Another ongoing issue I have a problem with is highlighted by today's Guardian
Rice apologises for contractor Blackwater USA (the company has another division called Blackwater Worldwide and has since been renamed Xe) employees shooting civilians but simultaneously tries to ensure their continued operation in the Iraq - the US Army without the accountability.
Points of interest I culled from the excellent article A very Private War,, extracted from Jeremy Scahill's new book 'Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army' (NB the Guardian reader offer NB Scahill's articles).
Following my usual practice, all italics indicate direct quotes from the article:
Four years into the occupation, there is absolutely no effective system of oversight or accountability governing contractors and their operations.
...No matter what their acts in Iraq, contractors cannot be prosecuted in Iraqi courts, thanks to US-imposed edicts dating back to Paul Bremer's post-invasion Coalition Provisional Authority.
Of course I'm not worried about their commitment to peaceful outcomes.
Blackwater USA's President responds to Scahill's book here. With a summary in this NYTimes article of 29 April 07. The comment on accountability is particularly interesting given the current furore.
A profitable private enterprise, with public immunity, with influence over generation of its own market. Tasty for investors.
Of course, Britain also has mercs in Iraq, but most British-based merc companies there, including Tim Spicer's Aegis, are employed by the US. However, shortly after Tony Blair announced that he wanted to withdraw 1,600 soldiers from Basra, reports emerged that the British government was considering sending in private security companies to "fill the gap left behind".
It's not just Iraq, of course, as well as working in the US during Hurricane Katrina and the plans to privatise the US border patrol, US defence contractors are receiving nearly half the $630m in US military aid for Colombia; and are also deployed across various unstable African nations where foreign or UN forces have been called in. Significant chunks of the UN peacekeeping budget could end up in their pockets.
The House of Congress oversight and government reform committee is looking into this; a member said "There's no democratic control and there's no intention to have democratic control here."
Thanks, Rumsfeld.
Reading the full article is throroughly recommended. I think I'm going to have to get the book.
I seem to remember that part of the definition of a state is that it has a monopoly on the use of force within its borders.
The trade group for mercenary companies is, of course, named 'the International Peace Operations Association' (IPOA). The Washington-based Peace Operations Institute, a 'charitable organization dedicated to the public about peace and stability operations, and to promoting practical solutions to peacekeeping operations' seems to be following a line they'd be happy with, but then that's hardly surprising, given that their own website states they were formed by ex-IPOA members.
Later edit: 19/09/07
The 'ban' has been reported in Salon.com and the NYTimes
The Iraq government now plans to review all such operators in Iraq: how it is to do so, to enforce its own bans, expel any company or its employees and track movement of staff is companies disband and reform with near-identical staff roster's is beyond me. The NY Times figures: About 126,000 people working for contractors serve alongside American troops, including about 30,000 security contractors.
The Salon article led me to:
CRS Report for Congress: Private Security Contractors in Iraq: Background, Legal Status, and Other Issues, updated July 11, 2007 and again August 2008.
Later edit: 20/09/07
Of course, it has a name for the economists to use (courtesy of the POI, above), 'the Peace and Stability Operations Industry'.
The IPOA has already published a survey - results .pdf.
[Look further into Dr. Sarah Percy at CCW.]
Various contractors had provided warning of tensions. Maybe they need bodyguards...
Later edit: 1/10/2007
Well, apparently the report to Congress has come out and apparently Blackwater US do not figure as shining knights on the field:
The report, based largely on internal Blackwater e-mail messages and State Department documents, depicts the security contractor as being staffed with reckless, shoot-first guards who were not always sober and did not always stop to see who or what was hit by their bullets.
... the State Department’s own documents “raise serious questions” about how department officials responded to reports of Blackwater killings of Iraqis, the report said.
...contrary to the terms of its contract, Blackwater sometimes engaged in offensive operations with the American military, instead of confining itself to its protective mission, the staff found.
The report also raised questions about the cost-effectiveness of using Blackwater forces instead of United States troops. Blackwater charges the government $1,222 per day per guard, “equivalent to $445,000 per year, or six times more than the cost of an equivalent U.S. soldier,” the report said.
Blackwater's responded strongly with institutional change - to the logo (see further below for website revamp). While Paul Bremmer had granted immunity in 2004, the State Department (which sent an investigation team out in early October) followed suit on 29 October 2007, snarling up the congressional investigation. Evidence before hearings later in October has led to an investigation into apparent significant tax evasion as well (report: March 10 2008 Congressional memorandum: see further below for note on this demonstration of Blackwater's various attempts to have it both ways).
Later edit 12/12/07
Well, lookee here. Cofer Black, responsible for counterterrorism in the CIA and now Blackwater VP (the number two man at Blackwater, the head of their new private intelligence company called Total Intelligence Solutions) is acting as advisor to Presidential candidate Mitt Romney [see Presidential candidates connections further below for link].
Are Blackwater to remain in Iraq? "on December 3, Blackwater released a job posting seeking snipers and more protective security specialists because of an extension of its State Department contract. So apparently Blackwater knows something that has not been revealed publicly, because they’re hiring new guards under their WPPS contract, their State Department contract, which is how they work in Iraq." [See further below for 2009 ban by Iraq.]
Blackwater rebranding "Blackwater has undergone a major overhaul of its website. It’s no longer called Blackwater USA; it’s called Blackwater Worldwide. Their logo, which used to be a bear paw in a sniper scope, is now a bear paw surrounded by two half-ovals. It almost looks reminiscent of the United Nations logo. No longer are Blackwater mercenaries referred to even as “personal security operatives” or “personal security details;” they are “global stabilization professionals.”
They’re being considered for part of a $15 billion contract with the Pentagon to operate in the so-called war on drugs. They recently got a $92 million contract to operate flights for the Pentagon in Central Asia. The intelligence company is growing.
There are plans for major fierce local resistance to their attempt to open an 824-acre mercenary camp based right on the US/Mexico border
"I think Blackwater sees disaster response as a gateway, one of the gateways, into a massive Homeland Security budget and that the Department of Homeland Security, like all agencies of the federal government, is being radically privatized. 70% of the US national intelligence budget-sixteen intelligence agencies-70% of that budget is in the hands of private contractors."
Later edit
US Presidential candidates and Blackwater:
December 2007BLACKWATER and the 2008 Presidential race Jeremy Scahill on Republican candidate Mitt Romney, his advisor Cofer Black (Blackwater vice chairman and former head of Counterterrorism at the CIA), State Department Inspector General Howard Krongard and his brother’s ties to the Blackwater (link also included above).
August 2008: As for McCain, McCain’s top officials and fund-raisers have past financial ties to nearly every domestic and foreign flashpoint, from Fannie Mae to Blackwater to Ahmad Chalabi to the government of Georgia.
February 2008 Scahill on Obama and military contractors and accountability
NB Blackwater's lawyer, Fred F. Fielding by 2008 had become White House Counsel for President Bush (see March 2009 Congressional Report on employment practices and tax evasion below).
contractors and the law
2007 Blackwater pays high for defence at home
2008 January 2008: More protection needed from US for its contractors again
2005 use of Gas by Blackwater leaves questions Oh really?
