Blackwater USA: War Profiteers’

There are more than 130,000 U.S. military personnel and 25,000 American contractors that are risking their lives in Iraq, while many are greatly committed to their mission; some are seeking to cash in on the crisis. What is different about the occupation in Iraq; however, is that a huge portion of the effort has been privatized (contracted out to private companies). $20 billion of U.S. money has been spent so far on reconstruction of Iraq, ironically while the reconstruction has been contracted out, largely to U.S. firms, Iraqis who are supposed to benefit have been largely left out. They see private contractors, armed and dangerous, riding through streets without the training, the discipline or the accountability needed in an occupation such as this one.

Private firms are hired to supply security for the head of the Coalition Provisional Authority. Contractors feed the troops, transport the equipment, guard officials and buildings, and construct everything from military bases to electrical stations to school rooms. Blackwater USA, based in Moyock, N.C., one of three private security firms employed by the department to protect its personnel in Iraq, is heavily under criticism after the alleged killing of eight Iraqi civilians Sunday. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressed regret at the loss of life and promised that the results of an internal investigation would be shared with the government in Baghdad, investigation or no investigation, the damage has been done and this time it looks like there are going to be consequences.

Iraq’s Interior Ministry said it had revoked the license of Blackwater USA, to work in the country. While Iraqis blamed Blackwater USA for the civilian deaths, the company said it acted appropriately “in response to a hostile attack” by armed insurgents. Rep. Jan Schakowsly (D), who has long questioned Blackwater’s role in Iraq said, “Under what law are these individuals operating, and do the Iraqis have the authority to prosecute people for crimes they’re accused of committing? It’s a very murky area; it’s still not really clear whether they are eligible for prosecution from the Iraqi government.

The argument for privatization is clear, advocates claim it reduces the load on the U.S. military (and, of course, helps conceal the size of the U.S. commitment in Iraq at the same time). In theory, private contractors – competing to offer the best service at the best price – are more efficient than government agencies or the military, and in an occupation and reconstruction, much of the work involves the kind of rebuilding for which the U.S. military has neither capacity for nor the interest.

United States contracting is far removed from the theory. Most of the large contracts in Iraq were initially made on sole-source, no bid contracts. Contractors were rarely held accountable for delivering the promised result, low bid initial prices were “renegotiated” upward regularly in the course of the contracts, and oversight was virtually nonexistence. Deals made in Washington by men and women in suits had very disastrous consequences halfway around the world.

The U.S. government spent $270 billion in overall defense acquisitions and contracts between September 11, 2001 and 2005. The killing of four men in is often seen as a turning point in the occupation. Killed, burned and hung from a bridge, their deaths remain seared in American minds. The men were not GIs but private contractors, employees of Blackwater USA, sent into Fallujah on business. The contract with the military required that every mission use armored vehicles, the two vehicles sent into Fallujah were not armored (buying unarmored rather than armored vehicles is estimated to have saved Blackwater USA $1.5 million in equipment costs. The contract required at least six people on each team: a minimum of two vehicles, each with a driver, a navigator and a heavily armed rear gunner (the victims in Fallujah were on a four person team with no rear gunners and no heavy arms. Business tends to bring out the worse in people because self-interest gets in the way of morals and the right thing to do, but taking politics and interlacing it with business proves to be a deadly combination. Not only are we losing innocent lives on both fronts, we are tarnishing the U.S. for future generations to come.