It is estimated that about ninety percent of street-level governmental operations are actually “outsourced” to private corporations. This means that private business is literally taking the place of government. The problem is that the private corporations who win government contracts are primarily anti-union, undemocratic, and completely resistant to public scrutiny.
The result is that in places like Colombia government “contractors” are acting as corporate surrogates for the military and US law enforcement. They are mercenaries who carry out American interdiction efforts without the restrictions and constraints which would be placed on US Armed forces. From an article at globalexchange.org:
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“In the old days, the British maintained that because the pirate ships did not fly the English flag, the Crown was not responsible for their actions. While the new privateers are underwritten through U.S. taxes, they are technically “contract employees.” Like the sixteenth century pirates, if they get caught in an embarrassing crime, or are killed, the U.S. government can deny responsibility for their actions. What’s more only a select few in Congress know of their activities and their operations are not subject to public scrutiny, despite the fact that they are on the government payroll. …
What is new is that now contract employees are in the forefront of operations. In the Colombian war, private outsourced military men are out on the frontlines, while the real U.S. troops are hidden on bases as trainers. The exact number of contract employees in Colombia is not known. A recent State Department report states that there are only 200 U.S. military soldiers and about 170 American contractors working in Colombia. Historically, official counts of U.S. personnel and contractors tend to be underestimated in counter-insurgency operations. ”
One of the largest government contractors, DynCorp, has been on the front lines of the so-called ‘war on drugs’ in Central and South America. Their main business is spraying herbicides over Colombia in an attempt to destroy the coca harvest. While government contracts account for 98% of DynCorp’s business they operate as a private army with minimal accountability. It is troubling how the use of private contractors is used to maintain secrecy about operations which are completely funded by the American public.
DynCorp is tight lipped when it comes to its clients. Company spokesperson Janet Wineriter refused to comment on the company’s overseas operations. Nor will the State Department make on-the-record statements about DynCorp’s operations. Company paramedic Michael Demons apparently recently died of a heart attack on a Colombian military base and the U.S. Embassy in Bogotá attempted to keep his death secret. Because Demons was not a military officer and didn’t work directly for the U.S. government, there was no official report and his death was treated as if he were a tourist. DynCorp has also lost three pilots in action. None of these deaths were reported in the news media.
DynCorp has recently had some public relations trouble in Bosnia. A lawsuit has been brought against DynCorp and several employees for buying and selling 12-15 year old girls in an international sex-slave trade. It’s your tax dollars at work.
“None of the girls,” continues Johnston, “were from Bosnia. They were from Russia, Romania and other places, and they were imported in by DynCorp and the Serbian mafia. These guys would say ‘I gotta go to Serbia this weekend to pick up three girls.’ They talk about it and brag about how much they pay for them — usually between $600 and $800. In fact, there was this one guy who had to be 60 years old who had a girl who couldn’t have been 14. DynCorp leadership was 100 percent in bed with the mafia over there. I didn’t get any results from talking to DynCorp officials, so I went to Army CID and I drove around with them, pointing out everyone’s houses who owned women and weapons.”
Additional resources on DynCorp and other contractors:
- The Whores of War A good source for information on US financed mercenaries
- Are they civilians or mercenaries? from Colombia Report
- DynCorp: Beyond the Rule of Law
- U.S. Mercenaries in Colombia
- State Outsources Secret War from The Nation
- DynCorp From Kosovo to Peru from Narconews
- Excerpts from the DynCorp-State Department Contract
- Bush’s Janissaries “Look for yet deeper involvement in the quagmire of South American drug politics. Quoting Robert Zoellick, Bush’s trade representative, the U.S. “cannot continue to make a false distinction between counterinsurgency and counternarcotics efforts.” However, expect to see the dollars funneled into DynCorp and similar companies mushroom, since they provide such excellent political cover for military adventurism. “