Howard is the very most firstiest!

 

Woot!!  

A Media Mystery
Private Security Companies in Iraq - A PEJ Study
June 21, 2007

Exactly how many Americans are serving in Iraq and what they are doing there might not seem like complicated questions. Stories in the media regularly talk about the 150,000 U.S. military personnel in the Iraq theater. Coverage of events inside Iraq, which includes the actions of U.S. troops there, was the third-biggest news story in the American media for the first quarter of 2007, according to PEJ research.

But those numbers do not include some 30,000 employees of U.S. and European-based Private Security Companies (PSCs), who work in some of Iraq’s most dangerous areas.

These PSC employees are not like other contractors in Iraq. Many of them carry weapons and are hired to protect important people, facilities and convoys. They have been involved in firefights and scores of them, the exact number is unclear, have perished. Yet there are many basic unanswered questions about these armed forces, which add by 20% the number of foreign troops in the country.

http://www.journalism.org/node/6153

Dean is first.

Private Contractors Mercenaries Outnumber US Troops in Iraq

The number of U.S.-paid private contractors in Iraq now exceeds that of American combat troops, newly released figures show, raising fresh questions about the privatization of the war effort and the government’s capacity to carry out military and rebuilding campaigns.

More than 180,000 civilians - including Americans, foreigners and Iraqis - are working in Iraq under U.S. contracts, according to State and Defense department figures obtained by the Los Angeles Times.......

But there are also signs that even those mounting numbers may not capture the full picture. Private security contractors, who are hired to protect government officials and buildings, were not fully counted in the survey, according to industry and government officials.

Continuing uncertainty over the numbers of armed contractors drew special criticism from military experts.

“We don’t have control of all the coalition guns in Iraq. That’s dangerous for our country,” said William Nash, a retired Army general and reconstruction expert. The Pentagon “is hiring guns. You can rationalize it all you want, but that’s obscene.”

Contractors in Iraq

There are more U.S.-paid private contractors than there are American combat troops in Iraq.

Contractors: 180,000

U.S. troops: 160,000

–

Nationality of contractors*

118,000 Iraqis

43,000 non-U.S. foreigners

21,000 Americans

 

 

Sitka wrote "It would be easy and just as reliable to say the opposite of what [Tomasky] said and make as much sense."

I really don't agree.  In his somewhat lengthy review, Tomasky made the argument that Gore was originally an accidental politician and ran for office more because of his father than from any natural inclination or instinct. 

He recounts some of the serious missteps of Gore's relatively lame 1988 presidential campaign as anecdotal evidence of Gore's political aspirations in spite of himself.  Anyone can disagree, but I'd prefer it if the disagreement was based on the argument presented if it's to have any persuasive quality.

Tomasky states at least  couple things that I have thought were apparent for some time, including: 1) If Obama or Edwards represented a significant counterweight to a Clinton candidacy, Gore would not be interested in entering the fray and 2) Gore has proven that he can have considerable political influence on issues of importance to him while acting outside of the political arena.

There's other reasons to suggest that Gore won't run but, having said that, I'm not discounting the possibility whatsoever.

PLEASE HELP KESH WITH THIS VERY IMPORTANT CALL IN.

CALL THOSE TARGETED SENATORS AND YOURS ALSO.

Kesh, Jim Dean, Rachel Rifkin, myself and Wayne went and talked to Jim Webb in June and he is going to support the bill.

Puleaz help Kesh our and call.

72. Joan*In*Florida

I believe Joe is going to try to put an amendment to the Defense Bill being debated in the Senate that will endorse the partitioning of Iraq. That's fine as long as the U.S. doesn't try and force the issue. It is not our business anymore...

===============
Force was never part of the plan, but Biden corrected Chris Wallace several times in his interview about the word "PARTITION"..

-------------

WALLACE: Senator, let's talk about this idea of partition, because that is your central idea for Iraq, to...

BIDEN: NOT PARTITION [caps are mine].

WALLACE: Well, let me...

BIDEN: NOT PARTITION. You keep saying that. It's NOT PARTITION. Kissinger's not talking about partition. I'm not talking about partition. Gelb's not talking about it.

