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Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2003 10:18:51 -0700
To: Jan <•••@••.•••>
From: Jan Slakov <•••@••.•••>
----Original Message Follows----
From: "Joanna Montrichard"
Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2003 23:16:44 -0600
As looting continues, US hires controversial
company to police Iraq
Arjan El Fassed, Electronic Iraq
13 April 2003
U.S. Marines from the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine
Regiment escort captured Iraqi prisoners of war to a
holding area in the desert of Iraq on March 21, 2003
(Photo: Lance Cpl. Brian L. Wickliffe/DoD) As looters
in Baghdad have ransacked hospitals and medical
facilities, endangering the health of the local
population, the US and British forces continue to
refrain from their duties as occupying powers to ensure
the safety of the civilian population in Iraq. US
Secretary of Defense said this week that "one can
understand the pentup feelings that may result from
decades of repression and people who have had members
of their family killed by that regime, for them to be
taking their feelings out on that regime." However,
that is not the complete story. The British daily The
Observer recently revealed that US military contractor
Dyncorp has won a multi-million-dollar contract to
police post-Saddam Iraq.
<snip>
On Friday, April 11, news agency Reuters reported that
the US State Department is sending 26 police and
judicial officials to Iraq as the advance team for what
could be a contingent of more than 1,150 people to help
Iraqis restore law and order. Richard Boucher, a
spokesman for the US State Department said that the
second contingent would be 150 people under contract
with Dyncorp. At a briefing, Boucher said: "That's a
process under way. The money is from existing funding
and I think congressional notifications are up right
now."
While it is the obligation of the occupying powers to
ensure safety of the Iraqi civilian population,
Dyncorp's human rights record is not promising.
In Bosnia, Dyncorp personnel were involved in sex slave
trading of young girls as well as a number of
fraudulent acts. Several Dyncorp employees have been
accused of videotaping the rape of one woman. Benjamin
D. Johnston, who was employed by Dyncorp, testified to
the US Congress' International Relations and Human
Rights Sub-Committee about his experience and knowledge
off the sex slave trade in Bosnia. "When I arrived in
Bosnia after a short time I noticed some strange
behavior from my co-workers. I would see young girls
walking around the town with older guys I worked with.
These men would have their hands on these girls as they
walk. The longer I stayed in Bosnia the worst these men
acted. Finally one day I heard a something to the
effect of DynaCorp employee brag that his girl wasn't a
day over twelve. I reported this all to the CID of the
Army. I also reported the problems to my supervisors
and co-workers, but all stayed the same in DynCorp's
little Bosnian Boys Club. For going to the CID I was
fired, put in protective custody and have had my name
thrashed by Dyncorp [...] The companies van would be
outside the whorehouses every night, Dyncorp personnel
had young children living with them for sex and house
choirs. Many Dyncorp employees would brag of their sex
escapades. My own sight supervisor was deeply involved
in all of this. There is no way I can write all of this
down for you, there is too much to mention."
----
DynCorp discharged Johnston after he co-operated
with a US Army investigation.
Robert Capps, Outside the law, Salon.com, June 26, 2002
Kathryn Bolkovac, a UN policewoman, who had been
contracted by Dyncorp was fired after sending an email
to a superior claiming U.N. police officers were
turning a blind eye to human rights abuses and were
actively involved in the trafficking of sex slaves. She
accused officers, contracted by Dyncorp of using
prostitutes and frequenting bars where women were raped
and forced to perform sex acts. Within days she was
removed from the frontline of the operation and six
months later was sacked for allegedly falsifying a time
sheet, a charge she denies. Bolkovac has said DynCorp
feared its contract to supply U.N. missions would be
jeopardised because of her allegations. a.. Jamie
Wilson and Kevin Maguire, American firm in Bosnia sex
trade row poised to win MoD contract, The Guardian,
November 29, 2002 Former DynCorp employees also allege
that the company has tried to defraud the U.S.
government on various occasions, providing cheaper,
untrained workers and performing unnecessary repairs to
pad the bills. According to Johnston, over the las few
years, "there has been a dramatic drop in experience
and competence, replaced by ignorance, inexperience,
and downright unsafe maintenance practices."
DynCorp has also been involved in spraying vast
quantities of herbicides over Columbia to kill the
cocaine crop. In September 2001 Ecuadorian Indians
filed a class action and charged that Dyncorp that was
contracted to carry out fumigation of illicit crops in
Colombia recklessly sprayed their homes and farms,
causing illnesses and deaths, and destroying crops.
<snip>
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