The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee plans to unleash a withering attack Wednesday on private contractors working for the company formerly known as Blackwater in Afghanistan, accusing them of flouting regulations and endangering the U.S. mission.Key to beating the Taliban in Afghanistan will be the ability of U.S. forces to win support from the Afghan people, many of whom do not distinguish between U.S. contractors and the U.S. military, Sen. Carl Levin will say, according to an advance text of his remarks.
"If we are going to win that struggle, we need to know that our contractor personnel are adequately screened, supervised and held accountable -- because in the end, the Afghan people will hold us responsible for their actions," the Michigan Democrat will say.
"If we don't fix the problems of oversight and make sure contractors like Blackwater play by the rules and live up to their commitments -- we'll be doing a disservice to our troops by making their already difficult and dangerous job even more so."
Though more than 100,000 contractors operate for a variety of contractors in Afghanistan, Levin singled out Paravant, a company that had "no meaningful distinction" from the company formerly known as Blackwater, which is currently known as Xe Services, he said in the advance text.