A Private Army Grows Around the U.S. Mission in Iraq and Around the World

AP ^ | Oct 30 | Jim Krane

[GeronL]

AP Enterprise: A Private Army Grows Around the U.S. Mission in Iraq and Around the World

By Jim Krane Associated Press Writer

Published: Oct 30, 2003

In Iraq, private contractors do just about everything a soldier would do. They sling Spam in mess tents. They tote guns along base perimeters. They shoot. They get shot. Sometimes they get killed. And it's not just in Iraq, but around the world - in conflict zones from Liberia to Kosovo to Afghanistan - that the United States is putting hired help behind the front lines to ease the burden of its overworked armed forces. By paying civilians to handle military tasks, the Bush administration is freeing up U.S. troops to fight. But the use of contractors also hides the true costs of war.

Their dead aren't added to official body counts. Their duties - and profits - are hidden by close-mouthed executives who won't give details to Congress. And as their coffers and roles swell, companies are funneling earnings into political campaigns and gaining influence over military policy - even getting paid to recommend themselves for lucrative contracts.

For the civilians handling these soldierly jobs, the risks are high.

A contractor near the Iraqi city of Fallujah died and an American engineer was wounded when their vehicles came under attack Monday - possibly by U.S. soldiers, said the British-based company, European Landmine Solutions. U.S. officials said their soldiers weren't responsible.

The chief military contractor in Iraq, Kellogg, Brown & Root, has had three workers killed in Iraq, two of whom died in ambushes.

Another top U.S. military contractor, DynCorp, saw three of its workers killed in an ambush by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip this month.

In Afghanistan, two civilian contractors working for the CIA were slain in an ambush Saturday.

And in Liberia, contractors guarding the U.S. Embassy have fought like soldiers during rebel sieges, at times lifting guns from slain rebels, said Horacio "Hersh" Hernandez, a retired Marine with Intercon security in Liberia. He owes his job, he says, to post-Cold War defense cuts and a slew of new U.S. engagements.

"It's a massive business boom for the private security field," Hernandez said.

As the United States slashed the size of its standing army from 2.1 million in 1990 to 1.4 million now, the Pentagon began running out of soldiers to handle postwar violence in Iraq and Afghanistan and peacekeeping in Bosnia and Kosovo while facing threats elsewhere.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld argued wars could still be fought without boosting the number of soldiers by outsourcing just about everything except battlefield gunning.

Under U.S. employ in Iraq, American companies turn profits while operating missile defense batteries, piloting unmanned aerial vehicles and snapping satellite pictures of bombing targets.

The machine-gun toting guards who shadow Afghan President Hamid Karzai and L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator in Iraq, are private-sector workers, as are those who built and operate the cavernous white mess tent on the base of the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment in Baghdad.

There, a $3 million contract with Kellogg, Brown & Root paid for the tent's construction and the Bangladeshi and Indian cooks who feed 4,000 troops daily. One soldier breakfasting inside the tent, a nine-year veteran, said she's been sent to patrol Baghdad since contractors took her job as a cook.

With Kellogg, Brown & Root handling everything from mail delivery to bug control on U.S. bases in Iraq and around the world, plenty of other soldiers are finding themselves on the front lines.

Peter W. Singer, a Brookings Institution military analyst, estimates there is one contractor for every 10 foreign soldiers in Iraq - 10 times the private involvement in the Gulf War.

Worldwide, private military companies earn about $100 billion in yearly government contracts, Singer believes. Ninety private military companies are listed on the Web site for the Center for Public Integrity. In comparison, the U.S. defense budget is about $380 billion this year, excluding emergency spending, and is expected to rise to more than $400 billion.

Some of the firms working in Iraq are huge, politically connected conglomerates like Halliburton - corporate parent of Kellogg, Brown & Root and formerly headed by Vice President Dick Cheney. Others are little known, like Erinys, a security firm chocked with former South African special forces that will train 6,500 Iraqis to guard oil installations.

The world of military contracts is a murky one.

In Iraq and Afghanistan, important buildings in the capitals bristle with gun-toting Americans in sunglasses. They favor khaki photographers' vests and a few military accoutrements, but lack the name tags and identifying patches of a soldier.

Ask who they work for and one often hears "no comment" or "I can't tell you that."

Contractors' deaths aren't counted among the tally of more than 350 U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq. No one is sure how many private workers have been killed, or, indeed, even how many are toiling in Iraq for the U.S. government. Estimates range from under 10,000 to more than 20,000 - which could make private contractors the largest U.S. coalition partner ahead of Britain's 11,000 troops.

Global Risks Strategies, a security firm with about 1,100 workers on the ground - mainly armed former Nepalese and Fijian soldiers - is among security companies that have more personnel in Iraq than some other countries taking part in the occupation, Singer said.

