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Sunday, April 11, 2004 |
 April 2004 is on track to become the deadliest month of the war for US troops since its start in March 2003. NOTE: this doesn't include the large number of PMC employees killed in Iraq.
4:28:31 PM 
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Letter to Rumsfeld from Senators concerned about PMCs in Iraq.
2:14:53 PM
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Telegraph. Transnational crime funded bombings in Spain. An interesting question: what percentage of the $2 trillion in transnational crime ends up in terrorist hands?
The Moroccan-dominated al-Qa'eda cells responsible for terrorist attacks in Spain were funded by bank robberies and sophisticated cashpoint machine fraud in France, investigators believe.
1:59:08 PM
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St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
The violence is exerting a heavy political toll by complicating the creation of a functioning Iraqi society and economy, says P.W. Singer, a former Pentagon official and a military expert with the Brookings Institution, where he directs the project on U.S. policy toward the Islamic world.
American and foreign companies are now having second thoughts about taking part in the reconstruction because of the mounting costs and risks, he said. "Those going in are going to have to spend a greater percentage of their operating budgets on security and insurance. It has been 10 cents on the dollar; it's now slated to go up to 20-25 cents," Singer said. Not only does that make less money available to rebuild Iraq, it also reduces the profit margin for companies, making Iraq less attractive to enter, without even considering the physical risks. By contrast, in Colombia, which is considered dangerous, multinational corporations spend an average of six cents per dollar for security and insurance, Singer said. Iraq is now victim of a vicious cycle, Singer said. Not only does the violence hurt investment, the resulting lack of money begets more violence because people become increasingly desperate and angry.
12:54:33 PM
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Josh Marshall has an insightful report from a PMC employee in Iraq:
General Kimmet is wrong if he thinks that he will destroy the Badr brigade or Sadr Army as a military organization because there isn't really one ... he will disperse them into small, highly armed teams of friends and ... voila! Al Qaeda-Iraq or Hezbollah-Iraq will be borne in numbers we will not be able to control. Since the ICDC [the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps] seem to have run off and joined the opposition in Nasiriyah it may reflect the true loyalties of the new Iraqi army and Police. No one is going to cross their family, tribe or religious community for the Americans.
12:48:26 PM
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Corporate Superpower? The occupation of Iraq represents a turning point in the use of private military corporations (PMCs). Here's why and what it means in the long-run.
11:25:58 AM
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The Misanthropyst has picked up on another economic outsourcing situation due to globalization, this time in agriculture.
11:22:52 AM
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Robin Moore is still writing up a storm. I've spent some time with him discussing the future of the military. Very interesting guy.
11:05:00 AM
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© Copyright 2004 John Robb.
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