I don't think so:
Meet Doug Brooks, whose trade group represents the private military industry's biggest players. He makes hired guns sound like U.N. peacekeepers.
[snip]His organization currently represents 42 companies—among them, Blackwater, DynCorp, and MPRI—that belong to what Brooks describes as the "peace and stability industry." The IPOA's mission, according to its website, is "to promote high operational and ethical standards of firms active in the Peace and Stability Industry; to engage in a constructive dialogue with policy-makers about the growing and positive contribution of these firms to the enhancement of international peace, development, and human security; and to inform the concerned public about the activities and role of the industry."
The latter had consumed most of Brooks' time over the past week as he gave close to 40 interviews in three days to reporters seeking comment on Blackwater's Baghdad shoot-out. Wasn't he uncomfortable being the private military industry's unofficial spokesman when one of its most prominent players stood accused of murdering civilians? "No, not at all," Brooks said. "What it's given us the chance to do is get out the point of what IPOA is about, to paint a larger picture, put it in context. Yes, we do have contractors working around the world, doing stuff that's dangerous. Sometimes they're armed, and sometimes innocent people get killed."
Oh well then. That's ok.
WTF?
20 comments:
Peace and Stability Industry,
Let's see, "war is peace" and "?? is stability" (I missed that day in Newspeak class.)
Orwell is spinning in his grave.
You're being unfair. The dead are very peaceful and stable.
Well... if you call rotting into compost stable.
But the people they leave behind are stewing in anger and grief... a proven recipe for making generations of terrorists.
But the Peace and Stability title is just staggering. Didn't these guys read Animal Farm and 1984?
How about Work Making You Free?
Of course they read 1984 and Animal Farm, where do you think they get their ideas? Brave New World? Bah. :)
And it was recently referenced somewhere that the neocons had held a meeting on 'What Was Learned From Watergate'. As... how to not repeat the same mistakes and get caught.
These people have no ethics, morals, nor humanity.
They should really have a meeting on 'What Was Learned From Nuremburg.'
"Why we miss having the Evil Empire of the USSR"
"Why the Cold War was good for defense."
"When you can't attack a country, attack your own citizens."
"Why the long-term Korean Police Action was so wonderful."
....
These guys refuse to learn from history.
Ooops! Sorry I missed this. "Peace Operations" is (was?) an academic term meaning Chapter 6/Chapter 7 UN peace operations, that's where IPOA came from - private firms supporting peace operations. Apologies if it ain't correct anymore!
Nevertheless, contractors are supporting/underpinning peace operations in Darfur, the DRC, Somalia, Haiti etc. If you support sending U.S. troops to support these missions, more power to you. But it ain't going to happen. Contractors actually support these missions quite effectively - and far cheaper than militaries could do the same thing.
Feel free to email me directly if you have any questions - DBrooks AT IPOAonline.org Doug Brooks
Contractors actually support these missions quite effectively - and far cheaper than militaries could do the same thing.
That's not what I've read. Contractors are very expensive, are not accountable to the American people although acting in our name in foreign lands. The contractor's payments are for jobs that often not completed, or never started at all. We've lost BILLIONS to this kind of fraud.
It might sound hunkydory to you, but mercenaries are like prostitutes. They show no loyalty and will sell themselves to the highest bidder.
I don't think Americans will be enthused about having wars by proxy.
Perhaps you need to read a broader spectrum of sources?
The U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan are the best supported, best supplied operations in history. Lots of aspects can be improved, especially in terms of improved government oversight and accountability, but the model is working amazingly well from the soldier's perspective.
Most contractors are locals and thus the costs are far, far cheaper than using Americans. Companies will always use locals if they have a choice, that's how they compete to win the contracts. Using locals contributes to the economy, to stability, to undermining the insurgents etc.. Two-thirds of our contractors in Iraq are Iraqis, the folks who should be doing their own security and reconstruction.
The ultimate accountability comes from the government being able to fire companies that are not performing (try that with an army!). Most of the issues of completion have to do with the level of risk and the government's own changing requirements - companies risk managers, not morons - and that is generally reflected in the contracts themselves. Improving oversight and accountability benefits the better companies, as the sloppier firms get weeded out.
As far as the 'highest bidder' quip, perhaps that is personal preference? Companies tend to be far more loyal for both ethical and financial reasons. Please tell me which contractors have worked for the opposition and then ever worked for a Western nation again? Or which employees are willing to work for, say, the Taliban? "Highest bidder" sounds good in theory, but the issues are infinitely more complex.