Private Security Domestically
March 2008: Blackwater employment practices - Congressional Committee report. This reveals their attempt to have it both ways:
Blackwater is one of the largest private military contractors, receiving nearly $1.25 billion in federal contracts since 2000. [My summary of points from text: Blackwater evaded millions of dollars in federal tax payments through its improper classification of security guards as "independent contractors" rather than "employees." A March 2007 lnternal Revenue Service ruling, concluded that Blackwater violated federal tax law by designating staff independent contractors and it was estimated that Blackwater failed to pay or withhold up to $50 million under its contract with the State Department. The incorrect "independent contractor" designation was further exploited to (seek and) receive special preferences normally reserved for small businesses and to refuse to cooperate with an audit by the Department of Labor into Blackwater's potentially discriminatory employment practices and attempt to avoid compliance with affirmative action and anti-discrimination laws imposed on all federal contractors.] Attempting to make their case, In all three instances, Blackwater has asserted in official communications that its security guards are independent contractors because the company does not exercise sufflrcient control over their activities in Iraq or Afghanistan. Blackwater has claimed in offrcial communications that its security guards are "in no way directly supervised or controlled by Blackwater"; that they "do not report to any of the Blackwater entities regarding their work in the field"; and that they "do not report to Blackwater regarding their operations in country." Blackwater has also claimed that it "plays no role in the development or planning of the contractors' security missions" and "has little if any knowledge regarding the location or activities of these independent contractors." According to Blackwater, its "only real involvement is to pay the independent contractors." All of these claims appear to be false.... This evidence indicates that Blackwater exercises what Mr. Prince has described as "tight control" over its security guards. ...Blackwater's claims also contradict the position its own lawyer, Fred F. Fielding, took in civil litigation before he became the White House Counsel to President Bush . After the estates of four security guards who died in Fallujah sued Blackwater for wrongful death, Mr. Fielding argued that the guards could not recover from Blackwater because they were "employees" limited to recovering only workers' compensation. In his legal brief, Mr. Fielding asserted that the company's security guards were "employees as a matter of law" and described this conclusion as "inescapable."
May 2008: the US government had established new procedures for its security contractors - including Blackwater - following the shooting ... Each convoy was now required to be accompanied by a US state department official, and to install cameras and recording equipment on their vehicles. May 2008 report on September 2007 shooting of civilians by Blackwater personnel.
Cheney-Bush pushing through plans for permanent US presence in Iraq in which it is seeking immunity for its contractors in Iraq. May 2008. As of 2009, this appears to have limited if any success.
July 2008: US Foreign contractors may lose their immunity to Iraqi law - if new negotiations go through. 03/07/08
December 2008: 08/12/08
Five employees of the US security firm Blackwater charged over the 2007 fatal shooting of 17 Iraqis will surrender to US federal authorities, reports say (use of grenades cited). Blackwater employees' trial is unsealed against the background of the legal uncertainties outlined in October 2007.
2009 Iraq bans Blackwater from operating on Iraqi territory. US scrambles for replacement contractors.
Blackwater (based in North Carolina) has changed its name and brand to Xe (pronounced "zi"). They are allegedly currently (March 2009) attempting to hire ex-fighters from the Liberian civil war to fulfill U.S private security contracts. THis is in line with their practice five years ago, when the company were recruiting ex-Chilean commandos (as Blackwater’s then President Gary Jackson boasted to The Guardian) who had supposedly trained and served under the military dicatorship of Augusto Pinochet. Another (unproven) allegation was that in December 2006 Blackwater, which Iraqi politician Ayham al-Samarie had hired for protection, allegedly helped him escape jail following his arrest on 12 criminal corruption charges. (He later claimed that an Iraqi judge had ordered his release, he feared being killed if he stayed in jail, and U.S. officials had assured him he would not be extradited to Iraq.)
Xe Worldwide is currently the largest of the U.S. State Department's three private security contractors.
N.B. Blackwater/XE semi-spinoff for intelligence - Total Intelligence Solutions, LLC (TIS) is a merger of The Black Group, The Terrorism Research Center, Inc. and Technical Defense. Cofer Black and Enrique Prado, two top executives, also held positions at Blackwater at the time of the merger, and Robert Richer left Blackwater to take on his role at TIS. The owner of the Terrorism Research Center is Blackwater founder Erik Prince.
See above for Obama's issues with the law on private military contractors and legislation proposal as of Feb 2008.
Wikipedia Blackwater entry since changed to Xe.
Congressional Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (search for Blackwater is fruitful).
Jeremy Scahill's articles between 2006 and December 2008 focus almost exclusively on Blackwater
For a detailed entry on on going and current (though often unproven) allegations against the company the Sourcewatch entries on Xe and on IPOA are useful. There is a good discussion of why it is currently essential for the US army to involve private contractors in at least some areas (KBR's services) by Pratap Chatterjee (managing editor of Corpwatch) in Mother Jones. Cheney's legacy but not an entirely new development. The majority of KBR's labor force, some 40,000 workers (the equivalent of about 80 military battalions), are "third country nationals" drawn largely from the poorer parts of Asia... on U.S. bases in Iraq and Afghanistan, every single item, from beans to bullets, is shipped using contractors like PWC of Kuwait and Maersk of Denmark. In the last two decades, the U.S. military has even divested itself of the hardware and people that would allow it to move tanks around the world, relying instead on contractors to do such work..
August 2009 'La plus ça change': Another contractor's recruitment vetting is questioned after an incident in Iraq in which a British employee shot and killed two other employees (a Briton and an Australian). The man was still on probation for a one-year suspended sentence for robbery and possessing prohibited ammunition. 'Danny Fitzsimons’s criminal past raises questions about the vetting process of ArmorGroup, the private security company that hired him. It has a policy of not employing anyone with a criminal record. His move to Iraq may also cast doubt on the supervision given to Mr Fitzsimons, 29, by the Greater Manchester Probation Service. The former paratrooper from Middleton was supposed to report regularly to a probation officer. ...
'Friends and former colleagues said that Mr Fitzsimons should never have been allowed to go back to Iraq, where he has worked on and off for the past few years. They said that his employers had failed to vet him properly. ...
“Why was he being employed by ArmorGroup?” asked one private security guard who worked with Mr Fitzsimons in Iraq in 2006. “The guy was a walking time-bomb.'A close friend of Mr Fitzsimons, who has known him since his years as a member of 2nd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment, agreed that he should not have been given the job. “He has been on a rocky road for the last two years,”'
Further discussion this excited on foreign contractors may be found here. ... for all governments' inclination and desire for regulation of the sector, attempts to formulate a regulatory regime have foundered on the multinational and multi-jurisdictional nature of the industry. At the heart of this issue is the problem of definition. In an echo of the old adage that one man's freedom fighter is another's terrorist, today's security contractor is one government's "legitimate enabler" and another's mercenary. The foreign secretary's announcement that regulation is unfeasible and an industry code of conduct his preferred solution is simply an admission that no amount of international talk will produce a viable method of regulation. The foreign secretary's announcement that regulation is unfeasible and an industry code of conduct his preferred solution is simply an admission that no amount of international talk will produce a viable method of regulation.
