DynCorp

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DynCorp International is a mercenary company owned by Veritas Capital. Global Linguist Solutions is one of its subsidiaries.

History

Based in Reston, Virginia, DynCorp was founded in 1946 by returning WWII pilots as a private air cargo service. In the six years since 1995 DynCorp received nearly $1 billion in contracts from the US government and deployed 181 personnel to Bosnia. By 2002, it was the nation's 13th largest military contractor with $2.3 billion in revenues. In 2003, it was bought by Computer Sciences Corporation of El Segundo California in an acquisition worth nearly $1 billion. [1] It has 14,000 employees, operating in more than 30 countries. [2]

Courting Controversy

In 1991 DynCorp received the contract to maintain the US military base Camp Doha in Kuwait and it also maintains the Al-Udeid airbase in Qatar. [3] It trained Haitian police after the US intervention in 1994. [4] Its employees make up the core of the police force in Bosnia. [5] DynCorp troops protect Afghan president Hamid Karzai and will train the Afghan forces once the Green Berets depart. In Colombia, DynCorp planes and pilots fly the defoliation missions as part of the infamous 'Plan Colombia'. [6]

DynCorp has a controversial past - a fact well known to the US government, yet that did not preclude the awarding of new contracts in Iraq. [7] While stationed in Bosnia, thirteen DynCorp employees, along with the Serbian mafia, were involved in the trafficking of under aged sex slaves. The two individuals who exposed this racket were fired. [8] [9] Later when the controversy broke the culprits were merely forced to resign without any criminal charges being brought up against them. Their ambiguous legal status and immunity under Bosnian law precluded the possibility of prosecution.

In Iraq, DynCorp won a lucrative contract to provide a thousand advisors to help form Iraq's new police department, judicial branch and prison system. [10] DynCorp was reportedly hiring police trainers for Iraq through a website even before it received the contract. The corporation was paid $43.8m for the construction of a police training camp in Iraq, including $4.2m for unauthorised work. This unauthorised work included 20 VIP trailers and an olympic-sized swimming pool. The camp has never been used. [11] [12] The money for this was taken from funds allocated for anti-drug operations in Afghanistan. The raid on the home of Ahmed Chalabi was also overseen by DynCorp employees. [13]

A class action suit was filed against the company by Ecuadorian peasants alleging that herbicides spread by DynCorp in Colombia, under 'Plan Colombia'., which were affecting legitimate crops across the border, causing livestock illnesses, human diseases and in some cases, killing children. The State department intervened immediately on the firm's behalf. [14]

Ecuador recently threatened to kick out DynCorp for using its territory to procure Colombian mercenaries. [15]

Related Articles

External Links

References

  1. ^ DynCorp International Website, 'Ethics... The Bottom Line' http://www.dyn-intl.com/subpage.aspx?id=31
  2. ^ CorpWatch Website, 'CSC / DynCorp' http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?list=type&type=18
  3. ^ DynCorp International Website, 'Overview' http://www.dyn-intl.com/subpage.aspx?id=76
  4. ^ Daily Kos Website, 'Al-Udeid: Proof Iraq War planned prior 9-11', 14/06/2005 http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/6/14/224742/884
  5. ^ DynCorp International Website, '1994: Police Training and Civilian Policing' http://www.dyn-intl.com/subpage.aspx?id=45
  6. ^ CorpWatch Website, 'DynCorp Rent-a-Cops May Head to Post-Saddam Iraq', Pratap Chatterjee, 09/04/2003 http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=6328
  7. ^ The Observer, 'US Pulls Out Karzai's Military Bodyguards', Peter Beaumont, foreign affairs editor, 24/11/2002 http://observer.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,,846595,00.html
  8. ^ DynCorp International Website, 'DynCorp International Awarded Extension of Iraq Police Training', 05/09/2006 http://www.dyn-intl.com/subpage.aspx?id=185
  9. ^ Insight on the News - National, 'DynCorp Disgrace', Kelly Patricia O Meara, 19/08/2003 http://www.prisonplanet.com/dyncorp_disgrace.html
  10. ^ The Guardian, 'The Privatisation of War', Ian Traynor, 10/12/2003 http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1103566,00.html
  11. ^ DynCorp International Website, 'DynCorp International Awarded Extension of Iraq Police Training', 05/09/2006 http://www.dyn-intl.com/subpage.aspx?id=185
  12. ^ BBC Website, 'US Money is 'squandered' in Iraq', 31/01/2007 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6316057.stm
  13. ^ The Guardian, 'Millions Wasted in Iraq Reconstruction, Report Concludes', Ewen MacAskill, 01/02/2007 http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2003127,00.html
  14. ^ Washington Post, 'DynCorp Took Part in Chalabi Raid', Renae Merle, 04/06/2004 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13904-2004Jun3.html
  15. ^ CorpWatch Website, 'Ecuador: Farmers Fight DynCorp's Chemwar on the Amazon', Jeffrey St. Clair & Aleander Cockburn, Counterpunch, 27/02/2002 http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=1988
  16. ^ CorpWatch Website, 'Ecuador: American Entrepreneur Scrutinized for Offering Mercenaries Work in Iraq', Edison Lopez, Associated Press, 15/08/2005 http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=12550
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