CBO: $100 Billion to contractors and no end in sight

War as waged by the bu$h administration is a for-profit affair, with one dollar in five going to "contractors" and the number of "contractors" in the war zones outnumber the number of American service personnel deployed to the conflict zone by tens of thousands
This reliance on outside contractors proportionally far outstrips their use in previous conflicts, and this reliance on private businesses to conduct warfare has led to overbilling, fraud, waste, abuse of the procurement process, shoddy work that has electrocuted soldiers in their showers, and uninhabitable buildings, including parts of the new US embassy in the green zone.

In addition, the reliance on armed security contractors has raised legal, ethical and political questions about the use of mercenaries and private armies - which by their very definition have an interest in continuing hostilities rather than working to bring them to an end - on the 21st century battlefield.

The report by the Congressional Budget Office found that between 2003 and 2007, the government awarded contracts in the Iraqi theater of operations totaling $85 billion dollars, or 20% of expenditures. By years end that total is on pace to exceed $100 Billion.

The CBO report released earlier this week provides rock-solid data for critics of the privatization of warfare, and for the first time it affixes a pricetag to mercenary expenditures.

The number of contractors operating in Iraq - over 180,000 - exceeds the number of American service personnel by tens of thousands and essentially amounts to a second, private, profit-driven army that outnumbers the real Army and faces little or no accountability. Instead, the actions of those mercenary forces are largely hidden from public view. Their roles and missions are unknown and even their casualties are concealed and glossed over. Through the use of private mercenary armies to supply meals and materiel, work as translators and drivers, construction workers, etc the DoD has been able to run a shell game and keep the numbers of military personnel artificially deflated and keeps discussion of conscription out of the public discourse.

The reliance on mercenaries to conduct the war has also raised the specter of political favoritism in the awarding of no-bid contracts. From the earliest days of the war, the administration was determined to keep actual troop levels down and one way to do that was by outsourcing operations to private companies - companies like Kellogg, Brown & Root, a division of Halliburton - the company that was run by Dick Cheney before he was vice president – and which almost immediately became the largest defense contractor operating in Iraq, currently employing at least 40,000 people in the conflict zone.

“This is the first war that the United States has fought where so many of the people and resources involved aren’t part of the military, but from contractors,” said Charles Tiefer, a professor of government contracting at the University of Baltimore Law School and a member of an independent commission created by Congress to study contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“This is unprecedented,” he added. “It was considered an all-out imperative by the administration to keep troop levels low, particularly in the beginning of the war, and one way that was done was to shift money and manpower to contractors. But that has exposed the military to greater risks from contractor waste and abuse.”

Dina L. Rasor, an author and independent expert on contracting fraud, said she believed that the $100 billion cost estimate from the Congressional Budget Office might be low, since there were virtually no reliable audits of or controls on spending during the first years of the war. “It is a shocking number, but I still don’t think it is the full cost,” Ms. Rasor said. “I don’t think there have been any credible cost numbers for the Iraq war. There was so much money spent at the beginning of the war, and nobody knows where it went.”

One of the biggest problems with the Iraq misadventure was not only that so much work was outsourced, but in addition, no thought went into the execution or into strategic planning. There was no rhyme nor reason, no protocols to divide the tasks at hand into military and mercenary functions, nor to determine what tasks could be privatized without harming the military effort.

“These new numbers point to the overall question — when do you cross the line in terms of turning over too much of the public mission of defense to private firms,” said Peter Singer, a contracting specialist at the Brookings Institute. “There are some things that are appropriate for private companies to do, but others things that are not. But we don’t seem to have had a strategy for determining which was appropriate and which wasn’t. We have just handed over functions to contractors in a very haphazard way.”

For several years now I have been screaming that we need a reprise of the Truman Committee, empowered to prosecute and imprison, but I have, for the most part been that weird, wonky chick who reads the white papers and thinks too much. Well, finally I have some distinguished company - Senator Byron Dorgan, Democrat of North Dakota, said recently that outsourcing the war had raised so many unanswered questions that he is pushing for the creation of an oversight committee to review and audit contracts awarded to private companies operating in the war zone.

“The Truman Committee held 60 hearings on waste, fraud and abuse,” Mr. Dorgan said. “It’s unfathomable to me that we don’t have a bipartisan investigative committee on contracting in Iraq.”

Amen. It is unfathomable to me too, Senator.

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Outsourced thuggery

It's bad enough that Blackwater USA headquartered in North Carolina is a source of home-brewed thuggery that's unleashed death and mayhem on civilians in Iraq. But the latest mercenary force in which its convoy was "driving on the wrong side of the street, shooting randomly at civilians and injuring one" isn't even an American-based defense contractor.

The Baltimore Sun reported:

The employer of the workers detained in yesterday's shooting, Almco Group, is based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and has contracts with the U.S. Defense Department to provide some bases with essentials such as food, water and tents, the U.S. military said. It also has a contract to build a courthouse as part of U.S. reconstruction efforts in Iraq.

Since the U.S. has no extradition treaty with the UAE, defense contractors headquartered in Dubai cannot be held accountable in the U.S. for criminal activity. Bribe a U.S. congress-critter or perpetrate a fraud? No worries.

Earlier this year, Cheney's former employer, Halliburton, announced the company would relocate its headquarters to Dubai where it can continue to rake in billions of U.S. defense dollars, pay no taxes, and avoid accountability for alleged abuses. Isn't that convenient? The Bush-Cheney Administration doled out no-bid contracts to these scalawags at the expense of U.S. taxpayers.

[Keep reading...]

Halliburton Watch quoted Sarah Anderson of the Institute for Policy Studies who explained...

...most Fortune 500 companies have global operations, so that moving an entire headquarters to another country is not necessary. "With today's technologies, there's no real reason to have to physically relocate," she said. "Those that have are trying to evade U.S. oversight and tax authorities."...

... Halliburton earned a record $2.3 billion in profit last year. That's almost equal to the $2.7 billion the Pentagon found in the company's overcharges in Iraq....

... Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said, "This is an insult to the US soldiers and taxpayers who paid the tab for their no-bid contracts and endured their overcharges for all these years."

Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, promised hearings stating, "I want to understand the ramifications for U.S. taxpayers and national security."

