‘Pentagon’ Archives
Up for Bid: Security Contract in Iraq
BROUGHT TO YOU BY the US Joint Contracting Command: This sprawling 126-page pdf contract solicitation allows a rare look under the hood of what the Pentagon is looking for and requiring of private security operators in Iraq. FREE DINNER to the reader who guesses the awardee on this one! Hmmmm....Blackwater? Global? DynCorp? Sandi? (Hey, is this a [...]
Web Surf: Unarmed Civilan Vets,
Protecting the Unarmed ,
and the Billion Dollar Club
"Home of the KBR Vets": A new forum for KBR people who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. This Web site just may indicate an element to the brewing debate over President Bush's call for establishing a Civilian Reserve Corps. (What's interesting to me is that many "unarmed" contractors go outside the wire on a daily basis -- notably the truckers who [...]
Iraq Vet Says Bank Heist Might Be ‘Political’
AN ARMY VET HAS BEEN TELLING THE NEWS MEDIA that he witnessed US military personnel commit war atrocities in Afghanistan and Iraq, including the rape of an Iraqi woman, the execution of 12 to 17 prisoners in Afghanistan and robberies. He claims that after reporting the crimes to his superior officers he was told "to forget about it." Former Army [...]
Army May Not Pay $400 Million to KBR
The US Army may challenge up to $400 million billed by Halliburton's KBR subsidiary under the company's "$20 billion" military logistics contract because of unauthorized charges for private security in Iraq. (more…)
Contractors on the Battlefield Here to Stay
Using civilian contractors to support and accompany US military actions is "here to stay," according to a new study unveiled yesterday by the Lexington Institute: "There is no going back: they are now part of force deployment and, as such, must be included at all levels of pre-contingency planning and training...Contractors are now an integral and [...]
Contractor Deaths Raise Casualty Count
Feb. 23, 2007 -- It's no easy task tallying the total casualties supporting the US war effort in Iraq because "while the Defense Department issues a press release whenever a soldier or Marine dies," getting the official figures on civilian contractor deaths and injuries before 2006 requires a time-consuming Freedom of Information Act request, [...]
PTSD Haunting Returning Soldiers and Contractors
Once known as soldier's heart in the World Wars, it took years for returning Vietnam vets to receive the public support they earned and deserved for what is now known as post traumatic stress disorder. Many fell apart and landed homeless on the streets across America. Some never recovered or regained their footing. Now, major media shines a light [...]
Contractors Secretly Honored, Others Celebrate their Camaraderie
Halliburton/KBR and the US Army teamed up last Friday in Houston to hand out one of the highest honors there is for civilian contractors working in Iraq and Afghanistan: The Defense of Freedom medal. The Pentagon first awarded the medal bearing the words "On Behalf of a Grateful Nation"after the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001. The honor is [...]
‘This Hearing Saved the Government 20 Million Dollars’
by David Phinney Feb. 7, 2007 -- From the time four U.S. security contractors were killed in streets of Fallujah on March 31, 2004 until yesterday, the U.S. Army couldn't determine if, in fact, Halliburton/KBR had broken its multibillion-dollar contract agreement by commissioning the private security company, Blackwater, to guard a [...]
Troop Surge could Reach 48,000 in Theater
And the Number of Contractors?
The Hill beat Army Times on this by a few hours: The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predicts that the White House push to pump up troops in Iraq by another 21,000 will require an even larger troop deployment in the region as support to those troops. President Bush forgot to mention that in his State of the Union message when he first unveiled [...]