..., the British government falls far short of the measures taken by the US government, albeit belated, to try to ensure the accountability of contractors. These include extending US legal jurisdiction over contractors directly and indirectly funded by government.
International regulation of the security sector remains an unattainable goal and governments' continuing dependence on security contractors is a reality. The British government, among others, will have to look hard at the way in which it employs and controls security contractors if it is to avoid damage to its foreign policy aims and this country's reputation.
Later edit 24 August 2009
Scahill on Blackwater / Xe coverage in the media and their ongoing place in US military planning and operations video.
Of course now they have a thriving intelligence service wing, possibly assisted by their close contact with CIA and FBI, continued by their generously allowing them to use their training facility, now named (for distance sake, one assumes) US training. I wonder if they charge the agencies for its use, while availing themselves of the networking/recruitment opportunities this provides? (Trainee replacements will have to be recruited by the government agencies and, of course, have part of their training rubbing their faces in the private sector money awash at the Xe's premier facility.)
The need for private contractors in intelligence is presented as a HR issue here but Blackwater's involvement in assassination planning and other key military activity doesn't seem too HR-ish to me, though possibly demonstrative of a brain and experience drain of trained forces personnel to the lucrative private sector.
Later edit 2 Sept 2009
The dubious ArmourGroup gung-ho approach to recruitment (see above) seems to be part of their culture.. ArmorGroup North America (parent corp Wackenhut Services) {whacking hut???). A number of guards say such conditions have created a "climate of fear and coercion". Those who refuse to participate are often ridiculed, humiliated or even fired, they said.
ArmorGroup's management is aware of the conditions but has not stopped it or disciplined those responsible, the letter says. Two supervisors alleged to be the worst offenders have been allowed to resign and may now be working on other US contracts, the group said.
The letter of concern identified ...a failure by the state department to hold the contractor accountable.
... Another "cure notice" was sent less than a year later [so in 2008], raising other problems and criticising the contractor for failing to fix the prior ones.... More problems surfaced and more warning notices followed. Yet during a congressional hearing on the contract in June, state department officials said the prior shortcomings had been remedied and that security at the embassy was effective. The contract was renewed again until 2010.
Allegedly Brian also called upon Clinton to determine whether securing embassies and diplomats is an inherently governmental function and, if it is, to stop using private contractors for security. If the work is deemed commercial, Clinton should work with Defense Secretary Robert Gates to have the military supervise private guards protecting the embassies in Kabul and in Baghdad...
There is another, more detailed report here According to the latter the company is using a lot of very overworked non-English speaking Gurkhas in the area, compounding comunication problems and Wackenhut Vice President Sam Brinkley testified during a June subcommittee hearing that "the Kabul contract has been fully staffed since January 2009."
See the the letter to Clinton from POGO, followed by Senator McCaskill's letter.
As for Xe
Of course, as they state (presumably June 2009, though undated on their site today (2 September) )
Response to Misleading Press Reports The joint audit by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction and the United State Department of State Inspector General released yesterday
does not, as some press reports have suggested, allege that Blackwater was ever complicit in overbilling the United States government for work it performed in Iraq in 2006 and 2007.
The audit does not even state that the government overpaid Blackwater for staffing issues. All it suggests is that invoices spanning a period of time are reviewed. A $55 million penalty has in no way been determined.
In fact, the government contracting officer determined that Blackwater was compliant with the terms of the contract at the time for which they were reviewing and the therefore did not apply any deductions or penalties. Blackwater only billed for services provided.
For more information, please contact media@xecompany.com.
Even CNN (very lefty them) said that this was because The State Department failed to seek $55 million in penalties from the American security firm once known as Blackwater for not properly complying with its security contract for protecting diplomatic personnel in Iraq, an audit shows. according to the audit 'by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction and the State Department's Office of Inspector General' (handy title) which I'm now trying to find. oh, here it is Also reported in Federal Times
In a way its quite amusing. A selling point of private security is that it is less bound than government forces by procedure and bureaucracy, and now the private sector is found to be riddled with management failures and contract breaches for which the solution is... additional oversight. Either the scrutiny will be ineffective or the contractors will come more to resemble the unwieldy accountable behemoths Rumsfeld et al abhored and cost ever more.
Of course there is fresher mud being flung from a lesser height Prince and or his company are variously accused of being motivated by an apocalyptic Christian worldview which glorified killing Muslims; of "encourag[ing] and reward[ing] the destruction of Iraqi life;" of illegally smuggling weapons into Iraq; of destroying incriminating evidence; of using child prostitutes; and even of murdering government informants.
The charges -- which come from a former Blackwater employee, and a former US Marine who has worked as a security operative for the company -- appear to be largely unsubstantiated. however the allegations, the ough doubtful,have now been made in sworn affidavits rather than the merely around the rumourmill. This comment looks at the religious aspect of Xe, as covered by Scahill. Elsewhere Xe /Blackwater is also alleged to have recruited a lot of ex-Pakistani force members. At least they're likely to have channels to talk direct to the Taliban. Some Pakistani security officials suggested that besides providing security to the aid workers, Blackwater was carrying out covert operations.
Among these were buying the loyalties of influential tribal elders and tracking the money flowing to al-Qaeda and Taliban through the national and international banks, something which perhaps goes far beyond the mandate of a private security firm. Though that seems to be pure rumour. So far.
Much later edit: 11 February 2010
Of course the PSCs outstayed the US troops. I still haven't read Scahill's book but recommend Fainaru's Big Boy's Rules for eye-openers on military base and green zone security protocols when it came to contractors' employees, PSC regulation (and the built-in lack of accountability) and the Department of Defence's complete failure to grasp, let alone control, the situation they'd bought themselves into. Also worth noting that many of the military contractors were under sub-contract to Halliburton(see Cheney/Halliburton via google.
Pulitzer-prizewinning journalist Fainaru has written a very easy book to read, focusing on personal stories. The abdication of government responsibility for their employment of PSCs (lack of accountability being one of the reasons they wanted external contractors of course) extended to a lack of concern for the irresponsible undermining of the military's 'hearts and minds' efforts, a cavalier disregard for the real rate of casualties, contractor and civilian, caused by the full spectrum of operations they funded, and a complete disregard for US citizens and former soldiers as soon as they passed under the black aegis of independent miltary contractors. The families site on the lost contractors is http://home.freecote.com/ Blackwater, as Xe is still the US's prime contractor http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Scahill+xe+blackwater&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a Unsurprising as their tactical training facility is used to train more than 40,000 people a year, mostly from U.S. and other military and police services. That setup is bound to create closer networking links than the majority of mercenary companies, though similarly built primarily from US military retirees, would have. According to wikipedia 'On July 21, 2008, Blackwater Worldwide stated that they would shift resources away from security contracting because of extensive risk in that sector. "The experience we've had would certainly be a disincentive to any other companies that want to step in and put their entire business at risk," company founder and CEO Erik Prince told The Associated Press during a daylong visit to the company's North Carolina compound.'. Any evidence to back that assertion up has completely passed me by. Also on wikipedia as of this dated edit:
In 2006 a car accident occurred in the Baghdad Green Zone when an SUV driven by Blackwater operatives crashed into a U.S. Army Humvee. Blackwater guards allegedly disarmed the Army soldiers and forced them to lie on the ground at gunpoint until they could disentangle their SUV from the wreck.
