Tuesday, August 21, 2007
CRS report - Private Security Contractors in Iraq: Background, Legal Status, and Other Issues
Report
The United States is relying heavily on private firms to supply a wide variety of services in Iraq, including security. From the information available in published sources, this apparently is the first time that the United States has depended on contractors to provide such extensive security in a hostile environment. In Iraq, private firms known as Private Security Companies (PSC) are currently providing security services such as the protection of individuals, nonmilitary transport convoys, buildings and other economic infrastructure, as well as the training of Iraqi police and military personnel.
The use of armed contractors raises several concerns for many Members, including transparency and accountability. Transparency issues include the lack of public information on the terms of their contracts, including their costs and the standards governing their hiring and performance, as well as the background and training of those hired under contract. The apparent lack of a practical means to hold contractors accountable under U.S. law for abuses and other transgressions, and the possibility that they could be prosecuted by foreign courts, is also a source of concern.
This report summarizes what is currently known about companies that provide personnel for security missions in Iraq and some sources of controversy surrounding them. A treatment of legal status and authorities follows, including an overview of relevant international law as well as Iraqi law, which currently consists primarily of Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) orders that remain in effect until superceded. The various possible means for prosecuting contractors under U.S. law in civilian or military courts are detailed, followed by a discussion of possible issues for Congress. This report will be updated as events warrant.
FULL REPORT: Congressional Research Service - "Private Security Contractors in Iraq: Background, Legal Status, and Other Issues,"
Labels: 10th Iraqi Army division, accountability, Congressional Research Service, contractors, federal law, international law, Iraqi war, Military law, private security companies, PSCs, security
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
Contractors outnumber U.S. troops in Iraq
(Los Angeles Times) - The number of U.S.-paid private contractors in Iraq now exceeds that of American combat troops, newly released figures show, raising fresh questions about the privatization of the war effort and the government's capacity to carry out military and rebuilding campaigns. More than 180,000 civilians — including Americans, foreigners and Iraqis — are working in Iraq under U.S. contracts, according to State and Defense department figures obtained by the Los Angeles Times.
Including the recent troop buildup, 160,000 soldiers and a few thousand civilian government employees are stationed in Iraq. The total number of private contractors, far higher than previously reported, shows how heavily the Bush administration has relied on corporations to carry out the occupation of Iraq — a mission criticized as being undermanned.
"These numbers are big," said Peter Singer, a Brookings Institution scholar who has written on military contracting. "They illustrate better than anything that we went in without enough troops. This is not the coalition of the willing. It's the coalition of the billing." The numbers include at least 21,000 Americans, 43,000 foreign contractors and about 118,000 Iraqis — all employed in Iraq by U.S. tax dollars, according to the most recent government data.
The array of private workers promises to be a factor in debates on a range of policy issues, including the privatization of military jobs and the number of Iraqi refugees allowed to resettle in the U.S. But there are also signs that even those mounting numbers may not capture the full picture. Private security contractors, who are hired to protect government officials and buildings, were not fully counted in the survey, according to industry and government officials.
Continuing uncertainty over the numbers of armed contractors drew special criticism from military experts. "We don't have control of all the coalition guns in Iraq. That's dangerous for our country," said William Nash, a retired Army general and reconstruction expert. The Pentagon "is hiring guns. You can rationalize it all you want, but that's obscene." Although private companies have played a role in conflicts since the American Revolution, the U.S. has relied more on contractors in Iraq than in any other war, according to military experts. Contractors perform functions including construction, security and weapons system maintenance.
Military officials say contractors cut costs while allowing troops to focus on fighting rather than on other tasks. "The only reason we have contractors is to support the war fighter," said Gary Motsek, the assistant deputy undersecretary of Defense who oversees contractors. "Fundamentally, they're supporting the mission as required.
Adding an element of potential confusion, no single agency keeps track of the number or location of contractors. In response to demands from Congress, the U.S. Central Command began a census last year of the number of contractors working on U.S. and Iraqi bases to determine how much food, water and shelter was needed. That census, provided to The Times under the Freedom of Information Act, shows about 130,000 contractors and subcontractors of different nationalities working at U.S. and Iraqi military bases. However, U.S. military officials acknowledged that the census did not include other government agencies, including the U.S. Agency for International Development and the State Department.