Thanks for the comments, and again, apologies for joining the conversation so late.
Best,
doug
Ah, Doug. Your talking points sounded so familiar, I had to check.
We've had this conversation before.
I appreciate your courteous tone but you are working for a dangerous mercenary group. I hope you keep safe.
Well, clearly if that's what you continue to believe despite my best efforts, then perhaps I'm not articulate enough, my apologies.
doug
Doug, you are extremely articulate. But even with your obvious talents, you cannot explain away the agenda that Blackwater, Prince and all his hidden subsidiaries reflect. (I'm going to refer to Blackwater throughout my response, but I mean all of Prince's holdings, under whatever new name he's created.)
Any googling at all exposes the fact these corporations and this mercenary army are out for themselves, not for the American people. And I mean all of the American people, in all their diversity, ethnicity, religions, philosophies, gay and straight, Muslim and Christian, etc. Prince has been quoted by the media what he thinks of many of these people.
And not all Blackwater employees are Americans, are they? Making those who hail from South Africa or Chile take a loyalty oath to the US is no safeguard and is laughable that it is offered as one.
People around the world consider Blackwater part of the United States yet Blackwater is not accountable.
Our military is governed by rules we have gleaned from centuries of war, such as abiding by the Geneva Conventions. Blackwater makes its own rules.
The military is answerable for its mistakes where soldiers are killed such as the Tillman case. Blackwater has suits from people whose relatives have died, but they are forced to sue for information, an explanation or restitution. Blackwater is not responsible.
Mercenaries do not, cannot work with a democracy, as history has shown us again and again. There are no checks and balances, no elected officials answerable to the voters, no accounting for where the taxpayers' money has gone and whether or not we approve.
What on earth is there to appreciate about Blackwater? That they are making money hand over fist? Making money through war even though they call it keeping the peace? Making money by causing horrific pain to other people and other countries?
Why on earth would Blackwater ever want wars to end then? Blackwater is not a peace keeper but a warmonger.
And even though the reality is that America is one of the worst weapons dealers and warmongers of the world, at least Americans can change the laws.
Blackwater operates above the law or in the shadows and is now so massively rich, that any agenda that Prince wishes to happen, could happen.
And that is why Blackwater is so very frightening.
[tried to send this yesterday, but I don't seem to have mastered the technology . . .]
Ellroon,
You raise larger issues about the entire contingency contractor industry beyond Blackwater.
In terms of diversity, keep in mind that companies use as many locals as they are allowed to within their contracts – it just makes sense. Locals bring invaluable knowledge, language skills, connections and are far less expensive than Westerners. If local hires are not allowed by the terms of the contract (usually due to insurgent infiltration risk), then companies hire Third Country Nationals (TCNs), from all over the world. The industry has more diversity than any other I’ve seen (by the way, you may be interested to know less than 5% of our industry is security work, mostly it is logistics, demining, medical services, aviation, training etc.).
Most companies are run by former military folks, and they are the same people that they were before when they wore uniforms. Yes, they work under contracts, but that don’t mean they don’t care about the mission and the nation. Nevertheless, the better the oversight and accountability, the more it benefits the better contractors which strive to follow the rules and regulations (as increasingly convoluted as those have become!).
I can talk your ear off about the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act and UCMJ – lots of things need improvement there regarding contractor accountability, especially in terms of transparency. But we do need to get this right, we’ve used contractors in the past (700,000 in WWII, 80,000 in Vietnam, more contractors than troops in Bosnia), and we’ll need to use them in the future. Contractors are critical to supporting UN missions as well, and if you go to Darfur you’ll find all the African Union bases have been built, managed and run by private contractors. So are the AU helicopters. Effective and transparent accountability are essential for all our international peace and stability missions.
Profit margins in the industry are surprisingly tight – if you want to make money make airplanes. In the service sector the average is around 7% profit on a contract. KBR’s huge LOGCAP III contract is 1% (with a potential 2% bonus for speed/quality). That is NEVER mentioned in the media, since it makes their correspondents look like idiots when they berate ‘war profiteering’.
Contractors are NOT combatants, nor should we imply otherwise. Calling them mercenaries is simply derogatory since they clearly do not fit the legal definition in the Geneva Conventions – it’s like calling journalists ‘hacks’ or doctors ‘quacks’. In Iraq the contractors have something called the Rules for the Use of Force (RUF) which is far more limited and restrictive than the military’s Rules of Engagement (ROE) – the Pentagon has drawn a thick line between what contractors are allowed to do (protect people, places and things) and what the military does. That is as it should be – contractors support military operations, not supplant them.
