Unaccountable: Private Military
Contractor Abuses - Widespread PMC Abuses
28 December 2011By Stephen Lendman
Wherever they're deployed, they're menacing and feared
for good reason. Known historically by various names,
they include mercenaries, soldiers of fortune, dogs of
war, and Condottieri for wealthy city state leaders
and the Papacy in the late Middle Ages and Renaissance
Italy.
Ancient Greeks and Romans used them. So did Alexander
the Great, feudal lords, Napoleon and George
Washington against the British.
Article 47 of the 1977 Protocol I to the Geneva
Conventions calls them anyone:
- specially recruited locally or abroad to fight
in armed conflicts;
- directly participating in hostilities:
- doing so for greater private gain than
conscripted or otherwise recruited combatants;
- acting unaffiliated to conflict parties and not
a resident of territory where they're waged;
- not an armed forces member of either side; and
- not sent by a nation unrelated to hostilities as
a member of its armed forces.
During the 1990s, America privatized military
functions to let mercenaries serve in place of
conventional forces. They're used tactically as
combatants, for training, advice, personal security,
technical expertise, intelligence gathering, weapons
systems management, transportation, and other
non-combatant functions.
In May 2011, the Congressional Research Service (CRS)
said as of March 2011, the Defense Department (DOD)
"had more contractor personnel in Afghanistan and Iraq
(155,000) than uniformed personnel (145,000)."
In 2010, an estimated 260,000 of all types were used
globally, including by the State Department and USAID.
Some analysts call DOD figures understated. The
General Accounting Office (GOA) says they're
approximations at best and shouldn't be used for
precise analysis. DOD acknowledges data shortcomings,
including costs. Estimates exceed $300 billion
annually.
Given black budgets and enormous amounts of waste,
fraud, and abuse, precise figures are hard to verify.
A recent joint congressional investigation estimated
around $60 billion. Misappropriations, corruption, and
other forms of malfeasance may, in fact, be much
greater.
Since the 1990s, as troop levels fell, PMCs increased.
From 2000 - 2005, DOD spending doubled from around
$134 billion to $270 billion. In war theaters, the
ratio of PMCs to troops escalated dramatically. In the
1991 Gulf War, it was one to 50. For the 1999
Yugoslavia conflict, it was one for every 10, and by
the 2003 Iraq War, PMCs comprised the second largest
force after the US military.
They've also been used in numerous civil wars globally
in nations like Angola, Sierra Leone, the Balkans
throughout the 1990s, Papua New Guinea, and elsewhere.
From 1990 - 2000, they participated in 80 conflicts,
compared to 15 from 1950 - 1989.
Widespread PMC Abuses
In April 2011, the University of Illinois Law Review
published a study titled, "The Absence of Justice:
Private Military Contractors, Sexual Assault, and the
US Government's Policy of Indifference."
In Iraq alone, mercenaries like Blackwater (renamed Xe,
then Academi to disguise its scoundrel history),
DynCorp, CACI, Titan, and others operate unaccountably
off the congressional radar.
Many know about Abu Ghraib torture and abuse. Some
recall Blackwater's Nisour Square rampage, murdering
17 Iraqis in cold blood. Prosecutions never follow.
Nor when other appalling crimes are committed,
including sexual abuse and human trafficking.
In 1999, DynCorp employees were accused of "buying and
keeping women and girls as young as twelve years old
in sexual slavery in Bosnia." Most shocking is that no
one was held accountable. In fact, the company got a
new $250 million contract to train Iraqi police -
notably after whistleblower employees were fired.
PMC accountability is lacking. Liability depends
largely on laws where crimes are committed, but mainly
on agreements between Washington and host nations. If
committed today in war zones, sanctions alone might
follow, not prosecutions.
Liability for these crimes "should extend beyond the
individual perpetrator to the US government itself."
Notably, in all conflict and occupation zones, "women
have been treated as spoils of war...." Reports
regularly surface about peacekeeper abuses, including
mass rapes, sex trafficking, murders and other crimes.
Though common wherever Blue Helmets are deployed,
immunity comes with them.
Instead of restoring order, maintaining peace and
security, upholding rule of law principles,
facilitating reconstruction and development, providing
essential needs, they terrorize populations with
impunity.
They have power. Occupied people don't. Who'll stop
them no matter what they do. The same holds for PMCs
everywhere. Their personnel had military training.
They're taught to view women as the enemy "other" to
be conquered, subdued and abused.
Currently, they operate in over 50 countries globally,
including Haiti, Bosnia, Kosovo, Kuwait, Somalia,
Pakistan, Libya, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq.
A misogyny culture accompanies their arrival.
"Research suggests that military culture"
indoctrinates abusive "views of women and sexuality."
Intractable problems are created, including immunity
for horrendous crimes.
Around one-third of female veterans from Vietnam
through the 1991 Gulf War reported being raped. "A
1995 study of female veterans reported that ninety
percent had been sexually harassed...."
Notably, over 90% of sexual assaults aren't reported
because commanders aren't sympathetic and women worry
about reprisals.
Occupied populations are especially vulnerable. Sex
crimes committed by US military personnel and PMCs are
commonplace. Evidence includes "acts causing bodily
harm using unlawful force as well as sexual offenses
including, but no limited to rape, sodomy and indecent
assault."