It's regions within a whole government, with a defined border, with a central government distributing resources and protecting the borders. That's what it is.

WALLACE: Okay.

BIDEN: NOT PARTITION.

WALLACE: So to have regional governments with a...

BIDEN: Yes.

WALLACE: ... and divide it, though, along ethnic-sectarian lines — the Kurds, the Shia, the Sunnis...

BIDEN: Right.

WALLACE: ... with a limited central government to do things like share oil...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,2969...

4.Tom Bearse <> It's just speculation based on cherry-picked "evidence." And I'd say the same thing if someone posted an article which said Gore will run based on reading different tea leaves.

Joan

What Iraq needs is a Democracy in which the three [ethnic]States have something like our Senate where every State has two Senators, regardless of size and population. There needs to be a way for the three States to have an equal power aside from the majority rule of the popular vote.

I don't think the Biden plan addresses that specifically, but I think a broad coalition of regional powers, the UN, and Iraq will find that kind of solution.

Sitka wrote "It's just speculation based on cherry-picked 'evidence.' And I'd say the same thing if someone posted an article which said Gore will run based on reading different tea leaves."

It may well be, but it's an argument based on evidence.  That's really all I'm looking for either way.

3. Sitka

==========
There is a big difference between mercenaries and employees. Mercenaries are hired soldiers. The common workers employed by U.S. contractors are probably happy to make a buck to feed their families, and putting their lives at risk as well.

We don't have to have an army occupying Iraq to have foreign employers there.

Maybe Mukasy is not so benign at least to civil libertarians? (found at CSPAN):

Jose Padilla Makes Bad Law
Terror trials hurt the nation even when they lead to convictions.

BY MICHAEL B. MUKASEY
Wednesday, August 22, 2007 12:01 a.m.

http://www.opinionjournal.com/forms/prin...

The history of Padilla's case helps illustrate in miniature the inadequacy of the current approach to terrorism prosecutions.
First, consider the overall record. Despite the growing threat from al Qaeda and its affiliates--beginning with the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and continuing through later plots including inter alia the conspiracy to blow up airliners over the Pacific in 1994, the attack on the American barracks at Khobar Towers in 1996, the bombing of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, the bombing of the Cole in Aden in 2000, and the attack on Sept. 11, 2001--criminal prosecutions have yielded about three dozen convictions, and even those have strained the financial and security resources of the federal courts near to the limit.

Second, consider that such prosecutions risk disclosure to our enemies of methods and sources of intelligence that can then be neutralized. Disclosure not only puts our secrets at risk, but also discourages allies abroad from sharing information with us lest it wind up in hostile hands.

And third, consider the distortions that arise from applying to national security cases generally the rules that apply to ordinary criminal cases.

also

Mr. Mukasey was the district judge who signed the material witness warrant authorizing Jose Padilla's arrest in 2002, and who handled the case while it remained in the Southern District of New York.

It may well be, but it's an argument based on evidence.

"Evidence?" I wonder if Gore has gotten the mem.

There is a big difference between mercenaries and employees. Mercenaries are hired soldiers.

Give people guns and a paychecks and operate them outside the law and they're mercenaries -- or gangsters.

You know anyone Bush wants for AG is for disappearing people and torture. That's a given.

The parties are blurring the words of war and peace.    It is hard to tell them apart sometimes.   They both sound so hawkish on Iran that it scares me that we are getting the truth from no one.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/1506

If you missed this post by Stan Goff at Huffington Post,  go read it.    Very insightful.

Ping and Pong: You are the Ball

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stan-goff/ping-pong-you-are-the-_b_64533.html

"What do all of these things together leave unsaid?

The intentional bewilderment of the population and the mystification of reality that accomplishes that bewilderment are like a plant in a garden. Ten percent of the mystification resides in the seed, in what is things-said-directly. 90 percent of the mystification resides in the composition of the soil, the analog being what remains unsaid.

