It seems that the White House together with the US military manufacturers will only be pushing military expenses up, forcing its NATO allies regardless of their desires. It seems that in the 21 century wars are still an extremely profitable business.
The only problem is that while those making weapons get even richer military, Western citizens are getting poorer by the day. They are deprived of any social benefits and comprehensive health care services, as the money that should have been spent on such things are being spent on fancy military projects. But it doesn’t end with the staggering expenditures on weapons, since US soldiers are being regularly sent to most distant parts of the world to protect American business interests, which results in an ever increasing number of those returning home in coffins.
The massacre of civilians is an extremely profitable business for the US today. According to the alternative media site OpEdNews, Washington has been routinely murdering civilians across the globe for a long while now. Ever since the Clinton administration this kind of atrocities has almost become the defining feature of American military interventions. Washington is responsible for the destruction of Yugoslavia, Serbia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Somalia and whole region of Syria. It is directly supporting the illegal invasion that Saudi Arabia launch against Yemen and an radical forces that attempted to exterminate the ethnic Russian population of the former regions of Ukraine.
One should keep in mind that arms and ammunition are not the only thing in high demand in war torn countries, since training and the consequent planning of military operations can be extremely profitable too.
The Middle Eastern region has always been perceived by the US policy makers as a sort of a backyard where “boys” are allowed to play with their deadly toys without any fear of a possible retribution. The fact that this region is rich in hydrocarbons and remains potentially volatile as long as political and religious tensions are concerned, is only making it even more attractive for Washington war hawks. Therefore, along with the considerable military presence that Washington has in this region, there’s a tremendous number of the US military contractors operating in the region, that has become a sort of retirement for those American soldiers who have hardened in battle but failed to find their place in peaceful life due to the decline in the US economy.
The most notorious among such organizations are Hulliburton, Blackwater, DynCorp, Logicon, Brown & Root, MPRI , Control Risks, Bechtel, ArmorGroup, Erinys, Sandline International, International Defense and Security, but there’s a growing number of small ones. Some of them have recently been forced to change their name. For instance, once the activities of Blackwater received extensive coverage in the international media media sources it decided to become Academi instead.
In recent years, the variety of operations that military contractors can carry out has become pretty diverse. They are not just ensuring the protection of critical facilities or protecting vital convoys with goods, but are now helping to develop military doctrines of certain states. For instance, the notorious MPRI was behind the creation of the modern Croatian armed forces, that occupied Serbia back in 1995. Another organization – G4S has a staggering number of 620 thousand employees. This giant has its own stocks being sold on international markets. It’s mind-blowing that G4S is the second largest private employer in the world, with the first place being occupied by Walmart. Back in 2008 G4S, which is widely known for its wild parties and a practice of hiring Afghan warlords, absorbed another military contractor – Armorgroup which had been protecting one third of all non-military convoys in Iraq with its nine thousand men strong army.
Today American military contractors are deployed in a total of 125 countries. Modern mercenaries are placed in hot spots around the world when major powers don’t want their troops to be officially deployed there. For example, experts from MPRI were preparing the Georgian army soldiers who later invaded South Ossetia in 2008, while killing Russian peacekeepers on the way. At the same time, American military contractors are not ashamed to admit that they are working in close cooperation with the State Department, CIA and Pentagon. Those organizations are usually run by former American generals. For example, MPRI is being headed by such American generals as Carl Vuono, Edward Soyster, Phillip Kreis and others.
Thus, the United States, without formally interfering in the political process of a sovereign state is still able to send its private armies to achieve its desired objectives.
In April 2014, a number of influential media sources released reports that along with the radical battalions of the National Guard, American military contractors participated in ethnic cleansing in the South-East of Ukraine. The “elite troops” of the American Academi were particularly active in assaulting ethnic Russians in that region. Similar statements have been made about the situation in Yemen, where large groups of American mercenaries, namely from Academi took part in the operations against the people of Yemen.
Instead of sending its regular troops when facing a well organized opposition on the battlefield, Washington is often using military contractors to get the job done, which has been allowing it to hide the true casualties in Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries. Moreover, the employment of military contractors allows the US to protract conflicts for decades without even officially announcing its involvement, which results in whole regions being plunged deeper into bloodshed and chaos.
The breathtaking amounts of money that are being spent on military contractors can be observed if we are to take a brief look at the official contracts. For instance the so-called DynCorp International LLC, Ft received 9,259,344 dollars from the US Department of Defense to fulfill a one-year contract in Afghanistan. According to the latest financial statements, DynCorp revenues in the third quarter of 2015 amounted to almost 480 million dollars, and as for the revenues for the whole year they range from 1.89 – 1.93 billion dollars.
On February 12 the US State Department has singed an official contract with a handful of such organizations, which are going to carry out their missions across the globe. Among those who are going to profit from Washington’s peculiar way of waging wars one may find Aegis Defense Services (2,804,634,000 dollars), Chenega Patriot Group (3,536,704,749 dollars), GardaWorld Government Services (3,799,378,110), Sallyport Global Holdings (4,922,357,517 dollars), SOC (4,586,828,659 dollars), Sterling Operations (2,911,391,742 dollars), Triple Canopy (3,666,294,805 dollars).
The usage of military contractors instead of regular troops allowed Western politicians to address a number of issues they would be unable to deal with otherwise. Moreover, the employment of military contractors allows military commanders to achieve their designated goals much cheaper, while the unaccounted funds are being spend on huge kickbacks that are being paid to all those involved in military activities in a certain country and authorities in Washington.
It is believed that the turnout of the military contractors market has reached 150 billion dollars and the numbers are still growing steadily. As long as Washington will keep on spreading chaos across the globe those contractors won’t find themselves fired any time soon. While the number of regular ground troops in the majority of countries is getting smaller, this tendency can be described as an alarming one.
If the international community won’t take any steps to establish a rigid control over the activities of the US military contractors, we may soon witness American politicians achieving all their goals without setting foot on the ground officially and the military campaigns in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya and other countries that became the victims of proxy wars will only be protracted.
Martin Berger is a freelance journalist and geopolitical analyst, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook.
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