CACI at Brave New Films

Going Out of Business: How Much Longer Will Iraq Be for Sale?

2008-07-06T15:29:07Z

"Interrogation for Profit." That was the title of the lead Op-Ed in last Thursday's New York Times. It's a phrase straight of Brave New Films’ documentary Iraq for Sale, and an issue we’ve been calling attention to for the last few years. But while it’s gratifying to see a growing dialogue about how the Bush administration has shirked all accountability regarding the detainment and interrogation of Iraqi prisoners by hiring mercenary private contractors, this fight is far from over.

It is true, as the Op-Ed pointed out, that Congress is finally pushing to prohibit private contractors and limit the use of security guards in combat areas. According to CQ, the House has already passed such a ban and the Senate is set to consider its own version, which has been tacked onto a $612.5 billion defense authorization bill. Not surprisingly, however, President Bush is already threatening to veto, using the age-old boilerplate that banning private interrogators “would unduly limit the United States’ ability to obtain intelligence needed to protect Americans from attack.”

Protect Americans from attack? Once again, Bush is painting himself as our concerned father, though he’s become an abusive parent. By suggesting that only the father can safeguard his children (us) from the supposedly imminent threat of terrorism, Bush is preying on our collective vulnerabilities in a post-9/11 world. For the last seven years, this has been Bush’s chief line of defense and it’s a diabolically clever one because it has enabled his administration to run this war with zero accountability.

Torture

2008-07-06T20:31:05Z

When "enhanced interrogation techniques" get a little too "enhanced," they can always be outsourced to private contractors like CACI... for the right price.

This is a clip from Robert Greenwald's "Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers" -
http://www.iraqforsale.org

Watch the video

2007 The Deadliest Year In Iraq...But Things Are Getting Better Every Day!

2008-06-13T09:38:22Z

Yes, we're fighting them over there so we don't have to...let our soldiers survive and prosper over here?

Violence did go down the second half of the year, however. And conservatives will triumphantly tell you. So if we keep adding to the number of troops there (while all our allies pull out) and institute a draft, perhaps we can keep violence down just enough for no political solution to be reached while we ignore domestic issues and keep averting our eyes from unimportant places like, say, Pakistan...

The Pentagon, meanwhile, will increasingly look to the uneven Iraqi security forces to carry the load in 2008 as demands for an American exit strategy grow sharper during the U.S. election year.
Britain, the main U.S. coalition partner in Iraq, is gradually drawing down its forces and other allies, including Poland and Australia, are contemplating full-scale withdrawals in the coming year.

Groovy. Wait, I have another idea (besides sending in the entire editorial staff of The National Review). How about we just suit up more mercs, because their record has been so stellar!

Perhaps the next surge can be manned by the mercs of C.R.I., who appear in the cool video? They couldn't do any worse than Blackwater, CACI or Halliburton...

You can get more on this uplifting story here.

Watch the video

CACI To Be Defendant In Civil Trial For "Abuse And Torture" At Abu Ghraib

2008-03-22T21:54:42Z

Apparently they were tired of Blackwater stealing all their press. So they had to remind us why all war profiteers are simply that, and Blackwater is not a bad apple, but representative of the entire grove.

A U.S. District Judge dismissed a motion by CACI to dismiss a civil suit brought on behalf of 200 Iraqis who were imprisoned at the infamous house of horrors.

Wow, is it possible that our judiciary is still functioning and hasn't been completely corrupted by the Bushies? A sign of hope, perhaps?

War Profiteers CACI And Titan To Be Tried For Racketeering For Hand In Torture

2008-01-12T20:26:46Z

Because apparently they were getting jealous of all the attention Blackwater was getting. So they had to remind us they are also a despicable group of corporatized pukes.

Let this description of their behavior warm your heart:

Two American military contractors go on trial Wednesday for their alleged involvement in the torture of prisoners at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison. The New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights brought a racketeering lawsuit [JURIST report; CCR materials] in 2004 against two civilian defense contractors, Titan and CACI International, accusing the companies of conspiring to torture, rape and kill Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib. Titan provided translators to the US Army and CACI provided interrogators. Both companies are expected to file a motion to dismiss at the hearing scheduled for Wednesday, arguing that there is no jurisdiction. AFP has more.

The House Passes The War Profiteering Prevention Act

2008-06-15T21:31:17Z

This is a huge victory (the vote was 375-3) that builds momentum in the effort to reign in the anti-democratic behavior of Republicans and their friends such as the mercs of Blackwater, the torturers of CACI and the water-tainters of Halliburton.

Some details about the legislation and what it hopes to address:

This bill makes war profiteering a federal felony. This bill strengthens the tools available to federal law enforcement to combat contracting fraud during wartime. Specifically, the bill makes war profiteering - overcharging in order to defraud or profit excessively from war, military action, or reconstruction efforts - a felony, subject to up to 20 years in prison and fines of up to $1 million or twice the illegal profits of the crime. The bill also confers jurisdiction to U.S. federal courts to hear such cases.

