TPMtv: Military Contractors D.C. Powwow

Not long ago we told you about the IPOA, that's the lobbying organization and trade group for military contractors in Washington, DC. A week ago Monday IPOA (aka the International Peace Operations Association) had their annual summit in Washington. Blackwater, which recently terminated its membership in the outfit in the face of an IPOA ethics investigation (one of the first, apparently), wasn't there. But pretty much everyone else from the private military contractor world was, and TPM's Spencer Ackerman was there to ask them a few questions and see what was up.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• international
• peace
• operations
• association
• summit
• private
• military
• contractors
• blackwater
• lobbyists
• dyncorps
• NextNewNetworks

[dafttool]

And it's especially hard to file complaints with a government that is not functioning (as in Iraq) against mercenaries that have blanket immunity against prosecutions (Blackwater). These are the same people that tried to pay off civilians with $5000 when $250,000 was being asked for. These are the same people bribing government officials in Iraq with OUR MONEY, just as they're "lobbying" government officials in America.

[Drstrangelove17]

It sounds good in theory, but just because there's a piece of paper that says these individuals should have a "code of ethics", these are more of a guideline than a real hard rule. And besides that, how many people in these countries know that they can file a complaint? They're probably not very vocal about these procedures for filing complaints.

[ApacheSk]

It Is Blood Money!!!!!!

[ApacheSk]

Thank You!!!!!!!!!

Apache-_-Sky

[bodah44]

another great report. the reporter was just the right side of polite and asked some clever questions getting some good answers. good work TPM!

[baskil]

Those were some pointed questions. That was a fascinating insight.

[puretroubleman]

Any chance you can post these documents up here?

[dafttool]

My thoughts exactly. Mercenaries and military contractors holding a peace conference?!! These are the same oxymorons that name weapons of mass destruction peacekeeper missles.

[AdamJBernier]

So basically they're saying that their code of ethics is built upon the honor system . . . which is inherently built upon a code of ethics.

[voiyour]

This is the result of a do-nothing congress and freeforall administration. These people have no jurisdiction, but they're trying to provide some oversight, albeit without any teeth.

This is a whitewash.