The 2009 Franken Amendment followed evidence of rape
and other sexual abuse committed by male PMCs against
female co-workers. It prohibits DOD from doing
business with firms requiring employees to sign
arbitration agreements for certain claims, including
rape, assault and other forms of harassment.
Enforcement it's another matter as authorities turn a
blind eye to horrendous abuses. Justice rarely
followers. Perpetrators operate with impunity.
For example, the US Army US Army Field Manual (FM)
27-10 incorporates the Nuremberg Charter, Judgment and
Principles, as well as The Law of Land Warfare (1956).
Rules of engagement (ROE) are explicit.
FM's paragraph 498 says any person, military or
civilian, who commits a crime under international law
is responsible for it and may be punished.
Paragraph 499 defines a war crime. Paragraph 500
refers to a conspiracy, attempts to commit it and
complicity with respect to international crimes.
Paragraph 509 denies the defense of superior orders in
the commission of a crime, and paragraph 510 denies
the defense of an "act of state" absolving them.
Two points are key:
These provisions apply to all US military and civilian
personnel, including top commanders, the Secretary of
Defense, his subordinates, and the President and Vice
President of the United States.
Moreover, under the Constitution's Supremacy Clause
(Article VI, paragraph 2), all international laws and
treaties are the "supreme Law of the Land."
Nonetheless, Iraq commanders gave orders to kill all
military age males. Stjepan Mestovic documented Col.
Michale Steele's involvement in his book titled, "The
'Good Soldier' On Trial: A Sociological Study of
Misconduct by the US Military Pertaining to Operation
Iron Triangle, Iraq."
He also exposed how low-ranking troops are sacrificed
to absolve higher-ups. In addition, ROE provisions and
rule of law principles are one thing, enforcement
another.
Notably, "PMCs are in a unique position to exploit the
vulnerabilities of women because (they operate) in
post-conflict environments." Moreover, studies show
that "histories of sexual violence are key indicators
of future victimization."
For example, Bosnian and Kosovo women suffered during
war. PMCs then treated them as exploitable sex
objects. Yet they're immune from suits unless crimes
occurred in war zones or on US military or government
installations.
In 2006, Defense Federal Acquisition Regulations
implemented the 2000 Trafficking Victims Protection
Act (TVPA). It requires PMCs develop policies ensuring
against sexual abuse and human trafficking.
In 2002, zero tolerance became DOD policy for military
personnel. Amending TVPA followed to include PMCs.
However, laws produced no accountability. PMCs became
self-enforcing.
DynCorp abuses showed they don't comply with mandates.
Only whistleblowers were fired. The company's $2
billion in DOD contracts stayed in force.
Numerous UN reports on Blue Helmet abuses show "zero
compliance with zero tolerance." It's also true for
PMCs nearly always and military personnel nearly as
often.
Moreover, at issue is applying US laws abroad.
Although limited ways allow it, follow through rarely
happens.
Notably, the Special Maritime and Territorial
Jurisdiction Act (SMTJA) applies for crimes committed
on certain type military and government facilities
abroad, including sexual ones by or against US
nationals. However, loopholes let PMCs escape
accountability. In addition, many of their employees
aren't US citizens or residents.
One time only SMTJA successfully prosecuted a CIA
contractor for beating an Afghan detainee to death.
The 2000 Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act (MEJA)
authorizes domestic prosecutions of DOD contractors
under US criminal law. It applies to overseas crimes
considered a felony in America. Again, using it is
rare. In fact, only one successful prosecution
resulted. It involved a contractor guilty of child
pornography possession in 2007, hardly a capital or
violent crime offense.
America's Status of Forces Agreements (SOFAs) are key.
The DOD's Defense Technical Information Center calls
them "an agreement that defines the legal position of
a visiting military force in the territory of a
friendly state."
In his book titled, "Sorrows of Empire," Chalmers
Johnson called America's "foreign military enclaves
(micro-colonies) in that they are completely beyond
the jurisdiction of the occupied nation."
As a result, military personnel and PMCs are
protected. Moreover, if crimes are too egregious to
ignore, companies or Pentagon officials can repatriate
perpetrators to escape accountability.
Universally applicable human rights laws are also
ignored, including the Convention on the Elimination
of all Forms of Discrimination against women (CEDAW).
Called an international women's bill of rights, it
took effect in September 1981. However, America never
signed it.
It prohibits gender-based violence, including rape
called a form of torture and crime against humanity.
Even DOD admits that rape is considered "perhaps the
most traumatic of violent of crimes on victims
(excluding murder)."
However, America "sought to ensure PMC immunity from
prosecution under international law, rather than
imposing obligations on them." Laws and rules are one
thing, enforcement another. Washington wants its
troops and contractors operating with impunity.
Truth and bad journalism are the first casualties of
war. So is accountability when America wages them.
A Final Comment
The University of Illinois Law Review said PMCs are "a
convenient way for the US government to evade its
legal obligations, including the responsibility to
protect the human rights of civilians in war and
peace, by allowing private individuals, rather than
official state actors, to perform services on behalf
of the US military."
As a result, murder, sexual abuse, human trafficking,
and other crimes go unpunished. Women especially are
affected. Political Washington, Pentagon commanders,
and intelligence operatives ignore rule of law
principles. Only wealth, power, and full spectrum
dominance matter.
Given their might, viciousness and influence, who'll
challenge them? Only mass public outrage has a chance.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached
at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog
site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to
cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on
the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive
Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and
Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are
archived for easy listening.
http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.
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