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Politics & The Nation
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SUNDAY, JULY 18, 2010
A paper tiger against sex trade in war zones U.S. policy is deemed
An Army report Nearly a decade after Dyncorp
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An eight-year-old policy that forbids government contractors and employees to engage in sex trafficking in war zones has proved almost impossible to en- force amid indications that such activities are occurring in Iraq and Afghanistan. The policy, instituted eight years ago by President George W. Bush and still in effect today, calls for the prosecution of govern- ment employees and contractors who engage in trafficking and the suspension or disqualification of companies whose workers do. Bush’s get-tough language also threatened criminal prosecutions for solicitation of prostitutes be- cause many of the women are forced into the work. Agencies say the cases are diffi-
cult to pursue because of limited investigative resources and juris- dictional questions. But some ex- perts and lawmakers believe that authorities are turning a blind eye to evidence of such crimes. “Zero prosecutions,” said Marti-
na Vandenberg, a lawyer and for- mer Human Rights Watch investi- gator, “suggests zero effort to en- force the law.” The State Department reported recently that allegations of con- tractors’ employees procuring commercial sex acts were “well publicized” but that no contrac- tors have been prosecuted and no contracts terminated. Rep. Christopher H. Smith (R-
N.J.), author of a 2000 U.S. anti- trafficking law, questions whether agencies vigorously pursue allega- tions. He suggested that if au- thorities really cared about the women being exploited, they would not look away “when those we are paying to do jobs for us are exploiting them.” Justice Department spokesman Alejandro Miyar said the agency “investigates all credible allega- tions of human trafficking.”
International employees were ac- cused of buying and selling wom- en from throughout Eastern Eu- rope — and were not prosecuted — the State Department alerted the U.S. Army to allegations made by a freelance journalist. The journalist said she had inter- viewed women held in Iraq as in- voluntary servants in debt slavery. The February report, posted online as part of an Army Power- Point presentation, alleged that supervisors of an Army subcon- tractor in Iraq had sexually as- saulted some of the women. “The women were recruited from their home nations with promises of well-paying beauti- cian jobs in Dubai,” said an Army summary, “but were instead forced to surrender their pass- ports, transported against their will to Iraq, and told they could only leave by paying a termina- tion fee of $1,100.” The subcontractors work for the Army and Air Force Exchange Service, which runs restaurants and other commercial operations on military bases. An Army Criminal Investiga- tion Command spokesman, who declined to discuss specifics, said the allegations “were investigated and not substantiated.” In another allegation, a former guard with the Blackwater securi- ty firm said he saw colleagues and U.S. soldiers paying Iraqi girls for sex acts. The allegations surfaced in a federal lawsuit filed last sum- mer in the Eastern District of Vir- ginia that alleged wrongful death and abuse on behalf of families of Iraqi victims. But the anonymous statement detailing the allega- tions was withdrawn by the Iraqi families, who agreed to a settle- ment in January. The former guard, who asked
that his name not be used out of concern for his safety, said that in 2005, he watched older boys col- lect dollar bills while Iraqi girls, some as young as 12 or 13, per- formed sex acts. The former guard said that he reported what he saw to his Blackwater superi- ors but that no action was taken. “It sickens me to talk about it even now,” he said.
The former Blackwater guard also said he provided the informa- tion to a grand jury, but the Jus- tice Department would not con- firm or deny the existence of an investigation. Stacy DeLuke, a spokeswoman for Blackwater, now known as Xe Services, said the firm “vehement- ly denies these anonymous and baseless allegations.” She said Xe policies forbid human trafficking.
Brothels in Afghanistan In Afghanistan, evidence of
trafficking came to light when 90 Chinese women were freed after brothel raids in 2006 and 2007. The women told the International Organization on Migration that they had been taken to Afghani- stan for sexual exploitation, ac- cording to a 2008 report. Nigina Mamadjonova, head of
IOM’s counter-human trafficking unit in Afghanistan, said the women alleged in interviews that their clients were mostly Western men. In late 2007, officials at Ar- morGroup, which provides U.S. Embassy security in Kabul, learned that some employees fre- quented brothels that were dis- guised as Chinese restaurants and that the employees might be en- gaged in sex trafficking. A com- pany whistleblower has alleged in an ongoing lawsuit that the firm withheld the information from the U.S. government. James Gordon, then an Armor- Group supervisor, alleged that a manager “boasted openly about owning prostitutes in Kabul” and that a company trainee boasted that he hoped to make some “real money” in brothels and planned to buy a woman for $20,000. Gordon said he warned his bosses and also alerted Heidi McMichael, a State Department contracting officer. Months later, Gordon said, he
asked McMichael why no action had been taken, and she told him that the matter had been referred to the FBI. She declined to com- ment, as did the bureau. Gordon said that the trainee was fired but that no other action was taken. Susan Pitcher, a spokesman for ArmorGroup’s parent company, Wackenhut Services, said in an e-
mail that the company would not respond to Gordon’s allegations. She stressed that ArmorGroup policies prohibit trafficking. An internal corporate investi-
gation in November 2007 found that a Kabul program manager knew that some workers had vio- lated company policies by “seek- ing out prostitutes.” The report disputed allegations
that the manager frequented brothels but concluded that he knew about activities “that could bring discredit upon both the company and the client.” A letter of reprimand was placed in his file.
