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All it took was a plane ticket, and an informal background check over Facebook. Then he was ushered to the front lines in Syria, fighting against the Islamic State. In a rare, exclusive interview with Fox, a U.S. military veteran with multiple tours in Iraq detailed his journey to Syria to fight against ISIS, on the condition his identity was protected. The veteran, who asked to be identified as “John,” described a surprisingly simple process that took him from America to the dangerous Syrian civil war – and not as part of the U.S. military. "I just went online and...

Seems far-fetched. We’re going to recruit and vet thousands of possibly unreliable foreigners, arm them to the teeth, shower them with cash, give them some perfunctory training, then send them into battle against the world’s nastiest jihadi degenerates, from ISIS to Al Qaeda to Hezbollah? Why, that’s … exactly what Obama’s planning to do with Syria’s “moderates.” Right? One of O’Reilly’s guests last night called his mercenary plan “morally corrosive” because it would outsource the national security of the United States to foreign actors, which … we’re right now in the process of doing. Who would you rather take...

KYIV, September 6 /Ukrinform/. Russian border guards are receiving offers from the leadership to participate in the fighting in Donbas. National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) information and analytical center spokesman Andriy Lysenko said this at a briefing on Saturday. "According to the latest reports, Russian border guards are getting offers from the leadership to participate in the fighting in eastern Ukraine. Volunteers are dismissed from their service, receive a one-time financial compensation of 200,000 rubles [about $5,500] and are sent to the war zone as 'natural persons,'" Lysenko said. He said that after being involved in the fulfillment of...

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has begun to move his arsenal of advanced weapons underground in preparation for a possible strike on the country by the United States, Israel’s Channel 1o reported on Wednesday. Since learning of U.S. President Obama’s desire to attack Syria, Assad ‘s forces have begun to move the weapons, including possibly chemical warheads, into underground bunkers. The process was accelerated when Damascus realized that the U.S. strike would not be a surprise and in fact would be delayed by a Congressional vote, Channel 10 said. The underground facilities are similar to those built by Iran near the...

A former American soldier who admitted to fighting for al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria has been arrested and charged with "conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction outside of the United States." Harroun's arrest and the account of his short time fighting for the Al Nusrah Front highlight some of the terror group's close links to the Free Syrian Army, the so-called secular fighting force that is being backed by the US. Harroun, a Muslim convert known in Syria as "the American," fought for both the Al Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant, al Qaeda in...

So you’ve decided to run away and join the French Foreign Legion? Here’s how. It's Earth's version of taking the Black and heading for the Wall, the way Jon Snow does in Game of Thrones. Joining the French Foreign Legion granted men a safe haven for many for decades. But what does it actually take to join the French Foreign Legion? • Joining the Legion The Foreign Legion, unfortunately, is portrayed in pop culture as packed mercenaries and vagrants — even Jean-Claude Van Damme takes up the cause in one film. A safe haven for men looking for a new...

It seemed like a simple idea: In the chaos that is Somalia, create a sophisticated, highly trained fighting force that could finally defeat the pirates terrorizing the shipping lanes off the Somali coast. But the creation of the Puntland Maritime Police Force was anything but simple. It involved dozens of South African mercenaries and the shadowy security firm that employed them, millions of dollars in secret payments by the United Arab Emirates, a former clandestine officer with the Central Intelligence Agency, and Erik Prince, the billionaire former head of Blackwater Worldwide who was residing at the time in the emirates....

Maersk Hires Tanzanian Mercenary Warship As Pirate Situation Becomes 'Critical' Vincent Fernando Jan. 4, 2010, 2:10 PM Anarchy off the coast of Africa has become profitable not just for pirates, but for idle local navies as well. More evidence of a growing global private defense industry: Hellenic Shipping News: Danish shipper A.P. Moller Maersk has hired out soldiers and a warship from Tanzania to protect its fleet in pirate-ridden waters off the coast of Africa, and now other shippers are expected to follow suit. Maersk hired the warship through former special forces soldiers working for firm Guardian GBS security in...

(Translation) In South Osetia is undertaken into the captivity American mercenary in South Osetia it is seized into the captivity the group of the Georgian demolishers, among whom is located the citizen of the USA, [afroamerikanets]. About this reports “ossetic radio”. Group is delayed in the region of the settlement charges, which is located on “the road of life” - To [zarskoy] road. It is assumed that the citizen of the USA - one of the instructors of NATO. At the given moment it is crossed into Vladikavkaz for explaining all circumstances of its presence in the territory of republic...

