No Rules For Mercenaries
Just as there is a double standard in pay, there is a double standard
in the application of the law. Soldiers who commit crimes or acts of
misconduct are prosecuted under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
There have been some 64 courts martial on murder-related charges in Iraq
alone. Compare that to the lack of prosecution of contractors. Despite
the fact that tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, have
streamed in and out of Iraq since March of 2003, only two private
contractors have faced any criminal prosecution. Two. One was a KBR
employee alleged to have stabbed a co-worker, the other pleaded guilty
to possession of child pornography images on his computer at Abu Ghraib
prison. In four years, there have been no prosecutions for crimes
against Iraqis and not a single known prosecution of an armed
contractor.
It's The Wild West In Iraq
That either means we have tens of thousands of Boy Scouts working as
armed contractors or something is fundamentally wrong with the system.
Brig. Gen. Karl Horst of the 3rd Infantry Division became so outraged by
contractor unaccountability that he began tracking contractor violence
in Baghdad. In just two months he documented twelve cases of contractors
shooting at civilians, resulting in six deaths and three injuries. That
is just two months and one general.
They have not been prosecuted under the UCMJ, under US civilian law or
under Iraqi law. US contractors in Iraq reportedly have their own motto:
“What happens here today, stays here today.” That should be chilling to
everyone who believes that warfare, above all government functions, must
be subject to transparency, accountability and the rule of law.
These are forces operating in the name of the United States of America.
Iraqis do not see contractors as separate from soldiers–understandably,
they see them all as “the occupation.” Contractor misconduct is viewed
as American misconduct.
While there is currently a debate in Congress about how to hold these
private forces accountable, the political will to act remains shockingly
absent.
Given the vast size of this private force, spread across the most
dangerous war zone in the world, it is not at all clear how effective
oversight would work. We already know that auditors cannot visit many
reconstruction sites because of security concerns. Journalists are
locked in the Green Zone. The army is stretched to the max. So what
entity then is supposed to have the capacity or ability to oversee the
men who have been brought to Iraq to go where no one else will?
Contractors Defy Congress
Members of Congress tell me they have been stonewalled in their attempts
to gain detailed information about the activities of these companies. I
think it is a disturbing commentary that I have received phone calls
from several Congress members asking me for government documents on war
contractors and not the other way around.
In the current discussion in the Congress on this issue, what is seldom
discussed is how this system, the privatization of war, has both
encouraged and enabled the growth and creation of companies who have
benefited and stand to gain even more from an escalation of the war.
In closing, while I think this Congress needs to take urgent action on
issues of oversight, accountability and transparency of these private
forces operating with our tax dollars and in the name of the United
States, there is a deeper issue that often gets overlooked. This war
contracting system has intimately linked corporate profits to an
escalation of war and conflict. These companies have no incentive to
decrease their footprint in the war zone and every incentive to increase
it.
As the country debates current and future Iraq policy, Congress owes it
to the public to take down the curtain of secrecy surrounding these
shadow forces that often act in the name and on the payroll of the
people of this country. Thank you for your time. I am prepared to answer
any questions.
