Posted on 04/18/2004 12:13:58 PM PDT by dila813
Private commandos shoot back on the Iraq firing line 49 minutes ago Add Politics - AFP to My Yahoo!
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Ex-military commandos armed with M4 rifles are fighting insurgents in Iraq (news - web sites) as part of a private contracting force, many of them hired by the US-led coalition, raising some deep concerns.
About 15,000 personnel from private military firms (PMFs) were operating in Iraq, making them more numerous that even the biggest US ally, Britain, estimated Peter Singer, author of "Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry."
At least 30 to 50 had been killed in action, he wrote in a report for the Internet news magazine Salon.com.
Among the companies, Singer said, Erinys was charged with guarding Iraqi oil fields, while Northrop Grumman subsidiary Vinnell, MPRI and Nour USA had been training and equipping the new Iraq army.
"It is more a coalition of the billing than of the willing," Singer said.
Since the personnel were not army, lawmakers and the American people were largely unaware of the scale of the private companies' role, he said.
That role was shockingly highlighted when insurgents ambushed four Blackwater USA employees March 31 in the flashpoint town of Fallujah.
Bodies were shown to millions on television being pulled out of a burning vehicle, hacked by angry Iraqis, dragged behind a car and strung up on a bridge.
"The graphic images of the unprovoked attack and subsequent heinous mistreatment of our friends exhibits the extraordinary conditions under which we voluntarily work to bring freedom and democracy to the Iraqi people," said a statement by Blackwater.
A company spokesman, Chris Bertelli, said the group had 450 people in Iraq, most armed with the 5.56 mm M4 rifle. Employees there -- many ex Navy SEALs or Army Rangers -- were restricted to rifles of a calibre up to 7.62 mm.
"Almost all of them are weapon-carrying," Bertelli said.
Blackwater has 21-million-dollar contract with the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) to guard US administrator Paul Bremer and five outposts, he said.
It also has private contracts, details undisclosed, such as protecting the convoy that was ambushed in Fallujah.
Bertelli confirmed an account of an April 5 firefight in Najaf, where Blackwater commandos fought insurgents for hours, firing thousands of rounds, to defend the CPA outpost. Blackwater used helicopters from the Bremer detail to resupply its commandos with ammunition, he said.
But junior and field ranks in the military were starting to question the role of such "outsourcing," Singer said.
The private firms were integral to the operation, but not within the military, and there were no standard operating procedures to guide them or ensure smooth cooperation, Singer said.
Private military firms, for example, did not have full or timely access to military and CIA (news - web sites) intelligence or to US army communications, weapons, protection, and rescue operations.
"The lack of formally shared information on current threats and ongoing or planned operations is a crucial missing link," he wrote.
He quoted one executive as saying the lack of information meant contractors were "flying blind, often guessing about places that they shouldn't go."
The dangers of the Iraq operation net other non-combatant contractors.
At least seven contractors for Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR) have been kidnapped in Iraq.
Through KBR, Halliburton has a huge contract to support the army with everything from catering to construction, and a separate contract to help rebuild the oil industry.
The company, once run by Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites), was named this week in a purported statement by Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden (news - web sites).
"We must take into consideration that this war brings billions of dollars in profit to the major companies, whether it be those that produce weapons or those that contribute to reconstruction, such as the Halliburton Company, its sisters and daughters," the statement said, according to the BBC Caversham monitoring service.
"Based on this, it is very clear who is the one benefiting from igniting this war and from the shedding of blood. It is the warlords, the bloodsuckers, who are steering the world policy from behind a curtain."
Only with the American left and the other enemies of America.
If coordination with other coalition forces is the problem, then I am confident it can and will be solved.
Only with the American left and the other enemies of America.
Exactly.
What is it about guys named Peter Singer? Is he suggesting that these private soldiers are in Iraq against their will? That the companies who employ/deploy them have somehow been forced into contracts they don't like or want? That casualties among professional soldiers in combat are unacceptable and unusual? If so, Singer doesn't understand how these things work. Mercenaries are well-paid to take these risks and the squeamish need not apply.
First the liberal media disingenuously complains about the loss of US soldiers' lives. Now they complain that we're employing mercenaries who are sparing the lives of many US soldiers. Let's face it, nothing will satisfy them except immediate allied withdrawal from Iraq, restoration of Saddam to his brutal dictatorship, reinstatement of French/German/Russian corruption in that country and the resignation or removal of President Bush from office. Until those things happen, we can depend on the media to complain about absolutely everything -- from the liberation of the Iraqi people to the defense of our own cities from terrorist attack.
A Contractor Tells About His Mission
The hogs of war: 'outsourcing’ of Iraq security work is adding to the chaos
Security professionals employed by firms with contracts in Iraq are contractors. Many work for security firms not as employees but as independent contractors.
The very existence of private military companies offends the Left, providing as they do a capitalistic solution to the risks of relying on government monopolies on the use of force to protect lives, property and investments. Thus the name calling. The word "mercenary" is one of those emotion-laden words like "fascist" and "nazi" and "racist" with which the Left voices their disapproval.
I doubt they are involved in offensive action, and I saw nothing in the article to indicate they are.
BTW, the 3 Blackwater mutilations, 2 former Seals and a former Ranger.
Interesting.
I'm no liberal, but the idea of 15,000 ex-special forces personnel that answer only to a board of directors and not a bona fide chain of command doesn't strike me as anything to get "patriotic" over.
"What If.." some large corporation that sees itself as multinational (and no longer American) has a force of former special ops guys from various countries. Our government has goals that don't mesh with big corporation, and we tell them to get out. They say 'no' and back it up with 'contractors.' I don't find a corporate army anything to be enthusiastic about.
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