What goes unsaid is that there are two parties of the dominators that play bad-cop/good-cop with all of us. One is the Ping Party, and the other is the Pong Party, and we are the ball, batted back and forth perennially. When the population just begins to become radicalized, as it is doing in the face of this criminal war that has exposed so much of the system itself, threatening to bounce off the table so to speak, the Pong Party will reach way out to the side to keep the ball in play. They will allow Matthews and Olbermann to say the things that got Donahue canned four years ago by the same network, MSNBC; and Joe Biden will come aboard as the fine Pong Party method actor he is, reflecting our frustration and our grief and our anger back to us, and make soothing noises that leave so much unsaid, and tap us back across the net."

I'd guess Biden would be acceptable to a large segment of the powers that be.

Sitka wrote "'Evidence?' I wonder if Gore has gotten the mem[o]."

I described it as anecdotal, but it's a recitation of facts drawn from Gore's history. 

It's not isolated speculation as you noted yourself.  In an even lengthier, earlier analysis, John Heilemann wrote in New York Magazine:

"Gore’s ambivalence about politics is as genuine as anything about him. And, in the end, it might keep him out of the hunt in 2008—that and the appeal of the novel role that he’s carving out for himself in public life. The Democratic Party is in dire need of elder statesmen, not to mention truth-tellers, and Gore could provide a valuable service by filling both those voids. And the planet is certainly in need of saving, a cause to which his commitment is evident.

"When I ask Gore whether that commitment—and his views about the imminence of environmental calamity unless the U.S. changes its policies—obligates him to seek the White House, he says, 'I don’t dispute that a president can make a huge difference. So I feel what you’re saying there. But it’s not the end of the conversation, because what we need more than that is a change in the political conversation in America. In both parties. We need to breathe life back into American democracy. I think I’m making a contribution by speaking my heart as clearly and as boldly as I know how.'”

BIDEN: NOT PARTITION

WALLACE: ... and divide it, though, along ethnic-sectarian lines — the Kurds, the Shia, the Sunnis...

BIDEN: Right.

Somebody who loves Biden should give him a dictionary........ 

par·ti·tion  

1.a division into or distribution in portions or shares.

 

9.

Fred,

This is from the a National Security calendar email I receive. There are about 20 amendments suggested as possible on the Defense Bill being debated now. They refer to the Biden amendment, as you can see, as "endorsing a partition in Iraq. Perhaps Biden does not refer to it as a partition, I don't know.

POTENTIAL SENATE IRAQ AMENDMENTS THIS WEEK OR NEXT
 

= Biden (D-DE) amendment endorsing a partition in Iraq.

IMO Iraq will never in our lifetime be a democracy as we know it.

 

I'd guess Biden would be acceptable to a large segment of the powers that be.

Except for Kucinich and Gravel, aren't they all? After all, they've served the powers that be for their entire political careers.

13. Sitka

Give people guns and a paychecks and operate them outside the law and they're mercenaries -- or gangsters.

===========

You are confusing fact and your own opinion.

There is no breakdown of how many of these 118,000 are security workers, in fact the articles implies many of them were not counted.

Private security workers do not need to operate "outside the law," by definition, whether they are indigenous Iraqis are not.

It doesn't help our case to get out of Iraq when we spin the facts and obfuscate the reality. All it does is make us look like desperate propagadists in the eyes of independents and moderate Republicans on-the-fence, who will vote against us.

But thanks for the link

16. Tom Bearse

I find discussion of "should Gore run," or "when should Gore should run," interesting. But speculating on whether he'll run is a real bore. Who can possibly know but him?

But carry alone on if you wish! 

15.

You know anyone Bush wants for AG is for disappearing people and torture. That's a given.

Plus a whole lot more illegal, unconstitutional committments.

It is disappointing to hear Schumer and other Dems piling on the compliments to the latest of Bush's  catastrophic nominations of all sorts.

This guy, Mukasey, will no doubt be no different, but probably an improvement over what we have just seen. Schumer says he will be,if confirmed, a Rule of Law AG. We'll see about that.

It doesn't help our case to get out of Iraq when we spin the facts and obfuscate the reality

The only person obfuscating is FRED. For some reason he always rushes to the defense of Bush's policies -- or proposals similar to them --  in one way or another. 

