The Bush administration’s habit of hiring private contractors to carry out crucial security functions in Iraq raises questions not only about the propriety of this practice but points out the need for oversight.
The 160,000 civilians working for the U.S. in Iraq operated largely under the radar until the scandal that erupted last month when employees of Blackwater, a politically connected security firm based in North Carolina, were involved in the shootings of at least 11 Iraqis.
Blackwater, which protects State Department officials in Iraq and has federal contracts worth more than $500 million, has denied wrongdoing in the Sept. 16 incident. They say they were under attack.
Witnesses saw it differently, saying the Blackwater guards began a deadly barrage of gunfire after someone — we still don’t know who — shot and killed a nearby Iraqi man who was driving his mother on an errand.
There are multiple investigations into the incident. Eventually, we hope there will emerge a detailed and reliable account of what happened.
In the meantime, the incident has highlighted the difficult security situation in Iraq and has raised questions about whether private contractors, no matter how qualified, ought to be guarding State Department officials.
That strikes us as a job for the military. Of course, this war has so overextended the nation’s fighting forces that there likely aren’t enough soldiers for the job. Nevertheless, there are certain jobs that shouldn’t be farmed out in a politically unstable place like Iraq.
Furthermore, the possibility that Blackwater employees killed Iraqis without provocation points out another glaring problem with having contractors in such positions of authority. There is uncertainty about which set of laws or rules govern Blackwater’s conduct.
In 2006, Sen. John Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, successfully sponsored a measure that would bring all military contractors in Iraq under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. It did not, however, apply to State Department contractors.
The House was set to consider a bill Wednesday that would place all contractors under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, which allows the Justice Department to prosecute Defense Department contractors who commit crimes on foreign soil. A similar measure has been introduced in the Senate.
That sounds like a worthy measure and we hope debate over it draws further attention to the activities of private contractors and the propriety of using them for essential functions.
Incidents such as the one Blackwater was involved in could easily undermine any measure of trust the military has managed to forge with Iraqis. We must have policies that put delicate operations under the strictest control and hold everyone hired by the U.S. accountable for their actions.
