Opening Pandora's Box in Iraq? Behind America's Dubious Private Alliances

[seemslikeadream]

by Christopher Deliso


Taylor mentioned one Canadian contractor who was killed in March, Andy Bradsell of Olive Security, and added that "other Canadian companies are recruiting former Canadian soldiers for Iraq, such as Toronto-based Globe Risk." According to Taylor, although Globe Risk used to take out advertisements in his military magazine, Esprit de Corps,


Tortuous Complexities

The relationship between the American coalition and the mercenaries is so thoroughly and inextricably muddled that only contradiction and confusion can result. For example, the company that hired the South African war criminals (Erinys International) was also founded by Nour USA's Abdul Huda Farouki, an associate of the now-disgraced Ahmad Chalabi. A Newsday report from February describes Farouki and his wife as "prominent socialites in the D.C. area frequently attended White House affairs during the Clinton administration. Farouki's many companies have done extensive construction work for the Pentagon over the years."

According to Alexander Cockburn, Chalabi helped Erinys win an $80 million contract in 2003 to guard 140 Iraqi oil installations, "employing members of Chalabi's private militia for the purpose, as well as the son of a close Chalabi confidante as chief executive and his nephew Salem Chalabi as firm's counsel." Farouki was also implicated in the Jordanian Petra Bank scandal for which Chalabi has been convicted in absentia. (The former owed the bank $12 million at the time of its bankruptcy). Erinys has also been contracted to protect workers of American corporations Bechtel and Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root. In other words, the Americans were contracting to companies staffed by war criminals and controlled by false friends seeking to profit from exploiting Iraq's chaos.




In the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, Chichakli claims he was contacted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to assist bin Laden family members living in the United States. 'FBI acted absolutely wonderfully,' he said, then remarked of the bin Laden family that that's how it goes when one has friends in high places."


After leaving the Army, Chichakli worked as commercial manager of the free zone in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. From 1993-1996, he was responsible for much of the liaison and commercial activity at the Sharjah airport at which Bout maintained his operational base. The U.A.E.'s lax regulations and secretive banking system made it an attractive location for low-key arms dealers like Victor Bout. Incidentally, Al Qaeda recognized these qualities when it made Sharjah its major financial hub for supporting the 9/11 hijackers.
The report goes on to identify Chichakli as having held "several senior positions in companies owned by Bout … including chief financial manager with responsibilities such as accounting, financial and reporting activities, and overall responsibility for the financial systems." In addition to this, "Chichakli is the agent for several companies registered in Texas. San Air General Trading, which is run by associates of Bout, has Chichakli listed as president and director."


more
http://www.antiwar.com/deliso/?articleid=2674

[Jason49103]

1. Please Read

Okay it won't let me start a new topic but i think EVERYONE should know about this....and i don't know if you guys know yet and i'm sorry for using your thread for something thats another topic... but there is a drafting pending for June 15,2005 for the army that the government is keeping very hush hush here is a link about it that gives the info and a website you can go to, to look up the bill http://www.congress.org/congressorg/issues/alert/?alertid=5834001&content_dir=ua_congressorg

>_< and i know why they are doing this *hush hush that is* cause if people know about this... a lot of people will not want their kids or grandkids to go to war thus they will not vote for Bush. The more people know about this the better! this includes adults age 18-26 all genders... male or female. also if you move to Canada to get away from the draft... they will find you and bring you back >_< It gets me so mad and i have already contacted CNN... i doubt that will do anything but you never know ;) i'm so not going to contact fox news! lol Once again i can't post a new thread and i'm sorry to use this person thread about this... but i think a lot of people should know about this! Thank you sooooooooooooooooo much for you time!

[seemslikeadream]

2. Hi Jason49103

Nice to see you here welcome. I think they're talking about the draft here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=1675177&mesg_id=1675177

I am very worried about the draft and have already make plans for if or when

[Jason49103]

3. >_<

>_< sorry didn't see that thread lol well thanks for your welcomes and not being mad at me :D lol

[NYC]

4. Welcome to DU, Jason49103.

:hi:

[RedEarth]

6. Howdy Jason....below is a link to another article regarding the draft

I thought you might want to read this one also.....unfortunately if Bush gets re-elected the draft might become a reality.

here is the link and part of the article.......

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/171522_draft01.html



Selective Service eyes women's draft
The proposal would also require registration of critical skills

By ERIC ROSENBERG
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON -- The chief of the Selective Service System has proposed registering women for the military draft and requiring that young Americans regularly inform the government about whether they have training in niche specialties needed in the armed services.

The proposal, which the agency's acting Director Lewis Brodsky presented to senior Pentagon officials just before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, also seeks to extend the age of draft registration to 34 years old, up from 25.

The Selective Service System plan, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, highlights the extent to which agency officials have planned for an expanded military draft in case the administration and Congress would authorize one in the future.

"In line with today's needs, the Selective Service System's structure, programs and activities should be re-engineered toward maintaining a national inventory of American men and, for the first time, women, ages 18 through 34, with an added focus on identifying individuals with critical skills," the agency said in a Feb. 11, 2003, proposal presented to senior Pentagon officials.

Brodsky and Richard Flahavan, the agency's director of public and congressional affairs, reviewed the six-page proposal with Pentagon officials responsible for personnel issues. They included Charles Abell, principal deputy undersecretary for personnel and readiness, and William Carr, deputy undersecretary for military personnel policy.

[tlcandie]

5. I think one needs a dedicated computer with a HUGE memory

capacity along with graphs and diagrams to keep up with all this mess! It reminds me of a site someone linked to at one time regarding all the prominent businesses such as Pepsi, etc. and showed how everything was intricately intertwined and how many people sat on the various boards, etc.

You could click on any product and find out about its management and such. This is exactly what we need with all these liars and crooks! Click on an ugly face or name and find all the connections!

This is absolutely crazy and just about blows out all the fuses in a person's mind! :eyes:

[Karenina]

7. Kick!

:kick:

[UpInArms]

8. kick and an additional article

:kick:

http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=1116

Torture at Abu Ghraib linked to U.S. Army's School of the America's ?

The recent reports of the torture of Iraqi detainees at the Abu Ghraib military prison near Baghdad, while shocking, are part of a larger pattern of abuse and torture at the hands of US soldiers, mercenaries and intelligence agents around the world. In fact, U.S. Army intelligence manuals advocating torture techniques and how to circumvent laws on due process, arrest and detention were used for at least a decade to train Latin American soldiers at the U.S. Army's School of the Americas, renamed in 2001 the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation or WHINSEC.

The SOA/WHINSEC, widely known as the School of Assassins, has trained over 64,000 Latin American soldiers in combat skills and psychological warfare. Graduates are consistently linked to human rights abuses and atrocities in Latin America.

In September of 1996, the Pentagon, under intense public pressure, released the classified training manuals. The Washington Post reported that the manuals promoted "executions, torture, blackmail and other forms of coercion against insurgents." They also recommended the imprisonment of family members of those who support "union organizing or recruiting," those who distribute "propaganda in favor of the interest of workers," those who "sympathize with demonstrations or strikes," and those who make "accusations that the government has failed to meet the basic needs of the people." The training manuals are available on the SOA Watch website.

As reports of abuse at the hands of U.S. and U.S.-trainied soldiers, from Latin America to Guantanamo Bay to Abu Gharib, continue to surface, the Army continues to distance itself from the abuses. Officials often claim the soldiers involved in torture are "just a few bad apples," but as instances of human rights violations continue to grow around the world, a much larger picture of systematic abuse becomes clear.

...more...