Not Proof of Life but a real K&R company

Last night on Coast to Coast AM, Brad Barker, the head of HALO Corporation was interviewed. His company deals with personal security and K&R. In fact, they produce the Discovery show, Kidnap and Rescue. He mentioned the company was looking for forward deployed medics and I thought of Sarge.

A preview of the C2C episode:


A promo for K&R:


(twitter)

A TEDx talk:

The president's speech last night

US President Barack Obama reads his speech to photographers after delivering an address to the nation on the end of combat operations in Iraq from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on August 31, 2010. (Getty/Daylife)

the text: White House, NYT, NPR, LAT
video: White House, Eurweb, hulu

Reactions:
Andrew Bacevich (via Daniel McCarthy)
Richard Spencer
Juan Cole
Leon Hadar
Norman Solomon, A Speech for Endless War

Bill Quigley / Laura Raymond, Another False Ending:

While the mainstream media is debating whether Iraq can be declared a victory or  not there is virtually no discussion regarding this surge in contractors.  Meanwhile, serious questions about the accountability of private military  contractors remain. 

In the past decade the United States has dramatically shifted the way in which  it wages war – fewer soldiers and more contractors. 

Last month, the Congressional Research Service reported that the Department of  Defense (DoD) workforce has 19% more contractors (207,600) than uniformed  personnel (175,000) in Iraq and Afghanistan, making the wars in these two  countries the most outsourced and privatized in U.S. history. 

According to a recent State Department briefing to Congress’s Commission on  Wartime Contracting, from now on, instead of soldiers, private military  contractors will be disposing of improvised explosive devices, recovering killed  and wounded personnel, downed aircraft and damaged vehicles, policing Baghdad’s  International Zone, providing convoy security, and clearing travel routes, among  other security-related duties.

Worse, the oversight of contractors will rest with other contractors.  As has  been the case in Afghanistan, contractors will be sought to provide  “operations-center monitoring of private security contractors (PSCs)” as well as  “PSC inspection and accountability services.”

Related:

Gareth Porter, Taliban Morale

Patrick Cockburn, What is the US Legacy in Iraq?