Labels: census, Centcom, contractors, Gary Motsek, Iraq, U.S. troops
Monday, June 04, 2007
Iraqi industries to support U.S. military in Iraq
Industry
(AFP) - After years using outside contractors to tend to the needs of its Iraq bases, the US military is now building zones outside its army posts so Iraqi businesses can actually benefit from their presence. The plan, which has been several months in preparation, is part of a wider effort to stimulate local employment and end years of funnelling lucrative contracts to providers from outside the country.
"Let's get American and third country contractors out of that business and let's get Iraqis into that business," Brigadier Steven Anderson, a driving force behind the programme, told AFP. "Let's get Iraqis employed and get them out of the bomb-making business and into the support-providing business," added the deputy chief of staff for resources and sustainment.
The Iraq-based industrial zone (I-BIZ) programme was conceived last year when military commanders recognised the need to boost employment to put a dent in the violence raging throughout the country. "There is a clear focus both by the Iraqi government and on the part of the US mission of beginning this process to see more jobs created," a US official in Baghdad told reporters in May.
The idea is comparatively simple and mirrors the support industries to be found outside US bases in South Korea and Germany. It will involve building a protected area for Iraqis to provide products, services and maintenance.
The plan is a major departure from the first four years of the US presence in Iraq when nearly every need was provided by large US contractors such as Kellogg Brown and Root, a Halliburton subsidiary. KBR in turn brought in thousands of foreign workers, mainly from south Asia. Unlike citizens from other countries hosting US bases, Iraqis have seen few financial benefits from having more than 140,000 US troops in their country.
A December 2004 suicide attack on a US military dining facility in Mosul killed 14 soldiers and for all intents and purposes ended the employment of locals on bases. Iraqi unemployment was bad before the 2003 US invasion, but following a series of decisions by the Coalition Provisional Authority to disband the army and shut down state-owned industries, it soared to an estimated 48 percent.
One of the most tangible results of this shift is the ongoing mission by Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Brinkely to restart dozens of mothballed state-owned factories. The I-BIZ programme would coordinate with Brinkley's efforts and the reopened factories could have storefronts in the industrial zones, Anderson said. For now, the project is in its infancy, with a two-year-old prototype near the southern city of Diwaniyah. The first true zone will open in August next to the massive Camp Victory base at Baghdad airport. Over the next year, further zones will appear at Tikrit's Camp Speicher, at Camp Taji just north of Baghdad and at Talil Air Base, in the south near Nasiriyah. Construction began six weeks ago on the Camp Victory Iraqi zone which will hold around 35 businesses over 25 acres.
"Let's get American and third country contractors out of that business and let's get Iraqis into that business," Brigadier Steven Anderson, a driving force behind the programme, told AFP. "Let's get Iraqis employed and get them out of the bomb-making business and into the support-providing business," added the deputy chief of staff for resources and sustainment.
The Iraq-based industrial zone (I-BIZ) programme was conceived last year when military commanders recognised the need to boost employment to put a dent in the violence raging throughout the country. "There is a clear focus both by the Iraqi government and on the part of the US mission of beginning this process to see more jobs created," a US official in Baghdad told reporters in May.
The idea is comparatively simple and mirrors the support industries to be found outside US bases in South Korea and Germany. It will involve building a protected area for Iraqis to provide products, services and maintenance.
The plan is a major departure from the first four years of the US presence in Iraq when nearly every need was provided by large US contractors such as Kellogg Brown and Root, a Halliburton subsidiary. KBR in turn brought in thousands of foreign workers, mainly from south Asia. Unlike citizens from other countries hosting US bases, Iraqis have seen few financial benefits from having more than 140,000 US troops in their country.
A December 2004 suicide attack on a US military dining facility in Mosul killed 14 soldiers and for all intents and purposes ended the employment of locals on bases. Iraqi unemployment was bad before the 2003 US invasion, but following a series of decisions by the Coalition Provisional Authority to disband the army and shut down state-owned industries, it soared to an estimated 48 percent.
One of the most tangible results of this shift is the ongoing mission by Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Brinkely to restart dozens of mothballed state-owned factories. The I-BIZ programme would coordinate with Brinkley's efforts and the reopened factories could have storefronts in the industrial zones, Anderson said. For now, the project is in its infancy, with a two-year-old prototype near the southern city of Diwaniyah. The first true zone will open in August next to the massive Camp Victory base at Baghdad airport. Over the next year, further zones will appear at Tikrit's Camp Speicher, at Camp Taji just north of Baghdad and at Talil Air Base, in the south near Nasiriyah. Construction began six weeks ago on the Camp Victory Iraqi zone which will hold around 35 businesses over 25 acres.