Except for Kucinich and Gravel, aren't they all? After all, they've served the powers that be for their entire political careers.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Edwards is a maverick that quit their game. I'm sure the comfort level isn't as great with him.

 Schumer says he will be,if confirmed, a Rule of Law AG. We'll see about that.

~~~~~~~~~~

Joan

I'd feel better if they pinned him down under oath at the confirmation hearings on habeus corpus, warrantless spying, and due process issues.

You know Bush wouldn't appoint someone who would challenge the signing statements or unitary executive theory, so at least let's fight for the head Law Officer to be a man that respects the Constitution enough to swear to it under questioning.

Sitka, from your link.

The number of private security contractors in Iraq remains unclear, despite Central Command’s latest census. The Times identified 21 security companies in the Central Command database, deploying 10,800 men.

However, the Defense Department’s Motsek, who monitors contractors, said the Pentagon estimated the total was 6,000.

Both figures are far below the private security industry’s own estimate of about 30,000 private security contractors working for government agencies, nonprofit organizations, media outlets and businesses.

Edwards is a maverick that quit their game.

He's an opportunist who blows with the wind. When it blew in the direction of the DLC, corporatism, and war, he blew that way too. Now he knows he can't beat Hillary at that game so he blows with populism.

No thanks. 

Just found this on KOS and Dodd blog:

 

Senator Dodd has issued the following statement on the positions of his colleagues Clinton and Obama on Iraq.

"I am pleased to see that Senator Obama has followed my lead and committed to oppose any Iraq measure without a deadline. I urge him to make such a deadline meaningful and enforceable by co-sponsoring the Dodd Amendment which sets a firm deadline that is tied to funding. However, I remain deeply distressed that Senator Clinton has yet to state whether she will oppose an Iraq measure without a firm and enforceable deadline. Ending our involvement in this civil war will take conviction and leadership that is willing to stand up to the President - not political gamesmanship and vote counting.

"Her silence is deafening."

 

Sitka wrote "speculating on whether [Gore will] run is a real bore. Who can possibly know but him? But carry alone on if you wish!"

No one else could possibly know, but thank you.  Here's some of what Chris Cillizza and Shailagh Murray wrote in the Washignton Post earlier this month:

"Former vice president Al Gore's pronouncement that he is likely to endorse one of the Democratic candidates for president before the primary season is over has set off a slew of speculation about who his choice might be.

"Truth is, the courting of the 'Goreacle' began many months ago. Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) and Gore huddled in Nashville in December, and Gore has also met with former senator John Edwards N.C.. Gore and Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (Conn.) conferred as recently as last week.

" . . . .

"It seems safe to predict that Gore will not be endorsing the bid of the senator from New York. A more open question might be whether he would throw his support to Obama -- the only candidate in the top-tier who, like Gore, opposed the war in Iraq from the start -- or another surging contender at a critical moment to try to derail Hillary Clinton's quest for the nomination.

"The other candidates would do almost anything for Gore's support. Dodd's campaign was quick to note that Gore likes Dodd's proposal for a corporate carbon tax and that the senator called the former veep last week to thank him for supporting the idea. Asked about Gore, Edwards spokesman Eric Schultz gushed: 'Senator Edwards has the deepest respect and admiration for Vice President Gore. He is a true leader whose prescient work in raising the issue of global warming has literally mobilized millions of Americans and the world to act.'"

I'd feel better if they pinned him down under oath at the confirmation hearings on habeus corpus, warrantless spying, and due process issues.

They pinned Gonzo down about those things too. He said what they wanted to hear and did the opposite. The idea that Bush would appoint anyone who will not serve Cheney is ludicrous.

17. Sitka

Somebody who loves Biden should give him a dictionary........

par·ti·tion
1.a division into or distribution in portions or shares.

=============
I like Biden because I like his ideas.

semantics

1. the study or science of meaning in language, especially with regard to historical changes.

2. the study of relationships between signs and symbols and what they represent to their interpreters.

Interesting question Sheri posted as a title for the previous thread.

