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Tag: Iraq War

  • Chris Kyle Film Split America: What Side Are You On?

    Chris Kyle and the Clint Eastwood biopic of him, American Sniper, have been in the public eye in recent weeks. The movie has become quite the hot button, famous for its divisive nature among American citizens.

    The movie itself follows Bradley Cooper as famed sniper Chris Kyle during his tours in the Iraq war and his struggles at home.

    There is course language, politically uncorrect rhetoric, and some pretty unfiltered glimpses into the war and its effect on soldiers.

    Many were critical of the film, saying it glorifies NavySEAL sniper Chris Kyle and the war.

    In his memoir, Chris Kyle called Iraqis “savages” and says he “loved killing bad guys” to protect his fellow soldiers. Yeah, it doesn’t sit well with a lot of people.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgFDL4FaIBs

    However, even Nicholas Schmidle, staff writer for The New Yorker, admits that that kind of talk is status quo in the military.

    Schmindle wrote an article about Chris Kyle and the man who killed him.

    He said, “Chris Kyle’s story is an uneasy story. He did dehumanize the enemy.”

    He added, “That is something, however, that is part of training. That’s part of preparing young men and women to go to war.”

    This is something that supporters and critics of Chris Kyle haven’t exactly come to terms with yet. And they might never be able to, since many soldiers and former soldiers take the position that a person can’t understand war unless they’ve been there.

    NSFW:

    For example, former Marine Jacob Schick, a warrior relations specialist with the Brain Performance Institute in Dallas, was traumatically injured, but says his most debilitating issues were post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury.

    “Physical pain lets you know you’re alive; mental pain will test your will to stay that way,” he says of warriors like Chris Kyle and himself.

    What do you think? Do you feel that the movie detailing the life of Chris Kyle glorifies war and bloodshed or does it expose the gap of understanding between those who have experienced war and those who have simply commented on it from a comfy desk?

  • ISIS Leader’s Aide Killed During Airstrike

    The Iraq Defense Ministry on Thursday confirmed that a top aid to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), has died. According to an Al Arabiya report, the aide is believed to have died during a U.S. airstrike on Mosul. Two other top ISIS officials were also killed in the attack, including a Tel Afar military official.

    Early reports on the airstrike in Turkish and Kurdish media had claimed that Bagdadi himself had been killed in the airstrike. Those reports have been denied by the U.S. military, though no official statement on the attack has been made by the U.S. A U.S. military spokesperson quoted in an NBC News report stated that the aide and other officials had not been specifically targeted by the attack.

    ISIS began a widespread military campaign in parts of northern Iraq in June. The organization has claimed much of Iraq as part of its caliphate and also controls a significant portion of the northern part of the country.

    Though President Obama has made it clear that U.S. troop deployments to Iraq will remain minimal, the U.S. has been leading an air campaign over ISIS territory since early August. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry stated in June that U.S. support of the Iraqi government will remain

    As the bombing campaign has progressed, ISIS has turned to more violent tactics in an effort to shore up support. The organization beheaded U.S. journalist James Foley in mid-August and just this week also beheaded American-Israeli journalist Steven Sotloff. Both men were kidnapped by Syrian forces in late 2013.

    With ISIS serving as an example of regional spillover from the Syrian civil war, President Obama has called on NATO leaders to join the fight against the organization. The NATO summit in Wales this week was supposed to focus on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but a New York Times report suggests that the U.S. and U.K. are working primarily to gather a coalition to oppose ISIS.

  • Sanborn Fined Over Iraq Map Outsourcing

    The U.S. Department of Justice today announced that the Sanborn Map Company has been fined $2.1 million over false contract claims it submitted with regards to its Army Corps of Engineers contracts in Iraq.

    According to the DOJ, Sanborn was contracted to produce convoy route maps for U.S. Marines and other forces in Iraq from 2005 to 2011. Though Sanborn was required contractually to do all the map work itself, the company instead outsourced the work to local subcontractors. The decision ended up causing delays on Sanborn’s convoy mapping projects.

    The contract violations were brought to light by a former Sanborn whistleblower named James Peterson. Under the terms of the False Claims Act Peterson will share in the money recovered from Sanborn, though the size of his share has not yet been revealed.

    “We are committed to defending the integrity of our public contracting process,” said Stuart Delery, assistant attorney general for the Civil Division at the DOJ. “The Department of Justice will not hesitate to pursue companies that knowingly fail to comply with their contractual obligations, particularly obligations involving the protection of our national security interests.”

    The Sanborn settlement is yet another example of the DOJ cracking down on war profiteers in recent weeks. Near the end of January the U.S. announced it was suing Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR) for taking bribes and inflating claims related to its Iraq war logistics contracts. Just last week the DOJ sentenced a former U.S. Army Specialist for her role in the organized theft of fuel in Afghanistan.

  • U.S. Sues KBR Over False Military Contract Claims

    The U.S. Department of Justice (USDOJ) today announced that it is suing Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR) and two Kuwaiti companies for providing false claims as part of a contract to provide logistical support for the U.S. Army in Iraq. The Kuwaiti companies were subcontracted by KBR to fulfill its contract duties in Iraq.

