide armed security services must comply with UCMJ and/or US law.

Naturally Zapata is another Cheney “energy” war-profiteer, per the Center for Public Integrity: “Zapata Engineering, a small North Carolina-based firm with about 50 employees, provides engineering services for private and government clients, including civil infrastructure, architecture services, environmental projects, and forensic engineering of failed structures, as well as military and security services. Since 1995, the company has provided services to the U.S. government to investigate and remove unexploded ordnance, including chemical warfare equipment…. Manuel L. Zapata founded the firm in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he has made many government and community connections. Zapata was born in Santiago, Chile, in 1940 and immigrated to the United States in 1967. He worked for energy firms such as Piedmont Natural Gas, Exxon and Duke Power. He organized and led a delegation from the North Carolina Ports Authority that traveled to South America on behalf of the North Carolina secretary of commerce, the purpose of which was to attract foreign shippers to North Carolina ports.”

Great post, Matt. Thanks.

I would love to blame all of this on the Bush Administration. But as someone who has worked in government and managed many a contract, I can tell you that these contracting rules, handed down by Congress, are so stacked in favor of the private sector its ridiculous. And both Republicans and Democrats on the hill bear responsibility for this.

Without question, the Bush Administration has pushed things to the limit. At the beginning of the Bush administration (when I was still in government), I watched as many of my long-time co-workers (primarily admin staff) were forced to submit bids in a contracting process and “compete” for their jobs with private sector contractors. People who had worked in government for 20 years. It’s despicable and demoralizing, and I can’t believe the troops have to put up with this crap.

But the solution here is publicly-funded elections. As long as Congress gets a large bulk of their campaign contributions from private sector contractors, those contractors will always have the upper-hand over government employees (military or civil).

Remember the senate hearing where Rumsfeld (and a general whose name escapes me at the moment) were asked about the numbers of contractors in Iraq and they said they didn’t have a clue. There is no accountability whatsoever.

This contractor issue, as others here have said, is the most outrageous and corrupt and stealth maneuver that BushCo has employed, and that’s saying a lot. Boy oh boy, they really pulled one over on the American public.

Some day we’ll find out the damage done in our name by these mercenaries. Could take a while, but I’m sure they’ve been murdering, stealing, torturing and raping in our name. It’s a horrific situation all around.

Oh, the general I was referring to was Myers. Complete syncophant.

when I was little, I read in American history at school about those awful “Hessian mercenaries” used against us — they were painted as the epitome of evil. Later I learned about Duchy of Hesse and its very civilized culture but I am still stuck with a general revulsion about ‘mercenaries’ …

I think what is scary, is that the privatization of warfare is growing, and, in my opinion, hampers our war fighting capability.

The Guardian, December 21, 2003

Private corporations have penetrated western warfare so deeply that they are now the second biggest contributor to coalition forces in Iraq after the Pentagon, a Guardian investigation has established.

While the official coalition figures list the British as the second largest contingent with around 9,900 troops, they are narrowly outnumbered by the 10,000 private military contractors now on the ground.

[…]

The private sector is so firmly embedded in combat, occupation and peacekeeping duties that the phenomenon may have reached the point of no return: the US military would struggle to wage war without it.

IAVA on defense contractors:

Private Contractors Can Stop Work When the Situation Becomes Too Dangerous

Since contractors are private corporations not directly included in the chain of command, they retain the right to refuse to perform certain operations. That is, they can quit at any time without fear of repercussions, whereas in the army, soldiers are required to obey orders. Refusal to perform generally occurs when the contractors consider the situation too dangerous, i.e. in a situation which could result in kidnapping and/or death. Unfortunately, this is also when their services are most needed. Consequently, at vital times, front-line soldiers find themselves without the support they require to perform their missions (GlobalPolicy.org). A career contracting officer, Colonel Steven Zamparelli stated in the Air Force Journal of Logistics, “Today, the military relies heavily on contractors for this support. If death becomes a real threat, there is no doubt that some contractors will exercise their legal rights to get out of the theater. Not so many years ago, that may have simply meant no hot food or reduced morale and welfare activity. Today, it could mean the only people a field commander has to accomplish a critical ‘core competency’ task such as weapons-system maintenance…have left and gone home.”