At least 60 Chilean Blackwater employees were trained during dictator Augusto Pinochet's regime.
In December 2006, an Iraqi politician, Ayham al-Samarie, escaped from a prison in Iraq, where he was awaiting trial for 12 criminal corruption cases.[161][162] Blackwater, which he had hired for protection before his arrest, allegedly helped him escape In the wake of Prince's testimony before Congress, the US House passed a bill in October 2007 that would make all private contractors working in Iraq and other combat zones subject to prosecution by U.S. courts... A July 2007 report from the American Congressional Research Service indicates that the Iraqi government still has no authority over private security firms contracted by the U.S. government....
2007 estimates of statistics for the Iraq war - article by Engelhardt in 'The Nation'. In December 2008 a US State Department panel recommended that Xe should be dropped as the main private security contractor for U.S. diplomats in Iraq.
On Jan 30, 2009, The U.S. State Department told Blackwater Worldwide that it will not renew its contract in Iraq.
BUT sadly, and I'd love to know the reasons why, on 1 August 2009 the Obama administration extended Blackwater's contract for security services in Iraq
Despite the change in the law, I've yet to hear of a successful US prosecution for a contractor's illegal activities in Iraq. It might be that civilian courts feel uncomfortable judging wartime choices. On recent evidence (New Year's Eve dismissal of charges against Blackwater operatives) US agencies just find it too hard getting a case together which meets US prosecutorial standards, unsurprising as access in a warzone is limited and witnesses may not want to talk to Americans after being shot up by their contractors.
Sadly its actually taken til now for the Iraq government to finally give Blackwater the boot, if this latest attempt is indeed successful. However other contractors remain and I don't know what they'd do if Blackwater altered its model to involve subsidiaries operating in Iraq. PSCs in Iraq totalled at peak 100 to 200 thousand depending on estimate source.
Decisions in war, and control of the warzone in territory your nation holds, should be on the basis of diplomatic, strategic, legal and humanitarian considerations by military experts and governmental portfolio holders, not by sub-contractors on the basis of business interests.
On the ground, soldiers are held to those decisions by military discipline enforced according to codes of conduct and tightly-written guidance for proceeding in each particular operation, tailored to the context of the particular war. To safeguard the mission, colleagues and for career progression it is in a soldiers interest to report and the military's to pursue erratic or rule-breaking behaviour.
On the ground, contractors are held, if to anything, only to their immediate contract and it is not in their commanders' or colleagues interests to report any infractions to the contract holder. Few other witnesses are available. Ethos and ethical practice are entirely determined by the company in question, to the extent it has local control of its operatives.
Far less than occupying national militaries can less-disciplined and less co-ordinated mercenaries contribute to stability and nation-building. Their very blinkered client-focus tends to destabilise situations further.
Of course, Blackwater / Xe may well be in Pakistan now.
The source, who has worked on covert US military programs for years, including in Afghanistan and Pakistan, has direct knowledge of Blackwater's involvement. He spoke to The Nation on condition of anonymity because the program is classified. The source said that the program is so "compartmentalized" that senior figures within the Obama administration and the US military chain of command may not be aware of its existence. at least until November 2009 when the article was published. As this blogger comments, if it was anyone but Scahill, the proportion of anonymous source would render the article very suspect, but unless he's being played to undermine his credibility, I buy it.
It is definitley looking for Afghanistan contracts.
Xe on Wednesday reached a settlement in a series of civil lawsuits in which dozens of Iraqis accused the company of cultivating a reckless culture that allowed innocent civilians to be killed. On Thursday, however, two former Blackwater contractors were arrested on murder charges in the shootings of two Afghans after a traffic accident last year.
Despite the scrutiny, the U.S. relies heavily on Xe - pronounced "zee" - for support in Afghanistan and the workload may grow significantly.
As reported Jan 2010 Xe eventually lost its license to operate as guardian of U.S. diplomats in Iraq and the State Department, with Clinton at the helm, elected not to rehire the company when the contract expired in 2009. Delays in getting a new company in place led to a temporary extension of the State contract. In a moment of high comedy/irony/tragedy/wondering-why-I-have-any-hair-left, given their Iraq endeavours, Blackwater/Xe appear to be bidding for contracts to train the Afghan Police Force. Of course, they already train the Border Police and DynCorp has the main police training contract. Individual employees may have valuable police experience (in an entirely different cultural context) to impart but the employer ethos, approach and the fundamental conflict of interest in employing people to solve a problem they have a commercial interest in the continuance of IMO contaminates all. Headdesk.
There's another FUBAR angle reported on here by the excellent Thomas E. Ricks and discussed here. I don't have a problem with retirees sharing expertise and earning extra money as consultants to the military. I have a problem with the conflict of interest if they're also employed by PSCs.
The Air University has these collated links on Private Contractors
Small Wars Journal forum discussion of the legal headaches
Points of interest I culled from the excellent article A very Private War,, extracted from Jeremy Scahill's new book 'Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army' (NB the Guardian reader offer NB Scahill's articles).
Following my usual practice, all italics indicate direct quotes from the article:
Four years into the occupation, there is absolutely no effective system of oversight or accountability governing contractors and their operations.
...No matter what their acts in Iraq, contractors cannot be prosecuted in Iraqi courts, thanks to US-imposed edicts dating back to Paul Bremer's post-invasion Coalition Provisional Authority.
Of course I'm not worried about their commitment to peaceful outcomes.
- What has driven this use of mercenaries?
On September 10 2001, Donald Rumsfeld made clear his commitment to a wholesale shift in the running of the Pentagon, supplanting the old department of defense bureaucracy with a new model, one based on the private sector. - What is the overall work of mercenaries in the region?
Surely they're just doing mundane guard-work so as to free government troops for operations?
increasingly, private personnel are engaged in armed combat and "security" operations. They interrogate prisoners, gather intelligence, operate rendition flights, protect senior occupation officials - including some commanding US generals - and in some cases have taken command of US and international troops in battle. [My bold] - How many mercs are known to be in Iraq?
...last year, a US government report identified 48,000 employees of private military/security firms.
Blackwater is far from being the biggest mercenary firm operating in Iraq, nor is it the most profitable. But it has the closest proximity to the throne in Washington and to radical rightwing causes, leading some critics to label it a "Republican guard".
...Since the launch of the "war on terror", the administration has funnelled billions of dollars in public funds to US war corporations such as Blackwater USA, DynCorp and Triple Canopy. These companies have used the money to build up private armies that rival or outgun many of the world's national militaries. - What does Blackwater specifically do?
It protects the US ambassador and other senior officials in Iraq as well as visiting Congressional delegations; it trains Afghan security forces, and was deployed in the oil-rich Caspian Sea region, setting up a "command and control" centre just miles from the Iranian border. The company was also hired to protect emergency operations and facilities in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina...