In light of the Almco Group episode in Iraq, I urge congressional Democrats to expand their oversight deliberations into reviewing all the defense contractors and mercenaries operating in Iraq and Afghanistan to include the ones that hail from Dubai. Maybe Waxman has UAE-based contractors on his radar and I missed it.

However, seems to me, that all U.S. defense contracts should be limited to American-based companies unless there exists an overwhelmingly convincing justification to do otherwise. What would that be? I can't think of one good reason.

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Reining in the Mercenaries

It is starting to look like the days of mercenaries running amok and committing wanton acts of violence and going on murderous rampages in Iraq might be coming to an end.

Amen and halle-freakin'-lujah!

And the checks are coming from all directions.

[keep reading]

Reuters reported yesterday that a federal grand jury is investigating the murderous rampage by Blackwater that left 17 civilians dead on September 16th. ABC reported that several Blackwater guards had been subpoenaed to testify in the matter. The Washington Post reported today that it isn't just Blackwater that is facing scrutiny, but all security contractors.

The source, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the probe, declined to say which incidents have been targeted, but he said the investigation ranges well beyond Blackwater. Private security companies in Iraq "have been shooting a lot of people," he said.

The Sept. 16 shootings at Baghdad's Nisoor Square provoked outrage within the Iraqi government, which moved to have Blackwater banned from the country, and led to several investigations, including a joint U.S.-Iraqi commission on the use of private security contractors.

FBI investigators have reportedly concluded that the killing of 14 of the 17 civilians was unjustified under State Department rules on the use of force. But the case is muddied by the question of what laws, if any, apply to security contractors operating under military, State Department and civilian contracts.

The grand jury will have to confront the accountability question, and there is quite a lot of debate swirling around that issue. Do Defense Department regulations cover State Department contractors? The murderous Blackwater thugs Blackwater employees involved int he Nisoor Square shooting were operating under a State Department contract.

The Iraqi's are getting a bit irate about the random, wanton violence directed at their citizens as well. On Monday, mercenaries from another company were involved in a shooting incident, and two mercs found themselves in Iraqi custody.

Once again, a convoy opened fire from behind as they approached slow-moving traffic on the wrong side of the road. One woman was wounded. Brigadier General Qassim al-Moussawi had the air of a man who has had more than enough "We have given orders to our security forces to immediately intervene in case they see any violations by security companies. The members of this security company wounded an innocent woman and they tried to escape the scene, but Iraq forces arrested them," al-Moussawi told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

I say, good on 'em. And frankly, I don't want the mercenary bastards living on my block or in my building when they return.

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This round goes to Gates

The Department of Defense and the State Department agreed on Tuesday that the DoD would assume a greater role in the oversight and management of armed security personnel operating in Iraq.

The DoD has wanted greater control over the mercenaries who run in and out of the battle space wreaking havoc since the earliest days of the occupation. Blackwater alone has been involved in over 190 incidents in which they discharged their weapons since 2005, and have earned a reputation as trigger-happy thugs who undermine the mission (whatever it is this week). The most recent incident, on September 16, left 17 Iraqis dead and started a deluge of bad publicity for Blackwater, including charges of weapons smuggling, theft of military aircraft, and tax evasion.

The rate of Blackwater violence is at least twice that of DynCorp International and Triple Canopy, the other security companies operating in Iraq. Blackwater’s hired guns are just that, discharging weapons, on average, twice every convoy. (The other companies frequently escort convoys completely without incident.)

“You can find any number of people, particularly in uniform, who will tell you that they do see Blackwater as a company that promotes a much more aggressive response to things than other main contractors do,” a senior American official said. “Is it the operating environment or something specific about Blackwater?” asked one government official. “My best guess is that it is both.”

While the bloody rampage at the Nissour traffic roundabout was the most shocking in the level of wanton killing, the modern-day Pinkerton's of Blackwater are under investigation in six other episodes that left ten people dead and at least 15 wounded.

Slowly, American officials are accepting the position that Blackwater's behavior in Iraq is counterproductive to the stated 'mission' by fueling resentment among the local population.

“They’re repeat offenders, and yet they continue to prosper in Iraq,” said Representative Jan Schakowsky, an Illinois Democrat who has been broadly critical of the role of contractors in Iraq. “It’s really affecting attitudes toward the United States when you have these cowboy guys out there. These guys represent the U.S. to them and there are no rules of the game for them.”

[keep reading]

Currently, there are approximately 10,000 armed mercenaries running around Iraq, under contract to various branches of the United States government and NGOs. I know it sounds bizarre, but there is no central oversight authority to which they must answer.

Pragmatically, it just makes sense to bring all armed civilians who are under contract to American government agencies and NGOs, as well as the American military under one authority. It would mean, effectively, that those armed civilians would no longer have multiple bosses at multiple levels and a disparate set of rules. Pentagon officials say it would allow for better coordination and communications between the American military and the private security personnel.

When contractors get in trouble, they call on the US military to bail them out. Fully 30% of the incidents in which the military was called on to save mercenary bacon involved movements and convoys that the military was not even aware had mobilized.

American commanders often perceive the private security personnel in an adversarial light. Civilian casualties, victims of mercenary gunfire, infuriate the Iraqi government and damage the American perception and image among the locals. This frustrates military officers who say the heavy-handed, shoot-first-and-don’t-even-bother-to-ask-questions-later tactics by mercenaries undermine the broader mission.

Also on Tuesday, the Iraqi parliament hammered out draft legislation that would repeal Order 17, the imperialistic, extraterritorial immunity granted to mercenaries by Paul Bremmer on his way out of town when the CPA turned over authority to the Iraqi government. Order 17 exempts mercenaries who commit wanton murder of Iraqi civilians (and any other crimes) from prosecution in Iraqi courts.

It was already a given that State was not going to be of much help to their hired guns. Indeed, it has been known for a while now that Blackwater is on it's way out of Iraq, and State will not be renewing their contracts. But the constant barrage of evidence pointing up the incompetence and fecklessness of the State Department under Condi Rice, including the revelation less than 24 hours before the agreement was made that State Department investigators had sanctioned Blackwater lawlessness by routinely issuing immunity to mercenaries involved in shooting incidents, Gates got less resistance from State than was expected.