[…]

Introduction of Profit in a Combat Zone Leads to Conflicts of Interest

Hiring contractors introduces profit onto the battlefield and creates people that directly benefit from the continuation of war. These contractors also tend to have substantial political influence through campaign contributions and political ties (e.g. Vice-President Dick Cheney was the former CEO of Halliburton (New Yorker).) This creates troublesome conflicts of interest, where politicians are caught between looking out for the well being of our soldiers and the interests of their campaign contributors. (More information: CBS News)

I’m sure the Iraqi civilian population does not distinguish the actions of the mercenaries from the American soldier, and why would they? To them it is one force representing the U.S. It’s a disgrace.

I have studied warfare and one of the things you learn about using nationals versus mercenaries is that, aside from paying out the rear for non-military warriors (as noted by CPI in this post), nationals’ loyalty is much more resolute to than that of mercenaries. (As discussed by the IAVA.)

A question occurs to me about these contracts, Matt. Are they time and materials contracts or contracts for deliverable items? I suspect that if I were a defense contractor working in Iraq I’d insist on the former, unless I knew I could get a deliverables contract written so I would be let off the hook for security and logistical problems beyond my control.

Once Americans learn exactly how much of our money has been wasted, and how badly things have screwed up by the private contractors, the Republican party may well be finished in this country.

But first, we have to get enough of them out of office to get our hands on the books!

Spectacular post, Matt. I think the great untold story of this war is what’s going on with those contractors, and years from now people will be asking why nobody was talking about it at the time. You’ll be one of those who can raise his hand and say “I was.”

Did you see the new Robert Greenwald trailer? It looks amazing.

re: my last @ 4:38 pm (#17) - I’m referring to the contracts for emergency clinics and the like, not the security contracts, which are almost certainly time and materials. Incidently, it would be interesting to know what penalty and performance clauses they have, no?

Jane —

I did. It looks great. I am looking forward to it.

And this is the logical conclusion of the whole Ronald Reagan “all government is bad and there’s nothing that private industry can’t do better” bullshit. That was a bill of goods if ever there was one.

Matt O.

I think what is scary, is that the privatization of warfare is growing, and, in my opinion, hampers our war fighting capability.

Complete concurrence. Plus, it adds profit considerations into our objectives and diminishes our image in the world, both of which come back to hampering our fighting capabilities.

Cujo 20 — I’m pretty sure they just passed a law that they can’t give regular yearly bonuses worth millions to contractors who cheat them. I may have the wording wrong but I think I’m not far off.

I was in a national guard combat engineering group many years ago, and they were every bit as good at civil engineering as commercial companies, and further, they were subject to the UCMJ, and were also loyal to the American society they were part of. This whole argument that privatization is more efficient is pure bullshit, and there are no legal controls over them. It would certainly save taxpayers a lot of money to pay regular army engineers to do what the contractors are doing. Same goes for food services by KBR (and you have heard the yukky stories about bad or contaminated food and water).

Jane, I love the way Mark Shields says it:

JIM LEHRER: In a word, Mark, is the president’s State of the Union message an issue in New Hampshire?

MARK SHIELDS: Not really, Jim, it kind of disappeared between the two primaries, and as a personal note I just have to say, any time a president tells me I can spend my money better than the government can and, boy, indulges my vanity and my avarice, you know I really get a little angry, because he’s insulting me.

I cannot clean up the environment by myself, I cannot provide health care to others, I can’t do the Center for Disease Control no matter how much money I have. I just really think that is, that’s an insult to the American people, when any leader stands up and says that.

JIM LEHRER: You think that’s what he did in the State of the Union?

MARK SHIELDS: He did, he said you know better to do with your money than I do. I can’t hire a Marine Corps, I can’t do any of those things. I can’t build a better society for other people, for children, all by myself. No matter how much money I accumulate.

JIM LEHRER: All right. Thank you.

Cujo — The only information I have been able to ascertain is that the clinic contract was “cost-plus,” which is described here at the Business Journal:

Cost-plus contacts and time and material contracts are very similar in that the contractor is accounting to the owner for the actual costs incurred on the job, but they are different…

[…]

In a time and material contract, the contractor is paid a percentage of the total cost of the project for overhead and profit. Therefore, if the cost of the project increases, so does the amount the contractor is paid for overhead and profit. In a cost-plus contact, the contractor basically tells the owner that he will charge a flat fee in addition to the cost of the project, so that if the project cost increases, the fee remains the same.

