Since the start of the Iraq war, tens of thousands of heavily-armed military contractors have been roaming the country — without any law, or any court to control them. That may be about to change, Brookings Institution Senior Fellow P.W. Singer notes in a Defense Tech exclusive. Five words, slipped into a Pentagon budget bill, could make all the difference. With them, “contractors ‘get out of jail free’ cards may have been torn to shreds,” he writes. They’re now subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the same set of laws that governs soldiers. But here’s the catch: embedded reporters are now under those regulations, too.
Over the last few years, tales of private military contractors run amuck in Iraq — from the CACI interrogators at Abu Ghraib to the Aegis company’s Elvis-themed internet “trophy video” — have continually popped up in the headlines. Unfortunately, when it came to actually doing something about these episodes of Outsourcing Gone Wild, Hollywood took more action than Washington. The TV series Law and Order punished fictional contractor crimes, while our courts ignored the actual ones. Leonardo Dicaprio acted in a movie featuring the private military industry, while our government enacted no actual policy on it. But those carefree days of military contractors romping across the hills and dales of the Iraqi countryside, without legal status or accountability, may be over. The Congress has struck back.
Amidst all the add-ins, pork spending, and excitement of the budget process, it has now come out that a tiny clause was slipped into the Pentagon’s fiscal year 2007 budget legislation. The one sentence section (number 552 of a total 3510 sections) states that “Paragraph (10) of section 802(a) of title 10, United States Code (article 2(a) of the Uniform Code of Military Justice), is amended by striking ‘war’ and inserting ‘declared war or a contingency operation’.” The measure passed without much notice or any debate. And then, as they might sing on School House Rock, that bill became a law (P.L.109–364).
The addition of five little words to a massive US legal code that fills entire shelves at law libraries wouldn’t normally matter for much. But with this change, contractors’ ‘get out of jail free’ card may have been torn to shreds. Previously, contractors would only fall under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, better known as the court martial system, if Congress declared war. This is something that has not happened in over 65 years and out of sorts with the most likely operations in the 21st century. The result is that whenever our military officers came across episodes of suspected contractor crimes in missions like Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, or Afghanistan, they had no tools to resolve them. As long as Congress had not formally declared war, civilians — even those working for the US armed forces, carrying out military missions in a conflict zone — fell outside their jurisdiction. The military’s relationship with the contractor was, well, merely contractual. At most, the local officer in charge could request to the employing firm that the individual be demoted or fired. If he thought a felony occurred, the officer might be able to report them on to civilian authorities.
Getting tattled on to the boss is certainly fine for some incidents. But, clearly, it’s not how one deals with suspected crimes. And it’s nowhere near the proper response to the amazing, awful stories that have made the headlines (the most recent being the contractors who sprung a former Iraqi government minister, imprisoned on corruption charges, from a Green Zone jail).
And for every story that has been deemed newsworthy, there are dozens that never see the spotlight. One US army officer recently told me of an incident he witnessed, where a contractor shot a young Iraqi who got too close to his vehicle while in line at the Green Zone entrance. The boy was waiting there to apply for a job. Not merely a tragedy, but one more nail in the coffin for any US effort at winning hearts and minds.
But when such incidents happen, officers like him have had no recourse other than to file reports that are supposed to be sent on either to the local government or the US Department of Justice, neither of which had traditionally done much. The local government is often failed or too weak to act — the very reason we are still in Iraq. And our Department of Justice has treated contractor crimes in a more Shakespearean than Hollywood way, as in Much Ado About Nothing. Last month, DOJ reported to Congress that it has sat on over 20 investigations of suspected contractor crimes without action in the last year.
The problem is not merely one of a lack of political will on the part of the Administration to deal with such crimes. Contractors have also fallen through a gap in the law. The roles and numbers of military contractors are far greater than in the past, but the legal system hasn’t caught up. Even in situations when US civilian law could potentially have been applied to contractor crimes (through the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act), it wasn’t. Underlying the previous laws like MEJA was the assumption that civilian prosecutors back in the US would be able to make determinations of what is proper and improper behavior in conflicts, go gather evidence, carry out depositions in the middle of warzones, and then be willing and able to prosecute them to juries back home. The reality is that no US Attorney likes to waste limited budgets on such messy, complex cases 9,000 miles outside their district, even if they were fortunate enough to have the evidence at hand. The only time MEJA has been successfully applied was against the wife of a soldier, who stabbed him during a domestic dispute at a US base in Turkey. Not one contractor of the entire military industry in Iraq has been charged with any crime over the last 3 and a half years, let alone prosecuted or punished. Given the raw numbers of contractors, let alone the incidents we know about, it boggles the mind.
The situation perhaps hit its low-point this fall, when the Under Secretary of the Army testified to Congress that the Army had never authorized Halliburton or any of its subcontractors (essentially the entire industry) to carry weapons or guard convoys. He even denied the US had firms handling these jobs. Never mind the thousands of newspaper, magazine, and TV news stories about the industry. Never mind Google’s 1,350,000 web mentions. Never mind the official report from U.S. Central Command that there were over 100,000 contractors in Iraq carrying out these and other military roles. In a sense, the Bush Administration was using a cop-out that all but the worst Hollywood script writers avoid. Just like the end of the TV series Dallas, Congress was somehow supposed to accept that the private military industry in Iraq and all that had happened with it was somehow ‘just a dream.‘
But Congress didn’t bite, it now seems. With the addition of just five words in the law, contractors now can fall under the purview of the military justice system. This means that if contractors violate the rules of engagement in a warzone or commit crimes during a contingency operation like Iraq, they can now be court-martialed (as in, Corporate Warriors, meet A Few Good Men). On face value, this appears to be a step forward for realistic accountability. Military contractor conduct can now be checked by the military investigation and court system, which unlike civilian courts, is actually ready and able both to understand the peculiarities of life and work in a warzone and kick into action when things go wrong.
