close
The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20101011091641/http://www.rawstory.com:80/rs/2010/10/contractors-taliban-iranian-spies/
RAW STORY IS:
CARBON BALANCED; ALL CARBON EMISSIONS ARE OFFSET!

US contractors hired Taliban warlords, Iranian spies to provide security: report

By Daniel Tencer
Thursday, October 7th, 2010 -- 8:31 pm

Contractors working for the Pentagon "funneled US taxpayer dollars to Afghan warlords and strongmen linked to murder, kidnapping, and bribery, as well as to Taliban and anti-coalition activities," says a congressional report released Thursday.

A year-long investigation into private contractors in Afghanistan, carried out by the Senate Armed Services Committee, found, among other things, a contractor that had two alleged Iranian spies on its payroll, and another contractor who hired two rival Taliban-linked warlords, only to see one kill the other in an ambush.

The report (PDF, 32MB), which looked at 125 defense contracts over three years, provides further evidence that the coalition war effort in Afghanistan may be becoming a lucrative source of financing for the very groups the coalition is fighting.

Claims that security contractors have been paying bribes to the Taliban have been around for the better part of the year. And this summer the New York Times reported on evidence of "all-out collusion" between some security contractors and Afghan insurgents.

One contractor on which the new congressional report focuses extensively is ArmorGroup, which the report alleges hired two rival warlords, one of them Taliban-linked, to guard the Shindand airbase in Herat province. ArmorGroup referred to the two warlords as "Mr. White" and "Mr. Pink," in reference to the violent criminal characters in Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs.

Story continues below...

Eventually, according to the report, "Mr. Pink" killed "Mr. White" in an ambush, and the contractor was forced to hire a replacement. That replacement, "Mr. White II," was found meeting with a Taliban leader during a coalition raid. Both "Mr. White II" and the Taliban commander were killed.

The report also states that contractor EOD Technology had at least one person on its payroll who was believed by US intelligence to be an agent of a "hostile foreign power."

Parts of the report dealing with this allegation are heavily blacked out, but it appears from the context that the country referred to was Iran, something that was confirmed by ABC News.

Speaking on background, unnamed congressional staffers told ABC that the contracting situation was so chaotic at times that "guards were not given weapons or were provided with defective weapons. ... In one case, a Marine lance corporal was killed by an Afghan insurgent who was employed as a private security contractor on a US military contract."

AmorGroup recently lost a lucrative partial contract to provide security to the US embassy in Kabul, presumably because of earlier allegations that the company had suffered a breakdown in the chain of command that led to "sexual predators and deviants" running "rampant" through Kabul.

But, as Spencer Ackerman notes at Wired, that contract went to EOD Technology, the company mentioned above as having possibly employed an Iranian agent.

“Our reliance on private security contractors in Afghanistan has too often empowered local warlords and powerbrokers who operate outside the Afghan government’s control and act against coalition interests,” Said Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) in a statement. “This situation threatens the security of our troops and puts the success of our mission at risk.”

Levin continued: “We need to shut off the spigot of US dollars flowing into the pockets of warlords and powerbrokers who act contrary to our interests and contribute to the corruption that weakens the support of the Afghan people for their government."

Levin noted that “this problem clearly has the attention of our commanders on the ground. When he was in command, General McChrystal told the committee that private security contractors are ‘just not right for a country that is growing law and order.’ And General Petraeus recently told the committee that our use of private security in Afghanistan should be limited to ‘legal, licensed and controlled’ contractors."

View Comments to “US contractors hired Taliban warlords, Iranian spies to provide security: report”

  1. 1Anonymous

    gotta keep the wars going somehow!…


  2. 2Anonymous

    Levin continued: “We need to shut off the spigot of US dollars flowing into the pockets of warlords and powerbrokers who act contrary to our interests and contribute to the corruption that weakens the support of the Afghan people for their government.”

    In other words… Cut ALL spending in the region! (Although somehow I don’t think that’s what he meant…)


  3. 3PrissyPatriot

    Yeah, pack up our soldiers and get them outta there, NOW!


  4. 4Tweets that mention US contractors hired Taliban warlords, Iranian spies to provide security: report | Raw Story -- Topsy.com

    [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Rob, The Raw Story, Boston Review, 93.7 WBLK: T-Boogie, jah08 and others. jah08 said: RT @RawStory: US contractors hired Taliban warlords, Iranian spies to provide security: report http://bit.ly/aoQ7hj [...]


  5. 5Anonymous

    What a surprise: Capitalism+war= funding for the “enemy”


  6. 6Anonymous

    It’s not a good war unless you can fund both sides. War as entertainment. We should leave. The criminals sending good Americans to their graves should be tried and jailed.


  7. 7Knot

    This time Milo had gone too far. Bombing his own men and planes was more than even the most phlegmatic observer could stomach, and it looked like the end for him…Milo was all washed up until he opened his books to the public and disclosed the tremendous profit he had made.

    Catch-22

    Life could once again imitate art if Dubai banks allowed their books to be inspected.


  8. 8Anonymous

    Just more proof that Barack Obama is a madman.


  9. 9Anonymous

    yea and he was president in 2001 when this turkey shoot started? I just want it over asap and I am not happy about the surge, but the President said he was gonna do it when running for office. I am tired of the forget what happened under what president though. 9/11 happened while Bush43 was in office not when Clinton was President. The Iraq and Afghanistan wars were started under Bush43 not by Obama.


  10. 10Anonymous

    Business as usual!