As I pointed out yesterday, the Dorgan Amendment to establish a committee to look into these contracts was voted down 52-44 IIRC. All 52 of those were Republican. Only Chafee voted with the 43 Democrats. You can pretty much draw your own conclusions from those numbers. The Republicans know exactly who’s benefiting and how big a scandal it is. And they don’t want anyone investigating anything.

Jane Hamsher @ 4:43 pm (#24) - I wasn’t aware we needed one. We should have had one of those already. Most contracts I’ve worked under had a clause like that somewhere, IIRC.

The reason I mention performance and penalty clauses is that I’m fascinated about how one might evaluate security services. Certainly, regular audits of their practices would be a start, but it just seems like there’d be a lot more gray area than with your average electrical or engineering contract.

D.B. –

I liked the way he said that, too.

Do you guys still get the “government spends $400 on a hammer” lines from conservatives? I’ve been having to spend the last four days with right-wing family members — all Reagan conservatives.

Matt O. @ 4:48 pm (#27) - Cost plus is a good way to go, as long as the fee is awarded based on work completed, not hours worked or whatever. There should probably be some minimum just for attempting the job in good faith, but much of the fee should be based on the work completed.

At least, that’s how I’d want to write the contract.

Matt, just finished the post and am going back to read the comments, but I wanted to ask a question. In your research, have you found the point at which we lost control of controlling the MIC? I suspect the Reagan era, but I wouldn’t be surprised to learn it was shortly after Eisenhower uttered those famous words.

Dude, you are such a good writer - clear and compelling, funny. Matt, you shine.

Cujo –

I think this is why we always hear things like “overcharges” because if they increase the cost of the job they were contracted to do, while maintaining that flat fee, they can hide how much they are really pulling in. At least, that’s the way I read it.

as I recall, in World War 2, a lot of contracts were “cost plus $ 1″

You’ve got a BOOk here , Matt. One for the good guys. Go for it.

OT, Okay, my step son (and his 2.5 year old daughter) is seeking a recording or thelyrics to a song by a grouop called The fools, called LIFE SUCKS AND THEN YOU DIE. Does anyoneremember this, and/or have a link?

This is OT but I just stumbled on a stunningly good post on a blog I’m not familiar with and had to share it.

http://driftglass.blogspot.com.....ynand.html

I guess we’ve been employing contractors for a long time, but not on this scale. And as I recall, some of the most horrendous and egregious atrocities at Abu Ghraib and in Afghanistan were committed by these guns & ammo warriors.

They enter with no accountability, perform their deeds, accountable to no one but the company store and waltz on out. Very few mercenaries have been charged with criminal behavior to my knowledge. I can only recall only one instance, as a matter of fact.

http://www.modernman3.com/lyric_lifesucks.htm

Kewalo,

Driftglass is excellent.

Hiring contractors introduces profit onto the battlefield and creates people that directly benefit from the continuation of war.

Bingo! These contractors (read: mercenaries) are nothing more than another avenue to launder taxpayer money into the hands of the robber barons. No surprise that the GOP has shot down every single bill introduced to limit such profiteering in Iraq, going back to the Daschle-Leahy attempt in 2004 to get the War Profiteering Prevention Act of 2003 enacted.

Another excellent post, Matt!

Matt O. @ 4:56 pm (#33) - Under normal circumstances, the costs are scrupulously reported and audited thoroughly. My sense is that this isn’t done as much in Iraq, for a variety of reasons. So yes, they probably do have some overcharges. The Halliburton ones early on for the gasoline was pretty large, but I don’t know how much was due to higher-than-expected costs. At least some of it was due to higher costs, according to what I read about the audit.

My guess is that we’re not even going to understand the real magnitude of the overcharges and the real reason for the increased expenses for many years. There’s a reason for having accountants - they’re the only ones who have the patience to figure this stuff out.

Chrissie Hancock - quick Google search yields this.

in VietNam the US hired a couple of divisions of South Korean soldiers — they were considered to be awfully mean motherfuckers…

Dover B 26, do you happen to have the link for that handy? I have someone I’d like to send that too.

Well that last comment of mine was a mess. Anyway, I guess I’m more passionate and concerned about the immorality of the mercenary as regards human rights than about the overages in cost. Although both are very important.

Catch you all later. This is a great post, Matt O.

oh! i thought you said “petopoly.”

never mind.

Margo, it’s here at the bottom.

Thanks mommybrain –

As for the “point at which we lost control of controlling the MIC,” I think that ship sailed long ago. Decades, at least.