    The lawsuit alleges that KBR, La Nouvelle General Trading & Contracting Co., and First Kuwaiti Trading Co. knowingly provided the U.S. government with false claims as part of KBR’s contract to provide transportation, food, shelter, and other amenities to the U.S. Army in Iraq. The claims involved KBR employees taking bribes from La Nouvelle and First Kuwaiti for subcontracting work. These inflated and sometimes unfulfilled contracts were then submitted to the U.S. government for reimbursement. Specific claims by the USDOJ include supply fuel tankers priced at three times their value and truck lease payments for vehicles that were no longer in use.

    “Our office investigated the actions of KBR and related companies, as well as certain KBR employees,” said Jim Lewis, U.S. Attorney for the Central District of Illinois. “We were able to obtain criminal convictions against several subcontract managers whose actions were illegal and caused damage to our military, and we are now committed to pursue these civil claims against the companies themselves.”

    Three KBR subcontract managers have already been convicted of taking kickbacks or making false statements as part of their contracting work. In addition, Soudi company Tamimi Global has paid the U.S. $13 million in civil and criminal claims related to kickbacks it paid to a KBR contract manager.

    “Contractors and subcontractors are expected to comply with their statutory obligations and act in good faith when dealing with the United States government,” said Janice Flores, special agent in the Southwest Field Office of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service. “The lawsuit demonstrates the commitment of DCIS and its partner agencies to prevent false billing and corrupt practices involving the military contracting process.”

  • Fall of Fallujah Spawns Debate Over Who Is To Blame

    Fallujah is one of multiple cities in Iraq that proved to be bloody, cruel battlegrounds for US soldiers looking to secure the area from militants back in 2004. The fighting that took place in Fallujah was some of the most intense since Vietnam, but barely ten years after US Marines were able to secure the city from militants, an unfortunate tragedy has befallen the city in the form of Al Qaeda militants overtaking the city once more.

    Al Qaeda militants seized various key cities in Iraq over the weekend, and Fallujah was among them. The return of civil conflict in Iraq, which this takeover is only the latest example of, has spawned a debate in the US government about who is to blame for the resurgence, which comes in the face of the US withdrawal from combat in the area. Republican senators Lindsey Graham and John McCain (of South Carolina and Arizona, respectfully) were quick to blame president Barack Obama, saying in a statement, “When President Obama withdrew all US forces [from Iraq] … many of us predicted that the vacuum would be filled by America’s enemies and would emerge as a threat to US national security interests. Sadly, that reality is now clearer than ever.”

    What these two senators were reluctant to mention, however, was the fact that the Obama administration has been in full support of the continuous multi-billion-dollar arms packages being purchased by Iraq. The Iraqi government, headed by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, justifies these purchases by saying that the weapons are used to fight against militants like those that overtook Fallujah, and many conservative US representatives have agreed with this train of thought. However, the reluctance present in other parts of congress stem from fears that Prime Minister al-Maliki might use those weapons to subdue the Sunni community that is abundant in the area.

    Regardless of who is to blame for the fall of Fallujah, the effects of the fall are beginning to take a clear hold, both in Iraq and abroad. Violence coming from the militants is an immediate concern to civilians in the area, and the fall of a key city that was so heavily fought for comes as a heavy blow to many US veterans.

    Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

  • Justice Dept. Brings New Charges in 2007 Blackwater Shooting

    Justice Dept. Brings New Charges in 2007 Blackwater Shooting

    The AP via ABC News reported yesterday that the U.S. Justice Department has brought charges against four ex-contractors from Blackwater Worldwide over a 2007 shooting that left between 14 and 17 civilians dead.

    Although the four contractors involved had been previously charged in 2008 with manslaughter and weapons violations, those charges were dropped when a federal judge ruled the Justice Department withheld evidence and violated the contractors’ constitutional rights to a fair trial.

    A federal appeals court resurrected the case on the grounds that the federal judge, Ricardo Urbina, was wrong in his interpretation of the law. Urbina is now retired. U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth has given the Justice Department until Monday to decide how to proceed.

    The incident occurred on September 16 in Baghdad. During an assignment in which they were expected to protect U.S. diplomats, the Blackwater escort convoy opened fire on the crowded Nisoor Square with grenade launchers, machine guns, and sniper fire. Defense lawyers are claiming the men were under insurgent attack.

    The defendants’ names and veterancy statuses were reported: Dustin Heard, former Marine of Knoxville, TN; Evan Liberty, a former Marine of Rochester, NH; Nick Slatten, a former Army sergeant of Sparta, TN; and Paul Slough, a U.S. Army veteran of Keller, TX.

    The amount of charges vary between the ex-contractors: Slatten is being charged with 14 counts of voluntary manslaughter and 16 counts of attempted manslaughter while Liberty and Heard are respectively charged with 13 counts of voluntary and 16 counts of attempted manslaughter. Slough also received 13 counts of voluntary manslaughter, although his number of attempted manslaughter charges is 18.

    All those charged would face a long stint in prison if they are convicted. Two other contractors were reportedly involved in the incident, but prosecutors dropped their charges against a fifth contractor (retired Marine Donald Ball of West Valley City, UT), and a sixth contractor (Jeremy Ridgeway of California) is already awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty.

    Only Heard’s defense lawyer, David Schertler, emailed comments to the AP. “We will continue to fight and defend Dustin Heard’s innocence and honor until he is fully exonerated,” he wrote.

    Across the aisle, U.S. Attorney Ronald Machen said the prosecuting team “demonstrates our commitment to upholding the rule of law even in times of war and to bringing justice to the memories of those innocent men, women and children who were gunned down in Baghdad more than six years ago.”

    [Image via Blackwater’s website as it exists today]