Feral Jundi

Friday, May 14, 2010

Industry Talk: Taliban Protection Payoffs Denied By Watan Risk Management

Filed under: Afghanistan,Industry Talk — Tags: , , , , , , — Matt @ 1:17 AM

     Popal argues it would be impossible to pay off the patchwork of insurgent groups attacking the supply routes, since there’s no single commander.

     Watan Risk Management also has the highest casualty rate among private security firms, he notes, with an average of 50 deaths per month between May and October 2009.

*****

   You know, Mr. Popal has a point.  If his company is paying off the Taliban, then why were they losing so many people every month? This is not me picking a side or anything.  I am just saying that if in fact Watan Risk Management is using bribes to protect convoys, then they should get their money back because they are getting a raw deal.

    I would also be curious to hear how many of those deaths were do to just the hazards of driving hours and hours on poor roads with horrible driving conditions, on top of attacks by the enemy? You know the saying ‘lies, damn lies, and statistics….’. It is still a sacrifice, but in this discussion it is important to differentiate because the Taliban has nothing to do with those deaths.

   The other point to make is that maybe they would have lost twice that many folks if they didn’t pay off those they could deal with?  Who knows, but I figured I would post Watan’s side of the story. Rest in peace to the fallen contractors of this company who paid the ultimate sacrifice while delivering this essential cargo for the war effort. –Matt

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Ahmad Rateb Popal

Ahmad Rateb Popal. (CBC)

Taliban protection payoffs denied by contractor

April 27, 2010

Allegations that a private security firm has been bribing Taliban and other insurgents to ensure safe passage for NATO convoys in Afghanistan are being denied by a key player in the business.

Allegations that a private security firm has been bribing Taliban and other insurgents to ensure safe passage for NATO convoys in Afghanistan are being denied by a key player in the business.

Kabul-based Watan Risk Management was among the private companies fingered in recent media reports alleging that the firms are paying off insurgents to protect supply routes, essentially funnelling international funds to the very groups troops are fighting against.

(more…)

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Letter Of Marque: Call For Private Forces To Fight Pirates

Filed under: Legal News,Letter Of Marque,Maritime Security — Tags: , , , , , , — Matt @ 3:36 AM

   I found this article over at UPI and I thought it was pretty cool.  One of my goals here at FJ is to explore unique ideas and concepts, such as the Letter of Marque , and see where it ends up.

   This article below highlights several places out there where the idea is popping up, and I am hoping that some more critical thought will be put into this unique way of fighting wars.  You will also recognize many of the references in this article, because I have posted them here under the Letter of Marque category (feel free to use the search on the right, or click on the category on the right). I have no clue who wrote this article, and you can follow the link below and make any comments there. –Matt

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Call for private forces to fight pirates

May 10, 2010

MOGADISHU, Somalia, May 10 (UPI) — As Somali pirates extend their operation deeper into the Indian Ocean, Western private security firms are seeking to re-establish the centuries-old system of “letters of marque and reprisal” that allows privateers to pursue maritime marauders.

The system was introduced by King Edward III of England in the Middle Ages but it is also on U.S. statute books as Article One, paragraph 8, clauses 10 and 11, of the U.S. Constitution, and in Title 33 of the U.S. Code, paragraphs 385 and 386.

Maj. Theodore Richard, a lawyer in the Commercial Litigation Division of the U.S. Air Force, published a lengthy article in favor of reviving letters of marque in the Public Contract Law Journal in April.

On April 15, 2009, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, advocated the use of letters of marque and reprisal against the Somali pirates. The bills he introduced weren’t passed.

Paul was instrumental in introducing the Marque and Reprisal Act of 2001 in Congress following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. He maintained the hijacking of U.S. airliners constituted air piracy and he wanted to grant the president the authority to issue letters of marque and reprisal against specific terrorists.

He raised the issue again on July 21, 2007, but Congress has made no move toward invoking the constitution to combat piracy.

Still, Intelligence Online, a Paris Web site that covers global security issues, reports that “several private security firms” are pressing for the U.S. government and other Western authorities to re-establish letters of marque.

These would sanction private companies to actively hunt down pirates rather than just provide security teams aboard commercial vessels. That would be in line with the wide-scale outsourcing of security missions to private security companies who are active in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan in support of U.S. and allied forces.

Allowing armed privateers to combat piracy in the Gulf of Aden would supplement U.S. and European naval task forces off Somalia.

(more…)

Call To Action: Everybody Draw Mohammad Day–May 20th!

Filed under: Al Qaeda,Call To Action,Funny Stuff,War Art — Tags: , , , , , — Matt @ 2:09 AM

   The drawing below that Lars Vilks did, as well as the Mohammad in a bear suit that the guys at South Park/Comedy Central put together, are two prime examples of the kind of stuff that really winds up these extremists.  What’s better, is now there is a holiday being promoted on Facebook that declares May 20th as ‘Everybody Draw Mohammad Day’!  I love it.  And check out how many friends that page has? lol

   All I have to say to Al Qaeda and company is that you better sell some more drugs and get some more donations from your rich muslim friends for all of the bounties you are going to have to post, because you are about to get an onslaught of funny Mohammad drawings. –Matt

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Join up on Facebook for Everybody Draw Mohammad Day here.

