Mercenaries; II

National Geographic Channel: Documentary Explorer:
"Iraq’s Guns for Hire"
SUNDAY AT 9P et/pt
Examine the dangerous reality of private security contractors working in Iraq, where every mission could be their last. WATCH A PREVIEW >> [More below]

SUNDAY JANUARY 21 The Final Report: "Osama's Escape" at 8P et/pt
Osama bin Laden was never more elusive than during the battle at Tora Bora. How did the man President Bush wanted "dead or alive" escape the world's most powerful military machine? [WA: According to some rumors, Osama's location was known and was visited by American "spooks" when he was in hospital. Ofcourse rumors are often merely lies and/ or conjecture. ]

***WORLD PREMIERE*** Explorer: Iraq’s Guns for Hire at 9P et/pt For $600 a day, private security contractors in Iraq’s war zone risk their lives to protect VIPs and transport critical supplies. See how these mercenaries survive in the “kill zone.” WATCH A PREVIEW >>

[WA: Since the use of mercenaries has become common knowledge, we now get documentaries on them. This one appears to deal primarily with a group hired as bodyguards/escorts for VIPs, which is indeed what many do. Probably a large percentage of the mercenaries are decent, hardworking, honest professionals. It is unfortunate that those who engage in illegal, immoral and criminal activities cause unfavorable reflection upon the good ones, but that is true of any group. A percentage of bad apples ruin the reputation of good ones. This article quotes British pay as a mere $600 a day; other sources say Americans get $900 per day, depending on duties. I watched a video from military.com where an American soldier was acting as spotter and a mercenary was doing the actual sniping. ]

"Inside Saddam's Reign of Terror" at 10P et/pt Rare videotapes, testimonials, and footage of mass graves offer a disturbing look at how Saddam Hussein and his Baath Party tortured, maimed and murdered Iraqi citizens.
[WA: Will we also be shown footage and videotapes and hear testimonials of how the Bush regime tortured, maimed and murdered Iraqi citizens?] >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Who's Fighting Our Wars?
By Onnesha Roychoudhuri, AlterNet.
Posted January 9, 2006. [ One year old news. Same song, second verse]
A new documentary (now a year old) explores the role of the modern-day 'mercenaries' waging the war in Iraq for private companies like Blackwater. [Remainder of article below]

View the trailer for "Shadow Company" at ContractIraq.com.
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During the first Gulf War, there was one private military contract (PMC) employee for every 100 soldiers. In today's Iraq war, that ratio has risen dramatically to one PMC for every 10 soldiers. It's figures like this that make Nick Bicanic's new documentary, "Shadow Company," such an eye-opener.
Nation-states are paying private companies to provide armed civilians, in lieu of soldiers, on an unprecedented scale. Yet, aside from a handful of allegations about contract workers firing on innocent civilians, little is known about PMCs. For rest of story: http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/30462
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Privatizing the Empire's Dirty Work. http://rwor.org/a/1236/blackwater.htm (second half of page)Year old news.) Over 15,000 military "contractors" are now stationed in Iraq, working for dozens of companies--a force larger than the British contingent in the war zone. There is reportedly one mercenary in place for every 10 occupation soldiers.

"Private" military firms and contractors operate mess halls, guard bases, serve as bodyguards, train soldiers, and maintain key weapons systems. The New York Times reported that "contractors" are now starting to deploy their own fleets of armored cars.

Such "contract" soldiers have had a free hand in threatening and killing Iraqi people. A former Special Forces member documented ( Washington Times , October 6, 2003) that military contractors guarding ministries on behalf of coalition authorities repeatedly killed Iraqis--without punishment or inquiry. From the point of view of the Pentagon and CIA, there are several clear advantages to privatizing their more controversial operations. The U.S. government does not count mercenaries as their soldiers, and it does not count dead mercenaries as military casualties.

In other words, using mercenaries means the Pentagon can downplay the size of its involvement. On March 31, when the four mercenaries were killed in Fallujah, their deaths were not even mentioned on the Coalition Provisional Authority's online list of casualties and news. One U.S. news agency documented that at least 33 mercenaries have died--but no one knows if the real number is much higher.

Second, the U.S. government is involved in growing numbers of "under the radar" interventions and mini-wars all over the world. Using mercenaries to carry out these operations enables the U.S. government to keep "plausible deniability" in the violation of sovereignty and the commitment of atrocities. The third advantage is massive profit and corruption for the military officer corps. Military experts leave the government payroll--but use their in-house contacts to win massive contracts for the same operations of logistics, training, and special operations they were already performing. They become millionaires while continuing their former military assignments "in the private sector"--and conduct these operations far outside the usual budgetary and political scrutiny.

In an empire that worships private capitalism and profit, large parts of the global machinery of killing is increasingly sliding into corporate hands. And business is very, very good. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Sept. 10, 2005 Common Dreams (Alternet carried same article) Overkill:Feared Blackwater Mercenaries Deploy in New Orleans http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0910-07.htm >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackwater_USA excerpt: Blackwater USA is sometimes chided by its critics for being "mercenaries" or "soldiers of fortune". Private security contractors aroused anger in Iraq when it was claimed that they were made immune to Iraqi legal prosecution due to laws in effect dating from Iraq's Coalition Provisional Authority signed by L. Paul Bremer.[8] [WA: Neat trick; make your private army immune from prosecution, then turn them loose to act as they please with utter impunity, a "privilege" that not even our legal military enjoyed. ] The documentary film Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers suggests that the company may have been partially responsible for the Abu Ghraib scandal. [WA: Some military members in Iraq and in Afghanistan alleged that some of the abuses and tortures were committed by "government men" and private military, "security contractors". ]