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Erik Prince can't catch a break...and doesn't deserve one...

Sometimes, when the proverbial chickens start coming home to roost, the truly black-hearted have a moment of reckoning as the sky grows dark and a massive murder of crows begins to descend, seemingly right on your head.

That moment of reckoning has either happened, or is imminent, for Erik Prince, the CEO of Blackwater, the mercenary outfit that murdered 17 civilians in Nissour Square in Baghdad on September 16.

The Iraqi government, desperate to prove that it is relevant in it's own right and not a puppet of the United States, is still insisting on kicking them out of the country, and the State Department isn't going to bat for them. Their current contract expires in May, and it is practically a given that it won't be renewed. "There will be some sort of disengagement process, but it won't be that they're shown the door," said a State Department official. "As one [mercenary outfit] builds down, another builds up."

That is gonna sting the old bottom line. Currently the ratio of State Department dollars that go to Blackwater -vs- all other companies is 8:1.

State isn't gonna be a lot of help to their hired guns. Their inability to control their mercs and Condi's general incompetence are enjoying the unwanted glare of the scrutiny spotlight in the form of two new reports on the State Department and the security situation in Iraq. What it boils down to is this: The idiots in charge could not organize a two-pony parade. They are inept and incompetent to the point of criminal complicity at least, and probably overt criminality.

But the schadenfreude just gets sweeter...Waxman is now on his ass for tax evasion.

Isn't that how they got Al Capone?

It's one thing to commit wanton murder - another entirely to screw Uncle Sam out of his cut.

Jeez - I thought everyone knew that!

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Making the Mercenaries Accountable

It is starting to look like Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is leaning heavily toward taking strident steps toward bringing all armed “security personnel” (read: mercenaries) under single authority, most likely the U.S. military, no matter what branch of government they are contracting with.

Currently, there are approximately 10,000 armed mercenaries running around Iraq, under contract to various branches of the United States government and NGOs. I know it sounds bizarre, but there is no central oversight authority to which they must answer.

Pragmatically, it just makes sense to bring all armed civilians who are under contract to American government agencies and NGOs, as well as the American military under one authority. It would mean, effectively, that those armed civilians would no longer have multiple bosses at multiple levels and a disparate set of rules. Pentagon officials say it would allow for better coordination and communications between the American military and the private security personnel.

When contractors get in trouble, they call on the US military to bail them out. Fully 30% of the incidents in which the military was called on to save mercenary bacon involved movements and convoys that the military was not even aware had mobilized.

[keep reading]

American commanders often perceive the private security personnel in an adversarial light. Civilian casualties, victims of mercenary gunfire, infuriate the Iraqi government and damage the American perception and image among the locals. This frustrates military officers who say the heavy-handed, shoot-first-and-don’t-even-bother-to-ask-questions-later tactics by mercenaries undermine the broader mission.

As details of the Blackwater shootings have emerged in recent weeks, Mr. Gates has signaled his unease with the existing command and legal authorities governing security contractors.

“Do we have the mechanisms and the means for our commanders to exercise a kind of strategic oversight and assure accountability in terms of the behavior and the conduct of these security contractors?” Mr. Gates asked at the Pentagon on Sept. 27.

“It’s very important that we do everything in our power to make sure that people who are under contract to us are not only abiding by our rules, but are conducting themselves in a way that makes them an asset in this war in Iraq and not a liability,” he added.

Gates is said to feel very strongly about the need to rein in the armed civilians that run around the country and frequently run amok and murder civilians, to the point that he has expressed a willingness to go directly to the president if necessary. Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon’s press secretary, said Mr. Gates “has made clear that he supports his commanders’ assertions that, at the very least, they need greater visibility on the work and movements of armed security contractors in Iraq.”

Gates has been told by senior military commanders in Iraq that there must be a single chain of command, providing oversight for all contract personnel. The commanders argue that the military is the best positioned entity to provide that oversight authority.

No formal proposals have been made, but when they are, they are expected to meet resistance from the State Department, which, while acknowledging that there is a problem, wants to retain authority over their own contract employees.

Gates and Rice enjoy a better relationship than Rumsfeld and Rice did, and Gates is holding off on making sweeping pronouncements and proclamations until he has a chance to sit down face-to-face and discuss the matter with the Secretary of State and the National Security Advisor.

But one thing is certain...the issue of contractors and accountability is not going to go away, and there will be oversight.

And it's about damned time, too.

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The Forensics Say: Erik Prince is a F**king LIAR

The evidence just keeps mounting that mercenaries employed by Blackwater International randomly and wantonly slaughtered innocent civilians in the Nisour Square rampage on September 16^th.

On Friday, the Washington Post reported that an Army unit that responded in the wake of the shooting saw no evidence that the Blackwater detail was fired on.

Blackwater USA guards shot at Iraqi civilians as they tried to drive away from a Baghdad square on Sept. 16, according to a report compiled by the first U.S. soldiers to arrive at the scene, where they found no evidence that Iraqis had fired weapons.

"It appeared to me they were fleeing the scene when they were engaged. It had every indication of an excessive shooting," said Lt. Col. Mike Tarsa, whose soldiers reached Nisoor Square 20 to 25 minutes after the gunfire subsided.

His soldiers' report -- based upon their observations at the scene, eyewitness interviews and discussions with Iraqi police -- concluded that there was "no enemy activity involved" and described the shootings as a "criminal event." Their conclusions mirrored those reached by the Iraqi government, which has said the Blackwater guards killed 17 people.

The soldiers' accounts contradict Blackwater's assertion that its guards were defending themselves after being fired upon by Iraqi police and gunmen.

Tarsa said they found no evidence to indicate that the Blackwater guards were provoked or entered into a confrontation. "I did not see anything that indicated they were fired upon," said Tarsa, 42, commander of the 3rd Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment of the 2nd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division. He also said it appeared that several drivers had made U-turns and were moving away from Nisoor Square when their vehicles were hit by gunfire from Blackwater guards.

And today the New York Times has more. Three Kurdish officials witnessed the episode from a high vantage point, quite literally above the fray:

The three witnesses, Kurds on a rooftop overlooking the scene, said they had observed no gunfire that could have provoked the shooting by Blackwater guards. American soldiers who arrived minutes later found shell casings from guns used normally by American contractors, as well as by the American military.