Labels: Brigadier Steven Anderson, Camp Victory, contractors, I-BIZ, Iraqi businesses, KBR, Paul Brinkley, U.S. military
Monday, May 21, 2007
Casualties among privare contractors in Iraq soar
Security
(New York Times) - Casualties among private contractors in Iraq have soared to record levels this year, setting a pace that seems certain to turn 2007 into the bloodiest year yet for the civilians who work alongside the American military in the war zone, according to new government numbers.
At least 146 contract workers were killed in Iraq in the first three months of the year, by far the highest number for any quarter since the war began in March 2003, according to the Labor Department, which processes death and injury claims for those working as United States government contractors in Iraq. That brings the total number of contractors killed in Iraq to at least 917, along with more than 12,000 wounded in battle or injured on the job, according to government figures and dozens of interviews.
The numbers, which have not been previously reported, disclose the extent to which contractors — Americans, Iraqis and workers from more than three dozen other countries — are largely hidden casualties of the war, and now are facing increased risks alongside American soldiers and marines as President Bush’s plan to increase troop levels in Baghdad takes hold.
As troops patrol more aggressively in and around the capital, both soldiers and the contractors who support them, often at small outposts, are at greater peril. The contractor deaths earlier this year, for example, came closer to the number of American military deaths during the same period — 244 — than during any other quarter since the war began, according to official figures.
“The insurgents are going after the softest targets, and the contractors are softer targets than the military,” said Lawrence J. Korb, a former assistant secretary of defense for manpower during the Reagan administration. “The U.S. is being more aggressive over there, and these contractor deaths go right along with it.”
Truck drivers and translators account for a significant share of the casualties, but the recent death toll includes others who make up what amounts to a private army. Among them were four American security guards who died in a helicopter crash in January, 28 Turkish construction workers whose plane crashed north of Baghdad the same month, a Massachusetts man who was blown up as he dismantled munitions for an American company in March and a Georgia woman killed in a missile attack in March while working as a coordinator for KBR, the contracting company.
Military officials in Washington and Baghdad said that no Pentagon office tracked contractor casualties and that they had no way to confirm or explain the sharp rise in deaths this year. Companies that have lost workers in Iraq were generally unresponsive to questions about the numbers of deaths and the circumstances that led to casualties. None acknowledged that they had seen an increase this year.
But a spokesman for American International Group, the insurance company that covers about 80 percent of the contractor work force in Iraq, said it had seen a sharp increase in death and injury claims in recent months. The Labor Department records show that in addition to the 146 dead in the first three months this year, another 3,430 contractors filed claims for wounds or injuries suffered in Iraq, also a quarterly record. The number of casualties, though, may be much higher because the government’s statistical database is not complete.
At least 146 contract workers were killed in Iraq in the first three months of the year, by far the highest number for any quarter since the war began in March 2003, according to the Labor Department, which processes death and injury claims for those working as United States government contractors in Iraq. That brings the total number of contractors killed in Iraq to at least 917, along with more than 12,000 wounded in battle or injured on the job, according to government figures and dozens of interviews.
The numbers, which have not been previously reported, disclose the extent to which contractors — Americans, Iraqis and workers from more than three dozen other countries — are largely hidden casualties of the war, and now are facing increased risks alongside American soldiers and marines as President Bush’s plan to increase troop levels in Baghdad takes hold.
As troops patrol more aggressively in and around the capital, both soldiers and the contractors who support them, often at small outposts, are at greater peril. The contractor deaths earlier this year, for example, came closer to the number of American military deaths during the same period — 244 — than during any other quarter since the war began, according to official figures.
“The insurgents are going after the softest targets, and the contractors are softer targets than the military,” said Lawrence J. Korb, a former assistant secretary of defense for manpower during the Reagan administration. “The U.S. is being more aggressive over there, and these contractor deaths go right along with it.”
Truck drivers and translators account for a significant share of the casualties, but the recent death toll includes others who make up what amounts to a private army. Among them were four American security guards who died in a helicopter crash in January, 28 Turkish construction workers whose plane crashed north of Baghdad the same month, a Massachusetts man who was blown up as he dismantled munitions for an American company in March and a Georgia woman killed in a missile attack in March while working as a coordinator for KBR, the contracting company.
Military officials in Washington and Baghdad said that no Pentagon office tracked contractor casualties and that they had no way to confirm or explain the sharp rise in deaths this year. Companies that have lost workers in Iraq were generally unresponsive to questions about the numbers of deaths and the circumstances that led to casualties. None acknowledged that they had seen an increase this year.
