markfromireland

Yesterday

“Cruel irony and “not good good enough for ‘our boys’ ” is an understatement. I have no idea why any British reporter would put the word scandal in inverted comments as Brian Brady has done in today’s story. A scandal is exactly what it is. It is scandalous that both ordinary soldiers and bomb disposal specialists should be exposed to yet further danger while a pack of dirty mercenaries should be laughing all the way to the bank. “

Today

“Reuters - Mon Sep 4, 9:49 AM ET Danish soldiers carry the body of one of two British soldiers killed in a roadside bomb attack near Basra in southern Iraq, September 4, 2006. REUTERS/Atef Hassan”

(more…)

Yankee Poodle Tony’s Government The British The Blair Government has sold off 4½ million pounds worth of armoured personnel carriers for £44,000 including four to American mercenary firm Blackwater. British Ministers claimed that adaptations made to the Mamba Mine Protected Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC), which if you follow the chain of ownership is manufactured by a BAE (British Aerospace) subsidiary, made it unsuitable for its use in Iraq which included the transportation of bomb disposal teams, and too difficult to maintain. The ministers appear to be being more than somewhat “economical with the actualité.” The American mercenary firm that bought them for the princely sum of £2,933.33 apiece describes them as “the armoured personnel carrier of choice for Blackwater ops in Iraq” and clearly don’t have any problem maintaining them as they’re in daily use on Route Irish - “the most dangerous road in the world.” The British newspaper Scotland on Sunday first broke the story last Sunday and has an even more damning follow-up today.

(more…)

200,000 Ak-47 Assault Rifles Missing In Iraq? - It’s Business As Usual - Thanks Rummy

How can it happen that four planeloads of Kalashnikov assault rifles vanish from Bosnia and apparently wind up in Iraq? Put it another way 200,000 AK-47s have gone missing and there’s very good grounds to believe that the US government paid handsomely to have them delivered to person or persons unknown in Iraq, and by person or persons unkown I do not mean the Iraqi government.

HAVE 200,000 AK47S FALLEN INTO THE HANDS OF IRAQ TERRORISTS?
FEARS OVER SECRET U.S. ARMS SHIPMENT

SOME 200,000 guns the US sent to Iraqi security forces may have been smuggled to terrorists, it was feared yesterday.

The 99-tonne cache of AK47s was to have been secretly flown out from a US base in Bosnia. But the four planeloads of arms have vanished.

Orders for the deal to go ahead were given by the US Department of Defense. But the work was contracted out via a complex web of private arms traders.

And the Moldovan airline used to transport the shipment was blasted by the UN in 2003 for smuggling arms to Liberia, human rights group Amnesty has discovered.

It follows a separate probe claiming that thousands of guns meant for Iraq’s police and army instead went to al-Qaeda

[snip]

A Nato spokesman said: “There’s no tracking mechanism to ensure they don’t fall into the wrong hands. There are concerns that some may have been siphoned off.”

[snip]

Meanwhile, Aerocom, the Moldovan air firm at the centre of the 200,000 missing AK47s, was stripped of its licence by its national authorities a day before the first shipment.

Two other companies in the complicated sale claim to have papers proving the guns were delivered in Iraq but refuse to show them.”

Full report here [This link and all exterior links open in new windows - markfromireland].

US in secret gun deal

Small arms shipped from Bosnia to Iraq ‘go missing’ as Pentagon uses dealers

Ian Traynor in Zagreb
Friday May 12, 2006
The Guardian

The Pentagon has secretly shipped tens of thousands of small arms from Bosnia to Iraq in the past two years, using a web of private companies, at least one of which is a noted arms smuggler blacklisted by Washington and the UN.

According to a report by Amnesty International, which investigated the sales, the US government arranged for the delivery of at least 200,000 Kalashnikov machine guns from Bosnia to Iraq in 2004-05. But though the weaponry was said to be for arming the fledgling Iraqi military, there is no evidence of the guns reaching their recipient.

Full story here

The AK-47 is a superbly well-designed weapon:

• It’s simple and cheap to manufacture.
• It’s very easy to clean and maintain.
• It’s very rugged.
• It’s very reliable.

It has these desirable characteristics because of several features of its design. It has a large gas piston, lots of clearance between its moving parts, and a tapered cartridge case. All of which mean that it can take a lot of abuse and a lot of foreign matter and fouling and still cycle properly. - The down side of this reliability is that it’s not the most accurate weapon in the world.

