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<h1><font size=4><b>Mercenaries Circling
Haiti</b></font></h1><font size=3>By
<a href="http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/billquigley">Bill
Quigley</a><br><br>
Wednesday, March 03, 2010<br><br>
<a href="http://www.zcommunications.org/mercenaries-circling-haiti-by-bill-quigley" eudora="autourl">
http://www.zcommunications.org/mercenaries-circling-haiti-by-bill-quigley<br>
<br>
</a>On March 9 and 10, there will be a Haiti conference in Miami for
private military and security companies to showcase their services to
governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working in the
earthquake devastated country. <br>
<br>
On their website for the Haiti conference, the trade group IPOA
(ironically called the International Peace Operations Association until
recently) lists eleven companies advertising security services explicitly
for Haiti. Even though guns are illegal to buy or sell in Haiti,
many companies brag of their heavy duty military experience. <br>
<br>
Triple Canopy, a private military company with extensive security
operations in Iraq and Israel, is advertising for business in
Haiti. According to human rights activist and investigative
reporter Jeremy Scahill, Triple Canopy took over the Xe/Blackwater
security contract in Iraq in 2009. Scahill reports on a number of
bloody incidents involving Triple Canopy including one where a team
leader told his group, "I want to kill somebody today…because I am
going on vacation tomorrow." <br>
<br>
Another company seeking work is EODT Technology which promises in its ad
that its personnel are licensed to carry weapons in Haiti. EODT has
worked in Afghanistan since 2004 and provides security for the Canadian
Embassy in South Africa. On their website they promise a wide range
of security services including force protection, guard services, port
security, surveillance, and counter IED response services.<br><br>
A retired CIA special operations officer founded another company,
Overseas Security & Strategic Information, also advertising with IPOA
for security business in Haiti. The company website says they have
a "cadre of US personnel" who served in Special Forces, Delta
Force and SEALS and they state many of their security personnel are
former South African military and police.<br>
<br>
Patrick Elie, the former Minister of Defence in Haiti, told Anthony
Fenton of the Inter Press Service that "these guys are like vultures
coming to grab the loot over this disaster, and probably money that might
have been injected into the Haitian economy is just going to be grabbed
by these companies and I'm sure they are not the only these mercenary
companies but also other companies like Haliburton or these other ones
that always come on the heels of the troops."<br>
<br>
Naomi Klein, world renowned author of THE SHOCK DOCTRINE, has criticized
the militarization of the response to the earthquake and the presence of
"disaster capitalists" swooping into Haiti. The high
priority placed on security by the U.S. and NGOs is wrong, she told
Newsweek. "Aid should be prioritized over security. Any aid
agency that's afraid of Haitians should get out of Haiti."<br>
<br>
Security is a necessity for the development of human rights. But
outsourcing security to private military contractors has not proven
beneficial in the U.S. or any other country. Recently, U.S.
Representative Jan Schakowsky (IL) and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (VT)
introduced bills titled "Stop Outsourcing Security" to phase
out private military contractors in response to the many reports of
waste, fraud and human rights abuse.<br>
<br>
Human rights organizations have long challenged the growth in private
security contractors in part because governments have failed to establish
effective systems for requiring them to be transparent and for holding
them accountable. <br>
<br>
It is challenging enough to hold government accountable. The
privatization of a public service like security gives government
protection to private corporations which are also difficult to hold
accountable. The combination is doubly difficult to regulate<br>
<br>
The U.S. has prosecuted hardly any of the human rights abuses reported
against private military contractors. Amnesty International has
reviewed the code of conduct adopted by the IPOA and found it inadequate
in which compliance with international human rights standards are not
adequately addressed. <br>
<br>
This is yet another example of what the world saw after Katrina.
Private security forces, including Blackwater, also descended on the U.S.
gulf coast after Katrina grabbing millions of dollars in contracts.
<br>
<br>
Contractors like these soak up much needed money which could instead go
for job creation or humanitarian and rebuilding assistance. Haiti
certainly does not need this kind of U.S. business. <br>
<br>
In a final bit of irony, the IPOA, according to the Institute for
Southern Studies, promises that all profits from the event will be
donated to the Clinton-Bush Haiti relief fund.<br><br>
<br>
Bill Quigley is legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights
and a long-time human rights advocate in Haiti.
<a href="mailto:Quigley77@gmail.com">Quigley77@gmail.com</a><br><br>
<br><br>
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