News: Did your laptop cause the war in Congo?

Often people relate to ethnic differences when trying to explain the cause of the war in Congo. Others blame the break down of any law-and-order system, in a free-for-all society where "the one with the gun, rules".

The root cause of the conflict might be closer to home. You might be staring at it: your laptop...

Coltan, or "columbite-tantalite" is a unique metal used in the batteries of small electronics: your iPod, cell phone, pager, and laptop use it.

Eastern Congo, where fighting has recently taken a dramatic upswing, is one of the best places in the world to mine Coltan.

Coltan, just like other minerals in Eastern DRC, are mined in pretty much the same way gold used to be mined in the 19th century during The Goldrush in California. Except that in DRC, often children are the miners. The mines are mostly ruled by the warring fractions, or entities protected by the warring fractions with DRC's neighbours Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi smuggling the Coltan out of DRC.

By one estimate, the Rwandan army made at least US$250 million over a period of 18 months through the sale of coltan, while there is no Coltan mining in Rwanda, so go figure. (Full)

It is now said that competition over Coltan mines between the governments of the Congo, Rwanda, Uganda and a panoply of armed groups in eastern Congo helped fuel a civil war in Congo that has claimed over 4 million lives over the past decade.



Discovered via UN Dispatch

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Rumble: Blackwater or How War Profiteering Works - Part III

Blackwater Worldwide has played a substantial role during the Iraq War as a contractor for the United States government. In 2003, Blackwater attained its first high-profile contract when it received a $21 million no-bid contract for guarding the head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, L. Paul Bremer. Since June 2004, Blackwater has been paid more than $320 million out of a $1 billion, five-year State Department budget for the Worldwide Personal Protective Service, which protects U.S. officials and some foreign officials in conflict zones. In 2006, Blackwater won the renumerative contract to protect the U.S. embassy in Iraq, the largest American embassy in the world.

Blackwater is a privately held company and does not publish much information about internal affairs. Who are the key people?

Blackwater's owner and founder Erik Prince, a former Navy SEAL, attended the Naval Academy, graduated from Hillsdale College, and was an intern in George H.W. Bush's White House. Prince is a major financial supporter of Republican Party causes and candidates.
Cofer Black, the company's current vice chairman, was director of the CIA's Counterterrorist Center (CTC) at the time of the September 11, 2001 attacks. He was the United States Department of State coordinator for counterterrorism with the rank of ambassador at large from December 2002 to November 2004. After leaving public service, Black became chairman of the privately owned intelligence gathering company Total Intelligence Solutions, Inc., as well as vice chairman for Blackwater.
Joseph E. Schmitz holds an executive position in Blackwater's holding company, Prince Group. He was previously inspector general of the Department of Defense, an appointment of George W. Bush.
Robert Richer was vice president of intelligence until January 2007, when he formed Total Intelligence Solutions. He was formerly the head of the CIA's Near East Division.

Are you surprised Blackwater opened the door to lucrative government contracts through a no-bid contract? Are you surprised they received immunity from prosecution after killing 17 Iraqi civilians a year ago?


More interesting reading on Blackwater: The Whores of War

Source: Wikipedia and others
Cartoon courtesy News Sophisticate

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News: KBR or How War Profiteering Works - Part 2: Human Trafficking

KBR, one of America's biggest military contractors is being sued by a Nepali labourer and the families of a dozen other employees who say they were taken against their will to work in Iraq. All but one of the Nepalese workers were subsequently kidnapped and murdered.

According to the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles, the Nepalese workers were recruited in 2004 in their home country by KBR and its Jordanian contractors, Daoud & Partners, to work as kitchen staff in a luxury hotel in Amman. Once they reached the Jordanian capital, however, their passports were taken from them and they were sent to Iraq. While travelling in an unprotected convoy, the Nepalis were kidnapped and later executed.

KBR (Kellogg, Brown and Root) is a former subsidiary of Halliburton, the company of which the US vice-president, Dick Cheney, was once the chairman. (Full)

Cartoon courtesy Radio Left

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News: Halliburton or How War Profiteering Works - Part 1: The Secret Deal for Iraq's Oil

Four months before the United States invaded Iraq, the Department of Defense was secretly working with Vice President Dick Cheney's old company, Halliburton Corp., on a deal that would give the world's second largest oil services company total control over Iraq's oil fields, according to interviews with Halliburton's most senior executives.

Previously undisclosed Halliburton documents obtained by The Public Record confirm that controlling the world's second largest oil reserves was a top priority for the Bush administration. Additionally, the deal between the Department of Defense and Halliburton unit Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR - see this post) to operate Iraq's oil industry saved Halliburton from imminent bankruptcy.

In October of 2002, Halliburton was saddled with a multibillion-dollar asbestos liability as well as a serious slowdown in domestic oil production. The company’s stock plummeted on the news falling to a low of $12.62 in October 2002 from a high of $22 the year before.

A month later, in November 2002, Halliburton’s financial troubles seemingly disappeared. At the urging of unnamed officials in the Office of the Vice President, according to the documents, the Department of Defense recommended The Army Corps of Engineers award a contract to Kellogg, Brown & Root to extinguish Iraqi oil well fires in addition to "assessing the condition of oil-related infrastructure; cleaning up oil spills or other environmental damage at oil facilities; engineering design and repair or reconstruction of damaged infrastructure; assisting in making facilities operational; distribution of petroleum products; and assisting the Iraqis in resuming Iraqi oil company operations."

That was a deal hatched five months before the start of the Iraq war, when the Bush administration said publicly that it had not been working on war plans, and at the time when the UN weapons inspectors had just re-entered Iraq. (Full)

Cartoon courtesy bizzybeeze.com

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