Hey Ma, look at this!

From the NYT-owned Boston Globe, a paper which occasionally tells the truth, comes this story today about DynCorp, a Virginia-based defense contractor which has cleverly found a way to screw its contractors. Link:

DynCorp, one of the largest US defense contractors in Iraq, is one of a small but growing number of US companies that mandate the use of courts in the Middle East to resolve disputes with their American employees. The practice frequently serves to block employees' lawsuits, legal specialists say, because few are able to navigate a still-developing foreign legal system in a distant land.

...The impact goes beyond denying satisfaction to those who want to sue. By lessening the threat of lawsuits, the practice makes it easier for US defense contractors to fire workers and deny them benefits they were promised in exchange for agreeing to undertake dangerous assignments, according to international labor specialists.

So basically, they tell the people a very alluring story to get them over there, and once there, they do ye olde bait and switch. After the people get all pissed off, they force them out and tell them that if they want to sue, do it in Dubai. What? That's inconvenient?? Bwa ha ha ha ha!! SUCKAH!!!!

Charming.

But that's just the Corporate Media talking. Yes it is a scathing story, but come on now. I'm sure there is a 'reasonable explanation' for all this. Everybody take a deep breath now. Hokay.

Meanwhile, over in crazy conspiracy corner, in the Alternative News universe, DynCorp's behavior goes far beyond simple greed and garden-variety psychopathy. DynCorp is tied into the currently active anthrax story, among other things. DynCorp makes the highly suspect anthrax vaccine forced on our military, and is totally tied into the Bush crowd.

""Conveniently left off that short list is DynPort Vaccine, LLC, formed in 1997 and a joint venture of DynCorp, a major Bush backer and owned now by Computer Sciences Corporation, also a major Bush backer, and Ipsen, a company based in the UK where they merged or backed Porton into Ipsen without any public announcement of that event. I thought it was odd to have missed what might be the real game, the real story; i.e. DynCorp and BioPort in bed together. In certain circles, DynCorp is euphemistically called "The Mercenary Company" and that their name just keeps getting left off the list and named in the articles should raise your eyebrows and the hair on the back of your neck.Some of you more informed readers will remember that former DynCorp chairman Pug Winokur was heavily involved in that colossal fraud named Enron.""

Now I don't know Karl Schwartz from Adam, but I thought it was interesting how one thing leads to another, and all the nasty stuff is connected once you dig deep enough. And you don't even have to dig very deep. Basically, you just need a smidgen of curiosity to uncover a treasure trove of corruption. It's like being a 10 year old amateur archaeologist, going out to the backyard with a plastic shovel and pail, and uncovering intact skeletons of T Rex and other rare creatures buried one inch below the swing-set. No wonder they want to shut down the interwebs.

Which is not to make light of any of this, but just to say COME ON, PEOPLE!