Karzai Stands Firm on Disbanding Private Security
Afghan President Says Stoning of Couple Was Afghan Government ‘Failure’
JOSHUA MILLER – August 22, 2010—  Hamid Karzai, the president of Afghanistan, pledged to disband private security firms in his country within four months in an exclusive interview on “This Week.” Karzai insisted having those companies operate in Afghanistan undermined the country’s security forces and were a source of corruption, thievery and harassment. He also alleged that some private security firms engaged in terrorist activity. 

In an interview with anchor Christiane Amanpour, Karzai said the quick deadline for their disbandment was necessary. “The more we wait, the more we lose,” he said from Kabul. 

He insisted the companies were “running a parallel security structure to the Afghan government.” 

“One of the reasons that I want them disbanded and removed by four months from now is exactly because that their presence is preventing the growth and the development of the Afghan Security Forces, especially the police force because 40,000, 50,000 people are given more salaries than the Afghan police,” he said.  (Click HERE for article)

Lawyer Suing Blackwater Founder Erik Prince Chases Him to Abu Dhabi
Ryan J. Reilly – August 20, 2010 - A lawyer representing former Blackwater employees who accuse company founder Erik Prince of defrauding the government will head to Abu Dhabi this weekend to depose the head of the controversial contractor.

Susan Burke, who has already settled seven suits against Prince in relation to the shooting of Iraqi citizens in 2007, will depose Prince in the United Arab Emirates, writes her husband Jamison Koehler.

As reported by the the New York Times earlier this week, court documents indicated that Prince moved to the United Arab Emirates, and current and former colleagues said Prince wanted to focus on security work for African and the Middle Eastern governments. Prince, they told the Times, was bitter about both the legal scrutiny and negative publicity his company received.

Blackwater, or Xe Services as it is now known, is for sale, and former top managers at the company are facing criminal charges, as announced by federal prosecutors in April. (Click HERE for article)

Arkansas man found dead in Dubai
George Jared – Jonesboro Sun  - RAVENDEN SPRINGS - August, 20, 2010 - A local man was found dead in a Dubai hotel room Monday, and authorities in the United Arab Emirates are investigating the cause, according to his family.

Michael Bradley, 55, was in the country on the Arabian Peninsula for about a week when he failed to report to work at Recon International, his wife Debbie said Thursday.

“We got very concerned when nobody had seen him,” Debbie said. “We don’t know how he died.”

Bradley’s body is being held in Dubai pending an autopsy, his wife said. Seth Bradley, his son, is in Dubai with his father’s body, which may be returned no earlier than Tuesday, the family said.

E-mails by The Sun to the United States Consulate in Dubai and Recon International, also in the city, were not immediately returned.

A former Army sergeant, Bradley grew up in the Ravenden Springs area and graduated from Sloan-Hendrix High School in 1973, his sister, Kathy Wells said. (Click HERE for article)

Former U.S. Army Sergeant Pleads Guilty to Bribery in Afghanistan Fuel Theft Scheme
WASHINGTON August 19, 2010 – A former U.S. Army Sergeant pleaded guilty today to bribery in connection with a fuel theft scheme to solicit more than $400,000 in bribes from a government contractor in Afghanistan, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Neil H. MacBride of the Eastern District of Virginia.

Michael Dugger, 27, of Jonesboro, Ga., pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Court Judge T. S. Ellis, III in the Eastern District of Virginia to a one-count criminal information charging him with bribery as a public official.   Dugger was originally charged in a criminal complaint filed on June 24, 2010.   The complaint charged him and Stevan Nathan Ringo, a former U.S. Army staff sergeant in Afghanistan, with one count of conspiracy to commit theft of government property.   The charge against Ringo remains pending.   The charge in the complaint is merely an allegation, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.   

According to court documents, Ringo and Dugger were stationed at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Shank, a U.S. Army installation in the Logar Province of Eastern Afghanistan. (Click HERE for article)

One-Fourth of Pentagon’s War Zone Pay to Civilians Was Improper
Julie Vorman – August 19, 2010 – The Pentagon improperly spent $57.7 million on danger and hardship pay and other special allowances and pay differentials for nearly 9,000 civilian employees working In Afghanistan and Iraq, according to the Defense Department’s Office of Inspector General.

The $57.7 million accounts for more than one-fourth of the total $212.9 million spent on the special pay allowances and differentials for 11,691 civilian employees in the two countries during fiscal years 2007 and 2008, the Pentagon watchdog said in a new report.

Some of the payments should not have been made or were made in an incorrect amount because the Pentagon lacks uniform rules for its human resources offices to calculate, process, and monitor accurate payments, the report said. For example, some civilian employees received an Iraq danger pay allowance rate of 35 percent even though they were still in Kuwait, which has a danger pay allowance rate of 15 percent. Another employee left Iraq for a 30-day trip to the United States, but continued to receive $3,857 in danger pay for that month. (Click HERE for article)

U.S. Mercenaries Accused of Abetting Genocide
ROBERT KAHN – (CN) – August 18, 2010 – A private U.S. defense contractor “trained and equipped the Croatian military for Operation Storm and designed the Operation Storm battle plan,” which killed or displaced more than 200,000 Serbs in 1995, in the largest European land offensive since World War II, the Genocide Victims of Krajina say in Chicago Federal Court. They demand billions of dollars in damages from MPRI, founded by U.S. military officers who were “downsized” at the end of the Cold War, and L-3 Communications, which bought MPRI for $40 million in 2000.

“This is a class action brought by ethnic Serbs who resided in the Krajina region of Croatia up to August 1995 and who then became victims of the Croatian military assault known as Operation Storm – an aggressive, systematic military attack and bombardment on a demilitarized civilian population that had been placed under the protection of the United Nations,” the 40-page complaint begins.  (Click HERE for article)

Other Related Posts From Ms Sparky

1. US firm DynCorp fell short on Afghan police training
2. MG Dan Mongeon, USA (Ret.), his supeona stands, new charges against Agility possible
3. Robert Wade Prince pleads guilty to assault and interfering with a flight crew
4. Dear DoJ: Name that firm! – the news this week
5. Air Marshals take down Robert Wade Prince on flight to Houston (updated 2/20/2010)