Contracting Out the Occupation - Another False Ending

[ensho]

http://counterpunch.com/


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Last month, the Congressional Research Service reported that the Department of Defense (DoD) workforce has 19% more contractors (207,600) than uniformed personnel (175,000) in Iraq and Afghanistan, making the wars in these two countries the most outsourced and privatized in U.S. history.

According to a recent State Department briefing to Congress’s Commission on Wartime Contracting, from now on, instead of soldiers, private military contractors will be disposing of improvised explosive devices, recovering killed and wounded personnel, downed aircraft and damaged vehicles, policing Baghdad’s International Zone, providing convoy security, and clearing travel routes, among other security-related duties.

Worse, the oversight of contractors will rest with other contractors. As has been the case in Afghanistan, contractors will be sought to provide “operations-center monitoring of private security contractors (PSCs)” as well as “PSC inspection and accountability services.”

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As Senator, Obama called for less dependence on private military contractors and for accountability when they committed human rights abuses. He told Defense News in 2008 that he was “troubled by the use of private contractors when it comes to potential armed engagements.” Senator Clinton co-sponsored legislation to phase out the use of security contractors in war zones.

As President, Obama pretends the occupation of Iraq is ending with the withdrawal of combat troops while he and Secretary of State Clinton quietly hire a shadow army to replace them.
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you think all those contractors want peace

to our military Empire, peace is a dirty word

contractors love the word occupation

money, money, money

[Nite Owl]

1. I know that the numbers were

high but not that high! Wow that is astounding.
How much more do we pay them? No wonder the cost of war is so high is $ and we are going broke.

Strange isn't it how no one in DC even utters a word about this, the silence is deafening.
Privatization does not work on just about any level. The GOP loves it and the dems have bought into it.

[aquart]

2. Contracting is EXPENSIVE.

Mercenaries cost more not less.