No one should be above the law or unaccountable. Ensuring that in the chaos of a conflict/post-conflict operations – be it Sudan, Haiti or Iraq – ain’t ever going to be easy but we can do it. Ultimately, the better we do peacekeeping and stability operations the shorter they will be and the better it will be for the local populations suffering from the conflict.
I hope that’s helpful.
Best regards,
doug
From: ellroon [mailto:noreply-comment@blogger.com]
Sent: Friday, June 20, 2008 12:26 AM
To: hoosier84@gmail.com
Subject: [Rants From The Rookery] New comment on Peace and Stability companies.
ellroon has left a new comment on the post "Peace and Stability companies":
Doug, you are extremely articulate. But even with your obvious talents, you cannot explain away the agenda that Blackwater, Prince and all his hidden subsidiaries reflect. (I'm going to refer to Blackwater throughout my response, but I mean all of Prince's holdings, under whatever new name he's created.)
Any googling at all exposes the fact these corporations and this mercenary army are out for themselves, not for the American people. And I mean all of the American people, in all their diversity, ethnicity, religions, philosophies, gay and straight, Muslim and Christian, etc. Prince has been quoted by the media what he thinks of many of these people.
And not all Blackwater employees are Americans, are they? Making those who hail from South Africa or Chile take a loyalty oath to the US is no safeguard and is laughable that it is offered as one.
People around the world consider Blackwater part of the United States yet Blackwater is not accountable.
Our military is governed by rules we have gleaned from centuries of war, such as abiding by the Geneva Conventions. Blackwater makes its own rules.
The military is answerable for its mistakes where soldiers are killed such as the Tillman case. Blackwater has suits from people whose relatives have died, but they are forced to sue for information, an explanation or restitution. Blackwater is not responsible.
Mercenaries do not, cannot work with a democracy, as history has shown us again and again. There are no checks and balances, no elected officials answerable to the voters, no accounting for where the taxpayers' money has gone and whether or not we approve.
What on earth is there to appreciate about Blackwater? That they are making money hand over fist? Making money through war even though they call it keeping the peace? Making money by causing horrific pain to other people and other countries?
Why on earth would Blackwater ever want wars to end then? Blackwater is not a peace keeper but a warmonger.
And even though the reality is that America is one of the worst weapons dealers and warmongers of the world, at least Americans can change the laws.
Blackwater operates above the law or in the shadows and is now so massively rich, that any agenda that Prince wishes to happen, could happen.
And that is why Blackwater is so very frightening.
Post a comment.
Unsubscribe to comments on this post.
Posted by ellroon to Rants From The Rookery at 6/19/08 9:26 PM
Blackwater = America's SS.
Anyone who would defend them should be ashamed of themselves.
Terry C, Obama/Clinton 08
Kind of funny then that I'm not the 'Anonymous' one . . .
-Doug Brooks
Hoosier84 AT Hoosier84.com
Don't think you caught the name at the bottom of Anon's comment, Doug.
And, just so you know, if you make a comment you don't like, this blogger style allows you to erase your post. (see trash can in corner.)
I went away and did some more research because I appreciate the fact you are responding to these comments, a fact rare in itself. I've printed my response in another post.
Why does everyone insist on concentrating on Blackwater in this discussion?
It's one company. ONE company.
The industry, and all that's good and noble about it - and it IS worthwhile, despite hysteria over a one or two unfortunate incidents the leftist media like to whip up into a frenzy - is so much more than ONE commercial company who, whilst admittedly powerful at the moment, can be brought to heel by the power of economics.
Get over this ridiculous preoccupation - look beyond it and understand that having companies that stop rebel factions cutting open pregnant women is much more desirable than inaction and the status quo... one example obviously, but these companies operate in areas the perennial arm chair critical is clearly too spinelss to go, and yet they feel compelled to preach to the world like they are some sort of authority.
The positive effects of these companies have so much more benefit than the negatives ones - which are arguably inevitable due to the unfortunate nature of the environment they operate in. But if they actually meant to cause international outrage, you'd be reading about their anitics every day. But you dont, you only see the the dirge of the ill-informed, gutless critic. Wake up, and understand the world around you is not wrapped in cotton wool.
Thank you for your impassioned post, Jessica. As with Doug, you touch on so many points that I'm going to reply in a post by itself.
Realized I didn't offer the link to my own blog post.
Post a Comment