This story is probably the best example of what President Eisenhower called “the military industrial complex,” who’s ever expanding desire to make money off of military conflict has continually distorted our democracy. Businesses conected to defense are rarely held to the same standard that public outrage would normally demand.
Despite repeated criticisms from both the Afghan government and western news agencies, private U.S. companies whose employees have repeatedly been accused of participating in the sex-slave trade, are still receiving Defense Department contracts worth billions. According to newly leaked diplomatic cables, the private security (aka mercenary) group DynCorp is again accused of actively participating in the illegal drug, sex and slave trade.
In one of the recently leaked confidential cables, US assistant ambassador Joseph Mussomeli and Afghan Interior Minister Hanif Atmar discussed an incident involving DynCorp in April of 2009. The Afghans complained the group was paying money to drug dealers and pimps. DynCorp employees are accused of “purchasing a service from a child” which is illegal in Afghanistan and has been since the Taliban took power in 1996.
According to the cable, while training Afghan police forces, DynCorp employees paid for services including a “bacha bazi” or a “boy play” party, which the State Department calls a “widespread, culturally accepted form of male rape.”
Yes, raping children too.
According to the Houston Press, “bacha bazi is a pre-Islamic Afghan tradition that was banned by the Taliban. Bacha boys are eight to 15 years old. They put on make-up, tie bells to their feet and slip into scanty women’s clothing, and then, to the whine of a harmonium and wailing vocals, they dance seductively to smoky roomfuls of leering older men.”
In the cable, the Afghan government pressed the ambassador to resolve the situation. The U.S. ambassador said, “An investigation is on-going, disciplinary actions were taken against DynCorp leaders in Afghanistan… Beyond remedial actions taken, we still hope the matter will not be blown out of proportion, an outcome which would not be good for either the U.S. or Afghanistan.”
Last August, Afghan President Hamid Karzai demanded that all private security companies in Afghanistan be disbanded, but backed off the decree after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a personal appeal to the president to allow the groups to continue working in the country until at least February. Last Monday, Karzai again agreed to revise his position allowing private security companies to continue working in Afghanistan until their contracts expire.
DynCorp employees have had a long history in illegal activities dating back to 1998 in Bosnia where, according to Salon.com, 13 employees were sent home and at least seven of them were fired “for purchasing women or participating in other prostitution-related activities.”
A whistleblower and former DynCorp employee detailed the underage sex-trade. According to the informant, contractors could purchase a slave for $600 to $700 “with all the rights of ownership attaching.”
“DynCorp employees and supervisors engaged in sex with 12 to 15 year old children, and sold them to each other as slaves,” the Chicago Tribune reported in 2005. “None of the girls were from Bosnia itself, but were kidnapped by DynCorp employees from Russia, Romania and other places.” The informant said the employees would brag about how young their girl was.
In addition, DynCorp has been found guilty of racial discrimination. In 2008, DynCorp was found guilty and forced to pay $10 million in punitive damages, but the damages were successfully appealed “due to a technicality involving clarity of jury instructions” according to The Weekly Challenger, an African American newspaper.
DynCorp makes hundreds of thousands of dollars in direct and indirect contributions to politicians and their political action committees. According to the non-partisan website OpenSecrets.org, DynCorp has donated over $250,000 in the last three years. DynCorp splits its contributions between Democrats and Republicans equally.
The cable states that it is not possible to embed government agents in Dyncorp missions due to the nature of the contract. The US government has yet to comment.
Further Reading:
WikiLeaks: Texas Company Helped Pimp Little Boys To Stoned Afghan Cops
US Embassy Cable – June 24, 2009
Sex Slave Whistleblowers Vindicated
Afghanistan Backs Off Threat to Ban Private Security Firms
Whistleblower (2010) – Wikipedia – Movie about Dyncorp in Bosnia
