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Military Industrial Complexes ("outsourcing" -- i.e. contractors -- at the Abu Ghraib Prison)
Military Week ^ | May 4, 04 | Karen Kwiatkowski, Lt. Col. USAF (ret.)

Posted on 05/04/2004 1:54:07 PM PDT by churchillbuff

American soldiers today are quite familiar with the military industrial complex and outsourcing. They see inedible food, an extra burden of providing security, and shocking pay inequities. They see inscrutable accountability mysteries.

Some Iraqis held at Abu Ghraib Prison have met the modern American military industrial complex up close and personal. Contractors from CACI International and Titan Corporation, as well as members of our own military, are under investigation for "mistreating" prisoners.

CACI International and Titan Corporation represent numbers 63 and 35, respectively, of the Pentagon's top 100 contractors for 2002. These companies are small fry, as out-sourcing goes.

Rational people may debate whether America's occupation of Iraq is purely defensive, a Republic behaving imperially, or the blueprint for a new kind of empire. But underlying the debate is a fact – that by its very existence – undermines the Constitution, American traditions of justice, and the laws of armed conflict.

We have today over 15,000 military contractors in Iraq, doing not just the cooking and cleaning, but the fighting, the guarding, the strategizing, and even some of the dying. After the U.S. and the U.K. militaries, this third largest "force" outnumbers the entire remaining coalition of the paid for.

The military industrial complex lobbies Congress on a daily basis, costs the taxpayer billions each year, chips away at the credibility of the United States as a force for justice and good will, exists in a hazy legal wasteland unaccountable to domestic or international law, and serves to embarrass the country periodically with overcharges, technology leaks to other countries, and human rights abuses.

Outsourcing contracts for everything from toilet paper to bullets to guards and interrogators have become the Soylent Green of the military industrial complex, an "artificial nourishment whose actual ingredients are not known by the public." The top 100 CEOs and Vice Presidents cheerfully move from government circles into defense industries, and sometimes back again.

This third-generation spawn of Smedley Butler's racketeers go where we pay them to go and do what they are told. They can hardly complain later that they were forced into anything, or misled by faulty intelligence, or didn't know what they were getting into. You see, it's all in their contracts. This makes them worth far more to Washington than our all-volunteer force of American soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines.

(Excerpt) Read more at militaryweek.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Foreign Affairs; Government
KEYWORDS: caci; contractors; iraq; iraqipow
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To: churchillbuff
Wow...three failed threads in as many days. I'm impressed.

Most people would kind of get the hint that folks just are buying into their propaganda and call it quits, but you keep on pounding away like the Energizer Gerbil.

41 posted on 05/07/2004 6:07:16 PM PDT by CWOJackson
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To: DugwayDuke
She contributes to Salon.com also...

Salon, buchanan, lewcrockwell...hmmmmmm?

42 posted on 05/07/2004 6:12:37 PM PDT by CWOJackson
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To: churchillbuff
According to the May 2003 American Military University Student News Letter, Professor Karen Kwiatkowski presented "her paper entitled Information Technology and the New African Entrepreneur at the annual African Studies Association conference on 6 December 2002 in Washington DC. Professor Kwiatkowski is also developing courses on African Political Economy and Global Immigration for APUS."cache file.

Your guest Bush-basher has an interesting background.

43 posted on 05/07/2004 6:18:04 PM PDT by CWOJackson
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To: CWOJackson
Also antiwar.com

http://www.antiwar.com/av/?articleid=2039

Warrior Against the War
A video interview with Karen Kwaitkowski

But, I'm sure you're not surprised, after all Rockwell and antiwar.com are sister sites.

Lot's of synergy between the Rockheads and the Patsi's. Lew believes the war on terror is a neocon plot to expand government power and the Buchanan believes it's a neocon conspiracy directed from Tel Aviv.
44 posted on 05/07/2004 6:30:21 PM PDT by DugwayDuke
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To: DugwayDuke
Strange how that works isn't it.

Antiwar.com. I haven't thought of that group of losers since justine raimondo got his panties in a bunch and demanded FR never post any of his articles ever again. I guess he wanted to give Pravda exclusive rights to posting his anti-American BS.

45 posted on 05/07/2004 6:37:01 PM PDT by CWOJackson
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To: churchillbuff
I'm quite curious as to why a person with your obvious admiration for Churchill would consider Lew Rockwell's site as a credible source. Have you read any of the Churchill articles found at that site? You can use their search engine found at the bottom of their home page. I think you might be surprised. Here's one of a series of articles:

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig/raico-churchill1.html

This is part one of a five part series that: "A definitive debunking of the Churchill myth in five parts , by our greatest historian of liberty, from The Costs of War"
46 posted on 05/07/2004 6:41:45 PM PDT by DugwayDuke
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To: CWOJackson
Raimondo and Rockwell are real tight so to speak. Both publish anything that is critical of the war effort. And, both cross-link to each other. (being crosslinked to Raimondo, what a happy thought) Raimondo is running wall to wall coverage of the prison scandal and he's even found definitive evidence of, you'll never guess this, Jooowish involvement.
47 posted on 05/07/2004 6:47:49 PM PDT by DugwayDuke
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To: DugwayDuke
"Raimondo is running wall to wall coverage of the prison scandal..."