My answer is. The US government has been training America's children for jobs within the military industrial complex inside our American public school systems for decades. The local school children are allowed to play on real war machines like they're jungle gyms when the military recruiters come to visit their grammar schools for career day events. It's no wonder that the favorite family fun vehicle of today it a Hummer. Military recruiting officers are allowed access to school records as if the military was an institution of higher learning. Military recruiters study school records and then target Junior High and High School students for their future recruitment. The military gives school supplies away every year to public school teachers and students. Of course all those tons of supplies are printed with propaganda Ads about joining up so students can further their educations while learning how to be all that they can be. I'm not even mentioning all the war toys and those computer war games that are being sold and marketed to America's children and young people today. Nor am I mentioning the ridge text books that the NCLB Act advocates have produced for America's public schools. American public school Teachers don't have lesson choices anymore. If you have some extra time, take a look through one of the NCLB lesson plans or text books. They're a real eye opener.

Paintball for Jesus?: http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/12203...

Extreme play: http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/13283...

IMPEACH Cheney and Bush together!!

Nancy Pelosi - President '07-'08 !!

GO DENNIS GO!!

I like Biden because I like his ideas.

He undermined his own idea by contradicting himself in the space of 3 sentences.

24. Sitka

The only person obfuscating is FRED. For some reason he always rushes to the defense of Bush's policies -- or proposals similar to them -- in one way or another.

============
I think the reasons we have to leave Iraq are good enough without going overboard to the extreme of falsifying facts and twisting truths - that kind of stuff will backfire with the moderates who would consider joining us - and it gives the neocons right ammunition to call us liars.

Nancy Pelosi - President '07-'08 !!

I'm afraid Pelosi is demonstrating herself to be not even good House Speaker material, mush less good presidential material. 

p.s. DEFUND THE OCCUPATION
... FIRST

34. Sitka

He undermined his own idea by contradicting himself in the space of 3 sentences.

============
I think Biden is better qualified to define his ideas than you are.

Dave wrote "GO DENNIS GO!!"

I think he's been going, but carry on alone if you wish!

lunch time musings: 

When Gore ran for "the people not the powerful" he got the powerful nervous and when Howard told us "You have the power" they were down right terrified.

I kind of work my list backwards as to who can effect the most change and return the most power to the people and win a national election.

That is how I got to be an Edwards supporter, and an Obama sympathizer.

and the equation is inverse to who "the powers that be" might fight less vigorously

where Biden comes out on top

Dodd is an interesting case because he would restore Constitutional rights and work for peace from a more traditional Democratic perspective.

Richardson is my personal favorite til he comes to "tax incentives for business".

so I'm back to the only certain real deal and that is Gore

forward looking change agent with experience and broad appeal

but I'm guessing big oil would spare no expense to bring him down and would be a tough fight, much like Hillary because of the way she energizes the wingnuts IMHO

bbl

I thought Anybody But ... stuff started with the 2004 election, when there were more AGAINST Bush than FOR bumper stickers, but the history goes back further:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bayard_Anderson

...

Anderson 1980 campaign pin

...

that kind of stuff will backfire with the moderates who would consider joining us 

Without accepting FRED's belief that there are not 180,000 Bush mercenaries in Iraq, what makes him think "moderates" will prefer conservative mistruths to liberal ones? 

and it gives the neocons right ammunition to call us liars.

They do much better by making up their own lies about Democrats. 

<>But if they want to join FRED in defending Bush from liberal lies, let them spend their time on that instead of spreading their lies about Democrats.

29.

Monica,

As usual, Dodd has it right once again. I and better-half agree with about everything this man says. I guess the problem with his "polling," if that counts for anything at all, is name recognition. But he has been on many cable shows lately.

Dodd didn't look or sound physically well at yesterday's Steak Fry. Hope all is well with him.

Phil Specht
Mon, 09/17/07
2:18 pm

Kucinich is not even on the radar of Iowans(the people who choose our future)?

Four more wars?

That is how I got to be an Edwards supporter

In order to believe Edwards' rhetoric, you have to disregard his record. 

