Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Drunk on the Job
Earlier this year, videos recordings surfaced of US defense contractors in Kabul, Afghanistan who appear to be staggeringly drunk and or high on narcotics. The defense contractors are from a private contracting company, Jorge Scientific Corporation, a trusted partner of the US government that designs solutions to the most challenging problems in critical situation. The contractors appear drunk and high, despite a strict zero tolerance of drugs and alcohol by the Department of the Army's general order number one. The general order reads that, "possessing, consuming, introducing, purchasing, selling transferring, or manufacturing alcohol" is prohibited as well as controlled substances and prescription medications (to read more of the actual General Order Number 1 click here). These videos were sent into ABC News by John Melson and Kenny Smith, two former Jorge employees. (To watch the video click this link, http://www.tubechop.com/watch/61553, or watch below from :35 seconds to 1:03). Not only are the contractors endangering Jorge employees and US military personnel, but they are also endangering the US mission and American tax dollars.
These US defense contractors in Kabul, Afghanistan are under the US Legacy Program to train Afghan National Police in counter-insurgency efforts, a forty-seven million dollar contract funded by American tax dollars. These videos raise questions about the role of private companies in Afghanistan after US military leaves. Not only is this concerning for the role of private companies in Afghanistan, but also concerning the issue where American tax dollars go.
So, where do our tax dollars really go? How do we know that there are not more of these types of prohibited behaviors going on in other tax-funded operations? After this incident, do you think tax-funded private companies should stay in Afghanistan?
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To me, this is just another reason to get out of Afghanistan. If this is what our contingency plan has fallen to, then I really question whether we should still be there or not. We have plenty of other things to spend our money on here in the US. I don't think that we should be spending any more money on Afghanistan, whether on our own military there, or private forces. And we especially don't need to spend money on outside contractors if they are going to be this irresponsible.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Sean by saying that this is another reason to get out of Afghanistan. To me, I think we should not have entered Afghanistan in the first place. If we are paying so much money to fund a war in Afghanistan, and we have problems financially in our home, then why do we continue to justify fighting this war? Instead of spending money to fund drunk US Contractors to help train the Afghan Police, why don't we focus on helping stablize our own economy at home? It doesn't make sense to continue funding this war with so many problems at home.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Sean and the other commenter that the money used in Afghanistan would be better spent at home in the U.S.. However I do not think it is fair to say that, since this contractor was caught drunk, the U.S. is completely wasting their money of drunk contractors. First of all it is a bit of an exaggeration to say the U.S. is funding drunk contractors. Also, you can't say that, since these defense contractors were caught drunk or high, they are not good at what they do or that every worker in the company breaks these rules. I also agree with the other commenters that the U.S. troops should leave Afghanistan, but this incident is not a justifiable reason to shut down the whole war.
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