The amazing thing is that the change in the legal code is so succinct and easy to miss (one sentence in a 439-page bill, sandwiched between a discussion on timely notice of deployments and a section ordering that the next of kin of medal of honor winners get flags) that it has so far gone completely unnoticed in the few weeks since it became the law of the land. Not only has the media not yet reported on it. Neither have military officers or even the lobbyists paid by the military industry to stay on top of these things.
So what happens next? In all likelihood, many firms, who have so far thrived in the unregulated marketplace, will now lobby hard to try to strike down the change. We will perhaps even soon enjoy the sight of CEOs of military firms, preening about their loss of rights and how the new definition of warzone will keep them from rescuing kittens caught in trees.
But, ironically, the contractual nature of the military industry serves as an effective mechanism to prevent loss of rights. The legal change only applies to the section in the existing law dealing with those civilians “serving with or accompanying an armed force in the field,” i.e. only those contractors on operations in conflict zones like Iraq or Afghanistan. It would apply not to the broader public in the US, not to local civilians, and not even to military contractors working in places where civilian law is stood up. Indeed, it even wouldn’t apply to our foes, upholding recent rulings on the scope of military law and the detainees at Gitmo.
In many ways, the new law is the 21st century business version of the rights contract: If a private individual wants to travel to a warzone and do military jobs for profit, on behalf of the US government, then that individual agrees to fall under the same codes of law and consequence that American soldiers, in the same zones, doing the same sorts of jobs, have to live and work by. If a contractor doesn’t agree to these regulations, that’s fine, don’t contract. Unlike soldiers, they are still civilians with no obligation to serve. The new regulation also seems to pass the fairness test. That is, a lance corporal or a specialist earns less than $20,000 a year for service in Iraq, while a contractor can earn upwards of $100,000–200,000 a year (tax free) for doing the same job and can quit whenever they want. It doesn’t seem that unreasonable then to expect the contractor to abide by the same laws as their military counterpart while in the combat theatre. Given that the vast majority of private military employees are upstanding men and women — and mostly former soldiers, to boot — living under the new system will not mean much change at all. All it does is now give military investigators a way finally to stop the bad apples from filling the headlines and getting away free.
The change in the law is long overdue. But in being so brief, it needs clarity on exactly how it will be realized. For example, how will it be applied to ongoing contracts and operations? Given that the firm executives and their lobbyists back in DC have completely dropped the ball, someone ought to tell the contractors in Iraq that they can now be court martialed.
Likewise, the scope of the new law could made more clear; it could be either too limited or too wide, depending on the interpretation. While it is apparent that any military contractor working directly or indirectly for the US military falls under the change, it is unclear whether those doing similar jobs for other US government agencies in the same warzone would fall under it as well (recalling that the contractors at Abu Ghraib were technically employed by the US Department of Interior, sublet out to DOD).
On the opposite side, what about civilians who have agreed to be embedded, but not contracted? The Iraq war is the first that journalists could formally embed in units, so there is not much experience with its legal side in contingency operations. The lack of any legal precedent, combined with the new law, could mean that an overly aggressive
interpretation might now also include journalists who have embedded.
Given that journalists are not armed, not contracted (so not paid directly or indirectly from public monies) and most important, not there to serve the mission objectives, this would probably be too extensive an interpretation. It would also likely mean less embeds. But given the current lack of satisfaction with the embed program in the media, any effect here may be a tempest in a tea pot. As of Fall 2006, there were only nine embedded reporters in all of Iraq. Of the nine, four were from military media (three from Stars and Stripes, one from Armed Forces Network), two not even with US units (one Polish radio reporter with Polish troops, one Italian reporter with Italian troops), and one was an American writing a book. Moreover, we should remember that embeds already make a rights tradeoff when they agree to the military’s reporting rules. That is, they have already given up some of their 1st Amendment protections (something at the heart of their professional ethic) in exchange for access, so agreeing to potentially fall under UCMJ when deployed may not be a deal breaker.
The ultimate point is that the change gives the military and the civilians courts a new tool to use in better managing and overseeing contractors, but leaves it to the Pentagon and DOJ to decide when and where to use it. Given their recent track record on legal issues in the context of Iraq and the war on terror, many won’t be that reassured.
Congress is to be applauded for finally taking action to reign in the industry and aid military officers in their duties, but the job is not done. While there may be an inclination to let such questions of scope and implementation be figured out through test cases in the courts, our elected public representatives should request DoD to answer the questions above in a report to Congress. Moreover, while the change may help close one accountability loophole, in no way should it be read as a panacea for the rest of the private military industry’s ills. The new Congress still has much to deal with when it comes to the still unregulated industry, including getting enough eyes and ears to actually oversee and manage our contracts effectively, create reporting structures, and forcing the Pentagon to develop better fiscal controls and market sanctions, to actually save money than spend it out.
A change of a few words in a legislative bill certainly isn’t the stuff of a blockbuster movie. So don’t expect to see Angelina Jolie starring in “Paragraph (10) of Section 802(a)” in a theatre near you anytime soon. But the legal changes in it are a sign that Congress is finally catching up to Hollywood on the private military industry. And that is the stuff of good governance.
– P.W. Singer is Senior Fellow and Director of the 21st Century Defense Initiative at The Brookings Institution. He is the author of Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry (Cornell University Press) and the upcoming book Wired for War (Houghton Mifflin).
{ 124 comments… read them below or add one }
Laying on the partisan rhetoric abit thick, aren
About time.
