What Is the U.S. Military Building in Israel?

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Nov 29, 2012 At an Israeli air force base not far from Tel Aviv, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will supervise construction of a $100 million five-floor underground facility for the Israel Defense Forces termed “Site 911,” and no one in the press, including The Washington Post's national security reporter, seems to know its precise purpose. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Sadr Delivers an Ultimatum to U.S.

Staff / Truthdig Apr 9, 2011 Moqtada al-Sadr is back, issuing an ultimatum to American troops and contractors: Leave Iraq by the end of the year or he will revive his Mehdi Army and relaunch attacks on the United States' post-withdrawal presence in the country. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Karzai Shows Security Contractors the Door

Staff / Truthdig Oct 3, 2010 In your face, foreign community! Afghan President Hamid Karzai has begun dissolving foreign private security companies, including the firm formerly known as Blackwater, as he moves to make good on a promise to ban the private contractors by year's end. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Contractors Move Into the Gap in Iraq

Staff / Truthdig Aug 19, 2010 With the last American combat brigade pulling out of Iraq this week, the U.S. is turning much of the security effort there over to a small army of civilian contractors under the State Department. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Cloak and Dagger Inc.

Staff / Truthdig May 16, 2010 The U.S. military, despite reports to the contrary, has continued to rely on a secret private spy network, akin to a Blackwater with brains, that has provided a stream of intelligence to military forces in Afghanistan and Pakistan for more than a year. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Deaths Among Contractors in Afghanistan Accelerating as They Outnumber Soldiers

By T. Christian Miller, ProPublica Apr 15, 2010 There are now more civilian contractors in Afghanistan than U.S. soldiers. Using civilian contractors to haul food, prepare meals and act as bodyguards has kept the Pentagon's official casualty figures lower than they would have been in past conflicts, where contractors were not as heavily used. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

The Terror-Industrial Complex

Chris Hedges / Truthdig Feb 8, 2010 The conviction of the Pakistani neuroscientist Aafia Siddiqui in New York last week of trying to kill American military officers and FBI agents illustrates that the greatest danger to our security comes not from al-Qaida but the thousands of shadowy mercenaries, kidnappers, killers and torturers our government employs around the globe.The greatest danger to our security comes not from al-Qaida but the thousands of shadowy mercenaries, kidnappers, killers and torturers our government employs around the globe. Dig deeper ( 7 Min. Read )

Biden Promises to Appeal Blackwater Dismissals

Staff / Truthdig Jan 24, 2010 Vice President Joe Biden expressed his personal regrets to Iraqi leaders and promised that the U.S. will appeal the dismissal of manslaughter charges against five Blackwater security contractors over a bloody Baghdad shooting in 2007 that killed 17 people. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Blackwater’s CIA Connection

Staff / Truthdig Dec 11, 2009 Reports are coming out that mercenaries from Blackwater Worldwide played central roles in some of the CIA’s most sensitive missions, including clandestine raids and the transport of detainees. Many guards claimed that Blackwater's participation was so routine that the lines between military and contractor were blurred. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Kabul Contractor Parties Aren’t the Half of It

Staff / Truthdig Sep 4, 2009 Much of the furor over the conduct of private embassy guards in Kabul appears preoccupied with what one whistle-blower describes as the "gay shit" rather than the exploitation of young Afghan women or the deteriorating security situation at the embassy. The latter, after all, was the major focus of the complaint that blew this story open. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Blackwater Founder ‘Implicated in Murder’

Staff / Truthdig Aug 6, 2009 Jeremy Scahill reports in The Nation that a "former Blackwater employee and an ex-US Marine claim that the company's owner, Erik Prince, may have murdered or facilitated the murder of individuals who were cooperating with federal authorities investigating the company". Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Obama’s Afghan Trap

Amy Goodman / Truthdig Feb 11, 2009 Have we learned nothing from the Iraq war? The Obama regime is gunning for more fighting in Afghanistan at a time when the U.S. should be seeking more talk. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )