Licensed to Kill: Hired Guns in the War on Terror
February 5th, 2007Licensed to Kill: Hired Guns in the War on Terror by Robert Young Pelton:
“Pelton reveals how the U.S. military-industrial complex has created its own dark version of the nonstate warrior [and] asks if companies like Blackwater and Executive Outcomes could become the new Hessians for both multinational corporations and overstretched armies.†—Jonathan Taplin, professor, USC Annenberg School for Communication, and producer of Under Fire, The Last Waltz, and Mean Streets
“‘The dark side of the war on terror’ may sound redundant, but how else can you describe the world of contractors, mercs, and wackos who are paid big money to keep the key players alive and the war machinery humming? It’s a cynical, funny, and very scary place, stretching from Arkansas to Fallujah, and no one gets it, or tells it, better than Robert Young Pelton.†—John Rasmus, editor in chief, National Geographic Adventure
Licensed to Kill spans four continents and three years, taking us inside the CIA’s dirty wars; the brutal contractor murders in Fallujah and the Alamo-like sieges in Najaf and Al Kut; the Deep South contractor training camps where ex–Special Operations soldiers and even small town cops learn the ropes; the contractor conventions where macho attendees swap bullet-punctuated tales and discuss upcoming gigs; and the grim Central African prison where contractors turned failed mercenaries pay a steep price.
The United States has encouraged the use of the private sector in all facets of the War on Terror, placing contractors outside the bounds of functional legal constraints. With the shocking clarity that can come only from firsthand observation, Licensed to Kill painstakingly deconstructs the most controversial events and introduces the pivotal players. Most disturbingly, it shows that there are indeed thousands of contractors—with hundreds more being produced every month—who’ve been given a license to kill, their services available to the highest bidder.
I made the argument on my blog (Future Prep III) that government won’t reduce or shring in collapse, but expand as it tries to desperately hang on and control the remaining resources. I also stated that many people will turn to government for the remaining jobs, earning their daily food and a wage in exchange for being sheltered from the cold, cruel world. This is one way they will do it. The stark reality of home-grown mercs is scary as hell.
Kevin,
As further evidence that the general public has the collective brainpower of an amoeba (yes, i said, “an amoeba,” a creature without a brain), and, is, in some sense, deserving of the contempt they receive from the elite classes, check out the article entitled,
“Top secret army cell breaks terrorists,” at Telegraph.co.uk
In sum, the article says: “Our Agents are committing false flag ops, and we’re going to tell you that they are committing false flag ops, and then, beast, you will worship these very men and women, which are your very own countrymen and women, by the way, that are murdering your sons and daughters via these ops.”
The future is truly hopeless.
Sound of jaw dropping…
Top 20 Defense contracts for 2005
1 Lockheed Martin Corp. $20 billion
2 Boeing Co. 18.8 billion
3 Northrop Grumman Corp. 13.7 billion
4 General Dynamics Corp. 11.1 billion
5 Raytheon Co. 9.4 billion
6 Halliburton Co. 5.9 billion
7 United Technologies Corp. 4.9 billion
8 L-3 Communications Holdings 4.8 billion
9 Carlyle Group 2.7 billion
10 SAIC 2.7 billion
11 BAE Systems 2.6 billion
12 General Electric Co. 2.5 billion
13 Computer Sciences Corp. 2.4 billion
14 Humana Inc. 2.2 billion
15 Textron Inc. 2.1 billion
16 Occupational Health Services 2 billion
17 ITT Industries 1.9 billion
18 Triwest Healthcare Alliance Co. 1.8 billion
19 URS Corp. 1.5 Billion
20 Bechtel Group Inc. 1.5 billion
http://wakeupfromyourslumber.blogspot.com/2006/10/how-rich-get-richer.html
Please give the “general public” a break. For the most part they (we) are born into this situation and indoctrinated from the get-go with little or no chance of ever breaking the cycle.
As far as the contractors… here’s an interesting tid-bit I’ve discovered about them – (AND the government as well for the most part)… certain skills are in high enough demand that they will give you a pass through most of the checks involved in normally applying. Two such skills are… speaking arabic and computer/information technology skills. Gee, how incredibly secure.
Your post has some excellent points. Here’s some additional data:
The U.S. Department of Defense, headquartered in the Pentagon, is one of the most massive organizations on the planet, with net annual operating costs of $635 billion, assets worth $1.3 trillion, liabilities of $1.9 trillion and more that 2.9 million military and civilian personnel as of fiscal year 2005.
I am a 2 tour Vietnam Veteran who recently retired after 36 years of working in the Defense Industrial Complex on many of the weapons systems being used by our forces as we speak.
It is difficult to convey the complexity of the way DOD works to someone who has not experienced it. This is a massive machine with so many departments and so much beaurocracy that no president, including Bush totally understands it.
Presidents, Congressmen, Cabinet Members and Appointees project a knowledgeable demeanor but they are spouting what they are told by career people who never go away and who train their replacements carefully. These are military and civil servants with enormous collective power, armed with the Federal Acquisition Regulation, Defense Industrial Security Manuals, compartmentalized classification structures and “Rice Bowls” which are never mixed.
Our society has slowly given this power structure its momentum which is constant and extraordinarily tough to bend. The cost to the average American is exhorbitant in terms of real dollars and bad decisions. Every major power structure member in the Pentagon’s many Washington Offices and Field locations in the US and Overseas has a counterpart in Defense Industry Corporate America. That collective body has undergone major consolidation in the last 10 years.
What used to be a broad base of competitive firms is now a few huge monoliths, such as Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and Boeing.
Government oversight committees are carefully stroked. Sam Nunn and others who were around for years in military and policy oversight roles have been cajoled, given into on occasion but kept in the dark about the real status of things until it is too late to do anything but what the establishment wants. This still continues – with increasing high technology and potential for abuse.
Please examine the following link to testimony given by Franklin C. Spinney before Congress in 2002. It provides very specific information from a whistle blower who is still blowing his whistle (Look him up in your browser and you get lots of feedback) Frank spent the same amount of time as I did in the Military Industrial Complex (MIC) but in government quarters. His job in government was a similar role to mine in defense companies. Frank’s emphasis in this testimony is on the money the machine costs us. It is compelling and it is noteworthy that he was still a staff analyst at the Pentagon when he gave this speech. I still can’t figure out how he got his superior’s permission to say such blunt things. He was extremely highly respected and is now retired.
http://www.d-n-i.net/fcs/spinney_testimony_060402.htm
The brick wall I often refer to is the Pentagon’s own arrogance. It will implode by it’s own volition, go broke, or so drastically let down the American people that it will fall in shambles. Rest assured the day of the implosion is coming. The machine is out of control.
If you are interested in a view of the inside of the Pentagon procurement process from Vietnam to Iraq please check the posting on this blog entitled, “Odyssey of Armaments”
http://rosecoveredglasses.blogspot.com/2006/11/odyssey-of-armaments.html
On the same subject, you may also be interested in the following sites from the “Project On Government Oversight”, observing it’s 25th Anniversary and from “Defense In the National Interest”, inspired by Franklin Spinney and contributed to by active/reserve, former, or retired military personnel. More facts on the Military Industrial Complex can be gleaned from “The Dissident” link, also posted below:
http://pogo.org/
http://www.d-n-i.net/top_level/about_us.htm
http://dissidentnews.wordpress.com/2007/01/30/the-military-industrial-complex-and-the-business-of-war/
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Great story, Wonkette. Thanks!