Normally, they would issue the contracts saying that UCMJ applied, but Bushco insisted that it not apply.
someone screwed up if the repugs let this pass.
As an insurance underwriter who had actually looked at insuring Blackwater prior to their operations in Iraq, I saw that there was a fine line between security detail and operations that bordered on covert ops or raids. The problem is that due to the small size of the military, there hasn’t been much forethought on the military or the Congress on what the level of oversight needs to be. The privatization of military duties has been increasing over the years at a gradual pace. The consequence has been that no one seemed to address the implications of the “security consultants” metamorpisizing into full blown mercenaries.
Given that the US military in Iraq freely detains anybody they wish (subject only to the intervention of high-ranking Iraqi officials), dealing with problematic contractors is easy. Just sling them in jail, hold them as long as they wish, treat them like they wish. Heck, torture them – that’s something that only causes problems when pictures get out.
The law also now allows the US to demand the release of any accused contractor to US custody vice being tried and sentanced by an Iraqi court. It may be something the contractors want. Maybe I am a cynic but I think they wanted a way to return to US custody if they are accused of unlawful acts in theatre.
how much do you think control of the UCMJ will matter if those honkers get in the US and raise hell with Americans. better think about a lot of things. some of you should try walking a mile in combat boots just to see if you can…bet you can’t!
Wish we had this law when I was in Iraq! We had a contractor shoot up a town, Al Batha, because some locals were shooting AK-47′s in the air after a wedding. They hit two people and we, US Army, had to assist the injured. The contractor was already in Basra by the time we found out about the incident!
I can only hope that as we hold these contractors to Military Code they will be given full ability to call in assistance and troops to assist them as needed. It would be a bit misguided to hold them to the conduct of our military without offering the resourses of our military.
The author was told by “one US army officer recently told me of an incident he witnessed”? Really? My, what a stringent burden of proof this author has for contractor misdeeds. War stories and Hollywood movies? Any chance there are any further details on this alleged shooting at a Green Zone gate? Perhaps nationality of the contractor? I live here, and it sounds like BS to me. Try not to overlook all the US military lives saved by contractors while you’re bemoaning all our “war crimes”.
Good. Exposure to the UCMJ means additional risk, which means more money. I need a raise.
Being subject to the UCMJ will make us immune from Iraqi law under the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), just like soldiers.
Also, the US government will not turn us over to the International Criminal court (ICC) to be tried for war crimes; real, imagined, or concocted.
I lived under UCMJ for 22 years. A few more will not make any difference.
Good point Kevin. It sounds like liberal bullshit to me as well.
The law seems to make sense and the article does a good job explaining its effects on the contractors, but you left one major thing out, who prosecutes the UCMJ? THE MILITARY! That is right. This creates one more legal conondrum for our officers and soldiers. Who is responsible for reporting these contractors? What action can be taken on these soldiers if they do not report a contractor that they have no idea whom they are nor have any affilition with? Remember that under UCMJ, not reporting war crimes is also punishable. There is no Chain of Command, so where does the responsibility lie? As well, whom polices these contractors? Has this been budgeted? Do we have enough troops now to place them in MITT teams with the contractors as we have the Iraqis? It sounds like once again a law with vague verbage will have much larger repercussions than originally intended a’la HIPPA (Health Insurance Protection Portability Act). I do not think our enemies have these same restrictions. The last time I checked, Al Queda published a 30 page manual, and the Quran is only a couple hundred pages. KISS – Keep it Simple and Stupid.
I am on my 3rd tour, I have seen a contractor shoot a civilian in the head because he protested when the contractor grabbed his daughters breasts. There was nothing that anyone could do about it when re radioed it in we were told to lethim go. This isjust one of dozens of stories and one that I saw myself.
I find it incredible that people like Maurico and Chuck can somehow find links between contractor conduct in Iraq and the DNC! I think I must be missing something, could it be a load of BS not delivered I guess
The Brookings Institute IS the DNC. It really is a bunch of left-wing, anti-military slugs. There might well be abuse by SOME members of the press, military, and contractors, but to paint all those who are contract workers for the government is another liberal lunatic assault on things they don’t know. Abu Ghraib abuses were not done by contractors, but instead by a bunch of Pennsylvania Guard and reserves, many who worked in prisons before going to Iraq. This moron paints Abu Ghraib as a contractor issue, it was not, it was bored insane soldiers who went bad. It was not systemic. I wonder why the Brookings Institute failed to mention the number of military contractors MURDERED by insurgents. Bunch of pansy academics who use shame all Americans. Hey, a U Penn professor is accused of murdering his wife — we can officially say all Ivy League professors are wife murderers.
Please note that actual Veterans and soldiers support this act while all the chicken hearted arm chair warriors screamabout conspiracies.
“I have seen a contractor shoot a civilian in the head because he protested when the contractor grabbed his daughters breasts. There was nothing that anyone could do about it ”
How about just dropping the bastard?
Most all of these “contractor” mercenaries are wannabes, wash-out security guards at parking garages back home, who read Soldier of Fortune and fantasize about rapine and pillage.
They deserve far worse than courts-martial, they deserve to be left behind when we bring the real troops home. It’s just too bad there likely won’t be video of them getting their justice on the internet, set to Elvis music.
At least they are free from Iraqi law !
So does this mean that a civilian contractor hired to perform non-military functions who in turn hires a civilian security contractor to provide security for their operations will be subject to the UCMJ? Will the security contractor be subject to the UCMJ? What if, as is often customary, the security contractor is a foreign corporation? And as for those who purportedly saw murders perpetrated, why not simply arrest the murderer right there on the spot and turn the murderer over to civilian authorities?
