The use of private contractors is negating any positives we could achieve in Afghanistan. These thugs outnumber US troops and aren't answerable to the same chain of command or laws even, as we saw in Iraq. They are incapable of doing their jobs. Violence has increased with their presence, and now they appear to be at fault for the CIA bombing. As long as we are outsourcing this war, any objectives or motivations given for our presence is nothing more than lip-service. If the US needs to fight this war, than the US needs to fight this war. Not Xe and a dozen or so other hired guns. The reliance on overpaid under-trained corporate thugs exposes the truth. The American people are not willing to make sacrifices for this war. The Pentagon and the President know it. We don't have the army to do what they say they want to do. Depending on private firms won't do it either.
But worse than that some the private firms are recruiting children and training them to be child soldiers. Sound familiar? If that isn't bad enough, they are also sexually assaulting them.
2009 deadliest year for Afghan children
Source:
RAWA NewsAfghan and foreign forces did little to ensure child protection in counterinsurgency operations, the ARM complained, saying the alleged killing of eight students in Narang district of Kunar province on December 26 by US Special Forces and their Afghan companions appeared to be an appalling act of crime against civilians.
"NATOs accusation that the teenagers were involved in bomb-making activities does not justify their group-killing," Samadi said, adding the claim that foreign forces came under fire contradicted government findings, which the victims were not combatants.
According to the report, the recruitment and use of children by police and private security companies continued throughout 2009 with little government intervention to curb the unlawful practice.
Several cases of sexual violence against children were reported with the alleged involvement of police officers, forces from registered private security firms and other militia actors but no case reached formal adjudication due to rampant corruption in government institutions and lack of support for victims."Whilst children were increasingly affected by war and crimes in Afghanistan, the government failed to introduce appropriate legal and practical mechanisms to mitigate their sufferings, protect them against the harm of war and bring alleged criminals to justice," said Samadi.
more:
http://www.rawa.org/temp/runews/2010/01/06/2009-deadliest-year-for-afghan-children.html Which private security firms?
Private military companies are being criticized for profiteering from the conflict in Afghanistan while the number of deadly attacks keeps rising and the local population remains in an insecure environment.
General Khatool Mohammadzai from the Afghan National Army notes, “This is war. President Karzai says it will take fifteen years for our army to be able to stand on its own. When the President talks, I know he has considered everything, so he must be right.”
But does this mean for the next 15 years the country will be unstable until the government gets it right? That is the reason foreign security companies give to explain why they are in the country. At least 17 of them are operating in Afghanistan, including the infamous Blackwater, which was accused in 2007 of killing civilians in Iraq.
Regardless, not even foreign contractors are still unable to prevent bomb explosions, so the feeling of fear and panic is everywhere.
(snip)
“I really don’t believe most foreign security companies are actually here to provide security. It is very clear they come here to make money. I am sure Afghan security companies can provide better security than them. And anyway, they use our people; it’s just that all the directors are from abroad,” thinks Yama Saifi.
There are big bucks to be made in Afghanistan. Each of the hundreds of non-governmental organizations working in the country put aside between thirty and forty percent of their budget for security. Even the US army and foreign militaries use private security companies.
“The longevity of instability is good business for security companies. So, security companies working for profit, this brings a lot of questions,” Daoud Sultanzoy, chairman of Economic Committee of the Afghan parliament believes.
We already know that some of these private firms are
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion/507253/congress_launches_investigation_into_taliban_payola">paying the Taliban for security. And we know that at least 56,000 more will be going to Afghanistan to accompany the latest escalation. The private contractors benefit from instability. The worse the security, the more secure their jobs. This is an example of why war-profiteering is so dangerous.
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