War profiteering and reconstruction fraud by U.S. companies has become a significant problem in the Iraq War - with billions unaccounted for. The United States has devoted more than $50 billion to U.S . contractors for relief and reconstruction activities in Iraq alone, with billions of these dollars unaccounted for. For example, the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction outlined in a report that the former Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq could not account for nearly $8.8 billion.

The Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction has more than 70 investigations open. The Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction currently has more than 70 open and active investigations regarding contracting fraud and abuse related to the Iraq war. These investigations include, among other things, investigations of illegal kickbacks, bid-rigging, embezzlement, and fraudulent over-billing. However, given the large number of investigations, there have been relatively few prosecutions for reconstruction fraud. This highlights the need for this legislation - giving federal law enforcement additional tools for prosecuting wartime contracting fraud.

Despite the number of investigations, there have been few prosecutions - highlighting the need for this bill. The lack of prosecutions underscores the inadequacies of current law. There is currently no federal statute specifically targeted at prohibiting contracting fraud during times of war, military action, or relief or reconstruction activities. Moreover, no federal law provides enhanced criminal punishment for fraudulent acts during times of war, or relief or reconstruction activities. In addition, none of the current fraud statutes explicitly extend extraterritorial jurisdiction.

According to the Defense Contract Audit Agency, there have been more than $10 billion in suspect billings in Iraqi contracts. In February, the head of the Defense Contract Audit Agency testified before Congress that the agency estimated that there have been more than $10 billion in questioned and unsupported costs relating to Iraq reconstruction and troop support contracts since the war began in 2003.

The Band Marches On: War Profiteers Find Ever More Sickening Ways To Commit Treason

2008-03-22T21:54:31Z

"There is such a thirst for gain [among military suppliers]...that it is enough to make one curse their own Species, for possessing so little virtue and patriotism." -- President George Washington, 1778

George Washington knew a thing or two about war. Unlike a more recent George W, he chose to actually fight in one to defend what he believed, instead of simply paying it lip service while bottom-up in an alley somewhere with a fifth of Scotch in tow.

In fact, when it came to engaging in armed conflict, the Founding Fathers considered enriching oneself through war the lowest form of treason. These days among the GOP donor class it has a different name.

A day at the office.

Adding to what we learned from Robert Greenwald's terrific film on this topic, Iraq For Sale, a number of recent articles have helped shed a light on the sick practice of immensely profiting from unnecessary death, as well as the punishments meted out to whistleblowers for trying to help reign in this traitorous behavior. It is enough to make you wonder if we are still the United States we all grew up learning about, or have become something more akin to the Roman Empire (ask Larry Craig about that).

Matt Taibbi, in a recent piece for The Rolling Stone, describes one typical case this way:

You start off as a well-connected bureaucrat: in this case, as an Air Force civil engineer, a post from which Robbins was responsible for overseeing 70,000 servicemen and contractors, with an annual budget of $8 billion. You serve with distinction for thirty-four years, becoming such a military all-star that the Air Force frequently sends you to the Hill to testify before Congress -- until one day in the summer of 2003, when you retire to take a job as an executive for Parsons, a private construction company looking to do work in Iraq.
....
A few months later, in March 2004, your company magically wins a contract from the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq to design and build the Baghdad Police College, a facility that's supposed to house and train at least 4,000 police recruits. But two years and $72 million later, you deliver not a functioning police academy but one of the great engineering clusterfucks of all time, a practically useless pile of rubble so badly constructed that its walls and ceilings are literally caked in shit and piss, a result of subpar plumbing in the upper floors.

Yes, if this doesn't remind you of the very "military industrial complex" President Eisenhower--a Republican at a time when they were actually a respectable party instead of a collection of self-hating lunatics--warned us about in his farewell speech, you're dumber than Dubya.

This shameful case is but one of thousands: Billions disappear in Iraq, Katrina becomes a money-making venture for those who have already screwed up multiple times in Iraq and no-bid contract has become a household term learned by every American during the corrupt reign of The Decider.

Take our friends at CACI. No, please take them. Would it surprise you in any way to find out that they are up to their necks in piles of naked men at Abu Ghraib:

Jeremy Scahill discusses the Mercenary Revolution

2008-01-12T20:14:23Z

Jeremy Scahill, author of "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army" and writer for The Nation, has written a richly detailed new article on the massively wealthy and powerful corporations behind the 200,000 private contractors in Iraq. From almost no congressional oversight, to casualties that go unaccounted for, Scahill continues to reveal the Mercenary Revolution that so many are unaware of. Read the full article.

