US Rejects UN Mercenary Report

[NNN0LHI]

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5izdgbHNcVa7cp57TN8QERErNXZYAD8SB72301

By ALEXANDER G. HIGGINS – 1 day ago

GENEVA (AP) — The U.S. government on Wednesday rejected a U.N. report that said the use of private security guards like those involved in the shooting deaths of Iraqi civilians amounted to a new form of mercenary activity.

The report by a five-member panel of independent U.N. human rights experts said the contractors were performing military duties even though they were hired to be security guards. The killing of 17 civilians in Baghdad last month by Blackwater USA guards underscores the risks of using such contractors, said panel chairman, Jose Luis Gomez del Prado of Spain.

A spokesman for the U.S. Mission to U.N. offices in Geneva released a statement Wednesday denying the security guards were mercenaries.

"Accusations that U.S. government-contracted security guards, of whatever nationality, are mercenaries is inaccurate and demeaning to men and women who put their lives on the line to protect people and facilities every day," the statement said.

[Hydra]

1. Raise your hand if you're surprised!

[JuniperLea]

2. It's NOT a new form...

It is the same old, same old. A mercenary by any other name is still a mercenary when you read the definition.

[spanone]

3. they give the finger to everyone....especially their detractors

[Coexist]

4. "and we are helping children by denying them healthcare,

and bringing freedoms to Iraqis by killing them, and we condemn Saddam Hussein for using the mustard gas we sold him... anything else you need clarity on?"

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. Of couse, it places us outside

the conventions we've signed... GENEVA anyone?

[Hydra]

7. I had a fundie tell me

that Geneva and the constitution "hinder our efforts against terrorists"

I about fell flat on my face. What were the Nuremberg Trials to these people? A farce?

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. Of couse, it places us outside

the conventions we've signed... GENEVA anyone?