Jeremy Scahill Testifies on Defense Contracting, 5.10.2007
Published: December 19th, 2009
There are over 120,000 private contractors currently deployed in Iraq and yesterday, a House panel put some of the harshest criticisms of this privatization of war into the Congressional record for the first time. The House Appropriations subcommittee on defense held a hearing on Thursday about defense contracting. Testifying before the panel was journalist Jeremy Scahill and filmmaker Robert Greenwald.
Jeremy is a Democracy Now! correspondent and an investigative reporter for The Nation magazine. He is author of the book “Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army.” In his opening remarks, he spoke about the lack of oversight of the tens of thousands of contractors deployed in Iraq.
Duration : 0:5:49
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December 19th, 2009 at 10:55 am
To our nation’s …
To our nation’s great chagrin, I doubt ANYone is going to brought to anything close to a trial.
December 19th, 2009 at 10:55 am
Soon the Blackwater …
Soon the Blackwater executives will be brought to trial for their corrupt practices.
December 19th, 2009 at 10:55 am
my cam is running …
my cam is running anyone want to watch me ^^ ?
December 19th, 2009 at 10:55 am
This is why I …
This is why I laughed my off when 4 of these maggots were slaughtered in fallujah. bastards.
December 19th, 2009 at 10:55 am
Amazing speech. …
Amazing speech. Thanks for sticking up for us!
December 19th, 2009 at 10:55 am
qualityrkc Drugs, …
qualityrkc Drugs, oil, defence contracts and miltary bases being established in the region. These are strategic moves. What makes you think they would let the oposing team/divisions know this. There is no difference in sport. You’re not going to tell the. opposing team your objectives are you.. Contractors aside it’s the poor and uneducated people that enlist, who will speak for them. Poeple like Jeremy are needed to raise awareness about this unjust war to bring it to an end
December 19th, 2009 at 10:55 am
garth35 The more …
garth35 The more awareness that is raised about this unjust and inhuman war the more questions that will be asked, ultimately leading toward the search for truth and conclusion to this absurdity.
December 19th, 2009 at 10:55 am
pmc is WRONG. It …
pmc is WRONG. It allows our military complex to operate without the blessing of the american people. The reason they hire pmc is because we dont have enough troops. If we dont have enough troops then we shouldnt fight wars we cant win. Afghanistan is already a lost cause. You will see that we are out of there in the next 2 years. We just dont have the resources to control the country that is referred to as the place where empires go to die.
December 19th, 2009 at 10:55 am
He is talking about …
He is talking about the brass hiring hessians. He is talking about private military being treated better than our soldiers. He IS doing this for our soldiers. Prolong the war?? Are you listening to what he is saying?? What world do you live in? The taliban has never launched an international attack. Right now we are fighting people who have not and would never attack us. So why are we there? war on terror is a farse perpetrated for profit. Ohterwise we would still be lookin for Bin Laden.
December 19th, 2009 at 10:55 am
thats why i protest …
thats why i protest jeremy scahill because he does nothing to stop the war instead he inadvertently prolongs it.
December 19th, 2009 at 10:55 am
do you think they …
do you think they didnt try diplomacy do you think they didnt ask politely for the taliban, al quaeda, and various insurgents to stop doing what their doing, how do you deal with mad men? send them angry letters? or just keep sending aid releif drops for them to hijack? protest the leaders of your country for prolonging the war, or the profiteers who back corrupt senators, not the soldiers and other fighting forces.
December 19th, 2009 at 10:55 am
ebud, thanks for …
ebud, thanks for your honest and courageous words…
December 19th, 2009 at 10:55 am
mudflap31:
if you …
mudflap31:
if you know about blackwater, and have any friends who are interested in it, they are the same trained soldiers as Navy seals, USMC, and army SF. They are headhunted BY the BW group(or 1 of 600+ private contracters). This is blatant disregard for the U.S. Constitution, and the true usage (balance of powers). If we need something done, we should simply use our war powers act (90 days) to enter, get it done and get out. Leaving with min. spending, and usage of our own military.
-USMC
December 19th, 2009 at 10:55 am
killing hundreds of …
killing hundreds of thousands of people in Iraq is making me safer? I argue it makes me MUCH MUCH more unsafe simply because of “blowback”. Are you one of those people who think 9/11 happened because muslims hate our freedom? Killing doesn’t solve problems, never has and never will. Diplomacy is always the solution. The best thing to do is kill your enemies with kindness. Only problem is there isn’t much profit for the gods of war when you give someone a loaf of bread instead of a live grenade.
December 19th, 2009 at 10:55 am
haha why is our …
haha why is our militray stretched thin? Maybe we should consider pulling back if we are stretched thin instead of further extending ourselves through pmc’s. If we were fighting wars that had public support then we wouldnt have to hire pmc’s! It is that simple. If we dont have the means to fight a war withoutb using pmc’s then geuss what? MAYBE WE SHOULDN’T BE FIGHTING WARS!
December 19th, 2009 at 10:55 am
and you were …
and you were talking about ignorance? lol wow why dont you go read a book. Also what did the pmc do that our miltary couldn’t? You said they have done some real good…what is it?
December 19th, 2009 at 10:55 am
do you honestly …
do you honestly beleive that he is interested in looking past FOX news for answers.
December 19th, 2009 at 10:55 am
this isnt about …
this isnt about some boot wanting more money, its about mercinarys not accountable for killing people. And when they kill people and not accountable, it puts our actuall military in harms way.
December 19th, 2009 at 10:55 am
You’ll change your …
You’ll change your mind when someone hires them to destabilize your neighborhood.
December 19th, 2009 at 10:55 am
Envy? ha ha ha if …
Envy? ha ha ha if the army and national guard wants to get paid that much they would put the years in and take the specialized training and be on the front lines for years then go into private contracting. Does some boot think they should over 40k a year for running a convoy on a machinegun they dont know how to use? you idiots…
December 19th, 2009 at 10:55 am
you can go right …
you can go right now and watch blackwater snipers waste people just because their running because someone is shooting at them,2 months?not even 2 seconds.The whole thing is illegal.
Ehe question is,would americamism be complete shut down if we werent there,which in turn would cause havoc o nthe world?Or is it all just a big fukn fuk,eggzctly like nam.Does anyone believe,had we not gone to nam th eworld wouldve been overrun by communism?It is anyway,but not near as bad as red china
December 19th, 2009 at 10:55 am
“im in full support …
“im in full support of mercenaries”
I think you should read his book then, it might change your mind. there are a lot of negative side effects of companies like blackwater that you might not be aware of.
December 19th, 2009 at 10:55 am
Wow that’s very …
Wow that’s very divisive. Notice how he pits the rich against the poor.
I wonder if his story about the Israelis is true.
December 19th, 2009 at 10:55 am
mercenaries are …
mercenaries are just like posititutes they provide a MUCH NEEDED service, and have been in profession since the beginning of time.
honestly the govt cant do everything better than the private sector, Xe security is a testament to this.
im in full support of mercenaries.
December 19th, 2009 at 10:55 am
Once again thank …
Once again thank you for the truth, this video underlines some of the reasons people become terrorists against the United States, thanks again and keep telling it like it is.