Once again facts are wrong here. P.W. Singer asserts incorrectly that Halliburton carried weapons, if he had bothered to read the LOGCAP III contract he would see that KBR (subsidiary of Halliburton) who won the contract is forbidden to carry weapons and so the US military must protect them. Many other contractors (Dyncorp, Blackwater, CACI, Armour Group, EOD tech just to name a few) are armed based upon the contract they hold. EOD contractors even get to play with explosives (horrors!) When the Under Secretary reported to Congress he was being truthful KBR is not armed. And while KBR may be one of the larger contractors in the Sand Box they are hardly “the entire industry”. I could go on but I have a life.
Incorrect data, logical fallacies, and just puerile thinking litter this “report” perhaps P.W. Singer should work on finishing his GED, take a class or two in logic and how to research data instead of making up facts out of whole cloth to fit his bizarre anti-military fantasies.
As a private contractor in both AFG and Iraq,
I have only worked with mil veterans, and professional services. People should investigate things before blindly stating an opinion based on what they are TOLD. Ineterestingly enough, I did work with non-military and that was a city police officer that was kicked out because of incompitance. We also had laws and ROE that we had
to follow or we WOULD BE arrested.
P.W. Singer a policy task force coordinator for the Kerry-Edwards 2004 campaign.
—nuf said.
The British Investigation into the “Elvis” video event released its report before Christmas concluding that all the footage in the video came from legitimate operations. Strange you mention the case to support your argument but don’t mention the (previous) resolution. Raised major red flags with me about the enitire article.
History is already beginning to judge the USA and it will judge us harshly.
Iraq is the biggest foreign affair debacle in our history.
“Most all of these “contractor” mercenaries are wannabes, wash-out security guards at parking garages back home, who read Soldier of Fortune and fantasize about rapine and pillage.”
On the contrary, most I know were top of the line former soldiers / special forces types, who realized they could make far more than a military salary doing basically the same job as before.
The Blackwater guys I know were all the best the military had to offer.
It seems a bit idiotic to me, to confine a non-military member to the Uniform Code of MILITARY Justice.
infantry lincoln… where to start..
lol
“bizarre anti-military fantasies”
You sir, are an idiot. You should work for GW, you’d fit right in. But I am guessing that you already do.
My CO had a very interesting way of making sure the civilian contractors in his area to behave. Before he came the civilian contractors were acting like thugs. My CO in the civilian world is a cop. So he got his friends to pull up personal data on the civilian contractors.
He had a meeting with them and basically told them if they keep on acting the way they did he will make sure their personal information makes it’s way to the insurgents and he will personally hand them over to members of the Iraqi police that he is fairly certain are members of the insurgency.
Funny thing was after that meeting the civilian contractors stopped being thugs to the Iraqis.
Purple Avenger said of the soldie who witnessed an incident of a contractor killing a civilian…
“How about just dropping the bastard?”
Then the soldier who wittnessed this killing gets brought up on murder charges.
if you’d like to talk about unfair, let’s again discuss the difference in a soldier’s annual stipend and the generous living provided to the “soldier of fortune”.
Nothing of substance to add, but this was an authorization bill, not a “budget” bill. Had the Congress included it in the actual appropriations bill, it would be fair to say it was “snuck” in. Including authorizing language in an authorization bill is hardly nefarious.
Not sure if everyone has seen these videos of the US military in Iraq or not, but they are pretty amazing: Hopefully our ‘surge’ will not include too many of these types…
http://minor-ripper.blogspot.com/2006/12/winning-hearts-and-minds-part-three.html
“Then the soldier who wittnessed this killing gets brought up on murder charges.”
Civie Cops shoot bad guys all the time and get away with it because the bad guy was a demonstrable danger to the public at large.
If dropping some piece of shit skell who just shot some poor schlub for no good reason doesn’t qualify as a righteous shooting then I don’t know what would.
Anyone who witnesses such an incident and doesn’t intervene is in my mind an amoral piece of shit.
why have contractors, just increase military pay and bonuses to enlist. should be a no brainer. why pay 200k for a used car salesman when you can pay 20-40k for a fully trained military trooper.
Methinks the UCMJ is just the most convenient way to put a pre-existing legal code over armed contractors. I can’t speak personally to the Iraq experience but was on a ground force PSD during Katrina. The contract company I worked for pulled in folks from Iraq and there was a bit of trouble getting those guys calmed down and working in a civilian/ CONUS environment. They were clearly used to using whatever methods they thought best in terms of deadly force. We soon split the detail into three teams and the older vets (like myself) gravitated together and I had a very good time from there on out. Shortly thereafter I wasn’t surprised to have our CO give us a speech after one team ran afoul of the police in Pensacola for intimidating the locals.
I was told that in Iraq under the CPA (and beyond) that a contractor acting in what was perceived as ‘self-defense’ could not be charged with murder. Whether true or not they had all been told that by their COs. A few related stories about kicking open their doors and shooting folks that got too close to their vehicles: I did believe them. They said they didn’t like the practice but couldn’t take the chance somebody would stroll up and toss a grenade. The contractors were favorite targets as they travelled in smaller groups than the military and didn’t have the armor or firepower. FWIW, I’m not excusing killing an unarmed civilians, intimidation, or the like. Our Constitution defines the rights of humans, not just American humans. Thanks for letting me go on…..
…and I’ll call bullshit on that account until someone can show me Army paymaster records of a payout to the supposed family for an unwarranted death.
That account smells like another “Jesse MacBeth” BS job.
” when you can pay 20-40k for a fully trained military trooper.”