...It also runs an impressive domestic law-enforcement and military training system inside the US.
...At present, Blackwater has forces deployed in nine countries and boasts a database of 21,000 additional troops at the ready, a fleet of more than 20 aircraft, including helicopter gun-ships, and the world's largest private military facility - a 7,000-acre compound in North Carolina. - Who are its executives?
The man behind this empire is 38-year-old Erik Prince, a secretive, conservative Christian who once served with the US Navy's special forces and has made major campaign contributions to President Bush and his allies. Among Blackwater's senior executives are J Cofer Black, former head of counterterrorism at the CIA [a 28 year career at the CIA in the Directorate of Operations ending as Director of the CIA Counterterrorist Center,]; Robert Richer, former deputy director of operations at the CIA; Joseph Schmitz, former Pentagon inspector general; and an impressive array of other retired military and intelligence officials. - Is it planning expansion into new markets?
Company executives recently announced the creation of a new private intelligence company, Total Intelligence, to be headed by Black and Richer. Blackwater executives boast that some of their work for the government is so sensitive that the company cannot tell one federal agency what it is doing for another. Well, that will help joined-up security operations and the avoidance of another 9/11 as per Federal plans.
Of course, this isn't a new market for private contractors, as 70% of the US intelligence budget is annually spent on private intelligence contractors. - Are they an exclusively US concern?
No: The company has been quietly marketing its services to foreign governments and corporations through an off-shore affiliate, Greystone Ltd, registered in Barbados.
...
Among the "services" offered were mobile security teams, which could be employed for personal security operations, surveillance and countersurveillance. - What about competition?
DynCorp, ArmourGroup and Erynis are much larger than Blackwater US but there are many minor players there are now more private military companies operating internationally than there are member nations at the UN.
Of course, these organisations are mostly staffed by international forces' leavers, with ex-US and British army personnel in the elite command positions. The pay is, of course, far better than for active troops - a US or British special forces veteran working for a private security company in Iraq can make $650 (£320) a day, after the company takes its cut. At times the rate has reached $1,000 (£490) a day. At the bottom of the pecking order, the grunts who do guard and non-military contract labour, such as laundry work are low-paid locals - mostly Iraqis in Iraq, for example. The security implications of that seem interesting and even if it is generating local jobs, it isn't generating local management expertise. Like colonialism or the activities of international coffee plantation corporations, or contemporary exploitative global manufacturing concerns.
in America, Blackwater is facing at least two wrongful-death lawsuits.
... In both cases, families of the deceased charge that Blackwater's negligence led to the deaths. (Blackwater has argued that it cannot be sued and should enjoy the same immunity as the US military).
Blackwater USA's President responds to Scahill's book here. With a summary in this NYTimes article of 29 April 07. The comment on accountability is particularly interesting given the current furore.
A profitable private enterprise, with public immunity, with influence over generation of its own market. Tasty for investors.
Of course, Britain also has mercs in Iraq, but most British-based merc companies there, including Tim Spicer's Aegis, are employed by the US. However, shortly after Tony Blair announced that he wanted to withdraw 1,600 soldiers from Basra, reports emerged that the British government was considering sending in private security companies to "fill the gap left behind".
It's not just Iraq, of course, as well as working in the US during Hurricane Katrina and the plans to privatise the US border patrol, US defence contractors are receiving nearly half the $630m in US military aid for Colombia; and are also deployed across various unstable African nations where foreign or UN forces have been called in. Significant chunks of the UN peacekeeping budget could end up in their pockets.
The House of Congress oversight and government reform committee is looking into this; a member said "There's no democratic control and there's no intention to have democratic control here."
Thanks, Rumsfeld.
Reading the full article is throroughly recommended. I think I'm going to have to get the book.
I seem to remember that part of the definition of a state is that it has a monopoly on the use of force within its borders.
The trade group for mercenary companies is, of course, named 'the International Peace Operations Association' (IPOA). The Washington-based Peace Operations Institute, a 'charitable organization dedicated to the public about peace and stability operations, and to promoting practical solutions to peacekeeping operations' seems to be following a line they'd be happy with, but then that's hardly surprising, given that their own website states they were formed by ex-IPOA members.
Later edit: 19/09/07
The 'ban' has been reported in Salon.com and the NYTimes
The Iraq government now plans to review all such operators in Iraq: how it is to do so, to enforce its own bans, expel any company or its employees and track movement of staff is companies disband and reform with near-identical staff roster's is beyond me. The NY Times figures: About 126,000 people working for contractors serve alongside American troops, including about 30,000 security contractors.
The Salon article led me to:
CRS Report for Congress: Private Security Contractors in Iraq: Background, Legal Status, and Other Issues, updated July 11, 2007 and again August 2008.
Later edit: 20/09/07
Of course, it has a name for the economists to use (courtesy of the POI, above), 'the Peace and Stability Operations Industry'.
The IPOA has already published a survey - results .pdf.
[Look further into Dr. Sarah Percy at CCW.]
Various contractors had provided warning of tensions. Maybe they need bodyguards...
Later edit: 1/10/2007
Well, apparently the report to Congress has come out and apparently Blackwater US do not figure as shining knights on the field:
The report, based largely on internal Blackwater e-mail messages and State Department documents, depicts the security contractor as being staffed with reckless, shoot-first guards who were not always sober and did not always stop to see who or what was hit by their bullets.
... the State Department’s own documents “raise serious questions” about how department officials responded to reports of Blackwater killings of Iraqis, the report said.
...contrary to the terms of its contract, Blackwater sometimes engaged in offensive operations with the American military, instead of confining itself to its protective mission, the staff found.
The report also raised questions about the cost-effectiveness of using Blackwater forces instead of United States troops. Blackwater charges the government $1,222 per day per guard, “equivalent to $445,000 per year, or six times more than the cost of an equivalent U.S. soldier,” the report said.
Blackwater's responded strongly with institutional change - to the logo (see further below for website revamp). While Paul Bremmer had granted immunity in 2004, the State Department (which sent an investigation team out in early October) followed suit on 29 October 2007, snarling up the congressional investigation. Evidence before hearings later in October has led to an investigation into apparent significant tax evasion as well (report: March 10 2008 Congressional memorandum: see further below for note on this demonstration of Blackwater's various attempts to have it both ways).
Later edit 12/12/07
Well, lookee here. Cofer Black, responsible for counterterrorism in the CIA and now Blackwater VP (the number two man at Blackwater, the head of their new private intelligence company called Total Intelligence Solutions) is acting as advisor to Presidential candidate Mitt Romney [see Presidential candidates connections further below for link].
Are Blackwater to remain in Iraq? "on December 3, Blackwater released a job posting seeking snipers and more protective security specialists because of an extension of its State Department contract. So apparently Blackwater knows something that has not been revealed publicly, because they’re hiring new guards under their WPPS contract, their State Department contract, which is how they work in Iraq." [See further below for 2009 ban by Iraq.]
