Posted on 11/20/2008 4:09:13 PM PST by SmithL
Thousands of contractors, both private Americans and non-Iraqi foreigners working in key roles for the United States in Iraq, will lose immunity and be subject to Iraqi law under new security arrangements, Bush administration officials say.
Pentagon and State Department officials notified companies that provide contract employees, like Blackwater Worldwide, Dyncorp International, Triple Canopy and KBR, of the changes on Thursday as the Iraqi parliament continues contentious debate on a security deal that will govern the presence of American forces in Iraq after January.
That so-called Status of Forces, or SOFA, agreement, which gives the Iraqi government only limited jurisdiction over U.S. troops and Defense Department civilians, excludes Defense Department contractors, two officials said.
The officials spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity after giving the same information to representatives of 172 invited contracting companies in two separate meetings earlier Thursday in Washington.
"Contractors and grantees can no longer expect that they will enjoy the wide range of immunity from Iraqi law that has been in effect since 2003," a State Department official said, reading from the text of a statement presented to the contractors.
Iraq will have "the primary right to exercise jurisdiction over" such workers, who are employed in various support roles for the U.S. military, including food service, transportation and sanitation, they said.
The agreement does not mention State Department contractors, who mainly provide security for U.S. diplomats in Iraq, but their immunity is expected to be revoked by the Iraqi government after the agreement takes effect pending Iraqi parliamentary approval,
...It was not immediately clear if any contractors would choose to stop working in Iraq because of the changes. The Pentagon official allowed that some contractors had expressed concern, but stressed that none so far had said specifically that: "If I lose immunity, I will walk."
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Why should they leave, with the prospects of Sharia law judging what they do, who could ask for more.
Time to pack up and get out of there then.
ping
I’d need a bit more than that to be in an (ex)warzone, but point taken. Keep your head down if some hijabs come walking by, however.
I don’t understand the concern for this. Foreign workers in our country are subject to our laws. This is pretty much standard everywhere in the world.
Except that they’re in a war zone and acting on behalf of the US Government.
This is not good. I’d be out of there in a hurry. BTW, all supply lines are run by contractors. See the problem?
If Blackwater and the rest stay under those rules..I can only say, knowing some of the people, that the State Dept. people will be at greater risk. The Guards will duck before they fire and the Dump Diplomats will catch it.
Why go to jail defending someone who doesn’t like you anyway?
They still have to obey the law. They could always go back to using our military for logistics, it would probably be cheaper.
Please explain to me how it is cheaper?
You are exactly right. With this kind of ruling, diplomats will be sitting ducks.
They should leave then.
Housing costs, per diem, hazardous pay differentials, transportation in/out of country, salaries, profit margins for the contracting company. If it’s a cost-plus contract, they can just keep adding costs. Just as an example, say the contractor is getting $50/hr, his company could easily be charging the govt $250/hr.
Actually it isn't. That's why these private contractors are doing that sort of work in the first place. It's not so much the personnel costs as it is the logistical costs that are prohibitive.
What are you hearing Allegra?
L
If it was cheaper to use the military, there wouldn’t be any private construction going on at all. The Marine and SeaBees would be building everything.
At this rate, Obama’s not going to have any work to do when he gets there. All the backstabbing will already be done.
Yepper... you don’t get it.
Well... It wasn’t going to last forever. Either Iraq is a sovereign power or it isn’t. I take this as yet another sign that the war is functionally over and we won.
Blackwater knows how to operate worldwide within the laws of lots of countries. They’ll figure it out.
I had the same impression.
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