Depending on where it’s made the factory cost of a new AK-47 is in the region of US$75.00 [seventy five US dollars]. AKs are in heavy demand and the demand is rising for example:
Last year [2005] the US bought the following to equip the new “Iraqi” army:

• 100,000 Kalashnikov rifles,
• 100,000 flak jackets,
• 110,000 pistols,
• 6,000 cars and pickup trucks,
• 230 million rounds of ammunition.

- That was before the program to build an “Iraqi” army really began to get off the ground, and was also at the time when the desertion rate was very high nor does that figure include supplies for the various militias and “security agencies.”

Nor is Iraq the sole source of demand. Venezuela is building up its defenses against an American attack and it’s not just interested in high tech weaponry of the sort it can acquire from Spain or of the deal that Israel was forced to drop or their recent deal with Russia. For obvious reasons the Venezuelan is interested in asymetric warfare defense and is actively acquiring expertise in that field:

“Instructors made comparisons to Viet Cong guerrilla attacks on U.S troops, including the use of secret tunnels, poisons and home-made weapons.

Venezuelan officers have also been sent to Havana to learn civilian-military cooperation from the Cubans as part of the training, said National Guard Gen. Juan Alberto Hernandez

[snip]

“They will guarantee resistance against an invading force in their areas. They’ll be trained in weapons and other home-made artifacts,” said instructor Benavides. “They can be confused with the populace and that is part of asymmetric war.”

Reuters via Herald-Sun 06 Mar 06 “Venezuelans prepare for invasion”

That’s just one source of the rise in demand, there are lots of promising little wars brewing in Africa as well.

However back to Iraq. Quite aside from “official demand” and the demand from various militias there’s a further source of demand, ordinary householders. Under a “law” passed by Bremer every Iraqi household is entitled to one weapon. American troops do NOT confiscate them during searches. By no means all households have a weapon yet, but as the American occupiers continue to engage in policies that actively encourage the break up of Iraq, that’s an oversight that many Iraqis are rushing to correct. After the Samarra bombing the average price of a Russian-made AK-47 went from from US$112 to US$290 literally overnight while bullets jumped to 33 cents up from 24 cents again literally overnight. It’s continuing to climb somewhat and even a large influx of AKs aimed purely at this civilian market will not depress the price enough for arms dealers to make windfall profits.

The temptation to “mislay” a large consignment and make a hefty profit is clear. But how could it have happened? The answer lies here:

“And the Moldovan airline used to transport the shipment was blasted by the UN in 2003 for smuggling arms to Liberia, human rights group Amnesty has discovered.”

Moldova has the unenviable distinction of being the second poorest country in Europe (some say it’s the poorest.) Its bureaucracy is notoriously corrupt and the airline in question is owned by Victor Bout. Bout whose links to blood diamond trade and willingness to supply arms to everybody and anybody are notorious was designated by the US Treasury under Executive Order 13348 [PDF] on April 26th last year. Bout who is a fugitive from justice in two countries is also strongly suspected of smuggling arms to the Taleban. But has been selling to the US PX in Iraq since at least 2004 (he’s cheap) as well as ammunition (same reason.)

By now my readers won’t be surprised to learn that the main contractors who carried out the deal on behalf of the US Government be said to be above reproach:

“The Pentagon commissioned the US security firms Taos and CACI - which is known for its involvement in the Abu Ghraib prison controversy in Iraq - to orchestrate the arms purchases and shipments. They, in turn, subcontracted to a welter of firms, brokers, and shippers, involving businesses based in Britain, Switzerland, Croatia, Moldova, and Bosnia” [Guardian report cited above - mfi]

Nor will I suppose will my readers be surprised to learn that people have been writing about and reporting on for a long time now. Nothing seems to be have done.

How could it happen? Greed, corruption, cronyism, the Bush administration’s omnipresent incompetence, and of course a government not overly concerned with what happens to the country they invaded and are now occupying. The fact that Rumsfeld’s “reforms” meant the decimation of US logistical capacity to make room for contractors made this sort of scandal inevitable. Who could all those weapons have gone to? Everybody and anybody, and that includes householders, assorted militants, and of course all the assorted variations on a peshmerga theme.

Heck of a job Rummy, heck of a job, I’m surprised that US casualties are as low as they are.

markfromireland

PS: The cost of an Ak-47 in Beirut has still not dropped.

Attacking The Tail (Again)

Let’s read the pabulum first I’ve highlighted the weasel words:

3 Civilians Killed by Bomb in Iraq
By DAVID STRINGER, Associated Press WriterSun Apr 30, 10:13 AM ET
Sun Apr 30, 10:13 AM ET

LONDON - Three security contractors were killed and two others injured in a roadside bomb attack 30 miles south of Baghdad on Sunday, Britain’s Foreign Office said.

