Topic awaiting preservation: The Cost of the US Colonial War Against Iraq

The Cost of the US Colonial War Against Iraq

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Most citizens of the world assume that when their country declares war, the country's army and weapons industry will be called upon to fight the battle. But what we find today is that a group of CEOs heading privatized military firms are sharing the power once vested exclusively in the President and Congress. Private military contractors are the new corporate face of war. They have sent their own mercenaries to Croatia, Macedonia, Columbia, Afghanistan and Iraq. These contractors enable the United States to wage war by proxy and without the kind of congressional voting or media coverage to which conventional wars were earlier subjected.

The US government increasingly relies on corporate enterprises such as Military Professional Resources Incorporated (MPRI), which specializes on supplying military training and expertise to the US government and other countries. MPRI sees war as a commercial enterprise. On March 24, 1994, the defense minister of Croatia appealed to the United States for military assistance against Serbia. Under the United Nations arms embargo, the US could not legally provide any military assistance to the entities of the former Yugoslavia, but the Pentagon simply referred the Croatian minister to MPRI for aid. Just months after MPRI was hired, the Croatian army under their guidance launched a stunningly successful military operation [Uluja) or "Storm"] against Krajina, a region of Croatia inhabited almost exclusively by ethnic Serbs. The MPRI employed air power, artillery and infantry forces, resulting in the death of countless Serbs and causing 250,000 of them to flee the country. And so Krajina was ethnically cleansed.

A large number of the private military corporations have crossed the fine line of legality, employing illegal business practices and hiring employees with criminal records while serving potentially illegal clients. Congress, the Defense Department and the Pentagon inadequately supervise the use of private military contractors, allowing them to break down the traditional norms of control.

Some 15,000 to 20,000 contractors are stationed in Iraq. There is a mercenary in place for every ten occupation soldiers. The contracted individual has a free hand in threatening or killing an Iraqi citizen. As mercenaries, these contractors do not fall under the UN charter, the Geneva Accords or the Nuremberg doctrines. On October 6, 2003, the Washington Times reported that military contractors guarding ministries killed Iraqi citizens without punishment or inquiries. Many of these contractors are not US citizens and are not subject to US laws

Blackwater USA, one of the largest of these corporations, flew in a group of sixty former commandos from Chili. May of them were trained under the military government of Augusto Pinochet. Squads of Filipinos, Bosnians and US men are trained and hired for tasks ranging from military training, intelligence, combat, and local security including protecting administrators like Paul Bremer. The salaries paid these mercenaries are as high as 1,000 to 1,500 US dollars a day. Philipinos, often referred to by their employers in racist terms, usually get $4000 a month.

These are good times for recruiting mercenaries. Since the end of the Cold War some six million service men have been thrown into the unemployment market. With minimal job skills, they use their combat training to find work with private military corporations which offer them high salaries.

Private military corporations now do an estimated $100 million in business world-wide each year. Much of it goes to top US corporations like Halliburton, it's subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root, or DynCorp and Raytheon. These corporations frequently overcharge the government for their services, and Congress and the Pentagon have begun investigations into how the money is being spent. Some $1.6 million is now being withheld from Halliburton for overcharging for meals that were never sent to soldiers in Iraq. (1) Another Halliburton scam was to charge exorbitant amounts for delivering equipment in Iraq, using trucks that carried nothing. Such practices cost US taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.

DynCorp has a contract worth tens of millions of dollars to train an Iraqi police force. This same corporation had an earlier contract to train the police force in Bosnia, but a scandal developed when the contractors were implicated in a sex slavery scandal which involved the buying and selling of young girls from Eastern Europe. No one was prosecuted, but the two whistle blowers were fired.

DynCorp also functions as an intelligence network for the Pentagon and the CIA. Following DynCorp advice in Haiti, the US occupation force in Haiti integrated former members of Ton ton Macoutes, the private death squad begun by Haitian dictator Francois Duvalier, into the Haitian National police (HNP) and installed military officers involved in the 1991 coup d'etat in prominent positions. (3)

Private military corporations have penetrated Western warfare so deeply that they now constitute the largest portion of coalition forces in Iraq after the US military. Corporate power has always played a role in war, but it has never been so blatant in exercising its power. When their activities are questioned, corporations claim that private businesses cannot be subject to government scrutiny. Vice President Cheney refused to release the notes and attendees of his energy Plan to the Supreme Court, claiming "executive privilege" and protection of "national security." All of this to protect corporate power.

