Private?

This is coolbert:

“Give us this day, our daily PKM!!” - - Bert.

Interesting article in the Chicago Tribune today. Concerns the private contractors hired out to provide “security” in Iraq.

“Hired guns are wild cards in Iraq war.”

The private contractors provide “security” for the employees of American companies working in Iraq. Companies such as Halliburton.

Private contractors such as Triple Canopy. A firm run by U.S. retired Special Forces officers. Hire Americans [ex-Marines, Special Operations types, etc.] to act as “guards”, providing “security”.

That term "Triple Canopy" in the Vietnam context refers to "the layered canopy jungle where some of the key founding members received their training; it also refers to the distinction among U.S. Army personnel of having earned all of the Ranger, Airborne, and Special Forces tabs."

Young men, ex-military, lured by outrageous salaries [$500 per day]. Work in civilian clothes, wearing body armor and carrying the M-4 rifle.

[that $500 per day is about what a nude female dancer at a Gentlemen’s Club would get also!]

[Triple Canopy also employs ex-military from the Fiji Islands. These “workers” get paid only $70 per day, even thought they run the same risks and perform the same duties as the American “guards”. Fijians have an excellent military reputation. From a warrior society and known for their military prowess!]

It seems that some of the “guards” are accused of trigger-happiness. Shooting their weapons mainly for the fun of doing so. Acting in a heavy-handed manner, reckless and wanton??!!

IT ALSO SEEMS THAT THESE “GUARDS” OPERATE IN A LEGALLY GREY AREA!! THERE IS NO LAW THAT APPLIES TO THEM!!??

“Private contractors were granted immunity from the Iraqi legal process in 2004 by Paul Bremer, then head of the Coalition Provisional Authority . . . More recently, the military and Congress have moved to establish guidelines for prosecuting contractors under U.S. law or the Uniform Code of Military Justice, but the issue remains unresolved.”

On the front page of the Tribune is a picture of one such Triple Canopy “guard”. Aiming A PKM MACHINE GUN AT SOME TARGET! THAT SAME PKM THAT HAS BECOME SO UBIQUITOUS!! THIS PARTICULAR PKM MOUNTS A BOX MAGAZINE PROBABLY CONTAINING A LOT OF ROUNDS. THESE “GUARDS” ARE LOADED FOR BEAR!!

There are about 20,000 “Hired Guns” working as private guards in Iraq!! Some sort of control is needed over them??


coolbert.