Blackwater rebranding "Blackwater has undergone a major overhaul of its website. It’s no longer called Blackwater USA; it’s called Blackwater Worldwide. Their logo, which used to be a bear paw in a sniper scope, is now a bear paw surrounded by two half-ovals. It almost looks reminiscent of the United Nations logo. No longer are Blackwater mercenaries referred to even as “personal security operatives” or “personal security details;” they are “global stabilization professionals.”
They’re being considered for part of a $15 billion contract with the Pentagon to operate in the so-called war on drugs. They recently got a $92 million contract to operate flights for the Pentagon in Central Asia. The intelligence company is growing.
There are plans for major fierce local resistance to their attempt to open an 824-acre mercenary camp based right on the US/Mexico border
"I think Blackwater sees disaster response as a gateway, one of the gateways, into a massive Homeland Security budget and that the Department of Homeland Security, like all agencies of the federal government, is being radically privatized. 70% of the US national intelligence budget-sixteen intelligence agencies-70% of that budget is in the hands of private contractors."
Later edit
US Presidential candidates and Blackwater:
December 2007BLACKWATER and the 2008 Presidential race Jeremy Scahill on Republican candidate Mitt Romney, his advisor Cofer Black (Blackwater vice chairman and former head of Counterterrorism at the CIA), State Department Inspector General Howard Krongard and his brother’s ties to the Blackwater (link also included above).
August 2008: As for McCain, McCain’s top officials and fund-raisers have past financial ties to nearly every domestic and foreign flashpoint, from Fannie Mae to Blackwater to Ahmad Chalabi to the government of Georgia.
February 2008 Scahill on Obama and military contractors and accountability
NB Blackwater's lawyer, Fred F. Fielding by 2008 had become White House Counsel for President Bush (see March 2009 Congressional Report on employment practices and tax evasion below).
contractors and the law
2007 Blackwater pays high for defence at home
2008 January 2008: More protection needed from US for its contractors again
2005 use of Gas by Blackwater leaves questions Oh really?
Private Security Domestically
March 2008: Blackwater employment practices - Congressional Committee report. This reveals their attempt to have it both ways:
Blackwater is one of the largest private military contractors, receiving nearly $1.25 billion in federal contracts since 2000. [My summary of points from text: Blackwater evaded millions of dollars in federal tax payments through its improper classification of security guards as "independent contractors" rather than "employees." A March 2007 lnternal Revenue Service ruling, concluded that Blackwater violated federal tax law by designating staff independent contractors and it was estimated that Blackwater failed to pay or withhold up to $50 million under its contract with the State Department. The incorrect "independent contractor" designation was further exploited to (seek and) receive special preferences normally reserved for small businesses and to refuse to cooperate with an audit by the Department of Labor into Blackwater's potentially discriminatory employment practices and attempt to avoid compliance with affirmative action and anti-discrimination laws imposed on all federal contractors.] Attempting to make their case, In all three instances, Blackwater has asserted in official communications that its security guards are independent contractors because the company does not exercise sufflrcient control over their activities in Iraq or Afghanistan. Blackwater has claimed in offrcial communications that its security guards are "in no way directly supervised or controlled by Blackwater"; that they "do not report to any of the Blackwater entities regarding their work in the field"; and that they "do not report to Blackwater regarding their operations in country." Blackwater has also claimed that it "plays no role in the development or planning of the contractors' security missions" and "has little if any knowledge regarding the location or activities of these independent contractors." According to Blackwater, its "only real involvement is to pay the independent contractors." All of these claims appear to be false.... This evidence indicates that Blackwater exercises what Mr. Prince has described as "tight control" over its security guards. ...Blackwater's claims also contradict the position its own lawyer, Fred F. Fielding, took in civil litigation before he became the White House Counsel to President Bush . After the estates of four security guards who died in Fallujah sued Blackwater for wrongful death, Mr. Fielding argued that the guards could not recover from Blackwater because they were "employees" limited to recovering only workers' compensation. In his legal brief, Mr. Fielding asserted that the company's security guards were "employees as a matter of law" and described this conclusion as "inescapable."
May 2008: the US government had established new procedures for its security contractors - including Blackwater - following the shooting ... Each convoy was now required to be accompanied by a US state department official, and to install cameras and recording equipment on their vehicles. May 2008 report on September 2007 shooting of civilians by Blackwater personnel.
Cheney-Bush pushing through plans for permanent US presence in Iraq in which it is seeking immunity for its contractors in Iraq. May 2008. As of 2009, this appears to have limited if any success.
July 2008: US Foreign contractors may lose their immunity to Iraqi law - if new negotiations go through. 03/07/08
December 2008: 08/12/08
Five employees of the US security firm Blackwater charged over the 2007 fatal shooting of 17 Iraqis will surrender to US federal authorities, reports say (use of grenades cited). Blackwater employees' trial is unsealed against the background of the legal uncertainties outlined in October 2007.
2009 Iraq bans Blackwater from operating on Iraqi territory. US scrambles for replacement contractors.
Blackwater (based in North Carolina) has changed its name and brand to Xe (pronounced "zi"). They are allegedly currently (March 2009) attempting to hire ex-fighters from the Liberian civil war to fulfill U.S private security contracts. THis is in line with their practice five years ago, when the company were recruiting ex-Chilean commandos (as Blackwater’s then President Gary Jackson boasted to The Guardian) who had supposedly trained and served under the military dicatorship of Augusto Pinochet. Another (unproven) allegation was that in December 2006 Blackwater, which Iraqi politician Ayham al-Samarie had hired for protection, allegedly helped him escape jail following his arrest on 12 criminal corruption charges. (He later claimed that an Iraqi judge had ordered his release, he feared being killed if he stayed in jail, and U.S. officials had assured him he would not be extradited to Iraq.)
Xe Worldwide is currently the largest of the U.S. State Department's three private security contractors.
N.B. Blackwater/XE semi-spinoff for intelligence - Total Intelligence Solutions, LLC (TIS) is a merger of The Black Group, The Terrorism Research Center, Inc. and Technical Defense. Cofer Black and Enrique Prado, two top executives, also held positions at Blackwater at the time of the merger, and Robert Richer left Blackwater to take on his role at TIS. The owner of the Terrorism Research Center is Blackwater founder Erik Prince.
See above for Obama's issues with the law on private military contractors and legislation proposal as of Feb 2008.
Wikipedia Blackwater entry since changed to Xe.
Congressional Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (search for Blackwater is fruitful).
Jeremy Scahill's articles between 2006 and December 2008 focus almost exclusively on Blackwater
For a detailed entry on on going and current (though often unproven) allegations against the company the Sourcewatch entries on Xe and on IPOA are useful. There is a good discussion of why it is currently essential for the US army to involve private contractors in at least some areas (KBR's services) by Pratap Chatterjee (managing editor of Corpwatch) in Mother Jones. Cheney's legacy but not an entirely new development. The majority of KBR's labor force, some 40,000 workers (the equivalent of about 80 military battalions), are "third country nationals" drawn largely from the poorer parts of Asia... on U.S. bases in Iraq and Afghanistan, every single item, from beans to bullets, is shipped using contractors like PWC of Kuwait and Maersk of Denmark. In the last two decades, the U.S. military has even divested itself of the hardware and people that would allow it to move tanks around the world, relying instead on contractors to do such work..
