Jeremy Scahill Testifies on Defense Contracting, 5.10.2007

There are over 120,000 private contractors currently deployed in Iraq and yesterday, a House panel put some of the harshest criticisms of this privatization of war into the congressional record for the first time. The House Appropriations subcommittee on defense held a hearing on Thursday about defense contracting. Testifying before the panel was journalist Jeremy Scahill and filmmaker Robert Greenwald.

Jeremy is a Democracy Now! correspondent and an investigative reporter for The Nation magazine. He is author of the book "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army." In his opening remarks, he spoke about the lack of oversight of the tens of thousands of contractors deployed in Iraq.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Blackwater
• mercenary
• contractors
• Iraq
• Erik
• Prince
• Scahill
• profiteers

[justcause7]

Amazing speech. Thanks for sticking up for us!

[92enjybenjy]

The fact the soldiers have begun to envy private contractors just shows up the military and the government, not just in the US but also in the Uk and other members of the EU aswell. When a private company can arm soldiers better than a national army you just know something is wrong, the US is suposed to be the world super power, however it is being out matched by private sector mercinaries!

[TEJAYheni]

I was a government contractor. It's dirty game. All survival, All about making money. This hurts watch. smh

[garzac7815]

@RPenta Furthermore... I am not playing the blame-game here.... that would require not being able to back up what I am saying... you can look up what I am saying if you want to. In fact.. I will PM you with the figures. You are arguing for the way things should be... we do not have enough military personnel... so we have to emply people with previous experience from the outside. Bush got us into war... Clinton dimished our capabilities to fight them and ultimately opened the doors for PMCs.

[garzac7815]

@RPenta How do you know how I feel about the war in Iraq?... I agree with the war in Afghanistan.. but not Iraq.. so stop assuming. It probably should not have happened... but we are there... and we have to make it work... and whether or not you or I like it contractors are a crucial and indespensible part of the war. The only other alternative is to just leave... and if you do not realize that is the worst thing we can do at this point (take the first Afghanistan) then you are an idiot.

[RPenta]

@garzac7815 I see this is blame Bill for what Bush did-I hold no brief for the Clintons who are just neo-liberals; but you have a half assed defense of Blackwater-by the assumption this immoral war which Bush and his henchmen and women lied the nation into was necessary. Of course, the Clintons were worthless on this issue as well. Mr. Obama was wanting a war in Afghanistan, Libya, and God knows where else.

[garzac7815]

@RPenta In conclusion, companies like Blackwater, Triple Canopy, Executive Outcomes, Xe, Honeywell... and the plethra of other companies operating along-side of our troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, and H.O.A. are a necessary evil. The need for these people was only brought on by the short-sidedness and political aspirations of people who wanted to cut troops, bases, and ultimately diminish this country's capabilities to essentially enforce its will. I know that sounds ugly... but that is reality.

[garzac7815]

@RPenta I am not saying that the people who were accused of doing the killing of civilians... I was not there... and because I know there are so many competing interests, you cannot believe anything anyone says. What I will say is this... these people are operating in the most hostile environments... not even 2 years before that 4 of their fellow contractors were killed and hung over the Euphrates in the town of Duluiyah when they took a wrong turn.

[RPenta]

@garzac7815 Yet even with the massive deployment of troops in Iraq, still Bush found it "convenient" to hire mercenaries-of course, if they are killed they have less impact upon the politics-not that the deaths of thousands of American soldiers has to the American Sheeple. No, the "War of Terror" needs troops, mercenaries, black ops etc. as it always has.

[garzac7815]

@RPenta The capabilities had been eroded so much that even Caspar Weinberger (Clinton's Defense Secretary) admitted that with the current levels we would not be able to maintain fighting a war on terror on different fronts (they knew something like this would eventually happen). It was at this point that someone like Erik Prince had the foresight to see what was coming and to set up a company to accomodate the gap in our country's capabilities.

[garzac7815]

@RPenta These people have been around far before the Bush-Cheney administration. Blackwater (now Xe), was started in 1997 (check your dates... that is smack-dab in the middle of Clinton's presidency. It originally started out as a L.E.O. training school in North Carolina. By 1996, the budget for defense was 40% less than on Reagan's second term when adjusted for inflation... yet we were asking our military to do more(Iraq, Kosovo, H.O.A.... and a few other discreet operations).

[RPenta]

@garzac7815 Oh, contraire! The Chaney-Bush administration is when these cretins arose-but the problem is with both parties-as they are part of the one War Party-as long as there is an American Empire, these vultures will prey.