But a spokesman for American International Group, the insurance company that covers about 80 percent of the contractor work force in Iraq, said it had seen a sharp increase in death and injury claims in recent months. The Labor Department records show that in addition to the 146 dead in the first three months this year, another 3,430 contractors filed claims for wounds or injuries suffered in Iraq, also a quarterly record. The number of casualties, though, may be much higher because the government’s statistical database is not complete.
American military casualties in Iraq have mounted to almost 3,400 dead. The new contractor statistics suggest that for every four American soldiers or marines who die in Iraq, a contractor is killed. Nearly 300 companies from the United States and around the world supply workers who are a shadow force in Iraq almost as large as the uniformed military. About 126,000 men and women working for contractors serve alongside about 150,000 American troops, the Pentagon has reported. Never before has the United States gone to war with so many civilians on the battlefield doing jobs — armed guards, military trainers, translators, interrogators, cooks and maintenance workers — once done only by those in uniform.
Many contractors in the battle zone say they lack the basic security measures afforded uniformed troops and receive benefits that not only differ from those provided to troops, but also vary by employer. Weekly pay ranges from $60 for Iraqi translators and laborers to $1,800 for truck drivers to as much as $6,000 for private security guards employed by companies like Blackwater. Medical and insurance benefits also vary widely, from excellent to minimal.
Many contractors in the battle zone say they lack the basic security measures afforded uniformed troops and receive benefits that not only differ from those provided to troops, but also vary by employer. Weekly pay ranges from $60 for Iraqi translators and laborers to $1,800 for truck drivers to as much as $6,000 for private security guards employed by companies like Blackwater. Medical and insurance benefits also vary widely, from excellent to minimal.
Labels: casualties, contractors, Iraq
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Rocket attack on Green Zone kills four
Security
(AP) -- Four Filipino contractors working for the U.S. government were killed in a rocket attack on the heavily fortified Green Zone, the American Embassy said Thursday. The attack occurred on Wednesday, said the embassy, adding that it was making the announcement "with a profound sense of sadness and regret."
It was the third straight day that the U.S.-controlled area in central Baghdad was hit by rockets or mortars, heightening concerns about security in the area that is home to the U.S. and British embassies and thousands of American troops. Insurgents and militia fighters routinely fire rockets and mortars into the sprawling complex on the west bank of the Tigris River, but the attacks seldom cause casualties or damage because they are poorly aimed and the zone contains much open space.
But two Americans - a contractor and a soldier - were killed in late March in a rocket attack on the area and two suicide vests were found unexploded less than a week after that. The adequacy of security in the vast area in central Baghdad more recently came into question in the aftermath of the April 12 suicide bombing in the Iraqi parliament building's dining hall. One lawmaker was killed in the blast, which was claimed by an al-Qaida-led amalgam of Sunni insurgents.
The Philippines banned deployment of workers to Iraq after insurgents abducted Filipino truck driver Angelo de la Cruz in July 2004. About 5,000 to 6,000 Filipinos are employed in U.S. military camps across Iraq, mostly as cooks and maintenance personnel. A smaller number work as bodyguards for businessmen. Most already were in Iraq when the Philippine government imposed the deployment ban. Despite the ban, many Filipino workers are believed to have slipped into Iraq through neighboring countries such as Jordan, prompting the government to appeal to those countries to help block such passage.
It was the third straight day that the U.S.-controlled area in central Baghdad was hit by rockets or mortars, heightening concerns about security in the area that is home to the U.S. and British embassies and thousands of American troops. Insurgents and militia fighters routinely fire rockets and mortars into the sprawling complex on the west bank of the Tigris River, but the attacks seldom cause casualties or damage because they are poorly aimed and the zone contains much open space.
But two Americans - a contractor and a soldier - were killed in late March in a rocket attack on the area and two suicide vests were found unexploded less than a week after that. The adequacy of security in the vast area in central Baghdad more recently came into question in the aftermath of the April 12 suicide bombing in the Iraqi parliament building's dining hall. One lawmaker was killed in the blast, which was claimed by an al-Qaida-led amalgam of Sunni insurgents.
The Philippines banned deployment of workers to Iraq after insurgents abducted Filipino truck driver Angelo de la Cruz in July 2004. About 5,000 to 6,000 Filipinos are employed in U.S. military camps across Iraq, mostly as cooks and maintenance personnel. A smaller number work as bodyguards for businessmen. Most already were in Iraq when the Philippine government imposed the deployment ban. Despite the ban, many Filipino workers are believed to have slipped into Iraq through neighboring countries such as Jordan, prompting the government to appeal to those countries to help block such passage.