August 2009 'La plus ça change': Another contractor's recruitment vetting is questioned after an incident in Iraq in which a British employee shot and killed two other employees (a Briton and an Australian). The man was still on probation for a one-year suspended sentence for robbery and possessing prohibited ammunition. 'Danny Fitzsimons’s criminal past raises questions about the vetting process of ArmorGroup, the private security company that hired him. It has a policy of not employing anyone with a criminal record. His move to Iraq may also cast doubt on the supervision given to Mr Fitzsimons, 29, by the Greater Manchester Probation Service. The former paratrooper from Middleton was supposed to report regularly to a probation officer. ...
'Friends and former colleagues said that Mr Fitzsimons should never have been allowed to go back to Iraq, where he has worked on and off for the past few years. They said that his employers had failed to vet him properly. ...
“Why was he being employed by ArmorGroup?” asked one private security guard who worked with Mr Fitzsimons in Iraq in 2006. “The guy was a walking time-bomb.'A close friend of Mr Fitzsimons, who has known him since his years as a member of 2nd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment, agreed that he should not have been given the job. “He has been on a rocky road for the last two years,”'
Further discussion this excited on foreign contractors may be found here. ... for all governments' inclination and desire for regulation of the sector, attempts to formulate a regulatory regime have foundered on the multinational and multi-jurisdictional nature of the industry. At the heart of this issue is the problem of definition. In an echo of the old adage that one man's freedom fighter is another's terrorist, today's security contractor is one government's "legitimate enabler" and another's mercenary. The foreign secretary's announcement that regulation is unfeasible and an industry code of conduct his preferred solution is simply an admission that no amount of international talk will produce a viable method of regulation. The foreign secretary's announcement that regulation is unfeasible and an industry code of conduct his preferred solution is simply an admission that no amount of international talk will produce a viable method of regulation.
..., the British government falls far short of the measures taken by the US government, albeit belated, to try to ensure the accountability of contractors. These include extending US legal jurisdiction over contractors directly and indirectly funded by government.
International regulation of the security sector remains an unattainable goal and governments' continuing dependence on security contractors is a reality. The British government, among others, will have to look hard at the way in which it employs and controls security contractors if it is to avoid damage to its foreign policy aims and this country's reputation.
Later edit 24 August 2009
Scahill on Blackwater / Xe coverage in the media and their ongoing place in US military planning and operations video.
Of course now they have a thriving intelligence service wing, possibly assisted by their close contact with CIA and FBI, continued by their generously allowing them to use their training facility, now named (for distance sake, one assumes) US training. I wonder if they charge the agencies for its use, while availing themselves of the networking/recruitment opportunities this provides? (Trainee replacements will have to be recruited by the government agencies and, of course, have part of their training rubbing their faces in the private sector money awash at the Xe's premier facility.)
The need for private contractors in intelligence is presented as a HR issue here but Blackwater's involvement in assassination planning and other key military activity doesn't seem too HR-ish to me, though possibly demonstrative of a brain and experience drain of trained forces personnel to the lucrative private sector.
Later edit 2 Sept 2009
The dubious ArmourGroup gung-ho approach to recruitment (see above) seems to be part of their culture.. ArmorGroup North America (parent corp Wackenhut Services) {whacking hut???). A number of guards say such conditions have created a "climate of fear and coercion". Those who refuse to participate are often ridiculed, humiliated or even fired, they said.
ArmorGroup's management is aware of the conditions but has not stopped it or disciplined those responsible, the letter says. Two supervisors alleged to be the worst offenders have been allowed to resign and may now be working on other US contracts, the group said.
The letter of concern identified ...a failure by the state department to hold the contractor accountable.
... Another "cure notice" was sent less than a year later [so in 2008], raising other problems and criticising the contractor for failing to fix the prior ones.... More problems surfaced and more warning notices followed. Yet during a congressional hearing on the contract in June, state department officials said the prior shortcomings had been remedied and that security at the embassy was effective. The contract was renewed again until 2010.
Allegedly Brian also called upon Clinton to determine whether securing embassies and diplomats is an inherently governmental function and, if it is, to stop using private contractors for security. If the work is deemed commercial, Clinton should work with Defense Secretary Robert Gates to have the military supervise private guards protecting the embassies in Kabul and in Baghdad...
There is another, more detailed report here According to the latter the company is using a lot of very overworked non-English speaking Gurkhas in the area, compounding comunication problems and Wackenhut Vice President Sam Brinkley testified during a June subcommittee hearing that "the Kabul contract has been fully staffed since January 2009."
See the the letter to Clinton from POGO, followed by Senator McCaskill's letter.
As for Xe
Of course, as they state (presumably June 2009, though undated on their site today (2 September) )
Response to Misleading Press Reports The joint audit by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction and the United State Department of State Inspector General released yesterday
does not, as some press reports have suggested, allege that Blackwater was ever complicit in overbilling the United States government for work it performed in Iraq in 2006 and 2007.
The audit does not even state that the government overpaid Blackwater for staffing issues. All it suggests is that invoices spanning a period of time are reviewed. A $55 million penalty has in no way been determined.
In fact, the government contracting officer determined that Blackwater was compliant with the terms of the contract at the time for which they were reviewing and the therefore did not apply any deductions or penalties. Blackwater only billed for services provided.
For more information, please contact media@xecompany.com.
Even CNN (very lefty them) said that this was because The State Department failed to seek $55 million in penalties from the American security firm once known as Blackwater for not properly complying with its security contract for protecting diplomatic personnel in Iraq, an audit shows. according to the audit 'by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction and the State Department's Office of Inspector General' (handy title) which I'm now trying to find. oh, here it is Also reported in Federal Times
In a way its quite amusing. A selling point of private security is that it is less bound than government forces by procedure and bureaucracy, and now the private sector is found to be riddled with management failures and contract breaches for which the solution is... additional oversight. Either the scrutiny will be ineffective or the contractors will come more to resemble the unwieldy accountable behemoths Rumsfeld et al abhored and cost ever more.
Of course there is fresher mud being flung from a lesser height Prince and or his company are variously accused of being motivated by an apocalyptic Christian worldview which glorified killing Muslims; of "encourag[ing] and reward[ing] the destruction of Iraqi life;" of illegally smuggling weapons into Iraq; of destroying incriminating evidence; of using child prostitutes; and even of murdering government informants.
The charges -- which come from a former Blackwater employee, and a former US Marine who has worked as a security operative for the company -- appear to be largely unsubstantiated. however the allegations, the ough doubtful,have now been made in sworn affidavits rather than the merely around the rumourmill. This comment looks at the religious aspect of Xe, as covered by Scahill. Elsewhere Xe /Blackwater is also alleged to have recruited a lot of ex-Pakistani force members. At least they're likely to have channels to talk direct to the Taliban. Some Pakistani security officials suggested that besides providing security to the aid workers, Blackwater was carrying out covert operations.
