Iraq Ninja
09-19-09, 09:27
Interesting stuff...
Thu Sep 10, 2009 9:31am
(Bernd Debusmann is a Reuters columnist. The opinions expressed
are his own)
By Bernd Debusmann
WASHINGTON, Sept 10 (Reuters) - By most counts, the death toll of
U.S. soldiers in America's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan stood at
5,157 in the second week of September. Add at least 1,360 private
contractors working for the U.S. and the number tops 6,500.
Contractor deaths and injuries (around 30,000 so far) are rarely
reported but they highlight the United States' steadily growing
dependence on private enterprise.
It's a dependence some say has slid into incurable addiction.
Contractor ranks in Iraq and Afghanistan have swollen to just
under a quarter million. They outnumber U.S. troops in
Afghanistan and they almost match uniformed soldiers in Iraq.
The present ratio of about one contractor for every uniformed
member of the U.S. armed forces is more than double that of every
other major conflict in American history, according to the
Congressional Budget Office.
That means the world's only superpower cannot fight its war nor
protect its civilian officials, diplomats and embassies without
support from contractors.
"As the military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan have
progressed, the military services, defense agencies and other
stakeholder agencies...continue to increase their reliance on
contractors. Contractors are now literally in the center of the
battlefield in unprecedented numbers," according to a report to
Congress by the bipartisan Commission on Wartime Contracting in
Iraq and Afghanistan.
"In previous wars, the military police protected bases and the
battle space as other military service members engaged and
pursued the enemy," said the report.
In listing the 1,360-plus contractor casualties, it said that
criticism of the present system and suggestions for reforming it
"in no way diminish their sacrifices."
So why are they not routinely added to military casualty counts?
And why should they? A full accounting for total casualties is
important because both Congress and the public tend to gauge a
war's success or failure by the size of the force deployed and
the number of killed and wounded, according to George Washington
university scholar Steven Schooner.
In other words: the higher the casualty number, the more
difficult it is for political and military leaders to convince a
sceptical public that a war is worth fighting, particularly a war
that promises to be long, such as the conflict in Afghanistan.
Polls show that a majority of Americans already think the Afghan
war is not worth fighting.
Figures on deaths and injuries among the vast ranks of civilians
in war zones are tracked by the U.S. Department of Labor on the
basis of claims under an insurance policy, the Defense Base Act,
which all U.S. contracting companies and subcontractors must take
out for the civilians they employ outside the United States.
EXPENDABLE PROFITEERS, ROGUES?
The Labor Department compiles the statistics on a quarterly basis
but only releases them in response to requests under the Freedom
of Information Act. This can take weeks. The Department gives no
details of the nationalities of the contractors, saying that
doing so would "constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal
privacy" under the U.S. Privacy Act.
Writing in last autumn's Parameters, the quarterly journal of the
U.S. Army War College, Schooner said that an accurate tally was
critical to any discussion of the costs and benefits of the
military's efforts in the wars. What's more, the American public
needs to know that their government is delegating to the private
sector "the responsibility to stand in harm's way and, if
required, die for America."
Schooner wrote it was troubling that few Americans considered the
deaths of contractors relevant or significant even though many of
them performed roles carried out by uniformed military only a
generation ago. "Many...concede that they perceive contractor
personnel as expendable profiteers, adventure seekers, cowboys,
or rogue elements not entitled to the same respect or value due
to the military."
That's not surprising after a series of ugly incidents involving
armed security contractors. They make up for a small proportion
of the total (about 8 percent) but account for almost all the
headlines that have deepened negative perceptions and prompted
labels from mercenary and merchant of death to "the coalition of
the billing."
In the most notorious incident, two years ago, employees of the
company then known as Blackwater opened fire in a crowded Baghdad
square, killing 17 Iraqis. Five of the Blackwater shooters, who
were working for the Department of State, have been indicted on
manslaughter and weapons charges.
The Pentagon describes private contractors as a "force
multiplier" because they let soldiers concentrate on military
missions. Some of the actions of private security contractors
could be termed a "perception multiplier." Such as the
after-hours antics of contractors from the company ArmorGroup
North America guarding the U.S. embassy in Kabul.
Shaking off the image of rogues became even more difficult for
private security contractors after a Washington-based watchdog
group, the Project on Government Oversight, accompanied a
detailed report on misconduct and morale problems among the guard
force with photographs showing nearly nude, drunken employees in
a variety of obscene poses and fondling each other.