To the consternation of U.S. lawmakers, Congress has little or no oversight of contractors hired by the executive branch of government - whether through the State Department, Pentagon or the CIA.

Many, like San Diego-based Science Applications International Corp., which trains Iraqi journalists, police and soldiers, are privately held firms employing ex-soldiers and spies.

"We refrain from talking about things our customers don't want us talking about," said Science Applications spokesman Jason McIntosh. "That's just good policy."

Some private contracts look like covert operations once handled by the CIA - such as cocaine eradication in South America now done by companies that fly crop-dusters in Colombia.

In September, a contractor's spray plane was shot down and its pilot killed in Colombia. Then in February, three employees of California Microwave Systems were captured by a rebel group when their plane crashed on a U.S. anti-drug mission.

Had those been U.S. soldiers, the public outcry and government response would have been sharp, said Deborah Avant, a political scientist at George Washington University.

The connection between companies and politicians in Washington raises the specter of executives lobbying for a hawkish U.S. foreign policy since they profit from war, Avant said.

Iraq contractors DynCorp, Bechtel and Halliburton donated more than $2.2 million - mainly to Republican causes like the 2000 Bush presidential campaign - between 1999 and 2002, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

In the case of Halliburton, the U.S. government hired the company in Iraq without a competitive bid, after the company recommended itself in a study. Halliburton's Iraq oil services contract, worth $1.59 billion so far, will be extended until December or January. The company reported Wednesday that its government work in Iraq and elsewhere helped boost yearly third-quarter earnings by 39 percent, to $4.14 billion.

Contractors don't appear to be pulling personnel out of Iraq despite attacks - something that has chased U.S. forces out of hotspots before.

---

AP writers Austin Merrill in Monrovia, Liberia, and Tini Tran in Baghdad, Iraq, contributed to this report

[GeronL]

This one deserves kind of a superping...

[Travis McGee]

The world of military contracts is a murky one. In Iraq and Afghanistan, important buildings in the capitals bristle with gun-toting Americans in sunglasses. They favor khaki photographers' vests and a few military accoutrements, but lack the name tags and identifying patches of a soldier. Ask who they work for and one often hears "no comment" or "I can't tell you that."

[fire_eye]

Well... Just in case anyone wants to sign up, here's your chance:

---

Newsgroups: tx.guns
Sent: Sunday, September 28, 2003 8:54 AM
Subject: Looking for a job (military experience needed)

RGI is currently looking for 40 personnel to staff an anticipated
Protective Services contract (non-government) in Iraq. We are
requesting a one year commitment from all those who participate. The
following is the salary info:

1. PSA Agents- $150,000.00 per year (tax free if you comply with
the IRS Code)
2. PSA Senior Agents- $175,000.00 per year
3. Asst Detail Leader: $200,000.00 per year
4. Detail Leader-$250,000.00 (This position has already been
filled)

All individuals must meet the following qualifications:
1. Prior Military Background mandatory
2. Prior law enforcement/PSA experience preferred
3. Must successfully complete RGI's two week course in firearms,
Executive Protection, CPR, Basic first aid, advanced life support,
defensive tactics, and more.
4. Pass physical and psychological examination
5. Pass extensive background investigation
6. Be in good physical condition

I don't wish to sugar coat this. The weather conditions are severe.
In addition we would be operating from scratch since there is no
operation in place currently.

Please forward your resumes to the attention of Wilfred Horrach, AD of
Protective Services, via facsimile (703) 497-2578

Jerry Mattiaccio
President and Chairman
Richmond Group International, Inc.
www.richmondgroupintl.com
(703) 494-9938
(703) 929-6520 (Cell)

---

Meanwhile, I think my ex-Seal friend has finally managed to
wangle his way to Afghanistan, after months of continuing
effort. I don't think he wants to go to Iraq... not enough
chance of getting any "trigger time", to quote him...

[Broadside Joe]

Is this really something new? Didn't we have pilots in China before Pearl Harbor? And 'advisor's' in Viet Nam before the Gulf of Ton kin? (sp)

[native texan]

"In the case of Halliburton, the U.S. government hired the company in Iraq without a competitive bid, after the company recommended itself in a study. Halliburton's Iraq oil services contract, worth $1.59 billion so far, will be extended until December or January. The company reported Wednesday that its government work in Iraq and elsewhere helped boost yearly third-quarter earnings by 39 percent, to $4.14 billion."

My brother-in-law, who worked over in Iran 13 years for Slumberger before the Shaw was overthrown (in fact was one of the last men out), commented that Halliburton is the only company that has the equipment large enough to work over there. The pressure off of the rigs is so great that a pinhole size leak has a PSI that would cut a man's arms off if it hits him. We have nothing like that in our oil fields over here.

