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  • WEDNESDAY AUGUST 23 2006 9:00 AM

Time to Unleash Halliburton on the Mexicans

Submitted by FearTheReaper

Edited by FearTheReaper

Tags: Halliburton, Blackwater, US border patrol

In another brilliant move, our government wants to turn control of our borders over to private companies. The protection and defense of borders is considered important to most nations, but not the U.S. of A! We’re just looking for another way to make our sweet corporations more cash, even at the expense of security.


Immigration policy, programs and current proposals are replete with references to privatization - enforcement, detention, inspections and services - that would place the fate of potential immigrants in the hands of private mercenaries and military contractors.


The best news of all is that America’s best friend, Halliburton, is going to get a piece of the pie. Halliburton has contracts to oversee the expansion of the federal government's capacity to detain immigrants. I’m sure Halliburton will do it’s best to keep down costs while being really, really nice to the immigrants. Does not at all sound like a situation ready for abuse.

In May the government asked for bids from Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Ericsson and Northrop Grumman to build a "virtual fence" of unmanned aerial vehicles, ground surveillance satellites and motion-detection video equipment along the border. Meanwhile, Blackwater Inc., a private security firm of mercenaries, is negotiating to train U.S. Border Patrol officers.

What could possibly go wrong if military contractors and private mercenaries control the borders? Just think of all the exciting possibilities once the federal border patrol is removed from public scrutiny and it disappears into the black hole of corporate rule. And all the exciting profit to be made from human misery. Why send immigrants back quickly, when you make more money by holding onto them? And you can use your Washington lobbyists to create harsher anti-immigrant laws and divert more funding to needless electronic border surveillance. It’s a Goddamn cash cow just waiting to be milked!

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MisterGone

MisterGone

Minneapolis, MN
March 2006

AUG 23, 2006 10:37 AM

This isn't some roach problem, or deregulating the railroads, these are human beings and I for one don't want this already delicate subject being handled by Private corporations whose first goal is profit (yes, that's what a private corporations main objective is, not our personal safety but the bottom-line) I just can't trust people who go to war for money. Simple as that.

NewSpectre

NewSpectre

Baltimore, MD
March 2005

AUG 23, 2006 10:45 AM

MisterGone said:
"I would like to have the largest, most professional private army in the world."
-Gary Jackson, president of Blackwater USA

"Private military corporations become a way [for government officials] to distance themselves and create what we used to call `plausible deniability.'"
-Daniel Nelson, former professor at the Defense Department's Marshall European Center for Security Studies

These people and their methods are unregulated and often comprised of "war junkies" do we really want to be putting political decisions in the hands of these people and privately owned corporations? FUCK NO. Yeah, just what we need at our borders.



watch yourself. I know alot of people who work for these companies, especially Blackwater, and they're far from "war junkies." In fact, any well trained operator is far better at nonlethal force than your average ground pounder. They're also the best at recon, which is what a large part of border patrol is.

I'd rather have a group of trained professional soldiers with years of experience, multiple language skills (a requirement now days), and the best equipment, who are getting paid $100k+ per year doing the job than your average infantry troop with a high school education, 12 weeks of training, and a $18k/year salary protecting my borders.


edit: you live in minnesota anyways! talking to you about border control is about like asking a Texan about the best way to catch lobster. Leave the border control to us Texans.

MisterGone

MisterGone

Minneapolis, MN
March 2006

AUG 23, 2006 10:51 AM

That video was taken by an Aegis employee from the back of a vehicle, and private defense contractors were involved in the Abu Ghraib torture scandal.
... A random survey of 20 Aegis employees who had been issued weapons -- including AK-47 and M4 assault rifles -- showed that the company did not have the needed weapons training documentation for 14 of them. As a result, auditors could not say whether "all contractor personnel are qualified on the weapons that they had been issued."(WP, 23 April 2005)
Now perhaps the guys you know are experienced, honest, soldiers with good intentions but so far private defense contractors working in Iraq have a pretty shitty record.

ASSH0LE

ASSH0LE

Las Vegas, NV
June 2003

AUG 23, 2006 11:00 AM

Sounds like it could be a bad idea, that could end up with some great outcome.

What if they're absolutely as effective as it's claimed?

American business can't get the low-wage workers it needs, and the money gets saved somewhere else (which means all kinds of bad news for the rest of us) or the stock market takes a hit. Though to be completely honest, when stuff like this impacts every company equally, the economy tends to work things out some way.

Perhaps we'll just get higher costs generating inflation.

In other words, solving this "problem" will create some real problems that'll need to get solved, perhaps with real laws rather than the current semi-enforced batch of laws.