I recall wars or foreign interventions having to do with opening up markets for American businesses, or to help U.S. businesses. Such as Latin America with Cuba in the early 20th century, and the United Fruit Company in Guatemala. (Eisenhower’s administration had several UF benefactors.) That happened in the Eisenhower administration. The same president that warned against the MIC.

I remember from the film JFK, Donald Sutherland’s ex-military character (later deemed Col. Fletcher Prouty) said the Kennedy administration was looking to give contracts to districts that would help them in the 1964 race. I’ve never confirmed that, but I thought maybe someone out there knew for sure. (I just happened to never look into it.)

Don’t you wonder if outrage will ever be reborn in this country??

Matt O. @ 5:09 pm (#49) - The practice of spreading military contracts around the country to increase their political desirability was considered old news by the time I started in the biz in the early ’80s. The Johnson Space Center is cited as an example of this sort of thing, since at the time there were no launch facilities in Texas, but they did have a Vice President and some powerful Senators and congressmen. That’s NASA, of course, but the idea certainly caught on. Contracts for the B-1 bomber were spread all over the country. Our own Scoop Jackson and Warren Magnuson may have been among the reasons the practice caught on. Nothing got past Scoop back in the day.

Oh, man, what a great post and comments. Of course now I feel like just giving up in the face of such a corrupt and entrenched political/greed structure. This is what this site, and others, are for—so we can keep our spirits up and take the next step…

BTW, OT,
Remember that little local-paper melt-down I mentioned this morning, about Santa Barbara and all the editors quiting? Here’s a killer cartoon that says it all:
http://www.cagle.com/political.....enberg.asp

One American soldier in Iraq talks about contractors.

OT, but an elderly driver plowed through a crowd of Lamont supporters while Ned was there.

my ex gets constant pitches in the mail from blackwater, custer b etc - “join our team in iraq, make $250k/yr” - they must blanket police officers throughout the US with this evil crap - makes me physically ill - and I’m paying even for their mailings

Matt you are a treasure - the side of the angels can’t be totally gone yet in this country if we’re still producing such amazing smart articulate committed kids as you.

Thanks for the link Alice!

If anybody finds soldiers talking about experiences with contractors, by all means, let me know. E-mail ‘em to me (image of email posted at my blog). I’d love to see them.

Hi, Matt, excellent post, thank you as always. If the Bush administration can think of another way to screw the military, I’d be surprised. He’s done it six ways from Sunday.

I have very little time, and this is ridiculously off-topic, but I wanted to share this link to youtube, it’s a little slice of happiness from me to all of you. Excuse me Matt, but it is just so appropriate, given this guy’s name.

wherethehellismatt?

OT — D.B.

This quote made me laugh in a morbid kind of way (since nobody was killed) as the man was driving at 10-15 MPH. It made me think it was some kind of Jackass show or teen flick:

“… There was no warning and no screaming, just thump-thump-thump as the bodies were hit.”

Matt, more interesting (and a little sad) than damning:

http://www.bangornews.com/news/templates/?a=137060

Matt O. at 5:09 pm –

Military interventions in Central America on behalf of United Fruit and other corporations go back to Woodrow Wilson and beyond. They ended with FDR’s Good Neighbor Policy, but resumed again after the war.

http://www.edunetconnect.com/c...../80ca.html

President Woodrow Wilson’s foreign policy continued and expanded US military intervention in the Caribbean and Central America, invading the Dominican Republic in 1916, Haiti in 1915 (American troops stay until 1934), and Nicaragua twice, once in 1912-1925 and again in 1927-1933. American marines landed in Cuba between 1906- 08, invaded again in 1912, and in 1917 (the last time to prevent Cuba from increasing sugar prices). Honduras was invaded by US troops in 1905, the first of five interventions over the next 20 years. In 1921, the then US president, Calvin Coolidge, supports the overthrow of President Herrera of Guatemala, to protect the US-owned United Fruit Company. In El Salvador in 1932, the United States sends a naval force to help put down a communist rising there.

Matt, I caught that, too. Sounds like a couple people were seriously injured, though. Yikes.

Great post and series, by the way. All the Jane Hamshers on the left, like you, make FireDogLike way better on the tubes than Pajamaline.

ck –

Thanks. I was just using the UF and Guatemala under Eisenhower as an example with mommybrain, simply because I wanted to point out his 1961 farewell address of the MIC.

