ProRev: U.S. Hiring Mercenaries for Iraq

News Max Progressive Reviwe ^ | 02 APR 04 | Carl Limbacher

[dts32041]

Although the media repeatedly refers to the men killed in the recent attack in Iraq as "civilian contractors,? they were in fact mercenaries used as part of the U.S. government's outsourcing of jobs, reports the Progressive Review.

Firms overseeing the specialized contractors include Blackwater, the one involved in the recent incident, as well as Dyncorp and the Steele Foundation.

The Steele Foundation, the third largest supplier of mercenaries, has 500 troops in Iraq and recently distinguished itself by -- depending on who's telling the story -- failing to protect Haitian president Aristide from kidnapping by the U.S. government or participating in the act.

According to the Progressive Review, the international convention against the recruitment, use, financing and training of mercenaries defines a mercenary is any person who:

• Is specially recruited locally or abroad in order to fight in an armed conflict;

• Is motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain and, in fact, is promised, by or on behalf of a party to the conflict, material compensation substantially in excess of that promised or paid to combatants of similar rank and functions in the armed forces of that party...

  A mercenary is also any person who, in any other situation:

• Is specially recruited locally or abroad for the purpose of participating in a concerted act of violence aimed at

• Overthrowing a Government or otherwise undermining the constitutional order of a State; or

• Undermining the territorial integrity of a State;

• Is motivated to take part therein essentially by the desire for significant private gain and is prompted by the promise or payment of material compensation...

  The bottom line of the rule of war: "A mercenary, as defined in article 1 of the present Convention, who participates directly in hostilities or in a concerted act of violence, as the case may be, commits an offence for the purposes of the Convention.?

  Meanwhile, the phenomenon grows, says the Review, which points to a San Francisco Chronicle piece quoting Deborah Avant, a professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

  "The rate of growth in the security industry is phenomenal," Avant said "If you had asked a year ago whether there would be 15,000 private security in Iraq, everyone would have said you're nuts. It has moved very quickly over the past decade, but Iraq has escalated it dramatically."

  The trend is highly controversial. Some critics point out that security firms are largely unaccountable to governments, the courts or the public.

  Some examples:

• The Steele Foundation, which provided the security detail for former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was briefly embroiled in controversy when Aristide accused it of withdrawing its agents under orders of the U.S. government when he was overthrown in February. Kenneth Kurtz, the CEO of the Steele Foundation, declined to comment to The Chronicle about the allegations.

  Steele, the world's fifth-largest security firm, employs around 500 agents in Iraq, about one-third Westerners and the rest Iraqis. As elsewhere -- the firm operates in 20 countries -- it offers far more than just Hollywood-style firepower. The company's brief includes corporate consulting and high-tech investigations.

• The Age Australia reports that the U.S. is hiring mercenaries in Chile to replace its soldiers on security duty in Iraq. A Pentagon contractor has begun recruiting former commandos, other soldiers and seamen, paying them up to $U.S. 4000 a month to guard oil wells against attack by insurgents.

  Last month Blackwater USA flew a first group of about 60 former commandos, many of whom had trained under the military government of Augusto Pinochet, from Santiago to a 970-hectare training camp in North Carolina.

  From there they would be taken to Iraq, where they were expected to stay between six months and a year, the president of Blackwater USA, Gary Jackson, said.

  "We scour the ends of the earth to find professionals - the Chilean commandos are very, very professional and they fit within the Blackwater system."

[Cannoneer No. 4]

Private firms take on more military tasks

Sandline International

[Aura Of The Blade]

If these guys are mercenaries, then every security guard in the country is a mercenary

Ditto. The article is spin and has no basis.

[LoudRepublicangirl]

So when Hitlery went to Iraq is was as a mercenary? I thought so.

[Cannoneer No. 4]

Outsourcing the war

[dakine]

I wonder how many "security" guys are contractors hired by CIA....

[Cannoneer No. 4]

[adam_az]

Because he is reporting on what the loonie liberals are reading, since most of his readers don't read that crap. It's to inform us, let us know what the enemy is thinking.

How much more specific do I need to be?

[Cannoneer No. 4]

Luring Commandos to the Dark Side

[vbmoneyspender]

Here is the link to Newsmax. Neither the headline nor the article state that this is 'alleged' to be occurring. It is simply stated as a fact. Now compare the treatment of this allegation with the following piece by Limbacher entitled Islamic Terror Ethicist Defends Fallujah Corpse Mutilations and the differences between the two articles should be fairly easy to see.

[vbmoneyspender]

Oops, try this link Islamic Terror Ethicist Defends Fallujah Corpse Mutilations

[adam_az]

Although the media repeatedly refer to the men killed in the recent attack in Iraq as "civilian contractors," they were in fact mercenaries used as part of the U.S. government's outsourcing of jobs, reports the Progressive Review.

Go back to reading comprehension 101 or something, stop bugging me

[vbmoneyspender]

I think you missed the first part of the sentence where Limbacher writes:

they were in fact mercenaries

[Cannoneer No. 4]

Private U.S. Guards Take Big Risks for Right Price

[Eagle Eye]

Heck, I'm just a freaking REMF!

I don't carry any firearms at all.

But I do have a very serious Leatherman! Watch out!

[xzins]

This is a stupid article.

Many former special ops guys are hired by our own government in other agencies.

For them to be hired as security agents for organizations that provide other services in Iraq is not the definition of "mercenary."

A mercenary is "a soldier hired into foreign service (Merriam Webster.)"

These are our own soldiers, so they are not hired into foreign service. Additionally, they are not hired into "fighting" service. We do our own fighting quite nicely, thank you.

Check with Tommie Franks on that one.

[Allegra]

To further define definitions from the Liberal Dictionary, people like EE and me aren't "mercenaries," but we are "war profiteers."

The libs have their insulting, snide little terms down to an art form.

[endthematrix]

What until Newsmax gets hold of anti-americn fodder on Dyncorp (Update: Now CSC). When Plan Colombia gets hot this issue will dog Bush. Many within NGO's are CIA. Not really in Iraq or Afghanistan where we have full reign, but Africa and Central Asia.

[endthematrix]

Right on! If you die as a GI doing KP, thats ok. IF however you're a contractor from Dick Cheney's former company, well your a war profiteer! IMO, I don't like the fact that military contractors get the hush treatment because they die too and should be on an official death roll if under US service.

[endthematrix]

However, a private company with world wide contacts and freedom to hire locals. If a foreigner is hired under US contract to say, defend convoys. Does that define a merc?

[boxerblues]

Dang! Nice list of job opportunity's, who said no new jobs had been created.