20 Crazy Notions til Christmas: DynCorp runs child trafficking rings worldwide

DynCorp trafficks in abducted children everywhere it goes (i.e., almost everywhere on the planet). This is something Alex Jones has said over, and over, and over again. For instance, 4 minutes and 6 seconds into the video below he states, "DynCorp runs child kidnapping child rings worldwide..."



As you probably know, several men contracted to DynCorp did engage in human trafficking while working in Bosnia, selling women and girls as young as 12 to each other and smuggling them into places of prostitution. This is extremely common in war-torn and conflict-ridden areas. The first people to move in are always the predatory ones.
By all accounts, DynCorp's response to the problem was to ignore it and sweep it under the rug.
The activities of the DynCorp men were exposed by two other DynCorp employees. One of them, Kathryn Bolkovac, wrote about her experiences with DynCorp in Bosnia in her book The Whistleblower (adapted into a film of the same name). What follows is drawn from that book. Some of the information in Bolkovac's book is substantiated, but much of it is hearsay or rumour. I include here only the most serious allegations.
The problem of sex trafficking in post-Yugoslavia Bosnia, and the international community's hamfisted efforts to deal with it, are also covered in the 2002 BBC documentary Boys Will Be Boys.


What Happened in Bosnia

As part of the UN peacekeeping effort in Bosnia, several countries contributed police officers or military personnel to the International Police Task Force (since replaced by the European Union Police Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina).
The U.S. decided to send contract workers, and contracted DynCorp to do the job. Police officers were recruited to sign on with DynCorp, then assigned to various cities in Bosnia. These workers were known as monitors. In addition to providing IPTF monitors, DynCorp held other contracts in Bosnia.

- In October 2000, several women and girls reported to the IPTF station in Doboj that they had been smuggled into Bosnia from other countries and forced to become prostitutes. They described in detail an unstated number of "clients", including members of the IPTF. The investigation into these allegations was dropped for unknown reasons, and the monitors were apparently never identified.
- In December 2000, a colleague of Bolkovac, in casual conversation, told her he had purchased a girl from a local trafficker in order to rescue her from a life of prostitution. He had wanted to marry the girl, and was sad that she had run away. This man saw nothing wrong with his actions, so he freely confessed to his superiors. Rather than being fired and prosecuted, he was simply repatriated to the U.S.
- A Spanish IPTF station commander in Doboj had a relationship with a 17-year-old trafficking victim. This man was not with DynCorp.

Ben Johnston, a DynCorp contract employee stationed in the Bosnian city of Tuzla, made even graver allegations. He alleged that some of his supervisors and colleagues were trafficking in teenage girls (ages 12-15) purchased from the Serbian mafia. His site supervisor, John Hirtz, admittedly videotaped himself having intercourse with two of these girls. DynCorp worker Kevin Werner admitted to "buying" at least one prostitute from a bar owner.
Johnston reported these crimes to his DynCorp superiors late in 2000, and nothing was done. So he went to the Army Criminal Division. Military police raided the DynCorp hangar where Johnston worked and found evidence supporting Johnston's allegations. Though the contract workers had immunity, the Army could have waived it and prosecuted the men under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act of 2000. It chose not to do that. The case was left in the hands of DynCorp and Bosnian law enforcement. Hirtz and Werner were repatriated to the U.S. without being prosecuted.

Both Bolkovac and Johnston claimed they were wrongfully dismissed by DynCorp because of their whistleblowing.


The Bottom Line

So what happened is that several DynCorp contract employees, on their own time, decided to purchase human trafficking victims from the Serbian mob and Bosnian brothels. They were not the only "peacekeepers" to do so at that time; IPTF members from other countries were also involved, men who were not working for DynCorp. Since then, no other people contracted to work for DynCorp have been accused of human trafficking. The only remotely similar allegation, revealed by Wikileaks, is that some DynCorp workers in Afghanistan hired young male prostitutes known as "dancing boys".

You can certainly say that in the Bosnian affair, DynCorp was criminally negligent at best and criminally complicit at worst. You can certainly say that sex trafficking is a grievous, worldwide problem that has not yet been appropriately addressed. You can certainly say that military contracting is a shitty idea that isn't working out at all. But it is the men themselves who should ultimately bear responsibility for their alleged crimes in Bosnia. Saying DynCorp trafficks in children is like saying that since Jeffrey Dahmer worked at the Ambrosia Chocolate Factory, Ambrosia Chocolate kills gay men.