Private Security Contractors Randomly Shooting up

[Free Palestine]

War Crimes Caught on Tape (Warning: SICK video): http://www.flurl.com/uploaded/Bareknucklep...SIVE_10122.html (http://www.flurl.com/uploaded/Bareknucklepoliticscom_EXCLUSIVE_10122.html)


'Trophy' video exposes private security contractors shooting up Iraqi drivers
By Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent


A "trophy" video appearing to show security guards in Baghdad randomly shooting Iraqi civilians has sparked two investigations after it was posted on the internet, the Sunday Telegraph can reveal.

The video has sparked concern that private security companies, which are not subject to any form of regulation either in Britain or in Iraq, could be responsible for the deaths of hundreds of innocent Iraqis.

The video, which first appeared on a website that has been linked unofficially to Aegis Defence Services, contained four separate clips, in which security guards open fire with automatic rifles at civilian cars. All of the shooting incidents apparently took place on "route Irish", a road that links the airport to Baghdad.

The road has acquired the dubious distinction of being the most dangerous in the world because of the number of suicide attacks and ambushes carried out by insurgents against coalition troops. In one four-month period earlier this year it was the scene of 150 attacks.

In one of the videoed attacks, a Mercedes is fired on at a distance of several hundred yards before it crashes in to a civilian taxi. In the last clip, a white civilian car is raked with machine gun fire as it approaches an unidentified security company vehicle. Bullets can be seen hitting the vehicle before it comes to a slow stop.

There are no clues as to the shooter but either a Scottish or Irish accent can be heard in at least one of the clips above Elvis Presley's Mystery Train, the music which accompanies the video.

Last night a spokesman for defence firm Aegis Defence Services - set up in 2002 by Lt Col Tim Spicer, a former Scots Guards officer - confirmed that the company was carrying out an internal investigation to see if any of their employees were involved.

The Foreign Office has also confirmed that it is investigating the contents of the video in conjunction with Aegis, one of the biggest security companies operating in Iraq. The company was recently awarded a £220 million security contract in Iraq by the United States government. Aegis conducts a number of security duties and helped with the collection of ballot papers in the country's recent referendum

Lt Col Spicer, 53, rose to public prominence in 1998 when his private military company Sandlines International was accused of breaking United Nations sanctions by selling arms to Sierra Leone.

The video first appeared on the website www.aegisIraq.co.uk. The website states: "This site does not belong to Aegis Defence Ltd, it belongs to the men on the ground who are the heart and soul of the company." The clips have been removed.

The website also contains a message from Lt Col Spicer, which reads: "I am concerned about media interest in this site and I remind everyone of their contractual obligation not to speak to or assist the media without clearing it with the project management or Aegis London.

"Refrain from posting anything which is detrimental to the company since this could result in the loss or curtailment of our contract with resultant loss for everybody."

Security companies awarded contracts by the US administration in Iraq adopt the same rules for opening fire as the American military. US military vehicles carry a sign warning drivers to keep their distance from the vehicle. The warning which appears in both Arabic and English reads "Danger. Keep back. Authorised to use lethal force." A similar warning is also displayed on the rear of vehicles belonging to Aegis.

Capt Adnan Tawfiq of the Iraqi Interior Ministry which deals with compensation issues, has told the Sunday Telegraph that he has received numerous claims from families who allege that their relatives have been shot by private security contractors travelling in road convoys.

He said: "When the security companies kill people they just drive away and nothing is done. Sometimes we ring the companies concerned and they deny everything. The families don't get any money or compensation. I would say we have had about 50-60 incidents of this kind."

A spokesman for Aegis Defence Services, said: "There is nothing to indicate that these film clips are in any way connected to Aegis."

Last night a spokesman for the Foreign Office said: "Aegis have assured us that there is nothing on the video to suggest that it has anything to do with their company. This is now a matter for the American authorities because Aegis is under contract to the United States."

Article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml...27/ixworld.html (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/11/27/wirq27.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/11/27/ixworld.html)

[Xvall]

Pathetic.

[Free Palestine]

On the subject of "civilian" contractors, this is a really enlightening article:

After Fallujah: The Truth About the Blackwater Mercenaries

Revolutionary Worker #1236, April 11, 2004, posted at http://rwor.org


"We have established a global presence and provide training and tactical solutions for the 21st century. Our clients include federal law enforcement agencies, the Department of Defense, Department of State, and Department of Transportation, local and state entities from around the country, multinational corporations and friendly nations from all over the globe."

--Blackwater corporate website


"I would like to have the largest, most professional private army in the world."

--Gary Jackson, president of Blackwater USA


"Blackwater . right now has contracts that [Gary Jackson] says are so secret that he is not able to tell one branch of the Feds that he's working for a different branch of the Feds.. Much of the interview I had with them was couched in this -- this almost cowboy-like secrecy. They were very proud of being on these top secret missions."

