February 09, 2007

In a region of the world where there is constant turmoil, the struggle to pick up the pieces of a war torn nation grows strong. Iraqi citizens are striving to rebuild a nation that was toppled in a post September 11th world. IED’s and suicide car bombers are turning into second rate news. The death toll of Iraqi citizens, Coalition forces and United States military personnel continues to climb since the beginning of the war in March of 2003.

Iraqi citizens, Coalition forces and U.S. soldiers are not the only deaths to note. There seems to be a growing number of stories concerning private contractors being kidnapped or killed in the war torn country or Iraq, however there is not an official death toll. One particular incident occurred in March of 2004 where four members of the privatized security team, Blackwater USA, were dragged from their vehicle, killed, burned and hanged from a bridge for the world to see. How devastating this must have been for the families. Families speak out to congress about private contractors in Iraq. Video 1 , Video 2

Private contractors operating in Iraq provide a variety of services for the country and the war. They provide everything from laundry services, concessions, to private security forces. There are truck drivers, engineers and even ex military personnel performing many tasks to help protect and serve not only our troops but the Iraqi civilians. They even help interrogate suspected insurgence. Yes, you heard that correct. Private contractors are hired to help interrogate suspected insurgence in Iraq.

An article in 2006 estimated 100,000 contractors are operating in Iraq. They include U.S. citizens, Iraqi citizens and people from other countries including the U.K. This a number ten times larger than that used in the first gulf war.

Being a contractor in Iraq can prove to be very profitable. Be it delivering mail, purifying water or providing security envoys for dignitaries, one thing is for sure, the money is great. Private contractors are bringing in billions of dollars in Iraq and most of it is tax payers money. A British risk management company was awarded $293 million dollars by the Pentagon. Although the government claims it cannot release how many contracts are open, expert estimations put it in the tens of billions of dollars range.

Let us not forget about the billions upon billions of unchecked, gouged, lost or missing moneys that flow into Iraq to companies like Halliburton or KBR. This is United States Citizens tax dollars being wasted and misused.

The contractors operating security are ex military who have found it more profitable to perform security detail by contract rather than serving the country from which they came. If you were offered 150,000 dollars to do something you were only getting 40,000 dollars to do, would you take the job? The documentary film "Iraq for Sale " gives a great perspective to the complexities of private contractor operations in Iraq currently.

The wide range of jobs that private contractors provide in Iraq is great. CACI International Inc. claims to be the leader in information technologies for the global war on terror, providing networking solutions, engineering and logistics and even intelligence gathering through interrogation. That is correct, we are outsourcing our interrogation techniques. CACI can freely operate without any accountability.

Underneath the skin

In September of 2005, two members of the British SAS elite special forces were caught by Iraqi police with machine guns, anti tank weapons, radio equipment and arab style dress. It is reported by the Basra government that they were firing at Iraqi police. British special forces exported the mercenaries out of the prison that they were being held. Just exactly was taking place here? Read the BBC report here .

If you take this incident and study the Northwoods documents from the early 1960's, you start to put two and two together. False flag operations do take place.

How do we go about insuring that our men and woman fighting bravely in Iraq are safe from privatized security teams posing as insurgents, getting paid with your tax dollars, whom have no accountability? How do we go about insuring the safety of contractors who do not understand what they are getting into when headed towards Iraq? In order for us to bring about a structured and stable Iraq, there needs to be a new approach on how to handle security operations in Iraq. Providing billions of dollars to private contractors to perform operations in Iraq cannot be healthy for a growing order that is in need of healing.