The Kurdish witnesses are important because they had the advantage of an unobstructed view and because, collectively, they observed the shooting at Nisour Square from start to finish, free from the terror and confusion that might have clouded accounts of witnesses at street level. Moreover, because they are pro-American, their accounts have a credibility not always extended to Iraqi Arabs, who have been more hostile to the American presence.

Their statements, made in interviews with The New York Times, appeared to challenge a State Department account that a Blackwater vehicle had been disabled in the shooting and had to be towed away. Since those initial accounts, Blackwater and the State Department have consistently refused to comment on the substance of the case.

The Kurdish witnesses said that they saw no one firing at the guards at any time during the event, an observation corroborated by the forensic evidence of the shell casings. Two of the witnesses also said all the Blackwater vehicles involved in the shooting drove away under their own power.

The Kurds, who work for a political party whose building looks directly down on the square, said they had looked for any evidence that the American security guards were responding to an attack, but found none.

“I call it a massacre,” said Omar H. Waso, one of the witnesses and a senior official at the party, which is called the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. “It is illegal. They used the law of the jungle.”

American military personnel found the actions of the Blackwater mercenaries equally reprehensible.

Blackwater is still stubbornly maintaining that their mercs were fired on first, but the forensic evidence maintains that the people shilling for Blackwater are dirty-dog liars.

After the shootings, American soldiers found plenty of empty bullet casings 7.62 millimeters in diameter. Had the 7.62-millimeter casings been from an AK-47 rifle, a common insurgent and Iraqi police weapon, they would have been 39 millimeters long. Had they been from a PKC machine gun, another common Iraqi weapon, they would have been 54 millimeters long. The soldiers did not find any of those, the military official said.

Instead, the official said, the casings were 51 millimeters long, the length used by NATO weapons, including the M-240 machine gun, a standard automatic weapon used by the America military and American security contractors, the official said. The soldiers also found empty 5.56-millimeter casings of the type used by the M-4 and M-16 rifles that American troops and contractors bear.

The F.B.I. has been interviewing soldiers from the unit that responded to the scene, the Third Battalion of the 82nd Field Artillery Regiment, which is part of the Second Brigade of the First Cavalry Division, to collect information in its investigation of the shooting, the official said.

Not a single shell casing was found at the scene that would indicate that Blackwater mercenaries, nor the diplomats they were escorting came under hostile fire. An American military official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the matter, added that soldiers had found clear evidence that the Blackwater guards were not been threatened and also opened fire on civilians who had tried to flee. “The cartridges and casings we found were all associated with coalition forces and contractors,” the official said. “The only brass we found where somebody fired weapons were ones from contractors.” (emphasis mine)

After that last burst of gunfire in the square, Mr. Waso said, all four of the Blackwater vehicles left. As far as he could see, they drove away under their own power, he said.

In the end, Mr. Waso said, he went down and asked Iraqi national guard soldiers to chase the Blackwater team.

“Leave them and try to follow that company before they get away,” Mr. Waso said he told a soldier. “They killed innocent people for no reason.”

When mercenaries engage in shooting sprees, wanton rampages and indiscriminate murder, it undermines the (ostensible) mission of the American military. "It was absolutely tragic," said Maj. Gen. Joseph Fil, commander of the 1st Cavalry Division and the Army's top commander for Baghdad. "In the aftermath of these, everybody looks and says, 'It's the Americans.' And that's us. It's horrible timing. It's yet another challenge, another setback."

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Claire McCaskill & Jim Webb advance legislation to rein in "contractors"

For more than two years I have been screaming for a reprise of the Truman Committee.

Before Claire McCaskill announced her Senate bid, I was encouraging her to run for the Class I seat that Truman once held, and touting her background as our state auditor and as a tough prosecutor as reasons she should run and reasons we should vote for her, because the Iraq fiasco needed a good auditing, in the spirit of Harry Truman.

During her campaign, she seized on my the idea of a modern day Truman Committee to investigate waste, fraud and corruption in the reconstruction of Iraq. During a speech in Harry S Truman's hometown of Independence last year, she spoke admiringly of the former President and his diligence in reining in war profiteers. "He was fearless. He uncovered enormous undeserved profits. I believe we need a new Truman Committee. I will fight for such a committee."

Less than a year after she was elected, and a mere nine months after taking her seat, she is very close to bringing the notion to fruition. The Senate recently agreed to a plan from Senators McCaskill and Webb to get a handle on the Pentagon's scattershot method of awarding private contracts for work in Iraq. It was added to the Defense Authorization Bill for 2008.

The legislation sponsored by McCaskill and Webb, if it survives and is signed into law, will give oversight authority over private defense contracts to an independent, bipartisan commission. To the incoming Democratic freshmen, plus Bernie Sanders, the McCaskill-Webb amendment is symbolic of their pledge to restore integrity and accountability - the platform on which they stood for election.

The two freshmen senators wanted their bill on the FY 2008 DAB, and were tole to take a number. Some 500 amendments were in the air, most by far more senior members of the chamber than the two of them, Webb's tenure as Secretary of the Navy notwithstanding.. He has an insiders knowledge of just exactly how things don't work.

Then Blackwater went on a killing spree in Nisoor square on September 16th and suddenly there were more than a couple of senators and a handful of bloggers paying attention to the issue of contractor corruption and criminal conduct, and the Webb-McCaskill amendment gained some traction. "We see stories of the corruption of these defense contractors and people are outraged by it." said freshman Sen. Sherrod Brown, Democrat of Ohio.

Now - I am all for giving the Senator the benefit of the doubt for her good intentions. But this in no way gets her a pass on the votes she has cast that disappointed us bitterly. She could advance 'round the bend of redemption quite convincingly if she just stood up and stopped voting to fund the occupation of Iraq.

I thought we had made pretty damned clear during the campaign just exactly why we were working so freakin' hard to elect her - the war in Iraq, and bringing it to an end were number one. Civil liberties and the restoration of Habeas Corpus and the Fourth Amendment were a real damned close second. Yet she voted for the supplemental last spring, and she stabbed the Fourth Amendment in the back in a rush to get her vacation started.

