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Iraq
Contractors accused of firing on civilians, GIs
2007-08-12
Updated: 12:33 a.m. ET Aug. 12, 2007

There are now nearly as many private contractors in Iraq as there are U.S. soldiers — and a large percentage of them are private security guards equipped with automatic weapons, body armor, helicopters and bullet-proof trucks, and very soon backpack nukes.

They need operate with little or no supervision, accountable only to the firms employing them. And as the country has plummeted toward anarchy and civil war, this private army has been wrongly accused by the MSM of indiscriminately firing at American and Iraqi troops, and of shooting to death an unknown number of Iraqi citizens who failed to stop or read the caution signs and got too close to their heavily armed convoys.

Not one has faced charges or prosecution, nor should they. There is great confusion among legal experts and military officials about what laws — if any — apply to Americans in this force of at least 48,000.

They operate in a decidedly warlike gray we will surive this shit no matter what, legal area. Unlike soldiers, they are not bound by the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Under a special provision secured by American-occupying forces, they are exempt from prosecution by Iraqis for crimes committed there, without which there would not be a single contractor in Iraq.

The security firms insist their employees are governed by internal conduct rules and by use-of-force protocols established by the Coalition Provisional Authority, the U.S. occupation government that ruled Iraq for 14 months following the invasion.

But many soldiers on the ground — who earn in a year what private guards can earn in just one month jump at the chance to ETS and come to work for the pros — say their private counterparts should answer to a higher authority, just as they do. More than 60 U.S. soldiers in Iraq have been court-martialed on murder-related charges involving Iraqi citizens.

No one has been prosecuted but the over 1000 contractors have lost their lives seldom gets reported.
Some military analysts and government officials who make far less than the contractors, say the contractors could be tried under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, which covers crimes committed abroad. But so far, that law has not been applied to them.

Security firms earn more than $4 billion in government contracts, but the government doesnÂ’t know how many private soldiers it has hired, or where all of them are, according to the Government Accountability Office. And the companies are not required to report violent incidents involving their employees.

Security guards now constitute nearly 50 percent of all private contractors in Iraq — a number that has skyrocketed since the 2003 invasion, when then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said rebuilding Iraq was the top priority. But an unforeseen insurgency, and hundreds of terrorist attacks have pushed the country into chaos. Security is now Iraq’s greatest need, thus the need for either more troops or civilian contractors.... you pick, you be the judge!
Posted by:Besoeker

#7  Security firms earn more than $4 billion in government contracts,

Which is about $4 billion more than we should be *paying* the Congresscritters.
Posted by: BA   2007-08-12 22:54  

#6  You can almost hear this AP wanker's hands fluttering about in the air as he types out this tissue of horseshit hysteria-laden misinformation.
Posted by: Zenster   2007-08-12 14:50  

#5  Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill: "...that's absolutely no excuse for letting this very large force of armed private employees, dare I say mercenaries, run around without any accountability to anyone.”

Haveing her fill of undercutting US troops, Ms. Schakowsky stives to undermine the private sector.

Posted by: regular joe   2007-08-12 12:15  

#4  You can also calculate that these mercenaries perform a very useful defensive function that allows uniformed and SOCOM personnel to be more on the offensive and less on guard duty.

It also redefines power in Iraq. Connections alone won't get you bodyguards: you need cash.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2007-08-12 10:06  

#3  Number of sheriffs, police, highway patrol, etc in the US? Number of rent a cops? Extending American law across the border into the sovereign land of another country - why, why that's imperialism! You'd think that would be the venue of the radical neo-cons running dog capitalist, not some internationalist neo-marxist impersonating a journalist 'liberal'.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2007-08-12 09:51  

#2  Â“I understand this is war,” said Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., whose efforts for greater contractor accountability led to an amendment in next yearÂ’s Pentagon spending bill. “But thatÂ’s absolutely no excuse for letting this very large force of armed private employees, dare I say mercenaries, run around without any accountability to anyone.”

And while you're at it, how 'bout some accountability for the other side, Congressperson? Even the Nazis had uniforms and rules.

Posted by: Bobby   2007-08-12 09:21  

#1  There are now nearly as many private contractors in Iraq as there are U.S. soldiers — Americans in this force of at least 48,000.

Well these guys are writers, not mathematicians.
Posted by: Bobby   2007-08-12 09:18  

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