[snip]

All five contractors had been traveling in a sports utility vehicle which was attacked on Sunday morning, according to an Iraqi police report.

“A private security convoy was attacked this morning, three people were killed and two others injured,” said a spokeswoman for Britain’s Foreign Office, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, in line with policy.

[snip]

She said the condition of the two injured contractors is not known, but confirmed both are being treated in a hospital in Baghdad.

The contractors were working for London-based private security company Aegis Defense Services Ltd., a British official said, speaking on condition of anonymity, as he was not authorized to confirm details.

Staff at the London headquarters of Aegis, one of the biggest security contractors in Iraq, were not immediately available for comment.

The company, established in 2002 by Tim Spicer, a former British Army officer, is contracted by U.S. authorities to provide services including “protection of both civilian and military personnel traveling throughout the country.”

This is a perfect example of precisely what’s wrong with swallowing Washington and London’s bland jargon. They weren’t civilians . Civilians is the one thing they were not. They were MERCENARIES. Let’s do some rewrites truthfully this time:

3 Civilians Mercenaries Killed by Bomb in Iraq

LONDON - Three security contractors mercenaries were killed and two others injured in a roadside bomb attack 30 miles south of Baghdad on Sunday, Britain’s Foreign Office said.

[snip]

All five contractors mercenaries had been traveling in a sports utility vehicle which was attacked on Sunday morning, according to an Iraqi police report.

“A private security convoy mercenary convoy was attacked this morning, three mercenaries were killed and two others injured,” said a spokeswoman for Britain’s Foreign Office, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, in line with policy.

[snip]

She said the condition of the two injured mercenaries is not known, but confirmed both are being treated in a hospital in Baghdad.

The contractors mercenaries were working for London-based private security mercenary rental company Aegis Defense Mercenary Services Ltd., a British official said, speaking on condition of anonymity, as he was not authorized to confirm details.

Staff at the London headquarters of Aegis, one of the biggest providers of mercenaries in Iraq, were not immediately available for comment.

The company, established in 2002 by Tim Spicer, a former British Army officer, is contracted by U.S. authorities to provide mercenaries including “protection of both civilian and military personnel traveling throughout the country.”

See also: Attacking the Tail on my other blog in particular the comments .

I keep on saying this — using mercenaries apart from any other consideration is a sure fire guarantee that you’ll lose in a colonial war such as this. The same is true of torture and the two go hand-in-hand. It’s a sure fire guarantee that your losses are going to escalate. Both are first class recruiting sergeants for those fighting the invaders/occupiers. The US presence in Iraq has no tail. A few people are getting very rich because of that fact. A lot of the American dead are dead because of it too.

Why?

Because whenever the mercenaries get out of their depth, which they do with monotonous regularity, they get in touch with the regular army to come and rescue them. They then, having been rescued, leave the army to cope with the well and truly boiling over situation that they’ve created. That’s on top of the Army having to protect supply convoys incapable of defending themselves.

There is no distinction between a mercenary and any other hired killer such as a mafia hitman. None. I do not mourn their loss.

Addendum:

I’ve published a photo of the car in which the mercenaries died together with a composite image showing the blast pattern over at my other blog. As I said I cannot find it within myself to mourn the mercenaries. I do however have a lot of pity for the police in Al-Suwaira.

markfromireland

What the article below from KR/Chicago Tribune which I’ve reproduced in full is talking about is slavery.
See also this article from Kerala Monitor (scroll down) See also http://freetheslaves.net/ (US) and The Anti-Slavery Society (UK). For the record I’m one of many people who having seen what went on in Kosovo have been warning about this for years. When I was interviewed about it by a freelance journalist who subsequently contacted the US owned and run firm involved their response was as follows:

1. An outright denial. Followed by;
2. A threatening letter from a firm of lawyers threatening to bankrupt her for slander and libel.

She dropped the story.

I don’t know why everybody is acting so surprised and shocked at these latest revelations. It’s not as if this hasn’t happened before or if we’re talking about sex slavery in other places. Did I mention that Iraq has more mercenaries security contractors in it than soldiers? No?

Iraq has more mercenaries security contractors in it than soldiers.

Don’t you just love the smell [PDF from UN Office on Drugs and Crime] of freedom [PDF from UN Office on Drugs and Crime] on the march it smells like - slavery.

markfromireland

Commander: Contractors violating U.S. trafficking laws
BY CAM SIMPSON
Chicago Tribune

WASHINGTON - The top U.S. commander in Iraq has ordered sweeping changes for privatized military support operations after confirming violations of human-trafficking laws and other abuses by contractors involving possibly thousands of foreign workers on American bases, according to records obtained by the Chicago Tribune.

