U.S. On the Path to Privatizing Iraq Effort

[babylonsister]

Today's Must Read
By Andrew Tilghman - June 2, 2008, 10:40AM



Could the U.S. ultimately end up privatizing it's entire mission in Iraq?

That's what the latest round of contracts the U.S. government plans to let out in the coming months might suggest.

As Walter Pincus reports in today's Washington Post, the new contracts underscore the non-military involvement the U.S. is undertaking as public pressure mounts to reduce troop numbers

One contract could essentially begin to privatize the process of training the Iraqi security forces by hiring "mentors" to do what the U.S. military has struggled unsuccessfully to do for the past five years.

The proposals reflect multiyear commitments. The mentor contract notes that the U.S. military "desires for both Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Defense to become mostly self-sufficient within two years," a time outside some proposals for U.S. combat troop withdrawal. ... The mentors will assist an U.S. military group that previously began to implement what are described as "core processes and systems," such as procurement, contracting, force development, management and budgeting, and public affairs.

On the civilian side, the Bush administration is looking for a team of contractors to establish a system of security and protection for the Iraq judicial system:

The marshals service would be organized by the State Department's bureau responsible for developing rule of law programs in Iraq. It "has plans to create an Iraqi service to be known as the Judicial Protection Service (JPS), modeled to some degree after the U.S. Marshals Service, that will ensure the safe conduct of judicial proceedings and protect judges, witnesses, court staff, and court facilities," a notice published last month said.

With a circular logic, the contractors for the court police will be primarily charged with setting up a system that can be run by contractors for the long term:

In short, State wants a contractor to put together all the elements so the department can contract the project to another contractor

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more...

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/06/could_the_us_ultimately_end.php

[madokie]

1. These war criminals needs to be stopped

[babylonsister]

2. Which criminals, the Blackwaters or this admin? So many criminals,

it's hard to keep track.