PBS Frontline *Private Warriors*

[nomatrix]

contractors in Iraq.

I Tivo'd it. Heads Up. It will be on again Wed. and on the 4th of July. For an eye opening inside look at your tax dollars at work, don't miss it.

I can't watch it in one sitting I find it so upsetting. Anyone else see it?

[BayouBengal07]

1. I don't like it either

We say the people in Guantanamo Bay aren't POWs because "they aren't wearing the uniform of a country".

same goes for indy contractors...

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

2. Available as a stream now. Split into multiple sections.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/warriors/view/

[DemInDistress]

3. I saw it...

and i have no sympathy for those contractors who earn up to 30k a month and our troops doing the same shit get 2/3k a month..the carnage you see is placed at our con artist's-in cheif feet...but as we all can see bush doesnt give a shit about the death,debt and destruction all in the name of OIL...
just my feelings

[Ilsa]

4. It will be on Thursday night on the Houston Tx PBS station.

I can't find it at all for this week in San Antonio. I hope to see it this week.

[ClintonTyree]

5. Disgusting, wasn't it?

Anyone killed in Iraq trying to profit from bush's grudge war deserves anything they get. I know that sounds cold hearted, but they have a choice. They chose to go to Iraq and aid and abet bush's oil grab for monetary gain. I have no sympathy for anyone like that.

[murielkane]

6. Watch it and then read Riverbend's latest post

http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/2005_06_01_riverbendblog_archive.html#111931026591153031

What people find particularly frustrating is the fact that while Baghdad seems to be falling apart in so many ways with roads broken and pitted, buildings blasted and burnt out and residential areas often swimming in sewage, the Green Zone is flourishing. The walls surrounding restricted areas housing Americans and Puppets have gotten higher- as if vying with the tallest of date palms for height. The concrete reinforcements and road blocks designed to slow and impede traffic are now a part of everyday scenery- the road, the trees, the shops, the earth, the sky… and the ugly concrete slabs sometimes wound insidiously with barbed wire.

The price of building materials has gone up unbelievably, in spite of the fact that major reconstruction has not yet begun. I assumed it was because so much of the concrete and other building materials was going to reinforce the restricted areas. A friend who recently got involved working with an Iraqi subcontractor who takes projects inside of the Green Zone explained that it was more than that. The Green Zone, he told us, is a city in itself. He came back awed, and more than a little bit upset. He talked of designs and plans being made for everything from the future US Embassy and the housing complex that will surround it, to restaurants, shops, fitness centers, gasoline stations, constant electricity and water- a virtual country inside of a country with its own rules, regulations and government. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Republic of the Green Zone, also known as the Green Republic.

“The Americans won’t be out in less than ten years.” Is how the argument often begins with the friend who has entered the Green Republic. “How can you say that?” Is usually my answer- and I begin to throw around numbers- 2007, 2008 maximum… Could they possibly want to be here longer? Can they afford to be here longer? At this, T. shakes his head- if you could see the bases they are planning to build- if you could see what already has been built- you’d know that they are going to be here for quite a while.

[MrSlayer]

7. I watched it last night.

It was very informative and not a little disconcerting. It's amazing how these private security companies have more and better of everything compared to the troops and also telling is how KBR refuses to admit how much money they actually go through. It's a little dramatic to say it's too harrowing to sit through in one sitting though.

[Pharlo]

8. I found it to be very enlightening -

But, the one line that jumped out at me in light of the DSM embroglio was this one:

"MARTIN SMITH: KBR's trucking hub is Camp Arifjan in Kuwait. It sprawls over 10 square miles. Through here, KBR has shipped and delivered 500 million gallons of fuel and a hundred million pounds of mail. Of the 50,000 people KBR employs, 13,000 are Americans, the rest are lower-paid workers from the Philippines, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. They work at over 60 sites throughout Iraq and Kuwait.

The first KBR employees arrived six months before the invasion of Iraq. They built the bases and maintained the equipment. While Americans debated whether to go war, KBR was hard at work."

(Bold edit added for emphasis)

Transcript:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/warriors/etc/script.html

Scroll down to

'Camp Arifjan, Kuwait'

Don't you find that little tidbit just fascinating?