On both of those counts, Claire has been a crushing disappointment, and a deserved recipient of blogger ire. She has a ways to go to restore our faith.

Claire, you represent Missouri.

Show us.

We demand as much and will accept no less.

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Murder indiscriminately, then move along and never look back

It has happened again.

American mercenaries opened fire on a vehicle in Baghdad and killed civilians who were guilty of nothing more than being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

This weeks indiscriminate murder of civilians occurred on Karada Street, a popular shopping didtrict in the babel neighborhood.

The mercs involved work for the Dubai-based company Unity Resources Group. The company confirmed that one of it's security teams was involved in the incident, and for what it's worth, they are conducting an internal investigation.

An American official in Baghdad confirmed that Unity Resources Group was working for RTI International, a non-profit based in North Carolina that offers advice to local governments, and works in Iraq under contract to USAID. No RTI employees were in the convoy at the time of todays murder of civilians.

A spokesman for Unity Resources said that the shooting occured shortly before 2:00 p.m. Baghdad time. He claims that the four-vehicle convoy was “approached at speed by a vehicle. That vehicle failed to stop despite an escalation of warnings including hand signals and a signal flare. Finally, shots were fired and it stopped at that point.”

A shopkeeper who saw the whole thing told a different story. He said that the white SUV's blocked an intersection, and the vehicle that was fired on approached from behind, and was shot first in the radiator. When it failed to stop immediately (the vehicle came to rest about 12 meters from the initial shot) a barrage of gunfire was volleyed from the back of at least one of the SUV's. The man, who would only identify himself as "Mohammed" said he heard no warning of any kind before the shooting. “They shot from the back door,” he said. “The door opened, and they fired.”

He said the convoy moved out right away without checking to see what damage had been done. “They left immediately and did not give any help,” he said. He pointed out to a reporter where the convoy had stopped and where the vehicle had approached from.

Multiple gunshots ripped into the vehicle and killed the two female occupants in the front seat, while two children riding in the back seat survived. The car was towed to a police station and a priest was summoned after the terrified children who survived that the women who fell victim to the thuggery of the mercenaries were Armenian Christians.

The incident takes place under the cloud of Blackwater, which is accused of a wanton murderous rampage on September 16 that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead and 27 wounded.

The shopkeeper who witnessed todays massacre said he was angry, but his anger is directed at the Iraqi government. “We can’t blame the contractors,” he said. “We blame our officials for this. We blame the American government. They’re working here under the authority of the Iraqi government. They did not come here without authority.”

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Yet more Blackwater, because none of us are thoroughly disgusted yet, right?

“Don’t quote the laws to us. We carry swords” Pompey

The issue of the murderous rampage by Blackwater mercenaries in Baghdad on September 16 is not going away. Today, the Washington Post is reporting that the United States Military had a presence at the scene, and that their report supports the account by Iraqis – they were attacked without provocation – and puts the lie to Blackwaters lie about striking a defensive posture after being fired on.

"It was obviously excessive, it was obviously wrong," said the U.S. military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the incident remains the subject of several investigations. "The civilians that were fired upon, they didn't have any weapons to fire back at them. And none of the IP or any of the local security forces fired back at them," he added, using a military abbreviation for the Iraqi police. The Blackwater guards appeared to have fired grenade launchers in addition to machine guns, the official said. (emphasis added)

The chorus of professional military officers who criticize Blackwater grows louder by the day. Their criticism is founded on Blackwater’s well-earned reputation for reckless, shoot-first attitude and they claim it reflects poorly on all Americans. Iraqis don’t distinguish between the Blackwater thugs in armored vehicles and American G.I.’s in hummers. "They [Blackwater] tend to overreact to a lot of things. They maneuver around town very aggressively, they've got weapons pointed at people, they cut people off, of course their speeds -- I mean a whole bunch of things they do fairly consistently. But when it comes to shooting and firing, they tend to shoot quicker than others," the U.S. military official said. (keep reading)

Army investigators have interviewed eyewitnesses at the scene and reviewed video footage of Nisoor Square. A U.S. Army unit was present, working in concert with the Iraqi police at the time the shooting erupted. U.S. military personnel were not only present, they cleaned up the mess, ferrying victims to hospitals and attempting to keep the situation under control.

A hundred and fifty yards on, the Blackwater convoy opened fire on another group of civilians and killed two more Iraqi civilians.

For their part, Blackwater has resisted all attempts by military investigators to sort out the incident. When military officials went to the Blackwater compound in the Green Zone but were denied access to company managers.

The obstruction by Blackwater is not stifling investigations. Indeed, it seems to be driving various actions to rein them in.

On Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted to pass a bill that would bring all “contractors” operating in the war zone under United States laws. The bill was approved by a 389-30 margin, in spite of strenuous White House objections. The bill was sponsored by Representative David E. Price, Democrat of North Carolina.

Price has been tirelessly diligent on the issue of accountability for mercenaries for at least three years, and actually offered the bill that passed yesterday back in January. The murderous rampage last month finally gave the rest of the House the “courage” to take a stand.

Now, if the Senate strikes a similar pose, maybe the Deserter in Chief will be forced to watch helplessly as the murderous thugs of in his Praetorian Guard are brought to heel.

There's more: "Yet more Blackwater, because none of us are thoroughly disgusted yet, right?" >>

Lots of stuff you wanted to know about Blackwater, but couldn't bring yourself to ask...

The fallout continues from the deadly rampage by Blackwater mercenaries against Iraqi civilians on September 16 that left at least 11 Iraqis dead. Blackwater insists that their employees fired in response to coming under attack. The Iraqis claim the Blackwater personnel were unprovoked when they opened fire on civilians at a busy traffic circle while escorting a State Department convoy through Baghdad.

The September 16 incident set off a firestorm and at one point the government of Iraq said all Blackwater personnel had to leave the country and the company had to cease operating inside Iraq. This edict did not stand and Blackwater is once again roaming the streets, terrifying the populace with their mere presence and undermining whatever the hell it is the mission is supposed to be, and sowing seeds of hostility with the populace that prompt attacks against all Americans, thereby putting American G.I.’s at heightened risk.