And so, in the coming weeks, I will be laying out a 21st century economic agenda for America. It’s an agenda that will level the playing field for more Americans to ensure that America can compete and thrive in a global economy.


It will focus on three broad areas.


Tomorrow, I’ll lay out the first part of my agenda – a plan to modernize and simplify our tax code so that it provides greater opportunity and more relief to more Americans. For far too long, our tax code has been so riddled with special-interest loopholes and giveaways that it’s shifted the tax burden to small businesses and middle-class Americans.  At a time when most Americans are facing stagnant wages and rising costs, that’s not fair and it doesn’t benefit our economy.  My plan will give a break to middle-class Americans, seniors, and the homeowners who are feeling today’s anxiety and uncertainty, because I believe that we all have a stake in restoring their confidence and investing in their prosperity.  


          The second part of my agenda will be to ensure America’s competitive edge in the 21st century.  This starts with providing every American with a world-class education from cradle to adulthood.  We know that in this economy, countries that out-educate us today will out-compete us tomorrow.  And we also know that China is already graduating four times as many engineers as we do and that our share of twenty-four-year-olds with college degrees now falls somewhere between Bulgaria and Costa Rica.   
            We can’t allow ourselves to fall behind.  That means investing in early child education.  It means recruiting an army of new, qualified teachers who we pay more and support more because we know how important their job is to the future of this country.  And it means finally making a college education affordable and available to every American.  Tony Blair once said that “Talent is the 21st century wealth,” and I believe we all have a stake in nurturing that talent if we hope to prosper in this century.


         Ensuring our competitive edge also means investing more in the science and technology that has fueled so much of our nation’s economic growth. And one place where that investment would make an enormous difference to the future of this country is in a renewable energy policy that ends our addiction on foreign oil.  We know this addiction isn’t sustainable for our security.  We know it’s not sustainable for the planet.  And I’ve talked to countless CEOs and business leaders who know it’s not sustainable for our economy to be held hostage to the spot oil market. I believe that we all have a stake in a renewable future that will create thousands of new jobs and entire new industries that can fuel our prosperity well into the next century.


           Finally, the third part of my agenda will be to modernize and strengthen America’s safety net for working Americans.  Like all of you, I believe in free trade.  But we have to acknowledge that for millions of Americans, its burdens outweigh its benefits.  And so if we want to avoid rising protectionism in this country; if we expect working Americans to accept and even embrace free trade, then I believe we all have a stake in embracing policies that will provide them with a sense of security.  That means health insurance and a pension that they can always count on.  That means skills and training that can actually help people find a job.  And that means wages that actually make work pay.
Join our campaign for change and hope...
www.barackobama.com

Sitka wrote "In order to believe Edwards' rhetoric, you have to disregard his record."

I happen to agree, but I'm not sure it's as difficult as might at first appear.  I mean, people have made the same arguments about both Gore and Dean.

I think Biden is better qualified to define his ideas than you are.

Apparently not if he doesn't understand that "divide" and "partition" mean the same thing. 

I mean, people have made the same arguments about both Gore and Dean.

Such as? 

41.
* rdorgan

It's interesting how history repeats itself and how marketers do too.

What product has ever been really new and improved. It's mostly the packaging that has gotten makeover.

Kucinich is not even on the radar of Iowans

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 He has little staff and few appearances here.  The others have all made dozens of stops (hundreds between them) and been up on TV with ads.

it is not rocket science why

Murtha: GOP will turn on Iraq when ’08 pick is made

By Mike Soraghan
September 17, 2007

House Appropriations Defense subcommittee Chairman John Murtha (D-Pa.) said Monday that he expects that Republican lawmakers will begin abandoning President Bush’s Iraq policy after the GOP picks a presidential candidate next year....

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/murt...

s/b a makeover

48. Sitka

Apparently not if he doesn't understand that "divide" and "partition" mean the same thing.

=============
Then I guess we live in the "partitioned" States of America, because our country is divided into State governments, and that's what Biden thinks the Iraqi Constitution mandates.