Mercenaries Circling Haiti: "I Want to Kill Somebody Today
... Because I Am Going on Vacation Tomorrow"
7 March 2010By Bill Quigley
On March 9 and 10, there will be a Haiti conference in
Miami for private military and security companies to
showcase their services to governments and
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working in the
earthquake devastated country.
On their website for the Haiti conference, the trade
group IPOA (ironically called the International Peace
Operations Association until recently) lists eleven
companies advertising security services explicitly for
Haiti. Even though guns are illegal to buy or sell in
Haiti, many companies brag of their heavy duty
military experience.
Triple Canopy, a private military company with
extensive security operations in Iraq and Israel, is
advertising for business in Haiti. According to human
rights activist and investigative reporter Jeremy
Scahill, Triple Canopy took over the Xe/Blackwater
security contract in Iraq in 2009. Scahill reports on
a number of bloody incidents involving Triple Canopy
including one where a team leader told his group, “I
want to kill somebody today…because I am going on
vacation tomorrow.”
Another company seeking work is EODT Technology which
promises in its ad that its personnel are licensed to
carry weapons in Haiti. EODT has worked in Afghanistan
since 2004 and provides security for the Canadian
Embassy in South Africa. On their website they promise
a wide range of security services including force
protection, guard services, port security,
surveillance, and counter IED response services.
A retired CIA special operations officer founded
another company, Overseas Security & Strategic
Information, also advertising with IPOA for security
business in Haiti. The company website says they have
a “cadre of US personnel” who served in Special
Forces, Delta Force and SEALS and they state many of
their security personnel are former South African
military and police.
Patrick Elie, the former Minister of Defence in Haiti,
told Anthony Fenton of the Inter Press Service that
“these guys are like vultures coming to grab the loot
over this disaster, and probably money that might have
been injected into the Haitian economy is just going
to be grabbed by these companies and I’m sure they are
not the only these mercenary companies but also other
companies like Haliburton or these other ones that
always come on the heels of the troops.”
Naomi Klein, world renowned author of THE SHOCK
DOCTRINE, has criticized the militarization of the
response to the earthquake and the presence of
“disaster capitalists” swooping into Haiti. The high
priority placed on security by the U.S. and NGOs is
wrong, she told Newsweek. “Aid should be prioritized
over security. Any aid agency that’s afraid of
Haitians should get out of Haiti.”
Security is a necessity for the development of human
rights. But outsourcing security to private military
contractors has not proven beneficial in the U.S. or
any other country. Recently, U.S. Representative Jan
Schakowsky (IL) and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (VT)
introduced bills titled “Stop Outsourcing Security” to
phase out private military contractors in response to
the many reports of waste, fraud and human rights
abuse.
Human rights organizations have long challenged the
growth in private security contractors in part because
governments have failed to establish effective systems
for requiring them to be transparent and for holding
them accountable.
It is challenging enough to hold government
accountable. The privatization of a public service
like security gives government protection to private
corporations which are also difficult to hold
accountable. The combination is doubly difficult to
regulate
The U.S. has prosecuted hardly any of the human rights
abuses reported against private military contractors.
Amnesty International has reviewed the code of conduct
adopted by the IPOA and found it inadequate in which
compliance with international human rights standards
are not adequately addressed.
This is yet another example of what the world saw
after Katrina. Private security forces, including
Blackwater, also descended on the U.S. gulf coast
after Katrina grabbing millions of dollars in
contracts.
Contractors like these soak up much needed money which
could instead go for job creation or humanitarian and
rebuilding assistance. Haiti certainly does not need
this kind of U.S. business.
In a final bit of irony, the IPOA, according to the
Institute for Southern Studies, promises that all
profits from the event will be donated to the
Clinton-Bush Haiti relief fund.
Bill Quigley is legal director at the Center for
Constitutional rights and a long time human rights
advocate. This article was written with the assistance
of Vladimir Laguerre in Port au Prince. You can
contact Bill at:
quigley77@gmail.com.
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