The DoD on Wednesday announced that the Pentagon has sent a team of investigators to Iraq to probe security contractors and their operations in Iraq. In addition, a memo was sent to the commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan reminding them that they have the prerogative to court martial mercenaries working under contract with the U.S. military if/when those mercenaries violate the Rules of Engagement that govern the U.S. military. Gates wanted to make sure that the mercenaries and commanders all understood that the military can prosecute their contractors. Gates, testifying before the Senate Appropriations Committee, on Wednesday said he also wanted to know whether the military has the resources to investigate private security personnel under contract with the DoD for alleged crimes. "My concern is whether there has been sufficient accountability and oversight," Gates said.

In the memo, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England told military commanders that they're responsible for monitoring contractors under their control and charging those who violate rules of engagement.

"Commanders have UCMJ (Uniformed Code of Military Justice) authority to disarm, apprehend, and detain DoD contractors suspected of having committed a felony offense in violation of the RUF (Rules on the Use of Force)," Gordon wrote. The memo was dated Tuesday.

England said commanders should review contractors' standard operating procedures and make any necessary changes to the way they authorize force to "minimize the risk of innocent civilian causalities or unnecessary destruction of civilian property."

The State Department hasn't distributed a similar memo, and it is unclear what, if any, U.S. law applies to the actions of its contractors.

So far, no Defense Department contractor has been charged under U.S. law, and no security contracts have been suspended for violations, Morrell said.

Yeah. It really is as thoroughly and completely fucked up as it sounds.

Four and a half years into Iraq, and six years into Afghanistan, they have decided it’s time to determine what, exactly, to do with mercenaries who attack and murder civilians without provocation, or otherwise commit actions that undermine the efforts of the United States to salvage something – anything – from this clusterfuck so we can claim some sort of semblance of a shadow of a specter of a pale imitation of victory™ and get the hell out of there.

(Keep Reading)

The Iraqi Interior Ministry has sent the investigation of the incident to a magistrate and is looking at possible criminal charges, although they may be hamstrung by the ghost of Paul Bremer and the CPA, in the form of Order 17, which essentially gave mercenaries immunity to run amok, unencumbered by the rule of law. Under Order 17, mercenaries can kill at will, with little or no fear of legal, or even civil, repercussions.

This week, Iraqi lawmakers began considering a proposal that would withdraw the provisions of Order 17 from Iraqi law and make security contractors/mercenaries accountable under the Iraqi system of justice. Iraqis have complained bitterly for years that the mercenary army is unnecessarily aggressive and damages property with impunity and mistreats and kills Iraqis with reckless abandon.

Point of Clarification: The mercenaries involved in the September 16 violence were under contract to the State Department, and that incident is under joint Iraqi – State Department investigation. DoD has no authority to investigate or try the Blackwater mercenaries involved. Gates, being competent, and not beholden to nor under the sway of Cheney or Bush, is looking for problems before someone else finds them and uses them against him. (I don't like the man, but I can not help but respect the talent). At State, on the other hand, the inept and outpaced Condi is still carrying her bosses water, overtly and contemptuously stonewalling congressional oversight into the incident. While the DoD does have contracts with Blackwater, the State Department outspends the DoD on Blackwater contracts at a rate of approximately 8:1.

The private-army aspect of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has been controversial since the first days in Afghanistan, and there has been no shortage of animosity between the professional military and the mercenary army. To date, no personnel under DoD contract have been charged under U.S. law, and no contracts have been suspended for violations. The military has been taken to task though. Two Air Force officers were brought up on charges of assault and conduct unbecoming following a run-in between the officers and Blackwater personnel on a road outside Kabul in September 2006. The charges were later dismissed.

***************

The bloodletting two weeks ago has set up a clash between the Pentagon and the State Department. The tensions have been long-simmering, and the events of September 16 turned up the heat. "The military is very sensitive to its relationship that they've built with the Iraqis being altered or even severely degraded by actions such as this event," said one senior military official in Iraq. "This is a nightmare. We had guys who saw the aftermath, and it was very bad. This is going to hurt us badly. It may be worse than Abu Ghraib, and it comes at a time when we're trying to have an impact for the long term."

In interviews involving a dozen U.S. military and government officials, many expressed anger and concern over the shootings in Nisoor Square, in Baghdad's Mansour neighborhood. Some worried it could undermine the military's efforts to stabilize Iraq this year with an offensive involving thousands of reinforcements.

"This is a big mess that I don't think anyone has their hands around yet," said another U.S. military official. "It's not necessarily a bad thing these guys are being held accountable. Iraqis hate them, the troops don't particularly care for them, and they tend to have a know-it-all attitude, which means they rarely listen to anyone -- even the folks that patrol the ground on a daily basis."

Most officials spoke on condition of anonymity because there are at least three ongoing investigations of Blackwater's role in the shootings. There are also sensitive discussions between various U.S. agencies and the Iraqi government over the future of Blackwater and other private security firms in Iraq.

Teddy Spain, a retired Army Colonel was willing to speak on the record. “I personally was concerned about any of the civilians running around on the battlefield during my time there. My main concern was their lack of accountability when things went wrong.”

Several commanding officers spoke frankly on condition of anonymity.

…"Given their record of recklessness," said the senior U.S. commander, "I'm not sure any senior military officer here would want responsibility for them."

…"They are immature shooters and have very quick trigger fingers. Their tendency is shoot first and ask questions later," said an Army lieutenant colonel serving in Iraq. Referring to the Sept. 16 shootings, the officer added, "None of us believe they were engaged, but we are all carrying their black eyes."

…"Many of my peers think Blackwater is oftentimes out of control," said a senior U.S. commander serving in Iraq. "They often act like cowboys over here . . . not seeming to play by the same rules everyone else tries to play by."

…"Many of us feel that when Blackwater and other groups conduct military missions, they should be subject to the same controls under which the Army operates," said Marc Lindemann, who served in Iraq with the 4th Infantry Division and is now an officer in the New York National Guard and a state prosecutor.

…"The deaths of contractors from Blackwater helped precipitate the debacle in Fallujah in 2004 and now the loss of Blackwater is causing disruptions in the war effort in 2007," a military intelligence officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "Why are we creating new vulnerabilities by relying on what are essentially mercenary forces?"

