LAT: Private Security Guards in Iraq Operate With Little Supervision

Private Security Guards in Iraq Operate With Little Supervision
By T. Christian Miller, Times Staff Writer


BAGHDAD — Private security contractors have been involved in scores of shootings in Iraq, but none have been prosecuted despite findings in at least one fatal case that the men had not followed proper procedures, according to interviews and documents obtained by The Times.

Instead, security contractors suspected of reckless behavior are sent home, sometimes with the knowledge of U.S. officials, raising questions about accountability and stirring fierce resentment among Iraqis.

Thousands of the heavily armed private guards are in Iraq, under contract with the U.S. government and private companies. The conduct of such security personnel has been one of the most controversial issues in the reconstruction of Iraq. Last week, a British newspaper publicized a so-called trophy video that appears to show private contractors in Iraq firing at civilian vehicles as an Elvis song plays in the background.

The contractors function in a legal gray area. Under an order issued by the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority that administered Iraq until June 2004, contractors suspected of wrongdoing are to be prosecuted in their home countries. The contractors have immunity from Iraqi courts and have so far not faced American prosecution, giving little recourse to Iraqis seeking justice for wrongful shootings....

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A Justice Department official, who asked not to be identified because he was not an authorized spokesman, said the lack of prosecutions of contractors reflected poor oversight by U.S. officials in Iraq, who were under no compulsion to report suspected criminal behavior....


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-guards4dec04,0,6688508,full.story

Without legal impunity, you could not get the number of mercenaries working in Iraq now to continue to work there or seek to be hired in the first place. Since the US isn't interested in fielding enough infantry, the mercenaries end up being, in essence, a full extra infantry division working for profit. The irony being that a lot of them are paid more than US troops (certainly any mercenaries hailing from industrialized countries) and yet, they are paid in large part by monies that might have gone to reconstruction.

Let us not pretend that this issue is unique to mercenaries. There is a great deal of political whining over ANY prosecution of American (or recently, British) forces for perceived criminal behavior while wearing the uniform because "it might hurt morale". I consider this a simple result of the end of the Cold War: we don't have to be compared with the Russians anymore so standards have slid downwards since we're not trying to impress the brown peoples.

They are mercenaries, plain and simple. Change the wording all they want, the facts are still the same, out-of-control mercenaries paid for by U.S. taxpayers.

they were funded by the corperate infrastucture pertaining to the contracts they were securing???

Sorry, I don't get what your question is.