Force flexibility during down times. It doesn’t cost “only” 20-40K” for that trooper either. I suspect the “total out the door” cost of maintaining him in a hot zone is more in the range of $150K/yr (based on total employee load costs I do know the numbers for from IBM)
Contractors should be covered under somebody’s law. If they refuse to voluntarily go under the UCMJ, they should be advised that they can be turned over to local national jurisdiction. The biggest deterrent to bad behavior is for a military commander to threaten to turn contractors over the local national authorities.
all i can say is that liberals are going to ruin America. We have contractors that don’t have the same laws as normal people because the military isn’t allowed to do what they need to do. Democrats and liberals wont let the army be run the way it needs to.
Purple Avenger writes in reference to a soldier who witnessed a contractor killing a civilian (who did phone it in and was told to let it go)…
—
If dropping some piece of shit skell who just shot some poor schlub for no good reason doesn’t qualify as a righteous shooting then I don’t know what would.
—
A US Marine was brought up on charges when an NBC cameraman captured him shooting an insurgent. The shooting was investigated and the soldier was cleared and his actions deemed as acting in accordance with procedures.
If soldiers are being charged with shooting the enemy while being filmed by a US news crew, why would a soldier take the chance of killing a US civilian (no matter how reprehensible the act he witnessed)
I have never been in the military but this I can tell you – 3000 dead and if I were in Iraq doing that jab for the U.S. of A, I’d make sure that I’m not 3001. If it means an innocent Iraqi makes a mistake and gets too close to my car that has “STAY BACK” in painted on it in Arabic, well I would be improving the literacy rate there before I leave my kids with no father. Iraq is a dangerous place full of dangerous, armed people on all sides of the conflict. If it’s going to be you or them – make sure it THEM.
lol
American’s working for American’s
cannot be mercenaries. Fools
WARNING To My Fellow Americans! STAY OFF OF AIRPLANES!
http://thehudsonvalleyfreeman.blogspot.com/
The constant complaints about the media not giving fair coverage to our military’s accomplishments in Iraq are finally answered. There are only 2 “real” US reporters embedded with our troops. I am left to wonder who they write for.
NEVER Forget Officer Danny Faulkner!
http://thehudsonvalleyfreeman.blogspot.com/2006/12/never-forget-officer-danny-faulkner.html
PS- Is anyone else annoyed with the tone of this author?
“Since the start of the Iraq war, tens of thousands of heavily-armed military contractors have been roaming the country — without any law, or any court to control them. That may be about to change, Brookings Institution Senior Fellow P.W. Singer notes in a Defense Tech exclusive…”
roaming around uncontroled?
memo to PW Singer – why don’t you pick up your check from Al Queda already, and why is defensetech hiring such an anti-military klymer?
Ok…I’ll weigh in again:
In August(maybe September) of 2005 we had to detain contractors who shot at Marines in Fallujah. These guys were out of control.
On a trip to the Green Zone, I had several reports of contractors who actually leveled their weapons at senior U.S. army officers.
Contractors, for the most part, are unaccountable to the commanders of their Area of Operations in which they worked. Of course, many of these contractors worked for State as PSDs and,as such, were not subject to military comamnd.
Now, I did see many hardworking contractors, but these were the ones who kept the lights on for us and who fed us. I can’t say the same for those who thought that because they were “civilians” that they were above the law just because they were armed.
For those of you who do not believe that there was abuse don’t know what you’re talking about.
When will the realities of war come into focus for those “observers from afar” who believe killing or being killed might be “sanitized?”
If the reader can get to the last paragraph of this poorly written article ie: syntax and grammer, the author states that Hollywood should be the model of our govement;
“A change of a few words in a legislative bill certainly isn’t the stuff of a blockbuster movie. So don’t expect to see Angelina Jolie starring in “Paragraph (10) of Section 802(a)” in a theatre near you anytime soon. But the legal changes in it are a sign that Congress is finally catching up to Hollywood on the private military industry. And that is the stuff of good governance.”
God help us if this is what our new Congress is about.
Call BS….? PV, Intersting theory that the Army Paymaster keeps the official record of Iraqi civilian deaths by counting the ‘payouts.’
Civilians were sometimes shot for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, period. The most common expression I heard from contractors coming back during the early days of the CPA was, “It’s the Wild Wild West …”
Why go there? Our CO on that Katrina detail went for a one year committment at $750 a day, 7 days per week, tax free. Paid for his house in CA. I don’t think he went to win Iraqi ‘hearts and minds.’
Like I say, haven’t been there myself but have classmates that provided Paul Bremer’s PSD. BTW, there is one, and only one, LLoyd’s of London five star rated security company in Iraq. I’ve never seen it referenced or mentioned in any news discussion in the entire war. Many of these contractor horror stories relate to the companies that were always lousy, like Custer Battles, but were lucky enough to put their hats under the cash waterfall that started after the invasion.
This is probably a very bad idea. I’ve heard of a few most likely illegal incidents over there when I was there, but for the most part it was few and far between.
The Army dodged the question about armed contractors in 2003. A contractor asked Rumsfeld on live TV if contractors were going to be allowed to carry weapons in theater…Rumsfeld said Sanchez could answer the question and since then the Army has dodged the bullet.
Since then, contractors who have to drive trucks and travel off FOBs without military escort have ‘done what they had to do’ to protect themselves as obviously, getting captured would most likely end up in a beheading on video tape. I’ve also seen contractors left high and dry by the Army escorts who fled ambushes.
It won’t take but two or three cases of contractors getting prosecuted under UCMJ for have self-defense weaponry, and you can start looking at contract drivers who deliver soldier’s food, start costing well over $300K a year per head.
Good job DoD. You managed to stick it to the tax payer again to fix a problem that doesn’t exist.