Perhaps I should buy a home in Las Vegas while there's still some being built by Mexican carpenters versus my buds over at the union. I'd be expecting housing prices to rise here without SOME contractors using lower-paid Mexican laborers.

PRockGirlScout

PRockGirlScout

Portland, OR
October 2005

AUG 23, 2006 11:08 AM

MisterGone said:
"I would like to have the largest, most professional private army in the world."
-Gary Jackson, president of Blackwater USA

"Private military corporations become a way [for government officials] to distance themselves and create what we used to call `plausible deniability.'"
-Daniel Nelson, former professor at the Defense Department's Marshall European Center for Security Studies

These people and their methods are unregulated and often comprised of "war junkies" do we really want to be putting political decisions in the hands of these people and privately owned corporations? FUCK NO.



I wouldn't go so far as to say they are political decisions any more than military officers make "political" decisions but I do agree with your overall point.

Yeah, just what we need at our borders.



I'm speechless.

ShaggyVixe

ShaggyVixe

New Orleans, LA
November 2005

AUG 23, 2006 11:11 AM

Haven't the Mexican people suffered enough afterall they have Carlos Mencia and sober Cheech Marin

Holden_Caulfield

Holden_Caulfield

Ann Arbor, MI
April 2004

AUG 23, 2006 11:19 AM

Can't we just deport Halliburton instead of the Mexicans? That seems like a better solution to me. . . . biggrin

Holden_Caulfield

Holden_Caulfield

Ann Arbor, MI
April 2004

AUG 23, 2006 11:30 AM

SpectreInTheUK said:
hate it all you want, but haliburton is more capable of protecting our borders than our own government is. they can do it more effectivly, cheaper, and with better trained personel than our government could.

I don't understand you people. You bitch that the government isn't doing enough on the border, then when they do something you don't like it because they find a way of doing it "too well." I know you want marines standing shoulder to shoulder across the entire border, the the fact of the matter is it just can't happen. Instead the government can hire capable companies with years of experience in defending everything from oil rigs to factories and has the resources and personell to do the job RIGHT. Blackwater Inc is an AMAZING company that has done some astounding things in Iraq and Afganistan as well as countless other places around the world. Hiring them to train border patrol is nothing short of brilliant. Most of their operators are ex special forces troops with years of training and combat experience. They can provide a level of training to border patrol agents that the government could never provide unless they pulled similar troops out of their own ranks to do the job.

I really can't see WHAT you are bitching about. And from reading the response I don't think most of you can either.

"bla bla fascism bla bla no freedom bla bla" same old crap for a different story. Shut up and color.


Perhaps if Dickless Cheney and the Repugnicans weren't associated with Halliburton then members here wouldn't be so standoffish about it.

Dead_Ringer

Dead_Ringer

I'm lost
September 2004

AUG 23, 2006 11:42 AM

SpectreInTheUK said:
hate it all you want, but haliburton is more capable of protecting our borders than our own government is. they can do it more effectivly, cheaper, and with better trained personel than our government could.


Not a student of even recent history are we? Some links you won't read or consider: Army to End Expansive, Exclusive Halliburton Deal:

Under the deal, Halliburton had exclusive rights to provide the military with a wide range of work that included keeping soldiers around the world fed, sheltered and in communication with friends and family back home. Government audits turned up more than $1 billion in questionable costs. Whistle-blowers told how the company charged $45 per case of soda, double-billed on meals and allowed troops to bathe in contaminated water.


Newly Released Documents Raise Questions Regarding Involvement of Vice President's Office.

SUMMARY OF GOVERNMENT AUDITS AGAINST HALLIBURTON:

# On August 2, 2002 -- seven months before the invasion of Iraq -- the Pentagon's Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) reported that it had found "significant deficiencies" in Halliburton's billing methods. The audit said the deficiencies "have adversely affected the organization's ability to record, process, summarize and report billings" charged to U.S. military contracts. Information obtained in the audit was obtain by Hearst News Service, over the objections of officials at Halliburton, via the Freedom of Information Act.

# In December 2003, a DCAA draft audit found that Halliburton overcharged the Defense Department by $61 million to import gasoline into Iraq from Kuwait through September 30, 2003. The minority staff of the House Government Reform Committee later determined that the total overpayment by Halliburton through April 1, 2004 was $167 million. Read the minority staff's press release here.

# On December 31, 2003, a DCAA "Flash Report" audit found "significant" and "systemic" deficiencies in the way Halliburton estimates and validates costs. According to the DCAA audit, Halliburton repeatedly violated the Federal Acquisition Regulation and submitted a $2.7 billion proposal that "did not contain current, accurate, and complete data regarding subcontract costs." Source: Defense Contract Audit Agency, Audit Report No. 3311-2004K24020001 (Dec. 31, 2003). See Report from House Committee on Government Reform, Minority Staff.