Gen. George Casey ordered that contractors be required by May 1 to return passports that have been illegally confiscated from laborers on U.S. bases after determining that such practices violated U.S. laws against trafficking for forced or coerced labor. Human brokers and subcontractors from South Asia to the Middle East have worked together to import thousands of laborers into Iraq from impoverished countries.

Two memos obtained by the Tribune indicate that Casey’s office concluded that the practice of confiscating passports from such workers was both widespread on American bases and in violation of the U.S. trafficking laws.

The memos, including an order dated April 4 and titled “Subject: Prevention of Trafficking in Persons in MNF-I,” or Multinational Forces-Iraq, say the military also confirmed a host of other abuses during an inspection of contracting activities supporting the U.S. military in Iraq. They include deceptive hiring practices; excessive fees charged by overseas job brokers who lure workers into Iraq; substandard living conditions once laborers arrive; violations of Iraqi immigration laws; and a lack of mandatory “awareness training” on U.S. bases concerning human trafficking.

Along with a separate memo from a top military procurement official to all contractors in Iraq, dated April 19 and titled, “Withholding of Passports, Trafficking in Persons,” Casey’s orders promise harsh actions against firms that fail to return passports or end other abusive practices. Contracts could be terminated, contractors could be blacklisted from future work, and commanders could physically bar firms from bases, the memos show.

“Contracts must incorporate appropriate language to compel the protection of individual rights (at both the contract and subcontract levels),” Casey’s orders say, adding that it was his goal to “to promote (the) rule of law in Iraq and in the labor recruiting process.”

Under future contracts, Casey is requiring that all firms, no matter how far down the chain, “provide workers with a signed copy of their employment contract that defines the terms of their employment.”

He’s ordering that contracts include “measurable, enforceable standards for living conditions (e.g., sanitation, health, safety, etc.) and establish 50 feet as the minimum acceptable square footage of personal living space per worker,” after finding that some conditions were substandard.

Contractors and subcontractors also must “comply with international laws” regarding transit, exit and entry procedures, “requirements for work visas,” and Iraqi immigration laws.

The orders also mandate that future contracts and subcontracts include “language that prohibits contractors and subcontractors at all tiers from utilizing unlicensed recruiting firms, or firms that charge illegal recruiting fees.”

The short-term impact of the orders is unclear, because the separate memo to contractors, which is dated April 19 and written by Col. Robert K. Boyles, a top official with the Joint Contracting Command-Iraq/Afghanistan, shows many of the reforms would be implemented by changes in the language in future contracts.

Nonetheless, the findings and actions represent a dramatic turnabout for the U.S. military, and follow three months of behind-the-scenes pressure on the Defense Department from State Department officials charged with monitoring and combating human trafficking worldwide.

The State Department launched an investigation and promised other actions earlier this year in response to a series published Oct. 9-10 by the Tribune, “Pipeline to Peril,” that detailed many of the abuses now cited in the memos.

The stories disclosed the often-illicit networks used to recruit low-skilled laborers from some of the world’s most impoverished and remote locales to work in menial jobs on American bases in Iraq.

Although other firms also have contracts supporting the military in Iraq, the United States has outsourced vital support operations to Halliburton subsidiary KBR at an unprecedented scale, at a cost to the United States of more than $12 billion as of late last year.

KBR, in turn, has outsourced much of that work to more than 200 subcontractors, many of them based in Middle Eastern nations condemned by the United States for failing to stem human trafficking into their own borders or for perpetrating other human rights abuses against foreign workers.

KBR’s subcontractors employ an army of workers to dish out food, wash clothes, clean latrines and carry out virtually every other menial task. About 35,000 of the 48,000 people working under the privatization contract last year were “Third Country Nationals,” who are non-Americans imported from outside Iraq, KBR has said.

“Pipeline to Peril,” which was based on reporting in the United States, Jordan, Iraq, Nepal and Saudi Arabia, described how some subcontractors and a chain of human brokers allegedly engaged in the same kinds of abuses routinely condemned by the State Department as human trafficking.

The newspaper retraced the journey of 12 men recruited in 2004 from rural villages in the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal and documented a trail of deceit, fraud and negligence stretching into Jordan and Iraq. Most of the men had contracts filed with their government falsely promising them positions at a five-star hotel in Amman, yet all 12 were sent into Iraq in August 2004. They were ultimately kidnapped from an unprotected caravan traveling along what was then one of the most dangerous roadways in the world: the Amman-to-Baghdad highway.

All 12 men were subsequently executed by militants in likely the single worst massacre of foreign workers in Iraq since the American-led invasion more than three years ago.