--Barry Yeoman, author of "Soldiers of Good Fortune," on Democracy Now

Soon after the four U.S. "civilian contractors" died in Fallujah, it became obvious they weren't "civilians" at all. All four were trained commandos--at least three had years of experience in elite U.S. military units. They were working for the private mercenary army called "Blackwater USA." All were heavily armed. One carried a Department of Defense ID card.

What were they doing deep in Fallujah? At this point, it is not known.

The official story is that these heavily armed mercenaries were in Fallujah to "protect food shipments." But that day, there were no "food shipments" in sight. The Marines had just gone door-to-door arresting men for interrogation--and so there has been speculation in Fallujah that these commandos were on a mission to capture or assassinate people fingered as part of the resistance.

When asked about their mission, Blackwater refused to comment--and told reporters to talk to their lawyers. The Geneva Conventions make hired mercenaries illegal--so private armies today "officially" claim that they are not in the battle zones to actually fight or assassinate, but only for "security" or "training" or (perhaps) "guarding food shipments."

Blackwater is a highly connected mercenary corporation--based in North Carolina, but with offices in McLean, Virginia, near CIA headquarters. They operate a 5,200-acre state-of-the-art commando training ground in North Carolina's Great Dismal Swamp--basically a private military base. It provides privatized training for U.S. military personnel and police.

For example, the company won a five-year Navy contract in 2002 worth $35.7 million to train Navy personnel in "force protection, shipboard security, search-and-seizure techniques, and armed sentry duties."

Increasingly, however, the main work of Blackwater has been deploying its own mercenary army-- recruited from elite U.S. military forces (especially from Navy SEALS and Marine Recon), SWAT police forces, and international "soldiers of fortune." In February it started training former Chilean commandos--some of whom served under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet--for use in Iraq.

In August 2003, Blackwater was awarded a $21 million contract to supply security guards and two helicopters for Paul Bremer III, head of the U.S. occupation in Iraq. Other Blackwater operations in Iraq are merely described as full protective teams "for any threat scenario."


Privatizing the Empire's Dirty Work


"Private military corporations become a way [for government officials] to distance themselves and create what we used to call `plausible deniability.'"

--Daniel Nelson, former professor at the Defense Department's Marshall European Center for Security Studies


"In recent years, soldiers-for-profit have served in Liberia, Pakistan, Rwanda and Bosnia. They have guarded Afghanistan's president, Hamid Karzai, and built the military detention facilities holding Al Qaeda suspects in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. They have been an essential part of the American war on drugs in Latin America."

--Barry Yeoman, Mother Jones , May/June 2003


"Under a shroud of secrecy, the United States is carrying out military missions with people who don't have the same level of accountability."

--Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.)

Blackwater was founded in 1997. Like dozens of similar companies, it has been growing with amazing speed, thanks to huge contracts from the Pentagon.

And Blackwater is just a small piece of a much, much larger trend.

Barry Yeoman describes another corporate mercenary operation in Mother Jones (May/June 2003): "Military Professional Resources Inc., one of the largest and most prestigious firms, boasts that it can call on 12,500 veterans with expertise in everything from nuclear operations to submarine attacks. MPRI deploys its private troops to run Army recruitment centers across the country, train soldiers to serve as key staff officers in the field, beef up security at U.S. military bases in Korea, and train foreign armies from Kuwait to South Africa. At the highest echelons, the Virginia-based firm is led by retired General Carl Vuono, who served as Army chief of staff during the Gulf War and the U.S. invasion of Panama. Assisting him are General Crosbie Saint, former commander of the U.S. Army in Europe; Lt. General Harry Soyster, former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency; and General Ron Griffith, former Army vice chief of staff. MPRI's parent company, L-3 Communications, had more than a dozen lobbyists working on its behalf, including Linda Daschle, wife of Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle."

Privatized corporate military operations now draw an estimated $100 billion in business worldwide each year -- much of it going to top U.S. corporations like Halliburton, DynCorp, Lockheed Martin, Grumman, and Raytheon. The military-industrial companies that once just created the guns and warplanes now provide mercenary forces for "privately" carrying out the military attacks and defoliation-- especially in Colombia where large numbers of "contractors" serve as agents and trainers for the U.S government.

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.

http://rwor.org/a/1236/blackwater.htm

[Ownthink]

:o


I am fucking speechless. They just ended at least 10 lives, probably innocent people trying to make a fucking living on their way to work.

It would be worth traveling to Baghdad just to slowly torture these SICK FUCKS.

WORDS CANNOT EXPRESS HOW ANGRY I FEEL.

[Xvall]

I like how CI & Co. steer far away from these threads.

[Publius]

Utter silence.

[Xvall]

Publy who is that man in your avatar?

[FleasTheLemur]

Originally posted by [email protected] 3 2005, 05:17 AM
Publy who is that man in your avatar?
That's Ludwig Von Mises in his elder years.

[Xvall]

Is your name Publy? Then shut up.

Publy who is that man in your avatar?

[Publius]

Publy who is that man in your avatar?

Lugwig von Mises of course.

[kingbee]

Originally posted by [email protected] 3 2005, 06:00 AM
Is your name Publy? Then shut up.