D.B. –

I just hope the quality is up to snuff and I’m not packing those internet tubes too much.

(Ugh, Ted Stevens!)

Alice Marshall @ 5:21 pm (#53) - Old story, I’m afraid. I agree that the service relies too much on contractors. I’ve written here before that in my own experience the idea that it’s more cost-effective is highly debatable. Both uniformed and civil service people should be doing far more work than they are, IMHO.

OTOH, anyone who thinks that all contractor people are mercenaries can kiss my furry fat ass. We do it for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is that we can’t do the job in uniform or as civil servants. Many in the military have the opinion that soldier has until it’s time for them to get out of the military, and they realize that not many businesses care about your ability to use an M-16.

Be sure to read the response from BeeGee, who is a contractor in Kuwait. It’s the one just before the spam starts.

*ilson46201 @ 44

in VietNam the US hired a couple of divisions of South Korean soldiers — they were considered to be awfully mean motherfuckers…

Supposedly the best, plus having grown up in the terrain…
Great, Matt!

Thanks Punaise. Stepson is duely impressed by my web abilities. LOL. Whatever would I do w/o that b logger called Firedoglike? Hahahahaha One day even I will remember to do a quick google search. (And you’d think this guy’d have a clue, computer wonk that he is). Blessings.

OT, http://donatacom.com/archives/00001404.htm
Nashville ABC station to air local video bloggers…

geez, that could have been a lot worse. no fun for the seriously injured of course. but if it’s OK to joke about (”thump thump thump”), then darkblack’s gonna have to whip us up a montage of HoJo at the wheel in that CT accident.

Chrissie H - glad to run that google errand for you

Matt O. @ 5:31 pm (#58) - “… There was no warning and no screaming, just thump-thump-thump as the bodies were hit.”

I think there’s something about the way we perceive danger that doesn’t work well with vehicles. Something moving that slowly can’t be dangerous, we seem to think subconsciously. Of course, the reality is that when that vehicle hits you, you’re the thing that’s going to give way.

Also, KBR, back when it was just Brown & Root, had ties to LBJ.

Cujo –

That is correct, sir. When I read that quote though, it sounded so cartoonish.

hmmm . . . maybe humans relate to slow moving cars the way beavers relate to humans.

The local TV news had a story on ‘The Beaver Lady,’ a woman who traps beavers where they are not wanted and relocates them to where they are appreciated.

Sixty pound beavers had absolutely no fear of humans, and would people handle them, pet them, and do whatever; and the beavers were no threat to people.

Matt O. @ 5:53 pm (#70) - I suspect that folks who don’t watch the industry would be astonished at how common that sort of relationship is. Nearly every flag officer, agency head, or former Deputy SecDef will get hired by some defense firm or another. There are rare exceptions (I believe Wes Clark was one) who don’t, but that’s the rule. Every company needs to know the right people to have a shot at the next contract.

Of course, there are some other reasons to hire those people, but generally marketing seems to be the prime concern.

LBJ was called the Senator from KBR.

KBR grew out of the Six Companies Consortium, the builders of Hoover Dam. The project was completed under budget and ahead of schedule, but it took Harold Ickes to desegregate the work site.

Jane, are you still here and have you heard which Lamont folks were injured? Dang!

Matt O., your work on this IS a book-to-be, and a hugely-important one at that! Far from a comforting read, but one we must have and share.

I just wonder whether even you are young enough to last to see the whole story of these BushCo depredations. IF we can somehow get on top of them and get this story out, I agree, it will smash the Republican party for all time.

Jeebus, the reek of their rot!

Great post.
driftglass piece-wow
wherethehellismatt-love it

Jane, all–

Appropos Reagan’s “govenment is the problem” bs.: Excellent essay by Alan Wolfe in The Washington Monthly on “Why Conservatives Can’t Govern.”

http://www.washingtonmonthly.c.....wolfe.html

There is nothing intrinsically wrong with outsourcing. For-profit enterprises make “build or buy” decisions all the time. The problem is dumb outsourcing, or corrupt outsourcing, or ideological outsourcing. A really dumb reason for outsourcing government goods or services is the notion that a for-profit enterprise will somehow always produce stuff at a lower cost just because it’s private. Government is a not-for-profit enterprise. It always, by definition, produces at cost. No “plus.” For-profit enterprises have to produce a profit to survive– they do, after all, have to cover the cost of capital — so the only way they can produce at a lower per unit cost is if they have other purchasers for the same good or service and can take advantage of economies of scale or scope. It isn’t rocket science, it’s the basic economics of industrial organization. And while I can think of plenty of things that it makes sense for the government to buy — we don’t really expect the military to grow its own food, for example — I can’t think of one good reason for preferring to buy soldiers or truck drivers or security guards from a private for-profit contractor when the government do that in-house.

