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Private Warriors: New PBS Doc Questions Role of Military
Contractors in Iraq
"I Will Go On Until I Have Even the Slightest Hope of
Justice" - Rare Broadcast Interview With Pakistani Rape
Survivor Mukhtar Mai
Private Warriors: New PBS Doc Questions Role of Military
Contractors in Iraq
A new PBS documentary titled "Private Warriors,"
raises questions about the accountability of the private companies
working in Iraq and the Pentagon's increasing reliance on
them. We speak with the producer and correspondent, Martin
Smith and Brookings Institution fellow, Peter Singer who is
author of "Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized
Military Industry."
It's been two and half years since the invasion of Iraq.
Month after month, the army cannot meet its recruitment goals.
At the same time, the military has increasingly been outsourcing
services to private contractors. Between the logistics giant
Halliburton and numerous armed security companies, private
military contractors now comprise the second largest force
in Iraq, far outnumbering the allied troops.
A new documentary titled "Private Warriors," gives
viewers an unprecedented behind-the scenes look at companies
working in Iraq like Kellogg Brown & Root, the Halliburton
subsidiary and Erinys a South African private security company.
The film raises questions about the accountability of these
companies and the Pentagon's increasing reliance on them.
This is an excerpt that begins with Marine Colonel Thomas
X. Hammes. He served as a base commander in Iraq in early
2004.
- "Private Warriors,", excerpt of Frontline documentary
premiering June 21 at 9:00pm on PBS.
Click for more information: "Private
Warriors"
- Martin Smith, producer and correspondent of "Private
Warriors." He has contributed to FRONTLINE over the
years as both an award-winning producer and reporter. In
recent years, Smith's focus has been on Al Qaeda and the
war in Iraq.
- Peter Singer, Senior Fellow at the Brookings
Institution and Director of the Project on U.S. Policy
Towards the Islamic World at the Saban Center for Middle
East Policy. He is author of "Corporate Warriors: The
Rise of the Privatized Military Industry."
"I Will Go On Until I Have Even the Slightest
Hope of Justice" - Rare Broadcast Interview With Pakistani
Rape Survivor Mukhtar Mai
The Pakistani government is barring a woman from coming
to the United States to speak out about her case and the plight
of women's rights in Pakistan. She was gang-raped on orders
by her local tribal counsel. We play a rare broadcast interview
with Mukhtar Mai from her home in Pakistan and we speak with
a Pakistani journalist who met with her in April. [includes
rush
transcript - partial]
We spend the rest of the hour looking at the case of Mukhtar
Mai - a Pakistani rape survivor who has become an international
symbol of the ongoing struggle for women's rights in Pakistan.
In June 2002, a group of men gang-raped Mukhtar Mai near
her home in Pakistan. The rape was ordered by her local tribal
counsel as punishment for a crime allegedly committed by her
12-year-old brother. After her rape, Mukhtar Mai was forced
to walk home nearly naked before a jeering crowd of three
hundred onlookers.
According to The New York Times, on average, a woman is raped
every two hours in Pakistan, and two women a day die in so-called
honor killings. Most of the cases go unnoticed, but Mukhtar
Mai defied tradition by fighting back against her attackers
in the courts. She testified against them. A number of them
were convicted and sent to prison. With the compensation money
she received, she opened elementary schools in her village.
Last week, Mukhtar Mai was back in the headlines when the
Pakistani government barred her from leaving the country in
an attempt to block her from publicizing her case. Amnesty
International had planned to bring her to the United States.
On the eve of her trip, she was detained by Pakistani government
officials and placed under house arrest. The government then
apparently tried to intimidate her by ordering the release
of the 12 men connected to her rape.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf admitted that he had
ordered Mukhtar placed on the no fly list, telling reporters
"I don't want to project a bad image of Pakistan."
But her detention had the opposite effect, sparking international
condemnation. The Pakistani government now says Mukhtar Mai
is free to travel wherever she wants. But there is one small
problem - they confiscated her passport. Once again, Mukhtar
Mai is refusing to be silent and is speaking out to the local
and international media about her case. New York Times columnist
Nicholas Kristof writes, "President Musharraf may have
ousted rivals and overthrown a civilian government, but he
has now met his match - a peasant woman with a heart of gold
and a will of steel."
I reached Mukhtar Mai yesterday at her home in Pakistan.
I began by asking her if she was free to travel outside the
country. Translation is provided by Pakistani journalist Azra
Rashid.
- Mukhtar Mai, interviewed June 20, 2005.
- Azra Rashid, Pakistani journalist who traveled to Mukhtar
Mai's village in April 2005 and met with her.
- Mukhtar Mai, speaking in April 2005.
- Asma Jahangir, head of the Human Rights Commission of
Pakistan, speaking in April 2005.
- Dr. Israr Ahmad, head of Tanzeema-e-Islami, speaking
at a protest in Pakistan, April 2005.
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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