A difficult mandate
Justice Department prosecu- tors privately complain that the zero-tolerance policy is nearly un- enforceable — partly because it makes little distinction between organized sexual slavery and vol- untary prostitution. “Are we interested in chasing
every contractor that gets a hook- er or using our resources to go af- ter the guys who force people into modern-day slavery?” asks one former trafficking investigator, who requested anonymity. Laura Dickinson, an Arizona
State University law professor, said law enforcement authorities face two main challenges in pur- suing such crimes: gathering evi- dence and legal jurisdiction. The FBI has 35 to 40 agents in war zones, but they are focused on investigating fraud and corrup- tion. The military’s law enforce- ment agencies have about 150 agents in Afghanistan, Iraq and Kuwait handling all types of felo- ny-level crimes. Some experts say investigators and prosecutors will probably de- cline a trafficking case if it proves time-consuming and manpower- intensive. Gordon, the former Armor- Group manager, questioned whether agencies take the allega- tions seriously. “If it’s so serious,” he said, “if
you have a zero-tolerance policy, why aren’t you doing anything?”
This report is a collaboration between the Center for Public Integrity and The Washington Post.
An active first family is on the move in Maine
Obamas’ short vacation includes a slew of outdoor activities
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by Felicia Sonmez
Under no circumstances shall the Preliminary Official Statement or this announcement consti- tute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of the Bonds in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registra- tion or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. The Bonds may not be sold prior to the time an Official Statement is delivered in final form.
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bar harbor, maine — Presi- dent Obama and his family aren’t just getting outside the Beltway on their brief vacation here — they’re getting outside, period. Since their arrival Friday after- noon, the Obamas have been bik- ing, hiking and boating their way around Mount Desert Island, the third-largest island on the East- ern Seaboard and home to the 47,000-acre Acadia National Park. The first stop Friday was a 90- minute bike ride on the lushly
wooded trails around Witch Hole Pond at the northern end of the is- land. Then came a family hike on Cadillac Mountain, at 1,530 feet the highest peak on the East Coast. The Obamas rounded out their
first day with a National Park Service boat ride on Frenchman Bay and a waterfront dinner at Stewman’s Lobster Pound. Even dinner was outdoors: The first family, who arrived at the restau- rant via boat, sat at a table on a pier overlooking the bay. The president and the first lady dined on lobster, while their daughters shared a shrimp basket, accord- ing to restaurant manager Jeff Buffington.
Diners on the pier may have been pleasantly surprised, but back in Washington and else-
where some saw hypocrisy in the first family’s two-day trip. On a re- cent trip to the Gulf of Mexico, Mi- chelle Obama encouraged other Americans to visit the oil-fouled region.
Conservative pundit Michelle
Malkin took a shot last week in a column titled, “Michelle Obama: Take Your Vacation in the Gulf, America — If You Need Us, We’ll Be in Maine.” And Scott Stanzel, a deputy press secretary during the administration of George W. Bush, said on Fox News that the president could be “setting an example” but “has chosen not to do that.”
White House deputy press sec-
retary Bill Burton defended Oba- ma’s mini-vacation. “I don’t think that there’s a person in this coun- try [who] doesn’t think that their
president ought to have a little time to clear his mind,” Burton told the Associated Press ahead of the trip. The optics of presidential vaca- tions are always an issue — and this one is no different. Ronald Reagan spent time at his beloved Rancho del Cielo near Santa Bar- bara, Calif., much of it on horse- back. Bush retreated to his ranch in Crawford, Tex., where he was fond of clearing brush. On Saturday, the Obamas
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played tennis in the morning at the Bar Harbor Club, an elegant compound constructed by J.P. Morgan in 1929. In the afternoon, they traveled to Southwest Har- bor, where they grabbed lunch at the waterfront Claremont Hotel before taking in the sights at the Bass Harbor Head lighthouse. Meanwhile, in a weekly address recorded before he left Washing- ton, Obama on Saturday accused Republicans of obstructing assis- tance for the unemployed and blocking efforts to increase lend- ing to small businesses. (Repub- licans say they are concerned that the benefits would raise the def- icit.) “Think about what these stall-
ing tactics mean for the millions of Americans who’ve lost their jobs since the recession began. Over the past several weeks, more than 2million of them have seen their unemployment insurance expire. For many, it was the only way to make ends meet while searching for work — the only way to cover rent, utilities, even food,” he said. The vacation follows one the
first family took last summer to Yellowstone National Park and Grand Canyon National Park, where they spent time whitewater rafting and peach-picking .The first family’s latest getaway has been relatively free of interrup- tion. Perhaps the only reminder this weekend of the political pres- sures facing Obama came Satur- day afternoon, when a handful of war protesters gathered at the downtown Village Green. Patty Ryan, one of the protest’s organizers, said the group had been holding protests every Sun- day, beginning the week after Sept. 11, 2001, but ending on the day Obama was elected, “to give him a chance.” Asked whether Saturday’s event meant that the protests will resume, Ryan said the group will “probably have a discussion about that.” “It’s a big commitment,” she said, adding: “We live in para- dise.”
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