Regarding the reporters – one does not need to be paid to be under contract. All that is required is offer, acceptance, and consideration. Some exchange of money usually coveres part of consideration, but a change in legal position also satisifies this demand. In other words, the military lets them embed, and the reporters agree to abide by the UCMJ. That’s sufficient consideration to make a valid contract.
Let me add this to the commenter’s claim of having witnessed a murder and then having done nothing about it.
Such a witness having done nothing about the murder could be subject to the UCMJ themselves even if the perp was not military. To wit:
878. ART. 78. ACCESSORY AFTER THE FACT
Any person subject to this chapter who, knowing that an offense punishable by this chapter has been committed, receives, comforts, or assists the offender in order to hinder or prevent his apprehension, trial, or punishment shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.
881. ART. 81. CONSPIRACY
Any person subject to this chapter who conspires with any other person to commit an offense under this chapter shall, if one or more of the conspirators does an act to effect the object of the conspiracy, be punished as a court-martial may direct.
On a trip to the Green Zone, I had several reports of contractors who actually leveled their weapons at senior U.S. army officers. John Folsom
Clearly you’re getting this second, third, fourth or fifth hand. Anybody who was in the Green Zone in 04-05 knows exactly who the PSD outfit was that did that – and it wasn’t officers, it was Army MPs who got drawn down on. Second, the reason nothing happened was because that particular outfit works for State and a certain three-letter agency.
If you think Army trumps State and agencies, then you are a noob. Who do you think is running this war, anyway? It isn’t Army – who do you think let Sadr live?
Putting contractors – the rest of them who don’t shoot people and are trying to do thier year and get the heck out dodge – under UCMJ is a really bad idea. I was under UCMJ for 21 years, and I’ll tell you what, I’ll take the civilian courts rights package over UCMJ any day of the week. Under UCMJ you go to jail for saying, “kiss my ass sir, thats the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard of in my life.” Go back two years and think of reservists refusing to commit suicide by driving unarmed and unescorted fuel tankers on the most IED and sniper laden route through Baghdad ever.
In any case, as was previously stated, disciplinary procedures are already stipulated by contract, and US law still applies. Calling the FBI is just that and they are in country. A contractor has got to go home sometime, and if a commander has a problem with a contractor, there is absolutely nothing that says he cannot put a contractor on a plane under armed escort back to the good old US of A.
I worked in Iraq for the past three years. Everyone with a gun points them at the contractors and if they want to, they shoot. Worse yet the Army is understaffed and they are shooting up the civilian people each day and they are not held accountable. They pull some trash with contractors too and they get away with it. Seems like the civilian contractor is going to be made a scape goat. 90% of the contractors over in Iraq have several years in uniform or served their 20+ and have retired. Give us (the contractors) the tools to do the job and let us do what we are paid to do. It is such a BS mess with these kids in uniform when they find out that you make more than they do. WTF, We were in their shoes before and now we have a chance to better our lives with that good training that we had from our time in uniform. Contractor is not a dirty word but sometimes it seems like it is. So send in more troops, is that the answer? Not realy, get everyone out and let them sort it out. They will just kill eachother so get out of their way and let them have at it.
Can’t wait to see somebody charged with disrespect….. This seems to be pretty poorly thought thorugh. Unless of course confusion and the ensuing weakness were the intent….
William sends.
Well what we have here is another VIP that states they saw something. Its Kinda hard when you dont leave the Sheraton or the IZ. Ive been in country since Feb 04, Ive seen all kinds of things and mostly from young troops. God Bless Them, we were just like them 5, 10,20 years ago. The fact is that 90% of your ” Armed Contractors” are vets and I dont appreciate being accused of not following ROE. The fact is most of us have more training and experience than the mojority of the young boots on the ground.
The use of the UCMJ would be a major mistake, It works good for keeping young troops in line but thats asuming that the 22 year old LT. fresh in the military is making the right desions. As contractors there is a lot of thought put into every mission with input from every military back ground you could immagine.
The fact is war is hell and the left is looking to nail someones 4th point of contact boys. They cant do it to the troops because that would be UnAmerican. So go after the guys that did there time and are now getting paid for the skills they spent there whole life perfecting.
Bottom line is embedding reporters is what has caused the majority of the problems in the war zone. When are they going to be brought up on charges of sedition and working with the enemy?
I’m not sure this has reached fruition quite yet. I think that the Department of Defense has the next move.
I saw Scott Stucky speak about this halfway through a panel in DC on November 30. Scott was the outgoing General Counsel of the Senate Committee on armed forces (recently nominated to the Court of Appeals for the US Armed Forces). It was at the American Bar Association’s annual review put on by the Standing Committee on Law and National Security. Mr. Stucky spoke about a number of new initiatives, including this one.
audio: http://www.abanet.org/natsecurity/multimedia/2006/16th_Annual_Conference/Panel_II.mp3
According to Mr. Stucky, whose comments were enlightening, UCMJ used to only apply to civilian contractors in a time of declared war because of a 1970 Court of Military appeals case called U.S. v. Avarette (19 U.S.C.M.A. 363 (4/4/1970),
http://www.jstor.org/view/00029300/di981758/98p0229u/0
but now it can apply when there is a declaration of war or a declaration of contingency operation.
My question for those who are more knowledgeable for I about the UCMJ is what is a contingency operation? Mr. Stucky implied that it was now up to DOD to amend their
Question; Unless I missed it, does Anybody know who stuck this in???
It’s too bad this is coming now, Way To Late for the Retaliations of any and all Atrosities that some of these Mecenaries Committed!
Those suffering from these Retaliations were Our Military Troops!! It’s bad enough when one of their own Royally Screwsup, but when a Mercenary does the Screwin it’s Fanatical!!