The US army estimated that of the $87 billion earmarked in 2004 for the Iraqi campaign, Central Asia and Afghanistan, thirty billion of this money will be paid to private military corporations. On July 22, the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to approve more than $400 billion in defense spending, including some $25 billion in emergency funding for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. While the House of Representatives rubber stamps billions of dollars for the war, the budget for children in poverty, the disabled and the elderly had been drastically cut, leaving 36 US states in deep crisis. Aside from eliminating proper services for US citizens, the US government is now running a $444 billion deficit.

According to estimates provided by the US law Report and US Labor against War in June 2004, the war in Iraq has already cost the United States $118, 518, 293, 319. As we move into 2005, the increased budget for the rebuilding of Iraq will cost billions more.

by Lenora Foerstel

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QUOTATION: "The trouble with a rat race is that even when you win, you're still a rat.''

Yep.. just as I expected.. not even a blink.. Then you deserve the bill.

QUOTATION: "Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes."

don't you ever get tired of this....?

you post the same shit over and over and over and over and over and over and over......

and then you want to call everyone stupid for not responding over and over and over and over and over and over and over......

these things are discussed quite frequently around here, in case you haven't noticed, and the outlooks vary a great deal.

your constant indignant finger pointing simply fails to draw thoughtful dialogue at this point.

I've grown morbidly curious about Xpirex spawned threads, I always wonder if it's a copy and pasted article so I always check.

My point? None thanks (sorry?).

:|

I must admit, DL has a point...I hardly even read a post, if it is Xpirex...I already know what it will say.

*shrugs*

WebShaman | Asylum D & D | D & D Min Page

C'mon guys, Xpi has a point. The Asylum has been notoriously silent on this issue.

Except for the dozens of threads we've discussed it of course.

Did I miss something?

I've been otherwise occupied lo these many past months...

Do I need hardcore military training, ya know snap a neck in two seconds from 10 paces away. Or, will basic Ooh Rah USMC training get me one of those $1K/day jobs?

This is an employment thread right? I mean, it seems as if my time has been wasted learning the little that I have learned as far as graphics go... Hmmm, will I have to kill people for that $1K/day paycheck? I think death counts should have some kind of bonus structure. like in those telemarketing jobs. But, it has to be commensurate with the time it takes the 'normal' person to work through the grief of killing someone. I am sure a mercernary can stomach it better... Does Haliburton have an office near me?

Where are the details? Anyone got Hali's Personnel Dept. Phone Number?

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Is This Thing On?

Webbing; the stuff that sticks on your face when you stroll through Spider Forest

...and DL-44 and many others regurgitate the same shit over and over and over but I try not to whine about it.., don't you tire? Fortunately you are not the only one reading things posted in this forum.. It just never ceases to amaze me the shit that your country perpetuates and how so many swallow it...

Have an expensive day..



(Edited by Xpirex on 10-06-2004 18:39)

as I said...

Unknown - it may seem funny to you, but really, killing poeple is no laughing matter. I have killed people, and I don't find it humorous. I do take it that you are being sarcastic.

Xpirex, who are "many others"? And though DL certainly doewsn't need me defending him, I will add this : DL is normally spot on. Sometimes, he tends to lean a bit in this or that direction, but then, who doesn't? If there is anyone on these forums anymore, that could be described as level -headed, then it is DL.

Now, why don't you just give it a rest?

WebShaman | Asylum D & D | D & D Min Page

I have to agree on your first point Webshamen about no one being level headed here, or anywhere... the second however.. I just can't help myself, give what a rest exactly? Bitching about America?? Never. I'm not hurting anyone...

QUOTATION: "Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes."

Dear god you just never get it.

who said you can't bitch about america?

Try and use your damn head when you do it - you might actually get somewhere.