Publy who is that man in your avatar?
blimey. that's heavy handed.

[Ownthink]

Originally posted by kingbee+Dec 3 2005, 08:37 PM--> (kingbee @ Dec 3 2005, 08:37 PM)
[email protected] 3 2005, 06:00 AM
Is your name Publy? Then shut up.

Publy who is that man in your avatar?
blimey. that's heavy handed. [/b]
I think he was just Joshing you.

(wink to Xvall)

[Xvall]

Originally posted by [email protected] 3 2005, 02:31 PM

Publy who is that man in your avatar?

Lugwig von Mises of course.
Thank you. And yeah, Lemur; I'm just messing with you.

[Guerrilla22]

Private contractors? MERCENARIES

[Ownthink]

Originally posted by [email protected] 4 2005, 01:02 AM
Private contractors? MERCENARIES
Well, yeah, we all know that. But the U.S. Government likes to make them out as "oh so poor civilian contractors who have to kill for money!" and everytime one of their dumb asses gets shot, beheaded, ambushed, strung up from a bridge looking like a piece of burnt ham, etc then everyone over here goes apeshit (just the reaction the government intended)and says "OMG THOSE DIRTY TURRORISTS KILL CIVILIANS OMG" and the cycle of American pride, ignorance, willingness to hurt others for "freedom and security" and general stupidity endures.

What a sad fucking world we live in.

[Free Palestine]

As the article states, the government privatizing most of the military and intelligence operations also grants them a degree of 'plausible deniability.' In other words, they can "get away with it" easier when the ones commiting atrocities are mercenaries rather than occupation soldiers. Everything the government doesn't want oversight on is privatized. I think Daniel Nelson (former professor at the Defense Department's Marshall European Center for Security Studies) put it best:


Originally posted by Daniel Nelson
"Private military corporations become a way [for government officials] to distance themselves and create what we used to call `plausible deniability.'"

Lets also not forget that they don't have to do 'body counts' when mercenaries die. They're not counted as military casualties. This way they can minimize the significance of their involvement (or at least, make it appear this way).

[kingbee]

Originally posted by Xvall+Dec 4 2005, 03:51 AM--> (Xvall @ Dec 4 2005, 03:51 AM)
[email protected] 3 2005, 02:31 PM

Publy who is that man in your avatar?

Lugwig von Mises of course.
Thank you. And yeah, Lemur; I'm just messing with you. [/b]
my bad. i'm not great with irony.... :P

[Delirium]

I hope this is not a revelation to any of you. This trend of privitization of the military forces began with the good ol' gipper (blessed be his soul!)

[Free Palestine]

The trend of privatization is not a surprise. The video did not surprise me either. Whether any of this was a surprise to me is not relevant. It still needs to be publicized as much as possible because it its conveyance of indiscriminate violence to actual Iraqi civilians. These professional mercenary groups really give me the creeps. But, it makes sense. I often say to myself that there really are no laws for the elites - just price tags. In this case, if they can’t do it with regular military people, they just hire a bunch of soldiers of fortune, and they can do whatever they want to do…

[Delirium]

Blackwater mercanaries were hired to go and secure New Orleans from those o so dangerous black people after hurricane katrina. (dont get your panties in a bundle, it's only sarcasism)

In iraq these 'private contractors' are not subject to iraqi, military, or U$ law. And the result is the video that we saw.

[PRC-UTE]

BA scum. I wish they were all dead.

[Phalanx]

Originally posted by Datura [email protected] 6 2005, 08:13 PM
In iraq these 'private contractors' are not subject to iraqi, military, or U$ law. And the result is the video that we saw.
Are you being serious? Surely those fucks could at least get tried in an international court, like a few members of the Interhamwe after the Rwandan genocide.

If it was my choice, we'd give them to the family members of the murdered civilians.

[Ownthink]

Actually, I found out it was an Aegis South African Merc company.

I have another video of that convoy being ambushed by the Resistance, if you'd like, I'll post it.

[Xvall]

Show them the one of US soldiers shooting up a dog.

[Ownthink]

Originally posted by [email protected] 10 2005, 07:08 PM
Show them the one of US soldiers shooting up a dog.
Here is the murder of a dog in 5 shots by US Forces "for fun":

http://matt.carter.name/download/front_lin...raq_for_fun.avi (http://matt.carter.name/download/front_line_videos/iraq/coalition/us_soldiers_shooting_dogs_in_iraq_for_fun.avi)

[Ownthink]

Also, here is part 1 and 2 of the rooftop murders by Blackwater Security, featuring a kevlar and plad wearing white guy saying "those fucking niggers" in reference to the Madhi Army freedom fighters:



Part 1 - http://matt.carter.name/download/front_lin...t_najaf_cpa.avi (http://matt.carter.name/download/front_line_videos/iraq/coalition/blackwater_commandos_repel_assault_najaf_cpa.avi)

Part 2 - http://matt.carter.name/download/front_lin...af_part_two.avi (http://matt.carter.name/download/front_line_videos/iraq/coalition/blackwater_in_najaf_part_two.avi)