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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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September 26th,
2007 - Pentagon Investigates Contractor Oversight in Iraq |
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Pentagon Investigates
Contractor Oversight in Iraq By Kristin Roberts Reuters September 26, 2007 Washington - The Pentagon is
investigating whether its commanders can properly police the thousands of
security contractors in Iraq who are seen by civilians there as private
armies acting with impunity. U.S. Defense Secretary
Robert Gates has sent five of his staff members to the war zone to review
contractor operations, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said on
Wednesday. Gates' deputy also issued a
memo outlining the military's authority over contractors and ordering
commanders to ensure contractors' procedures and guidance on the use of
deadly force conform with U.S. rules. "He (Gates) does have
some concern about accountability and oversight," Morrell said. Military officers privately
have voiced frustration about security workers' heavy-handed tactics and
confusion about their authority over those contractors operating throughout
the war zone. While the memo highlights
commanders' authority, the Pentagon is still uncertain the U.S. military has
the resources to enforce its rules on contractors, Morrell said. "There will have to be
a discussion and a follow-on to determine whether the resources exist in the
field to manage these responsibilities," he said. Blackwater Probe The review comes as the
State Department investigates a shooting incident this month in which 11
people were killed while contractors from the U.S. firm Blackwater were
escorting an embassy convoy through Baghdad. Blackwater personnel have
been involved in twice the rate of shootings while guarding U.S. diplomats in
Iraq as guards working for other American security firms, the New York Times
reported in Thursday's editions, citing Bush administration and industry
officials. The Blackwater contractors
worked for the State Department, but the shooting incident in Baghdad raised
questions about the use of private security contractors by the U.S.
government more broadly. The Pentagon has about
137,000 contractors in Iraq - about equal to the number of U.S. troops on the
ground before a temporary troop surge this year. About 7,300 of the
contractors do security work, and none of those are from Blackwater. Gates said the military had
to rely on private contractors because the United States cut its armed
services after the Cold War. "If we're to have a
serious combat capability, we don't have the manpower to be able to perform a
lot of these tasks" that contractors perform, he told a U.S. Senate
committee. Iraq has said it would
review the status of all security firms after the Blackwater incident. Iraq's
Interior Ministry also finished draft legislation to strip contractors of
their legal immunity from Iraqi law. Asked about the Pentagon's
position on the draft law, Morrell took a jab at the Iraqi government's
inability so far to pass other legislation Washington sees as critical to
long-term stability. "It would be, sort of,
ironic in the sense that it would certainly show their ability to work
together and pass laws," he said. But he would not comment on
what impact the law could have on contractor and military operations. © 2007 Reuters External link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/26/AR2007092601575.html House Panel
Says Rice Is Hindering Its Work Blackwater, Corruption in Iraq at Issue By Karen DeYoung Washington Post September 26, 2007 An ongoing battle between
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and a House committee investigating Iraqi
government corruption and the activities of the Blackwater security firm
erupted into another skirmish yesterday as Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.)
accused Rice of interfering with the committee's work and preventing
administration and Blackwater officials from providing pertinent information. In the latest of a series of
exchanges, Waxman, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform
Committee, wrote Rice to urge that she "reconsider the unusual positions
you are taking." Congress has a "constitutional prerogative"
to look into the issues, he wrote, and she is "wrong to interfere with
the Committee's inquiry." State Department spokesman
Tom Casey cited a "misunderstanding" on Waxman's part. "All
information requested by the committee has been or is in the process of being
provided," he said. The dispute began late last
month when the Nation magazine published an account of an internal memo by
the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. The 82-page draft document, which was
subsequently widely leaked, said the Iraqi government was "not capable
of even rudimentary enforcement" of its own anticorruption laws and
would not meet "any reasonable timeline" for improvement. On Sept. 10, Waxman
requested copies of all State Department reports on the subject and
interviews with "knowledgeable" department officials. Saying it
received no response, the committee then issued subpoenas on Sept. 20 for the
documents and three officials. Interviews with the
officials were finally scheduled for yesterday, but on Monday night, Waxman's
letter said, the State Department sent an e-mail warning the committee of
"redlines" that should not be crossed in the unclassified sessions.
They included: "broad statements/assessments which judge or characterize
the quality of Iraqi governance or the ability/determination of the Iraqi
government to deal with corruption, including allegations that investigations
were thwarted/stifled for political reasons; [and] statements/allegations
concerning actions by specific individuals, such as the Prime Minister or
other [Government of Iraq] officials, or regarding investigations of such
officials." "The scope of this
prohibition is breathtaking," Waxman wrote to Rice, describing
yesterday's staff interview with Vincent Foulk of the State Department's
Office of Accountability and Transparency as "virtually worthless."
The committee has scheduled a hearing for tomorrow on Iraqi government
corruption. A separate hearing, on
Blackwater, is scheduled for next Tuesday. After reports last week that
Blackwater employees guarding a U.S. diplomatic convoy in Baghdad had killed
11 Iraqi civilians, the committee asked the company for documents and
requested the testimony of Erik Prince, chairman of Blackwater's parent
company. In a Monday letter, Blackwater
attorney Stephen M. Ryan told the committee that the State Department had
directed the company "not to disclose any information" regarding
its Iraq security contract without prior department authorization in writing.
"This contractual direction from the DOS is unambiguous," Ryan
wrote. Ryan enclosed a Sept. 20
State Department letter to Blackwater reminding that "all documents and
information generated in the course of performance" of its contract
"are fully subject to the control of the State Department." Calling the department's
position "wholly inappropriate," Waxman wrote that "unless the
President is prepared to make an assertion of executive privilege over the
Blackwater documents, the State Department has no authority to prevent their
transmission to Congress." A subsequent department
letter to Blackwater, dated yesterday and sent to the committee, clarified
that only "classified" company documents are subject to prior
review, after which the State Department "will ... provide
authorization, as appropriate, for disclosure to the Committee, consistent
with Executive Branch responsibilities to safeguard national security
information.” External link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/25/AR2007092502447.html |