[Broadside Joe]

"Halliburton is the only company that has the equipment large enough to work over there."

Yes I remember this being said before the war even started. Something the media has no interest in revisiting. This whole article boils down to Cheney this and Rumsfeld that and in the end Bush lied.

[Broadside Joe]

"The pressure off of the rigs is so great that a pinhole size leak has a PSI that would cut a man's arms off if it hits him."

In my younger years I worked in a refinery for the steam fitters (was just a grunt that could handle a pipe wrench and had a permit) and was cautioned many times about the high pressure steam lines that would do the same. I was told that just a pin hole would shoot out steam that may not even be seen until it was 8-15 feet from the leak, which could hide it behind another pipe ect.

[archy]

Is this really something new? Didn't we have pilots in China before Pearl Harbor?

Indeed, as well as the entire 1000-man Marine 4th Regiment, the fabled *China Marines* posted in Shanghai following the Boxer Rebellion until the very dawn of WWII in December of 1941. Some of their intelligence reports and analyses remain classified to this day, as for example their reports on the Japanese occupation of NanKing/Nanjing in 1937.

If you're not familiar with the saga of Captain Billy Port's Ride Across China, you should check it out. It's one of the greatest stories in the history of that elite organization, and is relatively unknown outside the USMC officer corps.

[Broadside Joe]

And is this not where the term 'gung ho' came from?

[archy]

The world of military contracts is a murky one. In Iraq and Afghanistan, important buildings in the capitals bristle with gun-toting Americans in sunglasses. They favor khaki photographers' vests and a few military accoutrements, but lack the name tags and identifying patches of a soldier. Ask who they work for and one often hears "no comment" or "I can't tell you that."

Military contracts? I know nossing of such things...NOSS-INK!

[archy]

Well... Just in case anyone wants to sign up, here's your chance:

Info on MAG demining jobs [particularly for K9 operators/handlers] and full-time stateside troop training gigs available on request. I don't generally reccomend it.

-archy-/-

[FreedomPoster]

I worked in college (co-operative education job) at a very large coal-fired steam electrical generating plant. Supercritical steam generator, 1000F/3500psi. Lots of serious high pressure steam everywhere.

They're not kidding about the effects of high pressure steam. Leaks like that were rare, I don't think one happened while I was there, but the older BTOs (Boiler-Turbine Operators) all had stories. You could hear a leak, and if you were in the crew looking for it, you'd walk around waving a broomstick in front of yourself, and when the broomstick was cut in half, you knew you were getting close.

There were also stories of guys who had walked into one of those leaks. Not a good thing at all.

[archy]

And is this not where the term 'gung ho' came from?

Sort of. That was introduced to the Marines by Marine Raider leader *Red* Mike Edson, who had accompanied the Chinese Eighth Route Army of Mao-Tse Tung on their *Long March*. By the time the Second World War and his career were over, Red Mike had picked up the Medal of Honor at Guadalcanal and two stars for his shoulders- and the phrase *Gung Ho,* with a LOT more meaning behind it than is usually realized had entered the Marine and American lexicon.

How did a later day's Marines remember the old warrior who added another chapter to the Marine legends? Their way, the best way:

[Steel Wolf]

*Ping*

[Travis McGee]

It all sounds like a fable to me.

LOL.

[Ranxerox]

So what's the big deal? It's not as if these people were Shanghaied or anything. If I had to guess, I would say this sort of thing has probably been going on since the very first war.

The author tries to imply that this is some kind of illicit action on the part of the U.S. Govt., using combatants who are not members of the U.S. military. As long as they act under the aegis of the military, and not on their own, I've got no problem with it.

[Squantos]

That's the way it should be........a secret civilian legion of "former" warriors that piss on all things that endanger our republic abroad. Christians In Action or not get er done.........until our enemies see no way of winning and understand all who try have died a horrific and painful death we will continue to be attacked and dealt death blows here at home.

Attacks on our families .... Wives, Mothers , Fathers , Sons and Daughters......non-combatants is not an acceptable loss here in the CONUS. Kill our enemies in their own beds and set the example !~ ......Don't be the example.

Stay Safe !

[Tijeras_Slim]

Many, like San Diego-based Science Applications International Corp., which trains Iraqi journalists, police and soldiers, are privately held firms employing ex-soldiers and spies.

Jeez! And I'm still working in the radiation lab. I can do the Bannana Republic "I'm packing" vest look too.

[proud_member_of_ VRWC]

You are correct on both. In fact, we had "advisors" in Vietnam during the Ike Administration to help contain the mess the Frenchies got themselves into.

By the way, If anyone is interested, I have a vintage French combat rifle for sale. It's in excellent condition. Never been fired, dropped only once. ;)