First you don't believe in God and no I will never get it the way you see it or rather express it. After reading your posts for a year I just can't be bothered to even try and attempt to suade you from your entrenched and rigid ideas about anything... . There's a small nest of you that constantly tickle each other and criticise everyone for what they think and may say, if it does not fit your thought process and system. Whatever Im not even trying to talk to old clay.

(Edited by Xpirex on 10-07-2004 00:48)

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There's a small nest of you that constantly tickle each other and criticise everyone for what they think and may say, if it does not fit your thought process and system.

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I beg to differ with you on this point. It couldn't be further from the truth. Maybe you wouldn't mind presenting some evidence to the contrary? Otherwise, I am beginning to suspect, that you are seeing ghosts, where there is nothing.

Another name for it would be paranoia. Which is ok...you are in a nuthouse, anyway...just don't expect anyone to take you seriously.

WebShaman | Asylum D & D | D & D Min Page

(Edited by WebShaman on 10-07-2004 01:00)

we've been through all this before....I won't bother wasting my breath explaining things again.

But you are a very confused person who pays far too little attention to the people you try to constantly insult.

(and no, I don't believe in "God". what has that to do with me saying the word "god"?)

you guys are so funny...

why is it that every time Xpi posts something - DL bitches about how annoyed he is with Xpi's posts and then this childish quarrel starts where people take sides and call each other names...


DL, maybe its not so polite of me to say this, knowing that u spend 98% of your free time reading other people's posts and replying with your stupid ass comments about how stupid and ignorant (or great) other people's posts are and how Xpi will never understand what youre trying to say... blah blah blah...,

but maybe it is about time that you just SHUT THE FUCK UP and ignore the posts, since you (and JKMabry et al) know what theyre all about before even reading them, and everyone knows what you will respond with(nothing senseful... EVER), and maybe THEN these dumb arguments will cease to exist... no?

maybe you should actually try reading some of my posts once in a while.

=)

as a general rule STFU is my policy lately. I do tire of Xpirex's c&p jobs though, don't mind going on record there

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Xpirex said:

First you don't believe in God

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What does that have to do with anything? You're not discussing philosophy or religion. You're discussing somewhat obscure and likely crackpot ideas about war. The holding of contrary worldviews does not preclude agreement on certain issues. As a student of the cognitive sciences, I think you're all wet by declaring such a division.

By the way, private military organizations are nothing new to history or the world. Such organizations were around and documented during eras such as the height of the Roman and Greek empires.

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Disclaimer. All opinions by metahuman use objectively defined terms. Use Princeton University's WordNet if you are uncertain of the actual meaning. Have a nice day!

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. There's a small nest of you that constantly tickle each other and criticise everyone for what they think and may say, if it does not fit your thought process and system. Whatever Im not even trying to talk to old clay.

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I agree with this totally. And X I did like your post. It was a real eye opener.

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By the way, private military organizations are nothing new to history or the world. Such organizations were around and documented during eras such as the height of the Roman and Greek empires.

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I am sure it will exist in Kerry's too administration if he is elected. Government is dependent and cannot exist without private enterprise.

I don't expect anyone to agree with my views. To do so would just set me up for frequent disappointment.

: . . DHTML Slice Puzzle : . . .

^Amen to that, Bugs!

But that is just common sense.

(Edited by WebShaman on 10-19-2004 16:23)

/me tickles jade... *tickle tickle*

Jade - with the number of discussions you have been a part of here, and the great lengths to which many people have gone to keep such discussions open and civil, I can't see how you can possibly say such a thing.


It is clear to me that certain people simply have a big problem when people do not agree with them, and an even bigger problem when they are provided with logical reasons *why* people disagree with them.

Those same people are also *very* quick to slap big broad labels on everyone who disagrees with them, with no regard for how accurate (or how absurd) those labels are.

That's their perogative, of course.

But to come in here screaming like a moron about it is pretty damn silly.....don't you think?

DL,

Smile. I do love u.

oh boy

: . . DHTML Slice Puzzle : . . .

uh....

ok.

That is it. I'm out of this one, as well.