The activities of "private security companies" in Iraq attracted a bit of attention, but it's worth remembering that they don't just work in Iraq. A couple of recent incidents show just how widespread the practice of hiring out military operations is.
This week a ship on the Suez Canal, the
Global Patriot, killed an Egyptian, possibly a fisherman. Of course, the death was initially denied. I mean, who cares? It's just some Egyptian guy. The
Global Patriot (possibly named after a right-wing blogger) is a private vessel under contract from the US government to protect shipments of military supplies.
You might remember the donnybrook in South America a few weeks ago. Colombia attacked fighters inside Ecuador, killing some members of FARC and some other people. It's now been alleged that the action was
led by a private company named DynCorp, which is involved in the US "war on drugs" in South America.
Plenty of questions remain unanswered, and I am no expert. To the casual observer, though, these kinds of incidents (against the backdrop of Iraq) seem to suggest a group of mercenary companies operating outside the law in whichever country they can make a profit in.
Imagine if it were Aussies being killed. What if Malaysia was moving military supplies through Australian waters and, in a Suez-style incident, killed a Queensland fisherman? The papers would go berserk! People would demand that the gumint do something! There would be calls for a military response. Think of the poor fisherman's family!
And what if Indonesia decided to launch a military strike against alleged Papuan "terrorists" who had slipped across to the Northern Territory and were hiding there with help from locals? Then some Australians were killed. What if it turned out that the Indonesian military operation had in fact been undertaken by a private company funded by China?
The fact is, Australia wouldn't tolerate its people being killed - on their own soil - by private companies funded by foreign powers. It says a lot about world politics that we will forget these incidents before too long, and the governments of Egypt and Ecuador will have little choice but to shut up about it and move on. Let's hope they don't.
4 comments:
I have a question that has nothing to do with this. Does Australia have atomic bombs?
No. Although at various times in the past one group or another (political party, lobby, whatever) has suggested that we should. There was once a secret plan to develop them, I believe, during the Cold War. Not sure of details.
I once heard someone (can't remember who) talk about the way people value the lives of others according to how close to home those others are. He was suggesting that it's very human to be effected by something that feels like it could happen to you or your loved ones, but the further removed it becomes the less imaginative empathy we employ and therefore essentially the less we care. By this explanation he was arguing that we respond more to people killed or harmed from countries or cultures which we relate more to ourselves, but those 'over there' who we don't really understand and may seem a bit different, well we have trouble making the same connection.
I think this type of thinking can explain a lot about how the Australian public, and therefore the Australian government react to international events. Hundreds of Balinese killed or injured, oh how sad, but wait, there was an Aussie in the crowd!! I think it is also the key to whey detention centres are so insidious as a policy. You lock people up and keep them separate from the rest of society and you prevent the general public's exposure to them as 'real people'.
Sorry I seem to have got rather off the point of your post. I guess I'm just saying it's all rather sad and until we learn to empathise with lives that may be a little different to our own, and value those lives equally, the world's not going to change a hell of a lot.
Good post Damian.
Plan Columbia is explained away as part of the "War on Drugs" but is more sinister than that. The US help maintain the current Columbian government and help them repress anyone who opposes them. They somehow have turned the blame on FARC and other anti government groups are the main cocaine producers and that gives them a reason to brutally murder their supporters in the streets and keeping control through fear ... that weapon the US have mastered so well.
It is another example of current US policy that they are the world's global police force and moral enforcers. They use the "War on Drugs" as an excuse to carry out blatant acts of aggression on anyone who gets in the way of their own special interests. It also helps to shift blame other countries for their own drug problem which is out of control. At least Venezuela is resisting US interference. I laughed so hard when the Venezuela president gave a live message to Bush, "You are a Donkey, Ignorant, Coward, a Genocist, Assassin, Murderer, psychologically ill, and a Drunk". So funny.
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