WaPo article makes no mention of 20,000 to 30,000 U.S. "private combat troops" rules of engagement

[ProSense]

US Papers Saturday: Contractors Under Fire

Sunni Shrine Destroyed; Gates Visits Iraq; PTSD on Rise
By CHRIS ALLBRITTON Posted 8 hr. 35 min. ago

Today's big story comes from the Washington Post's Steve Fainaru, who peels back a lot of layers on the use of private military contractors in Iraq. In short, there's a lot of them, they cost a lot of money and a lot of them are dying -- all largely out of sight of the American public, which is mostly how the U.S. military likes it.

The security companies, Fainaru reports, are beefing up their presence and armor in parallel to the U.S. military's "surge," mostly for the use in protecting convoys and personal security. The statistics for the companies are sobering: one in seven convoys protected by private security forces have come under attack this year, with one company reporting 300 hostile actions in the first four months of 2004. Until relatively recently, the military routinely deleted contractor casualty figures from reports, but revised figures from last month state that 132 contractors and truck drivers have been killed and 416 wounded since fall 2004. Four security contractors and a driver are still missing and 208 vehicles have been destroyed. Even those numbers are considered low-balled.

The amount of money in play is also sobering: The U.S. military plans to outsource about $1.5 billion in security operations.

The story lacks a full accounting, however, with only the briefest of allusions as to why private security forces in Iraq are considered controversial. While it's nice Fainaru reported that most of the 100 companies operate outside Iraqi law and that the number of what might be considered "private combat troops" is in the 20,000 to 30,000 range -- about the same size as the military's "surge" -- the contention that contractors operate in a defensive role only is taken at face value. No mention is given to their rules of engagement, discipline and the opinions of U.S. troops on the ground. In the past, U.S. soldiers with contractors in their battle space have sometimes complained of the latters' cowboy tactics. The views of the employers, advocates and even U.S. commanders guarded by the contractors is given full venting, however -- all of which are bullish. Another big omission is how the contractors fit into the military's chain of command and how placing the contractors under the UCMJ (implemented in the FY2007 Military Authorization Act) is working out.

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That brings the total number of contractors killed in Iraq to at least 917, along with more than 12,000 wounded in battle or injured on the job...

[seemslikeadream]

1. RULES

We don't need no stinkin' rules

[ProSense]

2. When Iraq resembles a ‘Mad Max’ movie

When Iraq resembles a ‘Mad Max’ movie

<...>

There was one part of Fainaru’s piece that stood out for its anecdotal significance.

Holly vowed he would never again use unarmored vehicles for convoy protection. He went to his primary shipper, Public Warehousing Co. of Kuwait, and ordered a change. PWC hired ArmorGroup, which had armed Ford F-350 pickups with steel-reinforced gun turrets and belt-fed machine guns.

Other companies followed suit, ramping up production of an array of armored and semi-armored trucks of various styles and colors, until Iraq’s supply routes resembled the post-apocalyptic world of the “Mad Max” movies.

Nothing says “progress in Iraq” like comparisons to a post-apocalyptic action film in which a desert area plunges into anarchy, with roving bands of well-armed militias struggling to maintain order.

As for the bigger picture, Fainaru describes an environment in which more than 100 private security companies operate outside of Iraqi law, providing protection for top administration officials, including U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and at least three commanding generals, including Air Force Maj. Gen. Darryl A. Scott, who oversees U.S. military contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In all, it’s the biggest military outsourcing project anyone’s ever seen.

The military plans to outsource at least $1.5 billion in security operations this year, including the three largest security contracts in Iraq: a “theaterwide” contract to protect U.S. bases that is worth up to $480 million, according to Scott; a contract for up to $475 million to provide intelligence for the Army and personal security for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; and a contract for up to $450 million to protect reconstruction convoys. The Army has also tested a plan to use private security on military convoys for the first time, a shift that would significantly increase the presence of armed contractors on Iraq’s dangerous roads.

“The whole face of private security changed with Iraq, and it will never go back to how it was,” said Leon Sharon, a retired Special Operations officer who commands 500 private Kurdish guards at an immense warehouse transit point for weapons, ammunition and other materiel on the outskirts of Baghdad.

U.S. officials and security company representatives emphasized that contractors are strictly limited to defensive operations. But company representatives in the field said insurgents rarely distinguish between the military and private forces, drawing the contractors into a bloody and escalating campaign.

As for casualties, we know about U.S. military losses, and we have a vague sense of Iraqi losses, but attacks on private security forces go unknown. The Pentagon won’t release statistics on contractor casualties or the number of attacks, and according to one veteran who spent 2 1/2 years in Iraq, it’s because the administration doesn’t want Americans to know about these other Americans who are fighting and dying in large numbers.

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