VirusHead

This is just one of the reasons you don’t hire private contractors to act like soldiers.

Are private security thugs just killing civilians for the fun of it?

Telegraph | News | ‘Trophy’ video exposes private security contractors shooting up Iraqi drivers

A “trophy” video appearing to show security guards in Baghdad randomly shooting Iraqi civilians has sparked two investigations after it was posted on the internet, the Sunday Telegraph can reveal.

The video has sparked concern that private security companies, which are not subject to any form of regulation either in Britain or in Iraq, could be responsible for the deaths of hundreds of innocent Iraqis.

The video, which first appeared on a website that has been linked unofficially to Aegis Defence Services, contained four separate clips, in which security guards open fire with automatic rifles at civilian cars. All of the shooting incidents apparently took place on “route Irish”, a road that links the airport to Baghdad.

I wonder if our military personnel also come home with “trophies” – cellphone photos, videos, photographs, tapes, ears…

Interesting that Tim Spicer is “investigating.”

The US Government and President Bush can ill afford the possibility of future scandals in particular where you have been forewarned that private security in Iraq is the responsibility of a company led by an individual who asserts that soldiers under his command and who commit murder should not be subject to the rule of law. This administration and the Government Accountability Office will not be in a position to plead ignorance to a future Congressional or Senate Committee should it find itself investigating allegations of human rights abuses by private security companies.

Perhaps someone else might head up this particular investigation?

Check out your state today…

State by State GOP Scandal Scorecard at WayneMadsenReport.com.

(Hat tip, Daily Kos)

Dutch Foreign Minister Ben Bot has warned the US government that if it continues to ‘hide’ over reports of secret prisons in eastern Europe, Dutch contributions to US-led military missions could be affected.

‘The US should stop hiding. It will all come out sooner or later,’ Bot told the Dutch parliament, according to ANP.

Bot added that the Americans ‘are on the borderline’ in their fight against terrorism. The minister would not say at what point the Netherlands might end their cooperation with the US.

In Afghanistan, filmmaker Jamie Doran has uncovered evidence of a massacre: Taliban prisoners of war – having already surendered – suffocated in containers, shot in the desert under the watch of American troops. The film has been broadcast on national television in countries all over the world and has been screened by the European parliament. Human rights lawyers are calling for investigation into whether U.S. forces are guilty of war crimes.

Afghan Massacre: The Convey of Death can be viewed at

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3267.htm

Former FEMA Director Michael Brown, heavily criticized for his agency’s slow response to Hurricane Katrina, is starting a disaster preparedness consulting firm to help clients avoid the sort of errors that cost him his job.