Randi Rhodes talks to Gen. Janis Karpinski Part 2

2008-06-07T09:31:15Z

Fri, Oct 28, 2005
Randi talks to Gen. Janis Karpinski about the detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib

http://www.therandirhodesshow.com
http://www.myspace.com/randirhodes

Watch the video

Randi Rhodes talks to Gen. Janis Karpinski Part 1

2008-06-07T09:30:33Z

Fri, Oct 28, 2005
Randi talks to Gen. Janis Karpinski about the detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib

http://www.therandirhodesshow.com
http://www.myspace.com/randirhodes

Watch the video

Contractors In Iraq Now Returning With Same Health Problems As Soldiers

2008-01-12T20:04:39Z

This problem will only get worse as Republicans privatize our armed forces that much more, so Halliburton and CACI can swim in green. But being Republicans, they also provide NO HEALTH CARE to contractors upon their return from Iraq, because, you know, it would mean Dick Cheney might have to forfeit a few stock options from Halliburton.

And as you know, Cheny would only trade that for the satisfaction of outing another covert operative or fitting his carotid artery with a Salisbury Steak drip.

Pursuing the War Profiteers for Interviews

2008-06-12T15:38:00Z

The producers of "Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers" trying to get interviewes with Blackwater, CACI, Titan and Halliburton's CEOs. All refused.

Watch the video

Robert Greenwald on CNBC

2008-06-12T15:38:03Z

Director Robert Greenwald talks about Iraq for Sale on CNBC's Power Lunch

Watch the video

Robert Greenwald on ABC News

2008-06-12T15:38:23Z

Director Robert Greenwald talks about Iraq for Sale on ABC News

Watch the video

'Iraq for Sale' plugged on MSNBC

2008-06-12T15:38:12Z

Cliff Schecter discusses 'Iraq for Sale' on MSNBC news story about Republican division on contractor issue.

Watch the video

CACI made $$ torturing at Abu Ghraib then covered it up

2008-06-12T15:38:02Z

Extended bonus scene from Robert Greenwald's documentary, "Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers"

Watch the video

The making of Iraq for Sale

2008-06-12T15:38:21Z

A behind the scenes look at the documentary "Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers." Robert Greenwald and the Brave New Films crew explain how the project began and took on a life of it's own.

Watch the video

Robert Greenwald takes Jack Kingston to school

2008-06-12T21:29:25Z

Welcome to school, Jack!

Watch the video

Whoa! Attacked in Congress video

2008-06-12T21:29:32Z

A big hearty cheer to all of you who made war profiteering a potent and important issue on the national stage. As a result, I was called to testify (along with Jeremy Scahill, author of the brilliant BLACKWATER book) to the House Appropriations Committee and explain the breadth and extent of the profiteering. And they listened, they asked questions, and they discussed how to fix this national tragedy. Imagine, the film all of you helped make and you distributed, was now the subject of serious legislative focus on how to fix the problem at hand.

However, despite the hundreds of thousands who have seen the film around the country, despite the letters, phone calls and pleas from Americans and soldiers of every political persuasion, somehow despite all this, Rep. Kingston was asleep at the wheel. And so he unleashed an old-fashioned, inept, partisan attack.

His intended knock out blow? That the film was an exercise in profiteering!! Ha. He was literally speechless when I explained that 3,000 of you contributed your hard-earned dollars to make the film. That 3,000 of you were figuratively with me in testifying. That 3,000 of you were the true patriots.

But we won't be silenced. Not for a minute.

We at Brave New Films want to continue to make short films, like FOX ATTACKS like Real McCain, like our drive to impeach a certain attorney general (which we will announce next week). And we need your help. We need you to become a subscriber and pledge $10/month until November 2008 so together we can keep telling the truth, spreading the word, and hitting hard.

Iraq for Sale proved that with a relatively small amount of money, we could bring a critical issue to the forefront of national attention. Now imagine the new videos and campaigns we could do. You have told us the issues you care about, and we want to hit hard, using short, timely campaigns to force these issues out. In a few short months the Brave New Films/Foundation short films have been seen 2 million times. Imagine how many more we can reach.

Subscribers will get special access to early cuts of the videos and behind the scenes information (sort of like DVD extras, but updated frequently).

Become a subscriber!

We are reaching new audiences, we are organizing activists, and we are doing it with campaigns built around these easily accessible short films. Let's work together to keep making them, distributing them, and spreading them around. Help us continue to do this.

Watch the video

The new trailer is ready!

2008-06-30T15:09:29Z

The new trailer for 'Iraq For Sale: The War Profiteers' is now available. We read everyone's comments on the last trailer and hopefully everyone will be pleased with what we have done. This is the trailer that will be seen in theaters over the summer. The first cut of the film will be done in a couple of weeks and the picture will be locked (meaning no more changes can be made) a week after that. Next week we will send you the poster for the film, and we will also be asking for your suggestions for community groups to share the film and our education 'action guide' with.

Watch the video