Use your artistic skills (or lack thereof) and submit your drawings of Mohammad to drawmohammad @ gmail.com

Select entries will be featured on this page and on our website (currently under construction).

Invite all your friends to join this page – if individual freedom is important to you, now is the time to act!

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Mohammed Dog

Swede cartoonist Lars Vilks attacked

May 12, 2010

Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks, who sparked controversy by drawing Prophet Mohammed with the body of a dog, was on Tuesday attacked while giving a lecture at a university, police said.

“The man was sat in the first row and suddenly he rushed at me. He punched me in the head and I lost my glasses,” said Vilks, adding that at the very most he was “a little bruised”.

Police said around 250 people were present at the time of the attack at the university of Uppsala, north of the Stockholm.

Story here.

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From the Facebook Page

In 2005, more than 100 people were killed in “cartoon riots”. Instead of speaking out against this insanity, people of the free world were bullied into the corner and decided that it would be better to appease Islamists with self-censorship under the threat of violence, since there is certainly plenty of evidence that they are more than willing to deliver on their threats. “If you dare portray Mohammad or criticize Islam” – you can end up dead.

The message was clear – and we were willing to give up our rights and forsake our values under the threat of violence from a group of thugs.

In 2010, we reached a new low when Comedy Central has decided to remove any mention of the name “Mohammad” from an episode of South Park, again as result of death threats from people who claim to be followers of a “religion of peace”.

(more…)

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Kidnap And Ransom: Pemex Executive Kidnapping Rattles Mexico Oil Industry

Filed under: Kidnap And Ransom,Mexico — Tags: , , , , , , , — Matt @ 3:58 AM

   Between the kidnappings and the pilfering of the oil by cartels, Pemex has some issues.  Just one suggestion for Pemex, and that is if you want to retain some of that oil and stop paying ransoms, then make the investment in a competent security company to protect your stuff and people.  You can buy some pretty kick ass security for well under the 750 million dollars that you are losing every year (on top of what ever you are paying for in ransoms). –Matt

Edit: 5/20/2010 – Check out this story about former Mexican presidential candidate that was kidnapped recently.

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Pemex exec kidnapping rattles Mexico oil industry

May 11 2010

By Robert Campbell

Driving home along rough, poorly lit roads to the southern Mexican city of Villahermosa, an oil executive and his driver stopped at a roadside eatery for dinner when they were cornered by armed men.

The gunmen seized Nestor Martinez, who manages a production unit for energy monopoly Pemex in the oil-rich state of Tabasco, and sent his driver on to deliver the news he had been kidnapped, industry sources say.

Martinez was released a few days after his abduction last month but a spate of kidnappings of Pemex executives has shaken the oil industry in a country where drug cartels and organized crime gangs are increasingly spooking foreign investors.

“Everyone has heard about it but there has been no official statement. It’s really frightening,” said a Pemex employee in Villahermosa, who declined to be identified because he is not authorized to speak with reporters.

A Pemex spokesman declined to comment on the case, and the industry sources could not confirm local media reports that a large ransom was paid to free Martinez, also president of the national petroleum engineers’ association.

Mexico is in the grip of a brutal drugs war that has killed some 23,000 people, mainly traffickers and police, since President Felipe Calderon took power in late 2006. The army crackdown launched by Calderon has fanned turf wars between rival gangs and battles against security forces.

(more…)

Industry Talk: Rest In Peace Ryan Lozier, Adam Spain, and David Hughes

Filed under: Afghanistan,Industry Talk,Iraq — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , — Matt @ 2:24 AM

   Rest in peace to the fallen and all prayers and condolences go out to the family and friends of these brave men. –Matt

Edit: July 9, 2011–Ryan Lozier was awarded the Defense Medal of Freedom medal posthumously. Here is the link.

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Middletown grad killed in Afghanistan

Ryan Lozier died ‘doing what he loved’

By Rick McCrabb, Staff Writer

May 11, 2010

MIDDLETOWN — Two days before Mother’s Day, Viki Lozier was notified that her oldest son, Ryan Lozier, 30, a 1998 Middletown High School graduate, was killed by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan while working for Global Security Solutions, a private security company.

Viki Lozier said her son served eight years in the Army Ranger Battalion in Afghanistan and Iraq. He worked for a year in the private sector, then joined the security company.

“He told me, ‘Mom, this is what I’m meant to do. I want to save people and this is what I love,’ ” she said Monday, May 10.

“As a mother, I have to honor that. I can’t be mad. There is nobody to blame. That’s how he lived. He died doing what he loved.”

She described her son as “big, bold and bright,” and he didn’t do anything “half-measured, even when he was getting in trouble.”

Lozier, a standout athlete, played football at Madison High School, then transferred to Middletown High School for his junior and senior years.

(more…)

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