I'm sure he's scrutinizing the photos very carefully.

48 posted on 05/07/2004 6:53:34 PM PDT by CWOJackson
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To: DugwayDuke
Your comment doesn't compute. When have I recommended the Lou Rockwell website? Did you mean to post that to me?
49 posted on 05/07/2004 7:11:45 PM PDT by churchillbuff
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To: churchillbuff
So, how many articles have you posted from Rockwell's site? How many articles critical of the war on terror have you posted?
50 posted on 05/07/2004 7:33:33 PM PDT by DugwayDuke
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To: DugwayDuke
So, how many articles have you posted from Rockwell's site? How many articles critical of the war on terror have you posted?

1) None. Haven't visited that site in years - - too much Lincoln-bashing. I'm a big Lincoln fan. If they're also bashing Churchill, more reason not to go there. 2) Articles critical of war on terror? Don't think I've posted any. I support the war on terror. I happen to believe, however, that the invasion of Iraq was a diversion from the war on terror. We went into Afghanistan, as was right and proper, but didn't finish the job before we diverted energies to Iraq, which wasn't involved in 9-11 and doesn't have WMDs. We still haven't found Osama, and Al-Quade is still killing people -- - The war on terror ought to make that murderous organization - which pulled of 9-11 - its top target.

Have a nice day.

51 posted on 05/07/2004 8:01:18 PM PDT by churchillbuff
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To: churchillbuff
"This article first appeared on LewRockwell.com, 03 May 04."
52 posted on 05/07/2004 8:35:10 PM PDT by DugwayDuke
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To: DugwayDuke
"This article first appeared on LewRockwell.com, 03 May 04."

My link is to militaryweek.com. Check it out, there are some good articles there.

53 posted on 05/07/2004 11:17:32 PM PDT by churchillbuff
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To: churchillbuff
"American soldiers today are quite familiar with the military industrial complex and outsourcing. They see inedible food, an extra burden of providing security, and shocking pay inequities. They see inscrutable accountability mysteries. "

Are you ignorant, stupid or disingenuous, or all three? We have had military contractors and the complaints of her topic sentence since the Revolution, and every war since then. Her, and your, first stated premise, that "today" these private contractors are new, and unique is patently false. Take this crap to DU. Try posting something informative.

54 posted on 05/08/2004 3:40:27 AM PDT by Leisler (Everything is forbidden except when expressly permitted.)
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To: Belisaurius
Karen Kwiatkowski, Lt. Col. USAF (ret.), noted Buchanonite whackjob and neocon-hater, shares her thoughts on the situation in Iraq.

"neocon-hater"? Is it a code word for an antisemite?

55 posted on 05/08/2004 3:44:49 AM PDT by A. Pole (<SARCASM> The genocide of Albanians was stopped in its tracks before it began.</S>)
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To: Howlin
I support honest people in the military, not opportunist freaks.

Really? What is the opportunistic gain for her? I guess by "honest" you mean docile.

56 posted on 05/08/2004 3:47:38 AM PDT by A. Pole (<SARCASM> The genocide of Albanians was stopped in its tracks before it began.</S>)
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To: Howlin
[to churchillbuff after getting a reply] I told you in my first post to you NOT to ping me anymore.

He, he. So you implicitely admit that you do not have better arguments than complaining. This is a public forum - if you do not like replies do not post. "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen."

57 posted on 05/08/2004 3:55:25 AM PDT by A. Pole (<SARCASM> The genocide of Albanians was stopped in its tracks before it began.</S>)
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To: sinkspur
Anybody who uses the term "military industrial complex" is a Birchite goofball.

A five stars Birchite goofball Dwight D. Eisenhower:

"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist."

I guess he is an unpatriotic whimp and a freak in your eyes.

58 posted on 05/08/2004 4:11:31 AM PDT by A. Pole (<SARCASM> The genocide of Albanians was stopped in its tracks before it began.</S>)
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To: sinkspur
I don't care about Ike.

If you heroes are Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz it makes a lot of sense.

59 posted on 05/08/2004 4:14:40 AM PDT by A. Pole (<SARCASM> The genocide of Albanians was stopped in its tracks before it began.</S>)
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To: churchillbuff
"My link is to militaryweek.com. Check it out, there are some good articles there."

Then why don't you post "some good articles" from there?
60 posted on 05/08/2004 4:16:46 AM PDT by DugwayDuke
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