Iraq contractors make billions on the front line

[saigon68]

Iraq contractors make billions on the front line
'Our job is to be a bullet sponge'

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/06/12/iraq.contractors/index.html


From Nic Robertson
CNN
Tuesday, June 13, 2006; Posted: 4:38 a.m. EDT (08:38 GMT)





Blackwater helicopter
Members of the Blackwater private security company fly a helicopter over Baghdad during a 2004 patrol.



BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Private military contractors are earning billions of dollars in Iraq -- much of it from U.S. taxpayers.Business is booming for those willing to tackle one of the most dangerous jobs on Earth. Lucrative U.S. government contracts go to firms called on to provide security for projects and personnel -- jobs that in previous conflicts have been done by the military.


"Military doesn't even like to go where we are going, and most of the companies that do this don't want to go where we are going ... and that's why we're going," explained one of Clark's men, nicknamed "Mr. GQ."

His colleague, Gonzo, gives a graphic description of what their team faces: "If we get ambushed and cut off, then yes, we are going to fight back and push through. That's what we get paid to do -- protect the clients, protect the asset -- that's our job."It sounds crude, but basically our job is to be a bullet sponge."


A veteran of the first Gulf War, he says he can earn in three months what it would take him a year to get in the United States. "My wife and I are pretty frugal. My goal is pretty simple -- I just want to be able to pay off a house and some property." He holds up a picture of his three children. "We all have to be over here for a reason. Mine's so that I can provide a better life for my wife and kids."

[DELUSIONAL]

1. Sick ==== Sick

What the hell is happening???

These idiots are looking at the world through different glasses -- their reality is out of wack.

That ass hole wants to provide a better life for my wife and kids.

Meanwhile how many Iraqi women and children has he killed?

And the pile of money he's making is coming from US TAXPAYERS.

That means the majority of people in the US won't have health care --

There is so much that the looting of the US treasury could be buying -- but it is just going into the pockets of a few corporations (Halliburton comes to mind).

We are paying for this -- and the next generation will be paying for this.

Why is there such a disconnect -- WHERE do people think all this money is coming from????

Short term thinking --

[lindisfarne]

2. He's not even making a pile of money - he's making about 4x what

he would make in the US ("he says he can earn in three months what it would take him a year to get in the United States"). That's all he values his life at???

(His employer certainly is making a sizeable profit off of his willingness to risk his life (not to mention his idiocy)).

It's more of a macho, testosterone driven thing. A live video game. Too bad he's already spawned; it would be good to cleanse the pool of his genes.

(Aside from the fact that he's killing others, as you mentioned).

[libodem]

5. who do the private contractors

answer to? Is Halliburton their boss? Who is to say *if* they weren't making enough money they wouldn't join the insurgents? Or assist the insurgents to get money and guns? This whole war is criminal and corrupt...just like the Administration who created it.

[Selatius]

7. If you sell guns to both sides, then no matter who wins, you win.

By "win," I mean you get to walk away with bags full of cash that you could retire with.

[Selatius]

3. He helps ensure his three children grow up in a world twisted by war

I guarantee most of the people that man has killed are Iraqis, not foreign fighters or Al-Qaeda fighters. He's fighting people we've decided to occupy. Many of those people probably have families of their own. Why do they fight US troops? It's anybody's guess. Maybe they're pissed that we leveled their cities and killed thousands of their family members and occupied their country.

He wants to be in Iraq for the money to pay off the house and some property? Fine. He will trade that for his children's right to grow up in a peaceful world.

[central scrutinizer]

4. they aren't even doing real security

They hide behind the underpaid US soldiers when it gets too hot for them.

[wordpix2]

6. "outsourcing conflict---" The money is coming from US taxpayers but

no one will tell us how much. ONE $300 million contract? :wtf:

BushCo and the Repuke Congress need to be held accountable for this.