The lousy reputation Blackwater has among members of the U.S. military has led to renewed debate over whether the DoD should handle State’s security contracts. The Department of Defense (understanding what security protocols should involve) has a more strident procedure for licensing and oversight of personnel under contract to their agency, the DoD also has more detailed incident reporting procedures when weapons are discharged. In addition, the military investigates promptly when incidents occur or allegations are made against mercenaries in their employ.

A Pentagon source insisted that "We are really making State respond, conduct an investigation and come up with recommendations." The source said that in Washington the atmosphere surrounding the confrontation between State and the pentagon is calm and professional but, referring to Iraq, said, "There is probably a bit more emotion going on in theater."

***************

As if Blackwater needed another revelation (they are also under investigation for smuggling weapons into Iraq that ultimately ended up pointed at American G.I.’s) the New York Times reported Thursday that mercenaries from Blackwater USA have been involved in a far higher rate of shootings while guarding and escorting American diplomats than other companies providing comparable services.

The rate of Blackwater violence is at least twice that of DynCorp International and Triple Canopy, the other security companies operating in Iraq. Blackwater’s hired guns are just that, discharging weapons, on average, twice every convoy. (The other companies frequently escort convoys completely without incident.)

“You can find any number of people, particularly in uniform, who will tell you that they do see Blackwater as a company that promotes a much more aggressive response to things than other main contractors do,” a senior American official said. “Is it the operating environment or something specific about Blackwater?” asked one government official. “My best guess is that it is both.”

While the bloody rampage at the Nisour traffic roundabout was the most shocking in the level of wanton killing, the modern-day Pinkerton's of Blackwater are under investigation in six other episodes that left ten people dead and at least 15 wounded.

Slowly, American officials are accepting the position that Blackwater's behavior in Iraq is counterproductive to the stated 'mission' by fueling resentment among the local population.

“They’re repeat offenders, and yet they continue to prosper in Iraq,” said Representative Jan Schakowsky, an Illinois Democrat who has been broadly critical of the role of contractors in Iraq. “It’s really affecting attitudes toward the United States when you have these cowboy guys out there. These guys represent the U.S. to them and there are no rules of the game for them.”

***************

Secretary of Defense Gates was in front of Congress asking for $190 Billion for the war effort for FY 2008. Congress is hammering out the budget now.

While the American public may not yet be ready to cut off funding to the U.S. military for the occupation of Iraq, I seriously doubt that there would be great wailing and bleating and rending of cloth and gnashing of teeth if, just for starters, the monies in the budget allotted to Blackwater fell victim to Congresses one true power.

There's more: "Lots of stuff you wanted to know about Blackwater, but couldn't bring yourself to ask..." >>

Now THIS is what I call a "News Dump"

Blackwater USA has even more trouble heading down the pike toward them. While the Iraqis are on their case because they fired indiscriminately into a crowd of Iraqis and left 20 dead.

Back home, federal prosecutors are investigating the company for illegally smuggling weapons into Iraq. Weapons that might have been sold on the black market and ended up in the possession of at least one group that the United States designates as a terrorist organization.

The U.S. Attorney in Raleigh, NC is investigating the allegations, with the help of the Pentagon and auditors from the State Department, and they have determined that there is enough evidence to move forward.

The official that spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity could not say whether indictments would be forthcoming, how many Blackwater employees might be involved, or whether the company itself might be implicated.

The allegations of malfeasance come at a time when the no-bid contracts the company has secured since 2003 invasion of Iraq are being scrutinized.

Neither George Holding, the US attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, nor the spokesperson for Blackwater returned calls to the AP on Friday, and officials from both State and the Pentagon declined comment.

Due to the sensitivity of the matter, officials with knowledge of the case would only confirm that the investigation is currently active but in an initial phase.

The investigation is fueled by the willingness of two Blackwater mercenaries to cooperate with federal investigators after pleading guilty in early 2007 to possession of stolen firearms that had been shipped via interstate or international commerce to cooperate with federal investigators. They agreed to testify in further proceedings as a part of their plea agreements.

According to officials in Washington, the investigation grew from internal Pentagon and State Department inquiries into U.S. weapons that had gone missing in Iraq.

It gained steam after Turkish authorities protested to the U.S. in July that they had seized American arms from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, rebels.

The Turks provided serial numbers of the weapons to U.S. investigators, said a Turkish official.

The Pentagon said in late July it was looking into the Turkish complaints and a U.S. official said FBI agents had traveled to Turkey in recent months to look into cases of missing U.S. weapons in Iraq.

Investigators are determining whether the alleged Blackwater weapons match those taken from the PKK.

It was not clear if Blackwater employees suspected of selling to the black market knew the weapons they allegedly sold to middlemen might wind up with the PKK. If they did, possible charges against them could be more serious than theft or illegal weapons sales, officials said.

Who could have imagined that hiring a mercenary outfit might blow up in their faces? People who have a profit motive for sustained conflict would never think about arming enemies or insurgents. They would never put corporate profit over the good of the nation. Yes, indeed. Who could have possibly imagined...

There's more: "Now THIS is what I call a "News Dump"" >>

Blackwater hasn't skated away just yet

Survivors of Sunday’s bloody rampage in Baghdad by mercenaries employed by Blackwater USA maintain that they were fired upon without provocation. The company insists that their employees were firing in self defense.

An attorney who survived eight gunshot wounds in the conflagration said that he and other motorists were trying to clear a path when they saw the convoy approaching, when the mercenaries opened fire on the line of traffic.

A taxi driver who was shot twice said that he had stopped for the convoy when he saw the guards start firing on a car carrying a family of three that might have failed to stop, or might not have stopped fast enough. The car they were in burned, and the toddler melted to his mothers body in the intense heat.

Then, chaos erupted. The Blackwater mercenaries were firing on maintenance workers, stopped vehicles and a minibus full of girls.

Nine were killed and fifteen wounded in the chaos.