Among these were buying the loyalties of influential tribal elders and tracking the money flowing to al-Qaeda and Taliban through the national and international banks, something which perhaps goes far beyond the mandate of a private security firm. Though that seems to be pure rumour. So far.
Much later edit: 11 February 2010
Of course the PSCs outstayed the US troops. I still haven't read Scahill's book but recommend Fainaru's Big Boy's Rules for eye-openers on military base and green zone security protocols when it came to contractors' employees, PSC regulation (and the built-in lack of accountability) and the Department of Defence's complete failure to grasp, let alone control, the situation they'd bought themselves into. Also worth noting that many of the military contractors were under sub-contract to Halliburton(see Cheney/Halliburton via google.
Pulitzer-prizewinning journalist Fainaru has written a very easy book to read, focusing on personal stories. The abdication of government responsibility for their employment of PSCs (lack of accountability being one of the reasons they wanted external contractors of course) extended to a lack of concern for the irresponsible undermining of the military's 'hearts and minds' efforts, a cavalier disregard for the real rate of casualties, contractor and civilian, caused by the full spectrum of operations they funded, and a complete disregard for US citizens and former soldiers as soon as they passed under the black aegis of independent miltary contractors. The families site on the lost contractors is http://home.freecote.com/ Blackwater, as Xe is still the US's prime contractor http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Scahill+xe+blackwater&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a Unsurprising as their tactical training facility is used to train more than 40,000 people a year, mostly from U.S. and other military and police services. That setup is bound to create closer networking links than the majority of mercenary companies, though similarly built primarily from US military retirees, would have. According to wikipedia 'On July 21, 2008, Blackwater Worldwide stated that they would shift resources away from security contracting because of extensive risk in that sector. "The experience we've had would certainly be a disincentive to any other companies that want to step in and put their entire business at risk," company founder and CEO Erik Prince told The Associated Press during a daylong visit to the company's North Carolina compound.'. Any evidence to back that assertion up has completely passed me by. Also on wikipedia as of this dated edit:
In 2006 a car accident occurred in the Baghdad Green Zone when an SUV driven by Blackwater operatives crashed into a U.S. Army Humvee. Blackwater guards allegedly disarmed the Army soldiers and forced them to lie on the ground at gunpoint until they could disentangle their SUV from the wreck.
At least 60 Chilean Blackwater employees were trained during dictator Augusto Pinochet's regime.
In December 2006, an Iraqi politician, Ayham al-Samarie, escaped from a prison in Iraq, where he was awaiting trial for 12 criminal corruption cases.[161][162] Blackwater, which he had hired for protection before his arrest, allegedly helped him escape In the wake of Prince's testimony before Congress, the US House passed a bill in October 2007 that would make all private contractors working in Iraq and other combat zones subject to prosecution by U.S. courts... A July 2007 report from the American Congressional Research Service indicates that the Iraqi government still has no authority over private security firms contracted by the U.S. government....
2007 estimates of statistics for the Iraq war - article by Engelhardt in 'The Nation'. In December 2008 a US State Department panel recommended that Xe should be dropped as the main private security contractor for U.S. diplomats in Iraq.
On Jan 30, 2009, The U.S. State Department told Blackwater Worldwide that it will not renew its contract in Iraq.
BUT sadly, and I'd love to know the reasons why, on 1 August 2009 the Obama administration extended Blackwater's contract for security services in Iraq
Despite the change in the law, I've yet to hear of a successful US prosecution for a contractor's illegal activities in Iraq. It might be that civilian courts feel uncomfortable judging wartime choices. On recent evidence (New Year's Eve dismissal of charges against Blackwater operatives) US agencies just find it too hard getting a case together which meets US prosecutorial standards, unsurprising as access in a warzone is limited and witnesses may not want to talk to Americans after being shot up by their contractors.
Sadly its actually taken til now for the Iraq government to finally give Blackwater the boot, if this latest attempt is indeed successful. However other contractors remain and I don't know what they'd do if Blackwater altered its model to involve subsidiaries operating in Iraq. PSCs in Iraq totalled at peak 100 to 200 thousand depending on estimate source.
Decisions in war, and control of the warzone in territory your nation holds, should be on the basis of diplomatic, strategic, legal and humanitarian considerations by military experts and governmental portfolio holders, not by sub-contractors on the basis of business interests.
On the ground, soldiers are held to those decisions by military discipline enforced according to codes of conduct and tightly-written guidance for proceeding in each particular operation, tailored to the context of the particular war. To safeguard the mission, colleagues and for career progression it is in a soldiers interest to report and the military's to pursue erratic or rule-breaking behaviour.
On the ground, contractors are held, if to anything, only to their immediate contract and it is not in their commanders' or colleagues interests to report any infractions to the contract holder. Few other witnesses are available. Ethos and ethical practice are entirely determined by the company in question, to the extent it has local control of its operatives.
Far less than occupying national militaries can less-disciplined and less co-ordinated mercenaries contribute to stability and nation-building. Their very blinkered client-focus tends to destabilise situations further.
Of course, Blackwater / Xe may well be in Pakistan now.
The source, who has worked on covert US military programs for years, including in Afghanistan and Pakistan, has direct knowledge of Blackwater's involvement. He spoke to The Nation on condition of anonymity because the program is classified. The source said that the program is so "compartmentalized" that senior figures within the Obama administration and the US military chain of command may not be aware of its existence. at least until November 2009 when the article was published. As this blogger comments, if it was anyone but Scahill, the proportion of anonymous source would render the article very suspect, but unless he's being played to undermine his credibility, I buy it.
It is definitley looking for Afghanistan contracts.
Xe on Wednesday reached a settlement in a series of civil lawsuits in which dozens of Iraqis accused the company of cultivating a reckless culture that allowed innocent civilians to be killed. On Thursday, however, two former Blackwater contractors were arrested on murder charges in the shootings of two Afghans after a traffic accident last year.
Despite the scrutiny, the U.S. relies heavily on Xe - pronounced "zee" - for support in Afghanistan and the workload may grow significantly.
As reported Jan 2010 Xe eventually lost its license to operate as guardian of U.S. diplomats in Iraq and the State Department, with Clinton at the helm, elected not to rehire the company when the contract expired in 2009. Delays in getting a new company in place led to a temporary extension of the State contract. In a moment of high comedy/irony/tragedy/wondering-why-I-have-any-hair-left, given their Iraq endeavours, Blackwater/Xe appear to be bidding for contracts to train the Afghan Police Force. Of course, they already train the Border Police and DynCorp has the main police training contract. Individual employees may have valuable police experience (in an entirely different cultural context) to impart but the employer ethos, approach and the fundamental conflict of interest in employing people to solve a problem they have a commercial interest in the continuance of IMO contaminates all. Headdesk.
There's another FUBAR angle reported on here by the excellent Thomas E. Ricks and discussed here. I don't have a problem with retirees sharing expertise and earning extra money as consultants to the military. I have a problem with the conflict of interest if they're also employed by PSCs.
The Air University has these collated links on Private Contractors
Small Wars Journal forum discussion of the legal headaches