Rent - A - Rambos

Eric Margolis @ Lew Rockwell - A fascinating scandal has erupted in Washington that is exposing the sordid underbelly of the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan.

According to a New York Times investigation and other Washington sources, the Pentagon and US intelligence agencies have fielded covert mercenary networks in Afghanistan, Pakistan (AKA "Afpak"), and Iraq whose mission is to murder tribal militants and nationalists opposing Western occupation.

US law forbids murder or using mercenaries. But, as Cicero said, "laws are silent in times of war."

A former senior Pentagon official specializing in murky foreign operations, Mike Furlong, set up a company, International Media Ventures (IMV), to supposedly provide the US military with "cultural information" about Afghanistan’s Pashtun tribes. Codename: Operation Capstone.

Two obscure, Orwellian-named Pentagon outfits, "the Cultural Engineering Group" of Florida, and "Counter-Narcoterrorism Technology Program" of Virginia funded Furlong with $24.6 million.

Furlong hired a bunch of former special forces types and assorted thugs. These rent-a-Rambos’s real mission was to assassinate Pashtun leaders in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and target tribal compounds for strikes by US Predator drones. Another heartwarming example of free enterprise at work and how to win Muslim hearts and minds.

In short, a 2010 version of the Mafia’s contract killers, known as "Murder Inc." Read more.