More on another limb of the Hydras. “Iraq this time around is not going to be as big as it was before,” said Roger Carstens, a former special operations officer who has served as a contracted military adviser in Somalia and Afghanistan. “That said, this new war will present an opportunity for the companies that have a resident train and advising capability to contribute to this new effort.” In 2008 there were 242,558 contractors working in the countries for U.S. Central Command, the area that includes Iraq and Afghanistan as well as Somalia, Pakistan and Yemen, three countries where the United States has helped train local forces and conducted air strikes, according to the Pentagon’s official estimate. That was during the height of the last round of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. By this July, that number had shrunk to 66,123, according to the Pentagon’s latest estimate of military contractors working in the countries covered by Central Command, with only 14,634 contractors operating outside of Afghanistan. “They are looking for the next big meal ticket and this could be it,” said Sean McFate, a former military contractor for Dyncorp and the author of The Modern Mercenary: Private Armies and What They Mean for World Order. “The things they will provide are logistical support, training or retraining security forces.” Defence companies spent almost $100 million bribing the US senate in their own disclosure forms in 2010, (The companies, including Northrop Grumman Corp. and General Dynamics Corp., spent $87.2 million in 2013, an increase over the $85.3 million they spent a year earlier, Senate records show. Despite the larger number, just four of the 10 individual companies reported spending more in 2013 than 2012 - Bloomberg), looks like theyre about to get a return on their investment.
Posted on: Mon, 15 Sep 2014 14:23:38 +0000
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