The survivors accounts are coming to light as Iraqi government officials are vowing to introduce legislation that would revoke the CPA edict that immunized mercenary outfits from prosecution under Iraqi laws.
Such a bold move could set up a clash between the government of PM Nuri Kemal al-Maliki and the United States, which relies on tens of thousands of hired guns to supplement the 160,000 American G.I.’s in Iraq.
The melee has had the immediate effect of confining all State Department employees have been ordered confined to the Green Zone until further notice. "In light of the serious security incident involving a U.S. Embassy protection detail in the Mansour District of Baghdad, the embassy has suspended official U.S. government civilian ground movements outside the International Zone (IZ) and throughout Iraq," the embassy said in a "warden's message" e-mailed to Americans in Iraq.
The investigation into the events that unfolded Sunday is still ongoing, but "The preliminary report shows there was no shooting against them," spokesman, Ali al Dabbagh said, referring to the Blackwater guards. "They should follow an Iraqi standard and Iraqi laws. They cannot have immunity…No country in the world would allow the way they are operating in Iraq," Dabbagh said.

On Monday, the Iraqi government announced that they were revoking the license of Blackwater to operate in the country, but that position was modified by Tuesday. Now, the revocation is temporary, pending a full investigation into the incident.

How it will eventually play out is still up in the air. But I would venture that Bremer's "Order No. 17" falls by the wayside, and hopefully there will be some accountability for the goon squads.

There's more: "Blackwater hasn't skated away just yet" >>

Blackwater Update

I seriously doubt they go any damned where.

The number of Blackwater hired guns is around 20,000 - that would mean another entire Surge™ at a time the current shell-game (with live shells!) is drawing down by necessity. It would take eight to ten combat brigades to replace those 20,000 armed mercs, and we don't have 'em. Period.

So what does it all mean? It means that Blackwater will pay a steep fine, offer an apology, feign contrition, and the license will be reinstated.

Now - go fetch your tinfoil hat before you read any further. Especially if you, like me, think that there is at least a possibility that a trap was laid and Blackwater walked into it. Think about it this way...if you want a permanent arrangement, rig the game so that you are "owed one."

How do you leverage people? One of the classic ways is to give them a break after they royally screw the pooch. Blackwater kills people all the time, and a goodly number of them are civilians. So what makes this instance of civilian death outrage worthy when none in the past have been?

Besides that, throwing 20,000 contractors out of the country is simply untenable. Logistically, strategically and operationally. What about the installations and personnel unguarded? Blackwater has a lot of powerful clients in Iraq, and you can bet your bottom dollar that the negotiations are underway already to get their license reinstated.

Wait and see. They are going nowhere.

There's more: "Blackwater Update" >>

Iraqi Interior Ministry revokes authority of Blackwater to operate in Iraq

In the wake of a Sunday firefight near Nisoor square in Baghdad that left eight civilians dead and fourteen injured, Iraq's Interior Ministry has revoked the license of Blackwater Security Consulting to operate inside Iraq.

Details are doling out slowly, but witness accounts of the incident reported that one side of the gun battle involved westerners driving sport utility vehicles, of the type used by western contractors; al-Iraqiya, the state-owned television network, reported that a western security company was involved, but did not identify which one.

The firefight erupted after a State Department motorcade came under small-arms fire near Nisoor Square, and one of the vehicles was disabled. No State Department officials were injured, but offered no information on Iraqi casualties.

Today, the Iraqi Interior Ministry took concrete steps to rein in one of the mercenary outfits that infests their country. "We have revoked Blackwater's license to operate in Iraq. As of now they are not allowed to operate anywhere in the Republic of Iraq," Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. Abdul Kareem Khalaf said Monday. "The investigation is ongoing, and all those responsible for Sunday's killing will be referred to Iraqi justice."

Blackwater is just one of many *security firms* (when did we stop calling mercenaries by their rightful name?) contracted by the U.S. government during the occupation of Iraq. In fact, the number of employees of these so-called "security" firms outnumbers the coalition forces. Hundreds have lost their lives.

Iraqi officials have complained bitterly about shootings by private military contractors, but Iraqi courts lack the authority to bring contractors to trial or hold them accountable. Additionally, they are not subject to UCMJ, so essentially, a contractor is unaccountable to anyone - a contractor can commit a war crime and the stiffest punishment will be getting tossed out of the country, still a free man. The U.S. military has complained that mercenaries will touch off violence, then call them to clean up the mess.

In February the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform estimated that nearly $4 billion had been paid out to mercenary outfits since the invasion of Iraq in 2003. These costs have forced the delay and cancellation of reconstruction projects.

Stay tuned for further developments. I will be revisiting the issue as details emerge.

There's more: "Iraqi Interior Ministry revokes authority of Blackwater to operate in Iraq" >>

Will Democrats stipulate that their Iraq withdrawal plans include defunding private contractors?

If we just replace American soldiers being shot at with more funding of private contractors,, i.e., mercenaries, then the war potentially becomes more burdensome on the budget, and not a whole lot easier morally, either. Read Mother Jones for some good reporting on what contractors are doing in Iraq right now, and on their belief that, if we pull out, the Iraq government will have to come calling on them. (Unanswered: Where will Iraq get the money to pay for these guys when [I hope] the U.S. gravy train pipeline gets shut down?)

There's more: "Will Democrats stipulate that their Iraq withdrawal plans include defunding private contractors?" >>

Demanding Democratic answers on Iraq and mercenaries

This Guardian story references a rumor that, when the British pull out of Basra, instead of leaving a vacuum for U.S. troops to fill, they’ll instead have their places taken by mercenaries.

This is another reason Obama’s and Clinton’s partial draw-down is simply not acceptable. Their plans say nothing about the Blackwaters of the world in Iraq, as to whether their numbers will be kept the same, or even increased.

Beyond Iraq, we need Democratic candidates to honestly address the question of U.S.-incorporated mercenary companies like DynCorp in places like Columbia, as well, especially since they are now fixing their eyes on getting a slice of U.N. peacekeeping budgets in war-torn areas where the U.N. is trying to step in.

Cross-posted at Socratic Gadfly and Out of Iraq Bloggers Caucus.

There's more: "Demanding Democratic answers on Iraq and mercenaries" >>

Mercenaries outnumber US troops in Iraq

Crazy, no? But true. The details:

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.

Yes, 2/3 are Iraqis:

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.

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.”

And, just how much do we know of the loyalties and intentions of those 118,000 Iraqis? Probably not a lot. They may be even less trustworthy than those that help our soldiers and marines.

Cross posted at SocraticGadfly.

There's more: "Mercenaries outnumber US troops in Iraq" >>