Billy,
Your CO is an Idiot and your an idiot for thinking that was cool. First off it is illegal to pull up anyones personal records without their written concent. Then to threaten the contractors with it is a true sign of his leadership capabiities. Then he knows the identities and wherabouts of Iraqi Police that are involved with the insurgency and counts them as assets to threaten fellow americans instead of the terrorist trash they are. Personally I think that your commander should be immediatly removed from duty or even better find his way to the terrorists he loves so well and you should never be allowed to wear the US uniform again. You insult me and my fellow veterans when doing so.
Thanks to all for the active responses to the article. It’s been entertaining to say the least. But more importantly, the reception from troops and officers on this and others has been heartening. I certainly won
Thanks for this, news like this would NEVER make the majors…….
The Military contractors will never be dealt with because those companies are run by the same men who run the Federal Reserve and reap the profits of America. And don’t expect the media to digging around, this is a kosher affair.
Yo Mike, you’re getting mighty close to fever swamps truther territory here. You might want to put down the crack pipe and take a walk around the block and get some fresh air.
If the US dosen”t req the UN courts when it comes to their troops. Why do they think if they start the conflict the can Judge Hmm sounds like I want my cake and eat it to.
Boys you doing a great job. GET ER DONE. WATCH YOU CORNERS
As an aside, I think there is a basic issue that bothers many folks regarding the armed “contractors” in Iraq. A civilian hired by a corporation to carry a weapon in a war zone is a mercenary – someone who fights not for nationality or principles, but for personal gain only. To most Americans I know, that is repulsive.
It can be fancied up a lot, but these guys are just mercenaries, and mercenary is not a respectable profession to most. In my mind, a mercenary is worse than the enemy, because they fight for no cause except their paycheck. Their loyalty is to the corporation, not the country.
A mercenary takes all that is good about a soldier and perverts it into an ugly mirror image. There is no respect in being a mercenary precisely because of the money being made.
A nation’s warriors are respected because they *don’t* get rich, they don’t live in luxury, and yet they still risk their life in service to their nation and fellow soldier. None of that applies to a mercenary.
The former military men that have turned mercenary have sold their soul in my opinion. I pity them.
Krag
former Sgt, USMC
Yo,
I have been down range since 2/2003 building Commo nets for the war fighter. I am prior Service and have been from the Horn of Africa, Afganistan and Iraq. I am here because I love my country and I believe in taking the fight to the bad guys. Are there Idiots working as contractors? Yes, just like there are idiots in jornalisim. Are there mistakes made? Sure, just like every other profession. I have been embeded with the Iraqi Army for a year now and get this, I carry an AK and use it when I have to. By the way numnuts You only get 82,500K tax free. So much for you doing your homework.
Are the problems yeah, but guess what, because congress put a limit on the number of Military trigger pullers we are needed on this wall and we are wanted on this wall and we do an excellant job overall. Do we need to be accountible? Yes, and guess what we are more so than the war fighter at times.
Remmeber this, we are here because we are needed, we are good at what we do and we support the war fighter. I bet you are a Democrat! The good news for you is Nancy is in town.
Yes accountability is needed and can be better but take it easy on guys who have been getting shot at with the war fighter, we are all Americans and most of us are here because we believe in what we are doing…..
Get your facts right. NUMNUTS
Hoohaa
To The Former USMC Sgt,
Sir,
If you knew how many times your Marine brothers have come to me to give the Comms, telephone, internet and C2C you wouldn’t say what you say. . I have been running around in these AO’s half blind in one eye and on one kindney. Things that you have been sent home for a long time ago. Face it Marine… As much as you don’t like it We are here to stay and I have personaly saved several Marines from getting fragged in Falluga. I love you guys, We need to work together. God bless all of our fighting men and women! If you have a problem please ask the former CSM of the 10th Mountain Div, the CSM of the 101Am and the CO of the HMH 461st USMC about me. Numnuts. Tell the Dave D from Philly and they will tell you whats shaken. By the way I am 46 Playing your game!!!!!!
Dave D, South Philly
No matter how much a mercenary blusters and sadly performs a macho typefest – the fact remains a civilian carrying a weapon in a war zone is a mercenary at best – a terrorist at worse.
These “contractors” are not working for the United States of America, are not sworn to defend the Constitution, and are not in uniform. They are men that have voluntarily taken money to kill people at the behest of a civilian corporation.
They may attempt to rationalize that in whatever way it takes to settle their soul. But the reality won’t change.
God hope they are never caught by bad guys, in any conflict, running around a battlefield with a gun and no uniform nor any displayed symbol of allegiance.
They deserve pity but little else.
Funny, when I was younger I had the potental to get drafeted. Now its all vollenter, Hum, funny, What it comes down to is that some, but not all have a problem with us making a living to support our families!! The same reason most you the enlisted are doning what there are doing, I love you guys. I am one of you guys, I am old enough to be your father and I am still doing it. Hum, guess what, I do it because I love you guys and wish I was 20 years younger, the good new is that I am here for you just like you are here for all the families at home. You Keep them safe and I am your humble assistant to do the same!
Semper Fi!!
Go Eagles
Although I share Peter
Civilian contractors are being hired to do jobs that the military can’t do because of the reduction in the force since the draw down of the mid-90′s. We are also cheaper (no insurance, no retirement, etc) Therefore we should have the same rights and obligations and follow the same ROE’s as the military. The Military did give me authority to carry a weapon and I took that responsibility seriously just as I did when I was in uniform. We have a right of self defense when in harm’s way doing a job the military did in the past when we had over 1/2 million soldiers.
Posted by: Keith Gosney at January 4, 2007 05:08 PM
“If the reader can get to the last paragraph of this poorly written article ie: syntax and grammer, the author states that Hollywood should be the model of our govement;”
Physician, heal thyself.
