by David Pfotenhauer — The unsubstantiated rumours of the private security company STTEP (Specialised Tasks, Training, Equipment and Protection International) being redeployed to Nigeria have yet to generate the furore that their initial deployment did in 2015. The earlier presence of STTEP prompted the South African government to label them as ‘mercenary’ in function and nature and therefore […]
CONTRACTOR SUPPORT OF U.S. OPERATIONS IN THE USCENTCOM AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY BACKGROUND: This report updates DoD contractor personnel numbers in theater and outlines DoD efforts to improve management of contractors accompanying U.S. forces. It covers DoD contractor personnel deployed in Afghanistan (Operation Freedom’s Sentinel), Iraq (Operation Inherent Resolve), and the U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) area […]
Security staff charged with protecting New Zealand's ambassador to Iraq are said to have walked off the job after a pay dispute and claims cost-cutting has put private military contractors doing the work at higher risk. The private security staff are paid by the Australian Government to protect Australia's embassy, which is shared with New […]
As the war on ISIS in the Mideast rages on, U.S. airstrikes are helping Kurdish forces fight the terror group in Iraq -- but so are American fighters on the ground. Some U.S. veterans are returning to the region as volunteer soldiers. Charlie D’Agata reports from Erbil, Iraq.
The United States' occupation of Iraq established what is known as consensual democracy based on the division of society into Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds, as was the case in the pre-state phase. The political circumstances in the country have not been this terrible since 1921. Everyone observed how a corrupt elite has turned Iraq into […]