United Colours of War

War strikes terror at the hearts of those who have been in a conflict and sends adrenalin pumping through others who desire to be in one.

Introduction, The Business of War

Since 9/11, the business growth of war has increased 5 times under the flag of global security. Everything is authorized now and the community of war has a theater where individual players can meet, study each other, sell arms, and show off strategies and the latest technologies of war.

The war business will never know a “financial crisis.” Weapons contractors are reaping significant profits because of wars that are happening all around the world.

The WAR GAMES – CHAPTER 1

The first part of my project is about those Warriors - not simple soldiers - who are considered the heroes of thenew millennium: the Special Forces.

These are small teams of highly-trained specialists who can change history, such as the handful of men who killed Osama Bin Laden and the Israeli team that freed the hostages at Entebbe. They are known as Delta Force, Seals, Sas, Comsubin, Snow Leopard, Jagerkorp, Spetsnaz, Kobra, Egoz, and so on. Sometimes enemies, they are united by common values in the battle against terrorism. They have been proven on the field, they are ready to accomplish impossible tasks. For them. the brain counts more than the body and muscles. They are trained for years in extreme

situations, beyond the limit of human endurance: months and months of racing in the desert, on the ice, in swamps, fasting and other deprivations for weeks on end so that when the time comes, they will be ready to work when others would give up, and to stay in control when everyone else would collapse. Their activity is covered by total confidentiality, one of the State's best-kept

secrets.

The International Counter-Terrorism Center in Jordan

In the middle of the desert of Jordan, on the outskirts of Amman – not far from countries in turmoil, such as Egypt, Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, and Iraq -- the Jordanian Government and the USA partner together to create the most advanced International Counter-Terrorism Training

Center: The KASOTC. Here a unique combination of elite instructors (mostly retired US Special Operators), equipped with the tools of advanced technology, prepare Warriors for the challenge of armed conflict in the twenty-first century.

The KASOTC is a twenty-five-kilometer-square facility fully equipped with multiple distance ranges, including: moving target; four-story;  close-quarters battle; live-fire structure; and the largest mockcity in existence, sixty-seven buildings, clustered together to resemble everything from an Afghan village to an embassy. The site is full of special battlefield effects, including the stench of dead bodies, as well as hundreds of cameras, microphones, target systems, and simulators. There’s even a full-scale Airbus 300 aircraft model and control tower with dummy passenger-targets on the plane who can stand up from their seats.

One week  of training here can cost up to $250,000.

An annual “Warrior Competiton” is held here (organizers call it “the Olympics of counterterrorism”). It’s a perfect marketing tool to show off the latest facilities and tools of war, and to entice new customers (Warriors) from around the world. In the 2013 edition, thirty-five teams from around the world were invited to compete in the games, for free. Competing against each other for a week, they demonstrated their prowess in several events: breaking into buildings; “neutralizing” opponents; rescuing hostages; staging an assault on an aircraft; shooting at targets over 1,000 meters away – all while being scored for speed and accuracy. Generals sitting in the spectator stands cheered for the success of their teams, while officials commented on the most daring plays as if they were covering a soccer match. Off the field, US Marines and Palestinian Tigers used their hands to scoop up couscous from the same plate; Chinese and Austrian snipers compared rifles; storm troopers from Spain and Saudi Arabia exchanged daggers; French paratroopers offered water to their old enemies, the Algerians.

CONTINUING THE PROJECT

The other half of the story around conflicts that I’d like to tell with my project is about the business of war. In fact there are many other stories I’ve found during my work where the “brotherhood” of this elite community can be shown through bewildering situations. For example, there are Weapons Fairs held around the world, where ministers, generals, and commanders gather together and confront each other, share new weapons, plan conferences and decide the next moves. Often the atmosphere is not much different than a car fair – pavilions from around the world display new products while beautiful girls welcome visitors; classical music plays in the canteen during the lunch break, while businessmen show off brand-new models of Bazooka guns and flying drones.

Other chapters of my project include Wounded Warriors; the workers and industry of big companies that produce sophisticated weapons for Warriors; the geeks community that makes project simulators. Taken all together, I think, these chapters tell the story that that perhaps, in the end, War is nothing more than Big Business.