Military contractor from Dauphin County killed in Iraq (Titan Corp.)

[leftchick]

WILLIAMSTOWN -- A Dauphin County man working in Iraq for a military contractor was killed early Saturday when his convoy was hit by a roadside bomb, a family spokesman said today.


Carl Carroll, 47, of Williamstown, was heading north toward Baghdad when the bomb went off, according to the spokesman, Clint Senter. Several others were injured in the blast.


Carroll was in the Army for 20 years before going to work as a supervisor for Titan Corp., a San Diego-based company that supplies translators and interrogators to the military. He had previously worked in Iraq for another military contractor.


While in the military, Carroll worked at Fort Indiantown Gap as a helicopter instructor and pilot.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05234/558266.stm

[leetrisck]

1. Prayers for all

and for our countries.

[saigon68]

2. Their motivation is money $2000.00 a day

They know the odds

THEY PLAY --- THEY LOSE.

[NNN0LHI]

5. Robbing banks can be very lucrative too

Most people in their right minds avoid doing it though due to the highly increased risk of going out in a hail of bullets. Count me in that second group.

Don

[leetrisck]

6. Yes, they know the odds - a 20 yr military veteran

I'd say he knew the odds better than most. Prayers for him, his family and our countries and to hell with what we call "leaders"

[cuztoctc]

8. You obviously did not know Carl Carroll

Prior to posting statements such as this, you may consider that money is not always the motivation. Carl was a good man, with a family that required support, a house payment, etc. Yes, he knew the odds when he was over there, but who are you or anyone else to say what his motivation was?

[seemslikeadream]

10. Mercenaries Undermine Stated Goals In Iraq

BuzzFlash Reader Contribution

After the grisly scene in Fallujah there can now be no doubt: All civilians are targets because all civilians are potential mercenaries in the service of the occupying forces.

Consequently, until the US and UK revoke and renounce the contracting of mercenaries, more killings similar to the one in Fallujah will occur.

The result will be that as more contractors and civilians die, assistance from legitimate aid agencies, charities, and peace groups will decrease. This hurts the Iraqi people because armies aren’t trained or equipped for nation building and providing humanitarian aid on a large, sustained scale.

It’s essential for the welfare of the Iraqi people that non-governmental organizations and foreign government aid agencies be trusted to work in Iraq. The use of mercenaries blurs the line between civilians and the military and erodes the possibility of trust between Iraqis and westerners -- a state of affairs that endangers the lives of everyone.

The Bush administration neo-conservatives behind our illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq aren’t likely to swear off the use of mercenaries, and thus they’ll continue undermining the lofty goals they allegedly hope to accomplish in Iraq. If their past record and ideology is any indication, the incident in Fallujah will be used as an excuse to retaliate with higher levels of violence -- inevitably inspiring more Iraqis to condone violent resistance.

The neo-conservatives never had to learn the lessons of Vietnam; they probably won’t learn the lessons of what’s happening now.


Mike Kress is an Air Force veteran who spent six months in the Persian Gulf. He lives in Spokane, WA, and serves as vice-chair of the city’s Human Rights Commission. Contact via [e-mail] .


http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/04/04/con04150.html

[saigon68]

11. IT WAS $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Judas sold his soul for 20 pieces of silver !!!

Enjoy your stay

[leetrisck]

12. I did not know him but know many that have done

exactly the same thing for exactly these reasons. Prayers for all of us and our countries.

[seemslikeadream]

9. Mercenaries 'R' Us

By Bill Berkowitz, AlterNet
March 24, 2004

With the casualty toll ticking ever upward and troops stretched thin on the ground, the Bush administration is looking to mercenaries to help control Iraq. These soldiers-for-hire are veterans of some of the most repressive military forces in the world, including that of the former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and South Africa's apartheid regime.


In February, Blackwater USA, a North Carolina-based Pentagon contractor, began hiring former combat personnel in Chile, offering them up to $4,000 a month to guard oil wells in Iraq. The company flew the first batch of 60 former commandos to a training camp in North Carolina. These recruits will eventually wind up in Iraq where they will spend six months to a year.


"We scour the ends of the earth to find professionals – the Chilean commandos are very, very professional and they fit within the Blackwater system," Gary Jackson, the president of Blackwater USA, told the Guardian.


While Blackwater USA is not nearly as well known as Halliburton or Bechtel – two mega-corporations making a killing off the reconstruction of Iraq – it nevertheless is doing quite well financially thanks to the White House's war on terror. The company specializes in firearm, tactics and security training and in October 2003, according to Mother Jones magazine, the company won a $35.7 million contract to train more than 10,000 sailors from Virginia, Texas, and California each year in 'force protection.'


Business has been booming for Blackwater, which now owns, as its press release boasts, "the largest privately-owned firearms training facility in the nation." Jackson told the Guardian, "We have grown 300 percent over each of the past three years and we are small compared to the big ones. We have a very small niche market, we work towards putting out the cream of the crop, the best."

more

http://www.alternet.org/story/18193/

[alcibiades_mystery]

3. Translators and interrogators, huh?

Something tells me that Carl Carroll, of Williamstown, wasn't fluent in Arabic.

Professional torturer, unbound by the Geneva Conventions. Rest in peace, pal...

[seemslikeadream]

4. mercenaries are mercenaries

Whether they are from the USA or apartrheid-era security operatives from South Africa




U.S. Turns to Mercenaries
by James Ridgeway

WASHINGTON — The four "civilians" killed, burned, and dragged through the streets of Fallujah, Iraq, on Wednesday morning weren’t really civilians. Or were they? They were employees of Blackwater Security Consulting, a rural North Carolina subsidiary of Blackwater USA, one of several dozen firms taking over the duties of the regular American military in Iraq, protecting buildings and grounds as well as officials.


http://www.blackwaterusa.com/
" Blackwater USA is comprised of five companies; Blackwater Training Center, Blackwater Target Systems, Blackwater Security Consulting, Blackwater Canine, and Blackwater Air (AWS). 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, multi-national corporations, and friendly nations from all over the globe.

We customize and execute solutions for our clients to help keep them at the level of readiness required to meet today's law enforcement, homeland security, and defense challenges.
Any and all defense services supplied to foreign nationals will only be pursuant to proper authorization by the Department of State.

Come to Blackwater, where the professionals train."



In fact, Blackwater itself is in charge of protecting L. Paul "Jerry" Bremer, the U.S. official who now runs Iraq as head of the Coalition Provisional Authority. In the coming weeks, hundreds of American civilian workers who really are civilians will be entering Iraq to work on private contracts let by the Bush government. Their security will be provided by guards (like the Blackwater men killed yesterday) from a variety of security firms, often consisting of former U.S. military special ops people.

The use of private military forces raises tricky questions for the U.S. government. The most important one is why is the Bush administration is recruiting civilians to work there when our government can't possibly guarantee the security of the area. Another question: Why aren't these jobs in combat zones being carried out by American military forces, instead of mercenaries?

Building up a surrogate military force, along the lines of the French Foreign Legion or the Gurkhas, has been the ambition of conservatives for many years. The thinking is that future wars will be characterized by "low-intensity," or guerrilla, warfare. If the fighting is done by a force of irregular surrogates, people won't question their casualties as they would those of regular military personnel. The contras in Nicaragua were an example of what a surrogate fighting force might look like, and special ops types from South Africa’s former apartheid regime have long been involved in fighting in southern Africa.

more
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0401-14.htm

[saigon68]

7. BREMERS $2,000.00 A DAY THUGS

[Fluffdaddy]

13. Prayers for all his family