"In what could turn out to be the greatest fraud in US history, American authorities have started to investigate the alleged role of senior military officers in the misuse of $125bn (£88bn) in a US -directed effort to reconstruct Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein. The exact sum missing may never be clear, but a report by the US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) suggests it may exceed $50bn, making it an even bigger theft than Bernard Madoff's notorious Ponzi scheme."
--Patrick Cockburn in Sulaimaniyah, Northern Iraq
Blackwater, Vinnell, DynCorp, SAIC, CACI, Titan Group, Ibis Tek, these are folks the Pentagon now depends on to fulfill its mission.
It is hard to define exactly what or who the United States of America actually represents. For the last twenty years, beginning with George Bush I the United States has seen the privatization of what should be a democracy's primary government functions-- defense and national welfare. Not only are the pharmaceutical companies now dictating the agenda surrounding public health, corporations are collecting intelligence, patrolling the "Homeland" and fighting its wars of choice.
"the privatization of intelligence metamorphosed from an instrument of limited application in the 1950’s into a broad-based core operating model of significant proportions in the 1970’s and ‘80’s. Simultaneously, a secret alliance was forged with Saudi intelligence. This alliance was orchestrated by CIA covert management, without the knowledge of Congress, and, in some cases, even the president."--Joseph Trento, "Prelude to Terror"
It is hard to consider a country as sovereign when foreign nationals are potentially in charge of its security. As R.J. Hillhouse reports more than 50 percent of the National Clandestine Service has been outsourced to private firms such as Abraxas, Booz Allen Hamilton, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon. In fact their "analytical products" were part of George Bush II daily briefs. It has come to the point-- when we consider how much has been outsourced to private concerns-- that one wonders how much of America's military might actually still resides with the Commander-in-Chief.
What should be clear to the most trusting American citizen is that the coupling of military operations and the dramatic shift from congressional oversight to the wish-list of corporate lobbyists makes a mockery of the Constitution and the very concept of "checks and balances".
Mercenaries, otherwise known as "soldiers of fortune", are illegal under international law. Yet under Bush II they have been re-branded as private military contractors spawning an industry that generates yearly profits of over $US100 billion. As we have seen in the infamous case of Blackwater, these paramilitaries are permitted to function outside of and above the law, leading to tragic consequences for America's foreign relations and long-term security interest.
The Firm Formerly Known as Blackwater
According to Jeremy Scahill author of Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Arm, they provide ‘the US government with a way around declining military recruitment, the political cost of conscription, dead soldiers, a way to short-circuit citizen anti-war opposition, and other potential democratic brakes on the government’s unpopular wars’.
The ugly results have been only too predictable
March 7, 2003
Afghan prisoners beaten to death at US military interrogation base
The Guardian (UK)
Two prisoners who died while being held for interrogation at the US military base in Afghanistan had apparently been beaten, according to a military pathologist's report. A criminal investigation is now under way into the deaths which have both been classified as homicides. The two men, both Afghans, died last December at the US forces base in Bagram, north of Kabul, where prisoners have been held for questioning. The autopsies found they had suffered "blunt force injuries" and classified both deaths as homicides.
A spokesman for the Pentagon said yesterday it was not possible to discuss the details of the case because of the proceeding investigation. If the investigation finds that the prisoners had been unlawfully killed during interrogation, it could lead to both civil and military prosecutions. He added that it was not clear whether only US personnel had had access to the men.
Robert Fisk elaborates on the consequence of no responsible chain-of-command:
"Last August, I was invited to Abu Ghraib to see the million-dollar U.S. refurbishment of this vile place. Squeaky clean cells and toothpaste tubes and fresh pairs of pants for the "terrorist" inmates. But now, suddenly, the whole kit and caboodle is no longer an American torture center. It's still an Iraqi torture center.
Just as the unsupervised armed mercenaries being killed in Iraq are being described by the occupation authorities as "contractors" or, more mendaciously, "civilians" -- so the responsibility for the porno interrogations at Abu Ghraib is being allowed to slide into the summer mists over the Tigris River."
Saturday, May 22, 2004
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Pentagon has revealed that 37 people have died in detention in Iraq and Afghanistan, with one official saying at least some deaths "may be suspicious."
Four cases have been listed as "justified homicide" involving eight deaths of inmates trying to escape. Of those deaths, seven took place at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison where U.S. soldiers have been accused of abusing inmates.
Death certificates released by the Pentagon indicate one Iraqi detainee died from "strangulation" and two Iraqi detainees died because of "asphyxia." The certificate also noted "blunt force trauma" as contributing to one of those deaths. One Iraqi detainee was listed as having died from "closed head injury."
Thirty of the cases were said to have taken place inside U.S. detention facilities.
U.S. Army Major General George Fay conducted the key investigation into interrogation procedures. CNN has learned that, as a result of that investigation, a civilian contractor has been referred to the Justice Department for possible criminal prosecution.
If field operatives are being giving such latitude while acting (at least theoretically) within the purview of the U.S. military, it is not hard to imagine a future where corporations or perhaps even hostile governments will be able to infiltrate our national agencies in order to manipulate U.S. policy using spurious intelligence-- perhaps obtained through torture... or failing that-- manufacturing a major international crisis. Or did we in fact already cross that Rubicon on 9-11-01?
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