http://www.geostrategy-direct.com/geostrategy-direct/secure/2004/11_02/1.asp
IISS: Military contractors no substitute for troops in Iraq LONDON � A new study has ruled out use of private military contractors as a major element in any international effort to stabilize an Arab or developed state. The International Institute for Strategic Studies said the war in Iraq has demonstrated the failure of PMCs to replace military troops or security forces. The London-based institute said despite the profusion of PMCs, private contractors have been unable to resolve manpower shortages facing the U.S.-led coalition. "They could not provide the answer to the manpower problem," the report said. On Oct. 19, a U.S. contractor was one of five people killed in a mortar attack on an Iraqi National Guard base in Mashada. The contractor was identified as an employee of Kellogg Brown and Root, regarded as the largest U.S. contractor in Iraq. KBR, a subsidiary of Halliburton with a $4.4 billion contract for the U.S. military, has lost 54 employees in Iraq. "KBR regrets to confirm the death of one employee who was killed today as a result of injuries sustained during a mortar attack near Baghdad," KBR said in a statement at the time. The institute, which released its annual military balance on Oct. 19, cited such difficulties as the lack of military supervision over PMCs. The key example cited in the report was the abuse of detainees at Abu Gharib prison north of Iraq in late 2003, an incident that involved private contractors. The report said PMCs were not sufficiently trained or capable of replacing combat troops in Iraq or in any other country wracked by insurgency. The institute warned that any counter-insurgency operation would depend far more on trained manpower than on technology. "Governments need to realize that such operations are manpower-intensive, as the human component replaces the weapon system as the key enabler to success," the report said. The report said the key lessons in the insurgency war in Iraq included a realization that post-conflict and peacekeeping operations required extra skills to those deployed in the warfighting phase. Militaries would also require the capability to move from a combat posture to operations that support civilians. "Secondly: the use of partially trained reservists, or reservists with the wrong skills, is no substitute for fully trained soldiers, as the U.S. learned to its cost in the Iraq prison scandal," the report said. The report urged militaries to be flexible in dealing with what it termed "increasingly sophisticated but unpredictable asymmetrical methods." The institute said technology is not the key response to such warfare. "In coping with this aspect of combat � which is not new � traditional conventional tactics and methods still have a place on the battlefield, particularly in terms of the collection of human intelligence and policing," the report said. "Moreover, in post-conflict environments, the dominant security authority has to take responsibility for myriad security roles in the absence of strong local indigenous structures, and has to plan accordingly, in advance of the operation." ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free! http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
