From Denny: And yet another reason why you don't create a shadow army without legal sanction or Congressional oversight just because you feel like it on a whim like Vice President Cheney and President Bush thought they could do without consequence.
Our American tax dollars went to a mercenary army - built up as large in number as the 160,000 troops we had in Iraq which is why we were spending over a $1 billion a month for the Iraq War - upon which our government and law had absolutely no control or law to restrain, contain or task them appropriately. In short, these guys were junkyard dogs off the leash doing whatever they felt like without risk of prosecution or seeing any jail time.
Yet Bush and Cheney set up the CIA to hire Blackwater back in 2004 anyway as assassins to go after the bad guys in the Iraq War, the top al-Qaeda leaders. Bush and Cheney also ordered these assassins to go after these bad guys not just in Iraq but also in friendly countries where if their presence were detected it would bring considerable "blowback" from those governments with whom America is allied. No reasonable country likes it when they find out spies and assassins are operating in their country: duh!
Read that as the CIA's own para-military knew what Bush and Cheney were doing was one thing: breaking established law - as it must be by Presidential directive each time for each situation to use lethal force abroad - and not at the contractor's (assassin's) discretion or whim. They also knew if they participated they could easily end up as Bush and Cheney's cannon fodder, so they refused to be party to it, hence, the outsourcing of Blackwater to do the dirty work for which government employees like the CIA were bound by the law not to do. Basically, what really happened here under the Bush administration is that the CIA employees told their Air Force boss turned director still in uniform - a real turn-off of the military holding control of what is supposed to be a civilian agency - is they refused the order to break the law. So, Bush and Cheney turned to the illegal mercenaries to break the law for them.
The Bush administration needs to be investigated from top to bottom. There is so much corruption that has yet to see the light of day there on so many fronts. Obama and Holder need to get serious and quit wimping out on the prosecution. Be a one-term President if you must but get some justice for a whole lot of people who were wronged during the Bush years of arrogance and trampling of just sheer decency as well as the "rule of law" as the hypocritical Republicans are so fond of screaming yet never feel applies to them equally.
Blackwater has since changed its name to Xe (sounds like Z) and is also under grand jury indictment. The CEO of Blackwater has stepped down. Most of its contractors have been rehired by our government in other positions like protecting diplomats abroad. There are 5 other contractors on trial for killing Iraqi civilians back in 2007 and a sixth has pleaded guilty. What a legacy of war for hire.
Update: There were such a great comments on this story that I just had to repost this story for you to read. I really like it when someone wants to seriously discuss a social issue. What comes out of any good discussion is more understanding and some new facts to investigate. I have an inkling that this story is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Time will tell as more reporters look into the veracity of the experts and the accusers.
Federal Agents Investigate Burger Kings Treatment of Foreign Students - An excerpt: "RIVERTON, Wyo. – Federal agents from the Department of Immigrations are expected to arrive in Riverton today to investigate a possible indentured service case involving foreign students. Five university students working in the states through an exchange program said they were fired from the local Burger King and evicted from squalid living quarters provided by the company after they complained about the conditions.
They described the 15x15-foot house as a boiler room prison, because the windows wouldn’t open, bunkbeds with air mattresses were the beds, a hot-plate on a counter sufficed for a kitchen stove and the toilet and shower stall were unsanitary due to corrosion.
Riverton police, who executed the eviction notice over the weekend, were appalled at the conditions found and reported the situation to immigrations and the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Local Burger King management has refused comment and corporate officials in Florida say they were unaware of the situation. The students were matched with the local Burger King through the work/travel programs of Worldwide International Student Exchange (WISE) and Aspire Worldwide. They paid $3,500 to $5,000 each to participate, and were told adequate housing would be provided at an affordable fee.
They said rent for the house was $1,800 a month, paid to Burger King District Manager Peggy Handran. Her phone number listed on the work agreement is no longer in service.
The university students are all men, ages 18-21, coming from Turkey, Mongolia, Azerbaijan and the Ukraine. They have found temporary sanctuary with a neighbor, Donna Michel."
Click on the title link for the rest of the story.
The Discussion
Comments:
smbpott said...
This case is unfortunate and I feel bad for the kids, but the vast majority (95%) of exchanges are positive for the students and the families and communities which host them. I urge the press to investigate Danielle Grijalva, director of Committee for Safety and Chris Gould, a retired British police investigator and PURPORTED consultant to foreign exchange programs worldwide. They say mistreatment of foreign students is significantly underreported. What basis do they use to show underreporting? What is the board make up of the committee for safety? What foreign exchange programs is Chris Gould a consultant for? You will find these two people have NO basis for their setting themselves up as experts, and that they are acting together, but essentially alone (no real committee, no board oversight of organization, restraining order against Danielle...), just trolling the internet for sensationalized cases of exchange student abuse and posting them on one website repeatedly.
16 July, 2009 22:21 Denny Lyon said... Hi, smbpott, thanks for visiting and leaving your comment!
As with most stories like this, it isn't about how well the majority has been treated but rather about the abused minority that went unreported or not investigated.
This story is really not about the concept of foreign exchange students as it is a great idea culturally. It isn't about the whole organization either.
What this story is about is the fact that nothing was done to address these problems, not enough or perhaps any oversight on the part of our government - most likely the vast majority of issues happened during the Bush years of "non-doing."
It was foolish for our current State Dept. not to fine tooth comb every project they had in operation during the Bush years looking for this kind of thing. As it was the GAO was prevented from investigating AND reporting by Bush and Cheney. Normally, they handle these kinds of investigations as these problems always follow one culprit: follow the money. Most likely, Bush and Cheney cut the funds for oversight and hired outside political cronies as payback for campaign funds.
BTW, do you have proof to back up the stats you give that 95% of the foreign exchange students do not encounter any problem? If there was no oversight, no reporting, no surveys, where did you get this stat?
In the end, we are both coming at this problem from different sides and meeting in the middle in complete agreement: not enough oversight to prove either the good or the bad satisfactorily!
I'm glad these people have finally gotten the courage to speak up and speak out about their abuse. It went pretty much the same in the religious community, especially Catholic, when for decades people complained about sexual abuse. The same arguments abounded that it wasn't that bad, it wasn't true, that 95% etc., etc. Since then the abused began to speak up and the whole truth came out: there were thousands worldwide who were badly abused for decades.
My policy is never to deny a listen to anyone who has been abused, especially when it was as a result of an institutional entity for which as part of the public I am partly responsible.
17 July, 2009 08:57
From Denny: This is a video story I tried to put up yesterday but CNN did not yet have it up on its site until today. Unbelievable what foreign exchange students have lived through when visiting the United States during the Bush years and recently. The truth is just now coming out.
It's a real horror story that our own government funded this abuse and did not take the interest to regulate these agencies that promote and place these students in American homes. Some of those homes were convicted felons, students were raped, starved, forced to live in filthy situations, even placed with known and registered sex offenders! How perverted can you get?
Politics foreign exchange students rape sex offenders starvation abuse America United States State Department investigation
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