The above is only a cursory list of documented abuses perpetrated by Haliburton, alone, in Iraq, alone.

I don't understand you people. You bitch that the government isn't doing enough on the border, then when they do something you don't like it because they find a way of doing it "too well."


Uh, no. I understand that Tony Snow would love it if you believed such simplistic idiocy and spread it world wide, but what people are concerned about is Haliburton's documented history of abuse of sweetheart government contracts, its cosy relationship with the administration, Cheney's refusal to disclose his current relationship with his "former" company, and the fact that private contractors, including Halliburton often behave as if they are unaccountable under the law, which tends to lead to prisoner abuse at facilities operated by them, etc. etc.

I know you want marines standing shoulder to shoulder across the entire border, the the fact of the matter is it just can't happen.


Wrong again. That's the president's sollution, in lieu of deploying actual border guards with money allocated by Congress.

Blackwater Inc is an AMAZING company that has done some astounding things in Iraq and Afganistan as well as countless other places around the world.


You mean like, prisoner abuse, torture, hiring former Pinochet special forces, unliaterally assuming police authority in New Orleans after Katrina and entirely disregarding military regulations and instructions in Iraq vis-a-vis intelligence gathering, etc. etc.?

Hiring them to train border patrol is nothing short of brilliant. Most of their operators are ex special forces troops with years of training and combat experience. They can provide a level of training to border patrol agents that the government could never provide unless they pulled similar troops out of their own ranks to do the job.

I really can't see WHAT you are bitching about. And from reading the response I don't think most of you can either.

"bla bla fascism bla bla no freedom bla bla" same old crap for a different story. Shut up and color.


Put down the Tony Snow Kool Aid and learn something for a change.

OctoberSeven

OctoberSeven

Downers Grove, IL
December 2002

AUG 23, 2006 11:43 AM

FilthPig said:
Considering our government has allowed between 11 and 20 million illegal aliens (yes - I use the term illegal since they are breaking the law) into the country, can a private firm do any worse? Is it really such a bad thing? Or shall we have the government run everything, kinda like communism? And do you think its going to be cheaper to have the government do it, with endless committees and studies and fact-finding missions to the French Riviera?



Great. Using that idea let's have private for-profit companies run all civic services.

SirPsychoSexy

SirPsychoSexy

Ridgewood, NJ
January 2004

AUG 23, 2006 12:41 PM

FilthPig said:
Considering our government has allowed between 11 and 20 million illegal aliens (yes - I use the term illegal since they are breaking the law) into the country, can a private firm do any worse? Is it really such a bad thing? Or shall we have the government run everything, kinda like communism? And do you think its going to be cheaper to have the government do it, with endless committees and studies and fact-finding missions to the French Riviera?



Because they don't do it cheaper. The beaurocacy has little to do with the salary of civil servents. 5000$ toilets and 600$ hammers dont change the fact that it costs in the 30,000 a year range to pay a government man, while blackwater pays $130,000 plus contractor fees.

Certain civil works (like utilities, defense, basic infrastructures) should be handled by the government with the interest of the people as the main goal, instead of the interest of profit.

When the only goal is profit, the people will be paying the maximum possible while getting as small of a return as possible. If this isn't happening then the corporate officers of the companies contracted by the people are not doing their job.

Privatization of everything is not in the best interest of the people who pay taxes, it is in the best interest of the people who receive dividends.

heatdude

heatdude

Placentia, CA
January 2004

AUG 23, 2006 03:31 PM

aaaa relax homeboy, i'm chicano man i don't mind if they send that chica actress halliburton to get im down aa.

troglodyte

troglodyte

Victoria, BC
May 2003

AUG 23, 2006 04:04 PM

FilthPig said:
Or shall we have the government run everything, kinda like communism?


How exactly is it "like communism" for the government to actually do something that's considered one of the fundamental purposes of the state?

troglodyte

troglodyte

Victoria, BC
May 2003

AUG 23, 2006 04:06 PM

SpectreInTheUK said:
Blackwater Inc is an AMAZING company that has done some astounding things in Iraq and Afganistan as well as countless other places around the world.


They certainly are making a killing.

Akrasia

Akrasia

Ireland
August 2004

AUG 23, 2006 04:10 PM

You guys do realise that these borders that you're now putting up to keep immigrants out are the same fences that are going to be used to lock americans in when the shit really starts going down.

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