Salon: The private contractor-GOP gravy train

[kskiska]

From Blackwater to CACI, mercenary companies in Iraq have a warm and cozy relationship with the Republican politicians who are employing them.

By Robert Schlesinger

Private armies have become ubiquitous in Iraq, supplying everything from support services to mercenary soldiers to interrogators. While Halliburton's contracts for logistical support have been widely reported, until the firefight in Fallujah in late March left four Blackwater Security employees dead, the public knew little about the extent to which the estimated 20,000 private military forces in Iraq are participating in direct military action.

The shocking photographs of the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison raise anew questions about the U.S. military's use of private contractors. Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba's report about practices at the prison contained information that two CACI employees "were either directly or indirectly responsible for the abuses at Abu Ghraib." Contractors from Titan International were also present during the abuses.

"This industry really didn't exist 10 years ago," says Peter Singer, a national security fellow at the Brookings Institution and author of "Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry." A decade ago, mercenary soldiering was less the stuff of corporate America than the inspiration for Soldier of Fortune fantasies. Now, as Singer reported in Salon, the industry generates over $100 billion annually worldwide.

As little known as these companies are to the general public, they are only too familiar in Washington, where they have deployed a different kind of mercenary force -- phalanxes of lobbyists -- along with the ammunition of modern political warfare, campaign contributions. And they have found eager friends, particularly among Republican leaders in and out of Congress.

more…
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/05/11/private/index.html

[xray s]

1. this is the big story

but so far, the media and even the Democrats have been tip-toeing around it.

Wonder why...

[physioex]

2. What happens to these companies if and when the "war" ends?

Perhaps they will stil around waiting for the next Repug majority to start a war on yet another unarmed country........

[salin]

6. what do you think all the lobbyists that are referred to in the article

spend their time doing... bet there were more than a few dating back to the early PNAC years - pushing that line of policy explicitly.

[Old and In the Way]

3. The 21st century Republican business model.

(1) Pick a war with a defenseless country.
(2) Destroy it with armaments sold by Republican business men.
(3) Rebuild it with contracts to Republican businessmen.
(4) Re-elect Republican politicans with money from Republican businessmen (See (2) and (3))

Repeat as often as you can get away with it.

[physioex]

4. No I have to disagree...

3a. Wrap yourself in the flag in the process.
3b. Call everyone against the war unpatriotic and cowardly.
3c. Ignore rape and torture, call it a "frat prank" or "blowing of steam".


Please get it right next time.....

[DieboldMustDie]

5. "What's good for M & M Enterprises will be good for the country. "

Joseph Heller was amazingly prescient.

[The Backlash Cometh]

7. Who knew? The failure of privatized war is the lack of discipline

Gee, I guess chaos theory doesn't really work all the time.