So, since it makes no economic sense, it must be dumb, or corrupt, or ideologically driven. I vote for all three.

anyone who thinks that all contractor people are mercenaries can kiss my furry fat ass

Cujo, I don’t know if I’m one of the commenters you’re referring to, but I certainly did not mean to give the impression that all contractors are mercenaries, or even that all mercenaries are criminals.

I can see how my hastily composed thoughts might be construed that way, however, that was not my intent. I was talking about the cases where paid contractors commit a crime and are not held accountable.

Also, KBR, back when it was just Brown & Root, had ties to LBJ.

the antithesis of the Roots Project

There is a documentary called Iraq’s Missing Billions that documents what has to be the crime of this century. It will sadden you and likely enrage you as it did me. It is meticulously documented and terrifically produced and defintely worth a watch. Here’s a quote from the movie:

A “Free-Fire” zone in the military means you’re free to shoot anything at all. Iraq has become a “Free-Fraud” zone. Contractors are free to steal anything they want.

Further, one of my readers recognized the name of one of the Iraqi reporters working on this film and found this from the UK Guardian:

US troops seize award-winning Iraqi journalist
Jan 9, Guardian: American troops in Baghdad yesterday blasted their way into the home of an Iraqi journalist working for the Guardian and Channel 4, firing bullets into the bedroom where he was sleeping with his wife and children.

Ali Fadhil, who two months ago won the Foreign Press Association young journalist of the year award, was hooded and taken for questioning. He was released hours later.

Dr Fadhil is working with Guardian Films on an investigation for Channel 4’s Dispatches programme into claims that tens of millions of dollars worth of Iraqi funds held by the Americans and British have been misused or misappropriated.

The troops told Dr Fadhil that they were looking for an Iraqi insurgent and seized video tapes he had shot for the programme. These have not yet been returned…

You can watch the full documentary HERE.

It is very powerful!

Matt O.

Excellent post.

The Founders, knowing and accepting the human condition, put checks and balances into our form of government, creating accountability.

Ever since, the elite, never having been accountable to ANYONE before (where’s a good guillotine when you need one?), have been creatively escaping it, and keeping the easy $$$ rolling in.

It was going pretty good. You could still hold slaves, and when that went away, you could exploit former slaves, other minorities and poor white folk to keep the easy $$$ rolling in. And there were always wars and rumors of war. I’ve thought from the jump Iraq was Bush’s “splendid little war.”

Alas, FDR actually wanted to empower the peasantry. The elite responded with a coup plot, staved off by an American hero few have ever heard of. Kos did a good job summarizing last year.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/2/27/112936/440

Familiar, yes?

I can’t help being dismayed by the fact that our government has outsourced torture. It’s different than building a pipeline or painting a school or even serving tainted food to the troops.

The karmic hammer is going to fall on us for this. Okay, I’ll stop. ‘night.

Another angle in all this has to be the GOP disdain for regulation. Iraq is a wet dream for these guys because there is nobody telling them who to hire, what to pay, how to control their waste, how to protect their employees… nothing. It’s the way they would like things to work in America and is part of the reason they don’t give a crap about putting any environmental or labor protection language in our foreign-trade agreements.

As an aside, I’ve always wondered why nobody has ever responded to the “the private sector can do everything better” rhetoric with something like: “Yeah, except religion! Churches can’t handle their jobs themselves, right?”

Jenny from the Blog @ 6:05 pm (#79)

I can see how my hastily composed thoughts might be construed that way, however, that was not my intent. I was talking about the cases where paid contractors commit a crime and are not held accountable.

Sorry, I’ve just read that sort of opinion quite a bit, particularly lately. I worked in the industry for a long time, and might conceivably do it again in the future, and I’ve met quite a few good folks along the way. The irony is that there are times when we’d identify ourselves as being part of the agency we’re contracted to, and then have to explain we’re just the contractors, and don’t have any decision authority, etc. We always felt like a part of the operation, just with less job security. Most of us, like that commenter BeeGee in the article I mentioned, felt like we were doing our bit for king and country. Many of us (not I) have worked in war zones, and it’s often as frustrating for us as it is for the soldiers working with us.