Those workers and others suffered from a chain of exploitation that began in their home countries, where families often assumed huge debts to pay fees demanded by brokers, to Iraq. Even after discovering they’d been deceived, workers felt compelled to head into the war zone, or remain in danger for much longer than they desired, just to pay those debts.

The Tribune also found evidence that subcontractors and brokers routinely seized workers’ passports, deceived them about their safety or contract terms and, in at least one case, allegedly tried to force terrified men into Iraq under the threat of cutting off their food and water.

The series also showed how KBR and the military left virtually every aspect of the recruitment, deployment and safety of such workers in the hands of their subcontractors. They also allowed subcontractors to employ workers from countries that had banned the deployment of their citizens to Iraq, meaning thousands were trafficked through illicit channels.

When told of the memos, John Miller, who heads the State Department office to monitor and combat human trafficking, credited the Tribune for shedding light on the illicit practices. He also praised the military for taking corrective action.

“Needless to say, we’re delighted,” Miller said. “This is progress, and we agree with the steps they’ve taken.”

Although allegations of such abuses began appearing in international press reports more than two years ago, and the Tribune’s own investigation was published last October, one of the memos calls on the military and the State Department to develop “an effective media strategy emphasizing the (military) Command’s pro-active response to the problem.”

Separate records also show that similar allegations had been raised in September 2004 with Joseph Schmitz, who was then the Department of Defense inspector general.

Schmitz did not respond in any detail until nearly a year later, saying in an Aug. 25, 2005, letter to Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., that there was a “list of corrective measures” ordered by coalition military officials in Iraq following “a preliminary inquiry” into the allegations. The letter did not mention passport seizures or violations of U.S. laws against human trafficking, but said living conditions “required further attention” and that officials were “monitoring the status of corrections” purportedly under way.

Schmitz resigned about two weeks later amid accusations that he stonewalled investigations. He took a job with Blackwater USA, a private security contractor.

It wasn’t the only time officials were made aware of such allegations. Last summer, the Army, which oversees the KBR privatization deal, deflected questions from the Tribune about human trafficking onto American bases in Iraq by saying “these are not Army issues.” Similarly, Halliburton said in a written statement that questions regarding “the recruitment practices” of its subcontractors “should be directed to the subcontractor.”

Melissa Norcross, a Halliburton spokeswoman, issued a statement from the company Sunday saying that KBR “fully supports the Department of Defense’s efforts to ensure that all contractor and subcontractor personnel working for the U.S. government be treated in a fair and humanitarian manner.”

The statement also echoed previous press releases from the company, saying KBR “operates under a rigorous code of business conduct that outlines legal and ethical behaviors that all employees and subcontractors are expected to follow in every aspect of their work. We do not tolerate any exceptions to this Code at any level of our company.”

The company has refused to say whether it has ever taken any action against subcontractors.

Another memo obtained by the Tribune, dated April 13 and addressed to all KBR project managers, deputy project managers and operations managers, indicates the company is requiring all of its personnel to undergo human-trafficking awareness training because of Casey’s orders.

A U.S. military spokesman in Iraq, Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, confirmed the issuance of Casey’s orders in a statement to the Tribune on Sunday, saying the “rights to freedom of movement and quality living standards are serious issues.”

He also claimed, “There’s always been a focus on this, and this is one more clarification of that,” adding that the U.S. military has the ability to “terminate contracts and keep people off of bases.”

Casey’s orders came at about the same time the Defense Department published long-awaited interim rules that allow officials to cancel overseas defense contracts for trafficking violations.

But the orders go well beyond what is contained in the rules, and indicate that most of the measures stem from an inspection of the support operations by Casey’s command. Johnson said that inspection was conducted by the command’s inspector general’s office, a process that was started last October.

While the orders do not indicate how many workers have had their passports seized, the April 19 memo to contractors says evidence indicated a widespread practice of “holding and withholding employee passports.” It says passports are seized, in part, to keep workers from accepting jobs with other firms.

The Tribune identified three major KBR subcontractors that employed thousands of foreign workers on U.S. installations in Iraq and confiscated the passports of their foreign workers as a standard practice. At least two of those firms also have their own contracts with the United States.

The ultimate impact of the new orders will depend on how they’re implemented, and on several key, unanswered questions. Included among them: how U.S. military officials in Iraq hope to influence the conduct of village recruiters and human brokers across the globe who are several links up the chain from the subcontractors ultimately employing workers in Iraq.

Johnson said U.S. military officials would not immediately refer any contractors or subcontractors for prosecution.

Miller agreed that important questions remained, but called the new rules a major step forward. “I think they are heading in the right direction.”