http://harmonicminor.com/2008/06/03/war-crimes-inc-blackwater-and-the-occupation-of-iraq/ political commentary, cultural critique & philosophical meandering Wed, 07 Jan 2009 13:13:20 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 http://harmonicminor.com/2008/06/03/war-crimes-inc-blackwater-and-the-occupation-of-iraq/#comment-3594 harmonicminor.com Sat, 06 Dec 2008 16:07:56 +0000 http://harmonicminor.com/2008/06/03/war-crimes-inc-blackwater-and-the-occupation-of-iraq/#comment-3594 [...] Also see an earlier post on the subject [...] […] Also see an earlier post on the subject […]

]]> http://harmonicminor.com/2008/06/03/war-crimes-inc-blackwater-and-the-occupation-of-iraq/#comment-2127 Jonas Ecke Tue, 03 Jun 2008 13:35:05 +0000 http://harmonicminor.com/2008/06/03/war-crimes-inc-blackwater-and-the-occupation-of-iraq/#comment-2127 I went to a Noami Klein lecture yesterday, in which I was made au fait with following statistic: In the 2nd Persian Gulf War, there was 1 private contractor per 100 soldiers. In the beginning of this Gulf War, there were 10 for 100 soldiers. (I am not entirely sure about these two figures, but noted down the following figure:) Nowadays there are 180,000 private contractors in Iraq, and 160,000 soldiers. This must somehow underpin the Bush administration's degree of motivation towards bringing the Iraq war to some kind of swift ending, e.g. through a UN presence, albeit only indirectly. After all, Blackwater and the other companies are very politically connected to the Bush administration. I went to a Noami Klein lecture yesterday, in which I was made au fait with following statistic:
In the 2nd Persian Gulf War, there was 1 private contractor per 100 soldiers.
In the beginning of this Gulf War, there were 10 for 100 soldiers.
(I am not entirely sure about these two figures, but noted down the following figure:)
Nowadays there are 180,000 private contractors in Iraq, and 160,000 soldiers.
This must somehow underpin the Bush administration’s degree of motivation towards bringing the Iraq war to some kind of swift ending, e.g. through a UN presence, albeit only indirectly. After all, Blackwater and the other companies are very politically connected to the Bush administration.

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