Labels: contractors, Filipino, Green Zone, rocket attack
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Foreign mercenaries, contractors to exceed troop numbers in Iraq
Security
(FreeMarketNews.com) Although the announcement that Britain is withdrawing 1,600 troops from Iraq was labeled a success by US policy makers, officials at the British Foreign Office and Ministry of Defense are in talks to hire mercenaries to take the place of the troops, according to the Scotsman. Policy makers expect an increase in demand for mercenaries to fill the gaps of troops that are redeployed elsewhere. Mercenaries will also be in high demand for security services, highway patrolling, and the training of Iraqi soldiers.
Britain has already spent an estimated $314 million on mercenaries. The US has spent much more, and it has been projected that there will be more contractors in Iraq than troops. There are about 120,000 contractors and 135,000 US troops in Iraq. Critics argue that contractors are being used to hide casualty figures and remove accountability from the military. About 800 contractors working for the US Department of Defense have been killed in Iraq and an additional 3,300 have been seriously injured, according to the Associated Press.
Labels: British Foreign Office, British troop withdrawal, contractors, mercenaries
Saturday, February 24, 2007
The silent death toll - contractors
Security, Reconstruction
(AP) In a largely invisible cost of the war in Iraq, nearly 800 civilians working under contract to the Pentagon have been killed and more than 3,300 hurt doing jobs normally handled by the U.S. military, according to figures gathered by The Associated Press. Exactly how many of these employees doing the Pentagon's work are Americans is uncertain. But the casualty figures make it clear that the Defense Department's count of more than 3,100 U.S. military dead does not tell the whole story.
Employees of defense contractors such as Halliburton, Blackwater and Wackenhut cook meals, do laundry, repair infrastructure, translate documents, analyze intelligence, guard prisoners, protect military convoys, deliver water in the heavily fortified Green Zone and stand sentry at buildings - often highly dangerous duties almost identical to those performed by many U.S. troops.
The U.S. has outsourced so many war and reconstruction duties that there are almost as many contractors (120,000) as U.S. troops (135,000) in the war zone. The insurgents in Iraq make little if any distinction between the contractors and U.S. troops.
The AP obtained figures on many of the civilian deaths and injuries from the Labor Department, which tracks workers' compensation claims, after repeated efforts including a Freedom of Information Act request. By the end of 2006, the Labor Department had quietly recorded 769 deaths and 3,367 injuries serious enough to require four or more days off the job.
Although contractors were widely used in Vietnam for support and reconstruction tasks, they have never before represented such a large portion of the U.S. presence in a war zone or accounted for so many security and military-like jobs, experts say. Some of the workers are former U.S. military personnel. Some are foreigners. The companies and the U.S. government say they do not keep track of how many are Americans.
The contractors are paid handsomely for the risks they take, with some making $100,000 or more per year, mostly tax-free - at least six times more than a new Army private, a rank likely to be driving a truck or doing some other unskilled work.
Employees of defense contractors such as Halliburton, Blackwater and Wackenhut cook meals, do laundry, repair infrastructure, translate documents, analyze intelligence, guard prisoners, protect military convoys, deliver water in the heavily fortified Green Zone and stand sentry at buildings - often highly dangerous duties almost identical to those performed by many U.S. troops.
The U.S. has outsourced so many war and reconstruction duties that there are almost as many contractors (120,000) as U.S. troops (135,000) in the war zone. The insurgents in Iraq make little if any distinction between the contractors and U.S. troops.
The AP obtained figures on many of the civilian deaths and injuries from the Labor Department, which tracks workers' compensation claims, after repeated efforts including a Freedom of Information Act request. By the end of 2006, the Labor Department had quietly recorded 769 deaths and 3,367 injuries serious enough to require four or more days off the job.
Although contractors were widely used in Vietnam for support and reconstruction tasks, they have never before represented such a large portion of the U.S. presence in a war zone or accounted for so many security and military-like jobs, experts say. Some of the workers are former U.S. military personnel. Some are foreigners. The companies and the U.S. government say they do not keep track of how many are Americans.
The contractors are paid handsomely for the risks they take, with some making $100,000 or more per year, mostly tax-free - at least six times more than a new Army private, a rank likely to be driving a truck or doing some other unskilled work.
Labels: civilians, contractors, death
