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Almost As Many Contractors In Iraq As Troops
2006-12-05 04:04:09
Posted By: Intellpuke
There are about 100,000 government contractors operating in Iraq, not
counting subcontractors, a total that is approaching the size of the U.S.
military force there, according to the military's first census of the growing
population of civilians operating in the battlefield.
The survey finding, which includes Americans, Iraqis and third-party
nationals hired by companies operating under U.S. government contracts, is
significantly higher and wider in scope than the Pentagon's only previous
estimate, which said there were 25,000 security contractors in the country.
It is also 10 times the estimated number of contractors that deployed
during the Persian Gulf War in 1991, reflecting the Pentagon's growing
post-Cold War reliance on contractors for such jobs as providing security,
interrogating prisoners, cooking meals, fixing equipment and constructing bases
that were once reserved for soldiers.
Official numbers are difficult to find, said Deborah D. Avant, author of the
2005 book "The Market for Force: The Consequences of Privatizing Security," but
an estimated 9,200 contractors deployed during the Gulf War, a far shorter
conflict without reconstruction projects. "This is the largest deployment of
U.S. contractors in a military operation," said Avant, an associate professor
at George Washington University.
In addition to about 140,000 U.S. troops, Iraq is now filled with a hodgepodge
of contractors. DynCorp International has about 1,500 employees in Iraq,
including about 700 helping train the police force. Blackwater USA has more
than 1,000 employees in the country, most of them providing private security.
Kellogg, Brown and Root, one of the largest contractors in Iraq, said it does
not delineate its workforce by country but that it has more than 50,000
employees and subcontractors working in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait. MPRI, a
unit of L-3 Communications, has about 500 employees working on 12 contracts,
including providing mentors to the Iraqi Defense Ministry for strategic
planning, budgeting and establishing its public affairs office. Titan, another
L-3 division, has 6,500 linguists in the country.
The Pentagon's latest estimate "further demonstrates the need for Congress to
finally engage in responsible, serious and aggressive oversight over the
questionable and growing U.S. practice of private military contracting," said
Rep. Janice D. Schakowsky (D-Illinois), who has been critical of the military's
reliance on contractors.
About 650 contractors have died in Iraq since 2003, according to Labor
Department statistics.
Central Command, which conducted the census, said a breakdown by nationality or
job description was not immediately available because the project is still in
its early stages. "This is the first time we have initiated a census of this
robustness," Lt. Col. Julie Wittkoff, chief of the contracting branch at
Central Command, said in an interview. Those figures do not include
subcontractors, which could substantially grow the figure.
In June, government agencies were asked to provide data about contractors
working for them in Iraq, including their nationality, a description of their
work and locations where they were working. The information was provided by
more than a dozen entities within the Pentagon and a dozen outside agencies,
including the departments of State and Interior, Wittkoff said. The count
increased about 15 percent from about 87,000 since Central Command began
keeping a tally this summer, she said, though the increase may reflect ongoing
data collection efforts. The census will be updated quarterly, said Wittkoff.
Three years into the war, the headcount represents one of the Pentagon's most
concrete efforts so far toward addressing the complexities and questions raised
by the large numbers of civilians who have flooded into Iraq to work. With few
industry standards, the military and contractors have sometimes lacked
coordination, resulting in friendly fire incidents, according to a Government
Accountability Office report last year.
"It takes a great deal of vigilance on the part of the military commander to
ensure contractor compliance," said William L. Nash, a retired Army general and
a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. "If you're trying to win
hearts and minds and the contractor is driving 90 miles per hour through the
streets and running over kids, that's not helping the image of the American
army. The Iraqis aren't going to distinguish between a contractor and a
soldier."
The census gives military commanders insight into the contractors operating in
their region and the type of work they are doing, Wittkoff said. "It helps the
combatant commanders have a better idea of ... food and medical requirements
they may need to provide to support the contractors," she said.
Intellpuke: Draft them. I'm serious. Draft the contractors who are 45 years old
or younger and in reasonably good health. It's clear most of them aren't doing
their contracting work to rebuild Iraq anyway, and they're costing U.S.
taxpayers a fortune. The Bush administration says we need more feet on the
ground, so draft the damn contractors. It's a war zone, the military can do it
if it wants to. Put the private contractor security personnel, cooks,
maintenance workers, etc., in uniform and pay them at military rates of pay and
cancel the private contracts. It will save U.S. taxpayers a bundle and maybe
even provide some security for the Iraqi people.
You can read this article by Washington Post staff writer Renae Merle in
context here:
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/04/AR2006120401311.html
Washington Post staff writer Griff Witte also contributed to this report.