I share your concern about the security contractors and the profiteers, and I think most of the folks I worked with would feel the same way. The security contracting thing is just asking for trouble, given the lack of accountability. But even there, I bet a lot of those folks are just doing it because it’s a living. Like I said, not many companies need sharpshooters, and those that do generally don’t take out ads in the paper.

Dadhusker, for what it’s worth,
GW Bush’s first company after graduating Yale in 1954, (in which he was “set up”) was called ZAPATA Oil. ZAPATA was also the CIA code name for the operation at the Bay of Pigs. (In 1957 Zapata was drilling forty miles off the coast of Cuba)

brkily
Got links?

They haven’t entirely outsourced torture, Jenny. Military personnel (including medical professionals) have been involved. I’d like to think that the government has relied on private contractors and foreign governments for a lot of it because it can’t find enough Americans willing to do that kind of work. Of course, it could just be that they can’t find enough Americans able to keep a secret. In the immortal words of Donald Rumsfeld, paraphrased from memory, “Who knew they’d take pictures?”

Cujo359 - What Jenny from the Blog said at 6:05 pm.

My comment upthread about “contractors (read: mercenaries)” was directed at the “mercenaries” driving around shooting up civilians, and by extension the people that contracted them, and not at the necessarily contracted functions of civilian support in a war zone.

Apologies if I was one to offend or impugn.

Speaking of LBJ and KBR. Brown & Root built many of the bases in Vietnam, most way late and way over budget. The troops referred to them then as Burn & Loot…some things never change.

JWR @ 6:25 pm (#89) - See my 6:20pm (#85). I think even in the case of the security guys, they hired on for many reasons. The problem, ISTM, is letting them work with almost no supervision. There’s a reason that armies maintain tight discipline. It’s as important to not shoot when it’s not warranted as it is to shoot when it is warranted. Doing the right thing in those situations is extremely difficult. Letting these people roam about without being answerable for their actions was bound to create just the sort of situation we’re seeing.

An excellent point, Cujo. I remember all the stories on truck drivers lured to Iraq by the high salaries, only to find that they had either been misled as to the amount of danger involved, or that the folks who hired them had seriously underestimated that danger themselves. A lot of the private personnel are there for the same reason as the soldiers are: their other employment opportunities aren’t that hot.

OT big story in NYT:

July 9, 2006

Ally Told Bush Project Secrecy Might Be Illegal
By ERIC LICHTBLAU and SCOTT SHANE

WASHINGTON, July 8 — In a sharply worded letter to President Bush in May, an important Congressional ally charged that the administration might have violated the law by failing to inform Congress of some secret intelligence programs and risked losing Republican support on national security matters.

The letter from Representative Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, did not specify the intelligence activities that he believed had been hidden from Congress.

But Mr. Hoekstra, who was briefed on and supported the National Security Agency’s domestic surveillance program and the Treasury Department’s tracking of international banking transactions, clearly was referring to programs that have not been publicly revealed.

. . .

(Emphasis mine. In full here.)

links for you, newtonusr:

http://www.informationclearing.....le3331.htm

http://content.scholastic.com/.....sp?id=4650

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2000/081400a2.html

http://www.tarpley.net/bush8b.htm

otus @ 6:36 pm (#93) - Two reactions. First is “Of course, it’s illegal. About bloody time.”, The second, is if this congressman was fine with violating FISA, what could possibly be illegal in his mind? I’m thinking it must be really, really bad.

Of course, it might have to do with searching Congressional offices …

Cujo, maybe this is the big one that the WH has been dreading and trying to forestall?

God only knows what would get the likes of Hoekstra and Wilson this willing to holler in public.

Completely OT, and I do mean completely, just for Punaise and any other soccer fans around, DKos has provided this link:
http://www.globalfutbol.com/

I should hastily add that my own enthusiasm for the game is so minimal that until a few minutes ago, I had no idea why Punaise is thinking of naming his kitten Zidane. Zidane? What is that, some kind of French cigarette lighter? Ya can’t just name him Bic? *g*

Cujo359 at 6:33 pm - Well said, and points well taken.

BTW, Jane’s got the Daily Ned upstairs: Your Daily Ned.