The mere mention of private military companies is enough to panic the OH MY GOD squad of American society and leaves them loudly shrieking fascism and totalitarianism, murder and thuggery. There have been scores of private military companies and security firms employed by the Department of Defense and the State Department in Iraq since the war began. The most famous of all the “professional military, law enforcement, security, peacekeeping, and stability operations firms” is the North Carolina based Blackwater USA. In addition to Blackwater, other significant private security/military companies include DynCorp, Erinys, Aegis Defense Services, Kroll Inc., ArmorGroup, Hart, Steele...

Security company Blackwater U.S.A. is buying Super Tucano light combat aircraft from the Brazilian manufacturer Embraer. These five ton, single engine, single seat aircraft are built for pilot training, but also perform quite well for counter-insurgency work.

South Africa's National Assembly has approved a law requiring that citizens working as security staff abroad must seek permission from the government. It will also make South Africans seek permission to serve in foreign armies. Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota said the law was to prevent mercenaries from subverting democracy across Africa but opponents say it is too stringent. South Africa is trying to get rid of a reputation as a haven for mercenaries and coup plotters. The authorities estimate at least 4,000 South Africans are employed in conflict areas, and several have been found to be involved in attempted coups....

Published: 14th July 2006 11:50 CET Jackie Arklöv, currently serving a life sentence for murdering two policemen in Malexander in 1999, was charged on Friday with crimes against international law in Bosnia. "The crimes were committed during the spring, summer and autumn of 1993, mostly during the summer," said prosecutor Lise Tamm to TT. According to Tamm, Arklöv committed robbery and torture against prisoners of war as well as civilians, and demostrated 'particular brutality'. The crimes are said to have been carried out in different jails in Bosnia Herzegovinia where Arklöv was a guard. Arklöv was a mercenary soldier in...

Crisis management experts are calling for the creation of a "United Nations army"-an international rapid reaction force that could be deployed within 48 hours to intervene in emergency situations around the globe.Composed of up to 15,000 military, police and civilian staff, including medics, the proposed force would be recruited from professionals hired by the U.N. from many countries, and based at designated U.N. sites.

Federal agents contend that a Pennsylvania man tried to work with al Qaeda in a plot to blow up the Alaska pipeline, another pipeline in Pennsylvania and a refinery in New Jersey, according to a published report. Michael Curtis Reynolds, 47, has not officially been charged with terrorism, but a prosecutor at a hearing said that Reynolds tried to "provide material aid to al Qaeda" and that the case "involves a federal offense of terrorism," The Philadelphia Inquirer reported in its Sunday editions. CBS News correspondent Randall Pinkston reports that a tip from Shannen Rossmiller - a judge from Conrad,...

former US trained elite corps offers threat assessment, safe transport, security training, etc.

Excerpted from article: "A group that supports the U.S. military is demanding an apology from Newsweek magazine's Eleanor Clift, who recently characterized America's armed forces as a "mercenary Army." Her comments -- made this past weekend on the syndicated TV program "The McLaughlin Group" -- were "unfounded and grossly inappropriate," said the Freedom Alliance. In an Aug. 30 letter to Clift, Freedom Alliance President Tom Kilgannon asked her to retract her comment and apologize to the armed forces and their families. Clift made the comment during a discussion about military recruiting efforts: "But I think what we're coming to grips...

The owner of a Hayward pizza parlor will serve four months of home detention and pay a five-thousand-dollar fine, after pleading guilty to illegally transferring money to a bounty hunter out to kill Osama bin Laden. Forty-one-year-old Noor Alocozy also was sentenced to three years of probation today in federal court. Authorities say Alocozy transferred $1 million dollars out of the country between 2002 and 2003. They say some of that money reached Jonathan "Jack" Idema, a jailed American mercenary who claimed he was on a counterterrorism mission with the U-S government. Authorities say Idema -- a former Green Beret...

can guess who might have written this? JK, 25 April 2003 Folks, here is part of an official dispatch; see if you can guess who might have written it: "There is one point about the present situation in Palestine where I think there's been some confusion of thought at home as well as in neighboring Arabic-speaking countries. There are two aspects to it and they should, for the clearer understanding, be rigidly separated. The first, with which we can allow ourselves to sympathize, is the purely Pan Arab one. And, Palestine has centered itself on an unrelenting hostility to the...

Notwithstanding former President Jimmy Carter's recent statement to the contrary, Undersecretary of State John Bolton's remarks about Cuba's biological weapons capabilities underscore lingering concerns with the rogue island only 90 miles from the United States. Bolton, on May 6, told an audience at the Washington, D.C.-based Heritage Foundation that the U.S. is suspicious about Cuban biomedical laboratories and their ability to transfer biological weapons technology to Iraq, Syria and Libya, all countries that Cuban President Fidel Castro visited last year. Bolton also made remarks, which may be interpreted as a clear signal of hardening State Department policy toward Cuba, faulting...