  11. 11Anonymous

    That’s because the whole deal is rife with corruption. Shit can Karzi, disarm or crush the Taliban, find the honest leaders in Afghanistan, and bring Eric Prince and the other CEOs or whom ever in in charge of the private contractors and give them a trial and jail their asses. Its almost that simple.


  12. 12hauksdottir

    A licensed mercenary is still a mercenary. Hired gun. :ptui!:

    Each of these huge bases means thousands more mercenaries hired to guard them. Each offense against the occupied populace means they hate us more… and we need more security… and more mercenaries have jobs.

    The only way to stop the wars, the deaths, the torture, and the waste is if ONE SENATOR in Congress has the damned balls to put a HOLD on the defense spending bills if they contain money for these wars or for massive embassies and bases. If Demint and Coburn can put a secret hold on hundreds of bills, then why can’t we find a Senator who is tired of wars-for-profit? Someone who’ll put American interests first?

    We need those jobs HERE. We need that money here to create those jobs in infrastructure to keep our own country from falling apart… highways, gaslines, levees and waterpumps… and green technology… wind, sun, tides… and a decent modern electrical grid.

    Is it really patriotic to bankrupt our country to support yet another corrupt warlord? Or is it more patriotic to bring our soldiers home and rebuild America?


  13. 13H.P. Loathecraft

    And get the fuck out of the middle east entirely


  14. 14Anonymous

    Look guys, war is a ruthless business not a saintly charity service. There’s not a single large corporation in the world that’s operated on honest principle especially the military industrial complex. To stay in this business you gotta fan and fuel the fire of wars and this cannot be done unless you keep enemies in their place to maintain probable cause for continuation of wars:
    No enemies then no wars and no profits.

    Guess where we come into this picture? We are the fertilizers that fill the ceremoniously covered caskets.


  15. 15Anonymous

    This is raw capitalism in the finest of Republican traditions. Now Big Government Levin wants to take the freedom and profit out of free enterprise, just like Glen Beck sees happening all around us. Call Glenn Beck and report Big Government is interfering with contractor hiring choices, bringing in the Big Hand of Big Government forcing them to hire only ‘legal, licensed and controlled’ contractors.


  16. 16Anonymous

    Obama never said he was going to attempt to take the entire country by force. That’s just a lie fed to morons in hopes that the lies will be repeated in internet discussion forums.

    Obama is president. Bush cannot do anything to stop Obama. Do you realize how stupid you’ve become. Start thinking for yourself. You don’t have to die a simpleton.


  17. 17Anonymous

    The Talban are US agents, supported by US forces as well as its security irregulars as well saudie as well as Pakistanian government, from day one of their creation until now. The TOTAL US STANCE IS ANTI SHIITE/ANTI IRAN.

    BUT IT WILL BACKFIRE, IT IS JUST MATTER OF TIME!


  18. 18H.P. Loathecraft

    Levin noted that “this problem clearly has the attention of our commanders on the ground. When he was in command, General McChrystal told the committee that private security contractors are ‘just not right for a country that is growing law and order.’ And General Petraeus recently told the committee that our use of private security in Afghanistan should be limited to ‘legal, licensed and controlled’ contractors.”

    So if we are to believe that the military brass are not the driving force behind using contractors in place of government troops, then who exactly is?


  19. 19Anonymous

    Yeah, it’s simple alright. All except for that “find the honest leaders in Afghanistan” part. That is not the American colonialist way, even if such “honest leaders” existed in Afghanistan and nothing in recent history indicates they do. The American way in such conflicts has always been to find an American educated ex-patriot to head a government that is democratic in name only and is supported by taxpayer funded fraud and American military might. Afghanistan is Vietnam redux!


  20. 20Anonymous

    This should not come as a shock to anyone. Of course the Taliban is going to be supported by us, the occupying force. If they weren’t being helped by the Black Ops of the CIA and the thinly veiled CIA front, the ISI of Pakistan than we would have absolutely decimated them already. The U.S. military vs. The Taliban should be like a shark fighting a baby. We sold the “enemy” most of the weapons they are using to fight us right now!

    The only goal of our government is to keep the guise of terrorism alive and well so it can systematically snatch away every single one of our liberties until there is a camera on every corner and a microphone in every room.


  21. 21Satish Chandra

    I am India’s expert in strategic defence and the father of India’s strategic program, including the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program. The U.S. invasion of Afghanistan means the coast-to-coast destruction of the U.S. by India; see my blog titled ‘Nuclear Supremacy For India Over U.S.’ which can be found by a Yahoo search with the title.
    Russia and the U.S. are allies.


  22. 22Gang Stalking World » US contractors hired Taliban warlords, Iranian spies to provide security: report

    [...] US contractors hired Taliban warlords, Iranian spies to provide security: report By Daniel Tencer 10-08-2010 [...]


  23. 23links for 2010-10-08 « Silent Lucidity

    [...] US contractors hired Taliban warlords, Iranian spies to provide security: report | Raw Story RT @RawStory: US contractors hired Taliban warlords, Iranian spies to provide security: report http://bit.ly/aoQ7hj [...]


  24. 24links for 2010-10-09 « Silent Lucidity

    [...] US contractors hired Taliban warlords, Iranian spies to provide security: report | Raw Story RT @RawStory: US contractors hired Taliban warlords, Iranian spies to provide security: report http://bit.ly/aoQ7hj [...]


  25. 25links for 2010-10-10 « Silent Lucidity

    [...] US contractors hired Taliban warlords, Iranian spies to provide security: report | Raw Story RT @RawStory: US contractors hired Taliban warlords, Iranian spies to provide security: report http://bit.ly/aoQ7hj [...]


Leave a Reply

blog comments powered by Disqus