According to the Washington Post, Iraq’s incoming government is opposing “a U.S. demand that thousands of foreign contractors here be granted immunity from Iraqi law, in the same way as U.S. military forces are now immune”.
Meanwhile, the the Pentagon has awarded a $293-million contract to create the world’s largest private army, to a mercenary firm with a reputation for smuggling.
John Robb, who’s been doing an amazing job covering networked guerrilla war, cites CorpWatch on the the contract awarded to Aegis a company headed by Lieutenant Colonel Tim Spicer, a former officer with the SAS (NOTE: this is disputed), an elite regiment of British commandos, who has been investigated for illegally smuggling arms and planning military offensives to support mining, oil, and gas operations around the world. On May 25, the Army Transportation command awarded Spicer’s company, Aegis Defense Services, the contract to coordinate all the security for Iraqi reconstruction projects.
Also via John Robb, the New York Times has a scathing analysis of Aegis and US mercenary policy by Peter Singer, author of “Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry.”
The claim that the US invaded Iraq to bring democracy and rule of law does not sound very credible.
Check this article by Naomi Klein… written in november 2003. Height months ago !!
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20031124&s=klein
There is no respect for any international law or convention begining from the decision to go to war against the UN resolutions.
“The claim that the US invaded Iraq to bring democracy and rule of law does not sound very credible.”
Adina, you’ve got one article here, opposing tons of evidence that we indeed are trying to bring democracy to Iraq, and that the Iraqis want it. I won’t list all the URLs but the evidence is overwhelming. Will the transition be successful? We didn’t know at this stage of the occupations of Germany or Japan, and come to think of it we still dont’ know about the Balkans (the real quagmire). But Germany and Japan turned out okay and there are many hopeful signs in Iraq.
“There is no respect for any international law or convention begining from the decision to go to war against the UN resolutions.”
I shouldn’t bother arguing with someone who takes Naomi Klein seriously, but……
1) The UN made 17 Chap VII binding unilateral resolutions ordering Saddam to disarm. There is a recognized procedure for doing so that other countries have followed. Saddam repeatedly refused. We actually went to war to uphold said resolutions.
2) why did the UN not authorize the war, then? Two of the UNSC members are Russia and France. Russia sold Saddam over 50% of his wepaons, France 11%. All other countries 6% or less, US way down at 1% in about 15th place of list of coutries who sold weapons to Saddam. Chirac sold Saddam his nuclear reactor. Also Russia and France had lucrative oil contracts with Saddam. Also many UN officials were getting rich from kickbacks via the “Oil for Food” program. They split the take with Saddam, the $$ went to palaces, whores for Uday, and terrorists. Not for food and medicine to the Iraqis. So why should they authorize us to go into Saddam’s palaces and look through his file cabinets?
If the main result of this war is that this $80b corruption racket is exposed, it will have been worth it, even if Iraq doesn’t become a democracy. But it will. No thanks to all you naysayers.
But I have no arguments with the articles about contractors. This occupation is about as competent as the 1946 occupations, i.e. not very, which is part of why I am optimistic. Perspective helps.
Okay here’s one:
http://www.reason.com/0406/co.ng.rant.shtml
Should I argue with someone who believes in bringing democracy using torture ?
Should I list all the articles wich contain evidence of torture being decided at the highiest level , aka presidentiel level ?
Should I list all the lies of the Bush administration starting from your point 1/ above ?
By the way have you got any informations about the arms discovered in Irak ? It seems that the whole world have no infos about this. You may be the only one who still believes that there are arms still not found in Irak.
Good reading below ( It’s not Naomi Klein ):
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/17/politics/17assess.html?th=&pagewanted=print&position=
Look at the 2% percent Irakis believing in the Us Army as liberators.