{"id":17022,"date":"2021-08-25T01:59:56","date_gmt":"2021-08-25T01:59:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/?p=17022"},"modified":"2021-08-25T01:59:56","modified_gmt":"2021-08-25T01:59:56","slug":"the-stench-of-extraordinary-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/?p=17022","title":{"rendered":"the stench of extraordinary success&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-0 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><ul class=\"blocks-gallery-grid\"><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"586\" height=\"767\" src=\"https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Court-Painter-withdraw.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-17041\" srcset=\"https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Court-Painter-withdraw.jpg 586w, https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Court-Painter-withdraw-229x300.jpg 229w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 586px) 85vw, 586px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Five of the top defense companies in the US ,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.opensecrets.org\/orgs\/lockheed-martin\/summary?id=D000000104\">Lockheed Martin<\/a>,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.opensecrets.org\/orgs\/boeing-co\/summary?id=d000000100\">Boeing<\/a>,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.opensecrets.org\/orgs\/raytheon-technologies\/lobbying?id=D000072615\">Raytheon<\/a>,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.opensecrets.org\/orgs\/general-dynamics\/summary?id=D000000165\">General Dynamics<\/a>, and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.opensecrets.org\/orgs\/northrop-grumman\/summary?id=D000000170\">Northrop Grumman<\/a>, spent a combined $34.2 million in lobbying in the first half of 2021 compared to about $33 million in the same period of 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"530\" src=\"https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Screen-Shot-2021-08-24-at-1.20.07-PM.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-17024\" srcset=\"https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Screen-Shot-2021-08-24-at-1.20.07-PM.png 1000w, https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Screen-Shot-2021-08-24-at-1.20.07-PM-300x159.png 300w, https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Screen-Shot-2021-08-24-at-1.20.07-PM-768x407.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 1362px) 62vw, 840px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>From a paper written by Heidi Peltier as part of an ongoing project sponsored b<\/em>y <em>Brown\u2019s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs. Its 35 scholars, physicians, legal experts and human-rights advocates began their work in 2011<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The project has pegged the costs of the war on terror at US $6.4 trillion through fiscal 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">US \u201cDefense spending now accounts for more than half of all discretionary spending, a category that also includes education, transportation, and healthcare\u2014virtually everything the government does other than Medicare and Social Security,\u201d Peltier writes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>\u201cMost of these inflated costs are due to payments to overly expensive military contractors.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"714\" src=\"https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Court-Painter-stink.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-17029\" srcset=\"https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Court-Painter-stink.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Court-Painter-stink-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Court-Painter-stink-768x548.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 1362px) 62vw, 840px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A Canadian perspective :Excepted from Legion Magazine article: July 8,2020 <strong>Rise in military contracting hides human, monetary costs<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/legionmagazine.com\/en\/author\/stephen_thorne\/\">by Stephen J. Thorne<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Canada\u2019s military contracting<\/strong> is generally limited to food and technical services, consultants and translators, though it hired private security firms to conduct perimeter security on its forward operating bases during latter deployments to Afghanistan, and at its embassy in Kabul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Vice News reported in 2018 that Canadian government payments to private security firms\u2014mercenaries, essentially\u2014had doubled under the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, numbering in the millions of dollars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"540\" src=\"https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Court-Painter-payments.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-17034\" srcset=\"https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Court-Painter-payments.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Court-Painter-payments-300x162.jpg 300w, https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Court-Painter-payments-768x415.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 1362px) 62vw, 840px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many are ex-Canadian soldiers working for defence contractors providing security for high-profile executives or government officials in foreign countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">GardaWorld, a multimillion-dollar company based in Montreal, has thousands of security contractors globally, protecting everything from embassies to businesses in hostile areas and peaceful nations alike<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A 2007 report by David Perry of Dalhousie University in Halifax said the Canadian military pursued private logistics services for many of the same reasons that the American military has come to increasingly rely on private military providers, namely \u201cmanpower shortages and a desire to maintain troop ceilings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThese shortages have been exacerbated by repeated deployments to Afghanistan [and] the scope of services contracting under the CANCAP program has expanded significantly,\u201d Perry wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Proponents of military contracting contend that what Heidi Peltier calls \u201ccommercialization\u201d of government services decreases costs and increases quality of goods and services, thereby benefitting the public purse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Peltier&#8217;s paper asserts that military contracting is at least as expensive, and often more expensive, than if the military were to perform the same services in-house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis is because contractors lack competitive pressures to reduce the prices they charge to the government,\u201d says the document. \u201cThis lack of competition is due, first, to the nature of the contracts themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"406\" src=\"https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Screen-Shot-2021-08-24-at-9.34.21-PM.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-17033\" srcset=\"https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Screen-Shot-2021-08-24-at-9.34.21-PM.png 700w, https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Screen-Shot-2021-08-24-at-9.34.21-PM-300x174.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Five of the top defense companies in the US ,&nbsp;Lockheed Martin,&nbsp;Boeing,&nbsp;Raytheon,&nbsp;General Dynamics, and&nbsp;Northrop Grumman, spent a combined $34.2 million in lobbying in the first half of 2021 compared to about $33 million in the same period of 2020 From a paper written by Heidi Peltier as part of an ongoing project sponsored by Brown\u2019s Watson &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/?p=17022\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;the stench of extraordinary success&#8230;&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","hentry","category-images","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17022"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17022\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17042,"href":"https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17022\/revisions\/17042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allanhardingmackay.ca\/courtpainter\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}