Since you probably have no clue what I meant, Mr Gosney, try this: If you are going to criticize someone’s post for how it’s written, be damned sure you know how to spell, how to use grammar, how to use punctuation, and how to write.
Anyone want to start a pool for how many errors will be in the frothing-at-the-mouth reply he’ll post to this? :-)
Would anyone know what companies have a private military?
Having served in the U.S.Military(several combat tours),as well as a Law Enforcement Officer,and currently serving/working as a armed overseas contractor(Iraq),I find several of the comments baseless at least,ignorant at most(Melior and Culloden,come to mind).The guy’s I work with currently,and have worked with in the past,are all former military,and a few LE(we’ve all served our country,I haven’t run into any”former security guards”).They are for the most part quiet,efficent professionals,doing a damn good job.Our relationship with the troops that we have daily contact with,is good.Now here is the facts,we provide a service,that can’t be done by the military…there just is not enough of them(and that is not going to change…period).The ones that are here(and in Afghanistan,PI,etc.),have got plenty to keep em busy,and can’t be expected to protect every convoy,VIP,civil engineer,reporter,etc(to many to name).This is not,and never again will be the military of WWII/post WWII,that was able to put Japan and Germany back on their feet(never going to be that big,ever again).Big business is the one that does the rebuilding now(even did it back during the late 40′s and 50′s)…And contractors are needed to protect them,and we are able to do it far more efficently,and much cheaper(and yes we still make more money)…Besides the money,yeah alot of us still see it as service,to each his own…Like any other group(any group),there are a few knobs/bad apples(company/guy’s around them handle that issue).But fine if a form of regulation comes down,we will just deal with it.If it becomes too stupid,then we’ll just move on,and those in charge can try to duct tape it together…One other thing,Melior and Culloden and anybody else,say what you want,call us what you want,you have that right(blood’s been shed for that right,some of it mine),and personally I don’t really care.And to most of us,whether in or out of uniform(especially us over here)it sounds like alot of whining and sniveling,by a couple of oxygen thieves
this issue reminds me of the Sci-fi/Cyberpunk Corpoate armies, mercenary companies (Drakes “Hammers Slammers”).the biggest threat might be that some richy rich fellow can “Buy himself” a whole army, armed to the teeth with expert trainning, lots of gizmos, and now try to beat him….
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Can’t wait to see somebody charged with disrespect….. This seems to be pretty poorly thought thorugh. Unless of course confusion and the ensuing weakness were the intent….
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Do you think Aegis, after 100 pages of report and 100 pages of appendix, would have been prosecuted under UCMJ? Or were they not close enough to direct support? Afterall, the incredibly (obtuse? ignorant?) testimony of the Under Secretary of the Army who said “contractors? I don’t see no stinking contractors” (or something similar, I may be paraphrasing here) indicates either a lack of knowledge or the more accurate assessment of ignorance.
I can only hope that as we hold these contractors to Military Code they will be given full ability to call in assistance and troops to assist them as needed. It would be a bit misguided to hold them to the conduct of our military without offering the resourses of our military.
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My name is Teddy Devitt SR.I have no prior felonies.I have two prior domestic assaults that disqualify me to join.this is a decision i should have made when I was 18 years old but, i have had alot of issues with alcohol.I do not drink alcohol anymore and attend regular treatment and meetings.I have a family now and i dont want to work in a factory for the rest of my life.I feel it is a calling to me to continue what my grandfather and my father have achieved.My grandfather served in the navy and is retired from now,and my Father was in the air force.I am 24 years old very healthy and energetic.please if there is any way that i can possibly join iwould not let you down.Is there any way i could get a hold of anyone to speak on my behalf.If so please contact my e-mail.thank you for your patience.
My name is Teddy Devitt SR.I have no prior felonies.I have two prior domestic assaults that disqualify me to join.this is a decision i should have made when I was 18 years old but, i have had alot of issues with alcohol.I do not drink alcohol anymore and attend regular treatment and meetings.I have a family now and i dont want to work in a factory for the rest of my life.I feel it is a calling to me to continue what my grandfather and my father have achieved.My grandfather served in the navy and is retired from now,and my Father was in the air force.I am 24 years old very healthy and energetic.please if there is any way that i can possibly join iwould not let you down.Is there any way i could get a hold of anyone to speak on my behalf.If so please contact my e-mail.thank you for your patience.
My name is Teddy Devitt SR.I have no prior felonies.I have two prior domestic assaults that disqualify me to join.this is a decision i should have made when I was 18 years old but, i have had alot of issues with alcohol.I do not drink alcohol anymore and attend regular treatment and meetings.I have a family now and i dont want to work in a factory for the rest of my life.I feel it is a calling to me to continue what my grandfather and my father have achieved.My grandfather served in the navy and is retired from now,and my Father was in the air force.I am 24 years old very healthy and energetic.please if there is any way that i can possibly join iwould not let you down.Is there any way i could get a hold of anyone to speak on my behalf.If so please contact my e-mail.thank you for your patience.
My name is Teddy Devitt SR.I have no prior felonies.I have two prior domestic assaults that disqualify me to join.this is a decision i should have made when I was 18 years old but, i have had alot of issues with alcohol.I do not drink alcohol anymore and attend regular treatment and meetings.I have a family now and i dont want to work in a factory for the rest of my life.I feel it is a calling to me to continue what my grandfather and my father have achieved.My grandfather served in the navy and is retired from now,and my Father was in the air force.I am 24 years old very healthy and energetic.please if there is any way that i can possibly join iwould not let you down.Is there any way i could get a hold of anyone to speak on my behalf.If so please contact my e-mail.thank you for your patience.