By Kevin Stoda, Kuwait
At the end of this article is the excerpt from a Democracy Now interview with BIG BOY RULES author, Steve Fainaru. who just won the Pulitzer Prize. http://www.bigboyrules.com/
As I have lived in Kuwait for half a decade, I am quite aware of the bad business practices and firms in this country, which have nonetheless made a lot of money for Kuwaiti’s and for many North American- and Middle East-based subcontractors.
Author Fainaru spent time with the K-Marts of American Service companies based out of Kuwait and running their own little sideshows in Iraq. Naturally, Blackwater is one well-known name as is Halliburton and friends. Yet, other logistics firms, service companies and mercenary military companies have made over 100s of billions of dollars off of the U.S. occupation of Iraq since 2002 (when build up for the invasion began).
In both the interview with Fainaru and in reading his book BIG BOY RULES, we are shown a shocking and sickening world which American tax payers have been coughing up money for.
This sickening and lawless world includes allowing these paid mercenary firms, so-called private security companies, to shoo people for no reason at all—and to fire whistle blowers who tattle on them.
Triple Canopy is the name of one of the Kuwait based firms that Fainaru was embedded in while in Iraq and Kuwait over a 16 month period.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/10/04/blackwater.contractor/index.html
AGILITY—and RECENT HALLOWEEN PARTY, KUWATI
AGILITY used to be known as PWC (Public Warehouse Corporation in Kuwait). http://www.agilitylogistics.com/EN/GIL/Pages/Agility_Press_winsKNPC_tenderfor_freightforwarding.aspx
AGILITY is one of the Kuwaiti and American firms which has grown to become a major world-wide logistics player due to the benevolence of U.S. taxpayers and its national defense leadership over the past 8 years. http://www.dangerzonejobs.com/artman/publish/cat_index_40.shtml
AGILITY has managed such growth only after the Sultan family, who had created an enormous number of friendships with DOD leaders over the previous decade, began to build huge warehouses in the middle of the Desert in Kuwait about a decade ago, i.e. in preparation to successfully create numerous niches of business with the U.S. military in its oncoming invasion and takeover of Iraq.
That is, prior to 2002-2003 when the U.S. military began its huge build up for war in Iraq, PWC (now AGILITY) was a much smaller-fry in the scheme of things among regional and global logistic firms.
Recently, at the end of October 2008 (and during the week prior Barack Obama being elected the President of the United States), some local aristocrats attended a costume party, i.e. over Halloween.
NOTE: Officially Halloween is not practiced in an Islamic country like Kuwait.
In attendance at that particular costume party in Kuwait were members of the Sultan family, i.e. those who have both American and Kuwaiti citizenship and who are behind AGILITY’s monetary success (and good connections with U.S.’s DOD in Kuwait and Iraq) over the past decade.
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