Whether contractors, even rogue elements and cowboys, should not
be counted in the toll of American wars is another matter. Doing
so would be part of the transparency Barack Obama promised when
he ran for president. (You can contact the author at
Thu Sep 10, 2009 9:31am
(Bernd Debusmann is a Reuters columnist. The opinions expressed
are his own)
By Bernd Debusmann
WASHINGTON, Sept 10 (Reuters) - By most counts, the death toll of
U.S. soldiers in America's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan stood at
5,157 in the second week of September. Add at least 1,360 private
contractors working for the U.S. and the number tops 6,500.
Contractor deaths and injuries (around 30,000 so far) are rarely
reported but they highlight the United States' steadily growing
dependence on private enterprise.
It's a dependence some say has slid into incurable addiction.
Contractor ranks in Iraq and Afghanistan have swollen to just
under a quarter million. They outnumber U.S. troops in
Afghanistan and they almost match uniformed soldiers in Iraq.
The present ratio of about one contractor for every uniformed
member of the U.S. armed forces is more than double that of every
other major conflict in American history, according to the
Congressional Budget Office.
That means the world's only superpower cannot fight its war nor
protect its civilian officials, diplomats and embassies without
support from contractors.
"As the military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan have
progressed, the military services, defense agencies and other
stakeholder agencies...continue to increase their reliance on
contractors. Contractors are now literally in the center of the
battlefield in unprecedented numbers," according to a report to
Congress by the bipartisan Commission on Wartime Contracting in
Iraq and Afghanistan.
"In previous wars, the military police protected bases and the
battle space as other military service members engaged and
pursued the enemy," said the report.
In listing the 1,360-plus contractor casualties, it said that
criticism of the present system and suggestions for reforming it
"in no way diminish their sacrifices."
So why are they not routinely added to military casualty counts?
And why should they? A full accounting for total casualties is
important because both Congress and the public tend to gauge a
war's success or failure by the size of the force deployed and
the number of killed and wounded, according to George Washington
university scholar Steven Schooner.
In other words: the higher the casualty number, the more
difficult it is for political and military leaders to convince a
sceptical public that a war is worth fighting, particularly a war
that promises to be long, such as the conflict in Afghanistan.
Polls show that a majority of Americans already think the Afghan
war is not worth fighting.
Figures on deaths and injuries among the vast ranks of civilians
in war zones are tracked by the U.S. Department of Labor on the
basis of claims under an insurance policy, the Defense Base Act,
which all U.S. contracting companies and subcontractors must take
out for the civilians they employ outside the United States.
EXPENDABLE PROFITEERS, ROGUES?
The Labor Department compiles the statistics on a quarterly basis
but only releases them in response to requests under the Freedom
of Information Act. This can take weeks. The Department gives no
details of the nationalities of the contractors, saying that
doing so would "constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal
privacy" under the U.S. Privacy Act.
Writing in last autumn's Parameters, the quarterly journal of the
U.S. Army War College, Schooner said that an accurate tally was
critical to any discussion of the costs and benefits of the
military's efforts in the wars. What's more, the American public
needs to know that their government is delegating to the private
sector "the responsibility to stand in harm's way and, if
required, die for America."
Schooner wrote it was troubling that few Americans considered the
deaths of contractors relevant or significant even though many of
them performed roles carried out by uniformed military only a
generation ago. "Many...concede that they perceive contractor
personnel as expendable profiteers, adventure seekers, cowboys,
or rogue elements not entitled to the same respect or value due
to the military."
That's not surprising after a series of ugly incidents involving
armed security contractors. They make up for a small proportion
of the total (about 8 percent) but account for almost all the
headlines that have deepened negative perceptions and prompted
labels from mercenary and merchant of death to "the coalition of
the billing."
In the most notorious incident, two years ago, employees of the
company then known as Blackwater opened fire in a crowded Baghdad
square, killing 17 Iraqis. Five of the Blackwater shooters, who
were working for the Department of State, have been indicted on
manslaughter and weapons charges.
The Pentagon describes private contractors as a "force
multiplier" because they let soldiers concentrate on military
missions. Some of the actions of private security contractors
could be termed a "perception multiplier." Such as the
after-hours antics of contractors from the company ArmorGroup
North America guarding the U.S. embassy in Kabul.
Shaking off the image of rogues became even more difficult for
private security contractors after a Washington-based watchdog
group, the Project on Government Oversight, accompanied a
detailed report on misconduct and morale problems among the guard
force with photographs showing nearly nude, drunken employees in
a variety of obscene poses and fondling each other.
Whether contractors, even rogue elements and cowboys, should not
be counted in the toll of American wars is another matter. Doing
so would be part of the transparency Barack Obama promised when
he ran for president. (You can contact the author at