Salon: Warriors for Hire in Iraq

More than 15,000 employees of private military contractors, from giant Halliburton to tiny commando firms, are working, fighting and dying alongside U.S. soldiers. But who calls the shots in an outsourced war?

Last Wednesday, the United States woke up to what seemed like a horrible replay of the images from 1993 Somalia. As crowds screamed their vicious delight, the bodies of four Americans were abused and dragged through the streets.

But Fallujah was not Mogadishu, and this was to be no repeat of "Black Hawk Down." Instead of questioning the mission, the public struggled to figure out who was performing the mission in the first place. For most Americans, Fallujah introduced a realization of how our military operates today in the era of outsourcing. A growing industry of private military firms is filling a huge and often surprising array of roles in Iraq, roles that can even include combat.

The four men killed in Fallujah were not U.S. troops but rather employees of a little known company, Blackwater USA, that resides within an industry that until last week, few people even knew existed. Breaking out of the "guns for hire" mold of traditional mercenaries, corporations like Blackwater sell the sorts of services that soldiers used to provide. Known as "private military firms" (PMFs), they range from small companies that provide teams of commandos for hire to large corporations that run military supply chains. This new military industry encompasses hundreds of companies, thousands of employees, and billions of revenue dollars.

In Iraq, they're also accounting for a growing share of the force and the casualties. There are 15,000 private personnel carrying out mission-critical military roles, and they have suffered at least 30 to 50 killed in action, including the four dead contract workers whose bodies were discovered on Tuesday. Scores more have been taken captive in just the last week.

more…
http://salon.com/news/feature/2004/04/15/warriors/index.html

Help me out, did they have a job posting?
Ha-- Are they an Affirmative Action Employer?

Do they consider these people "outsouring" or do they raise up our Economy Numbers?

IMO they are a Semi Secret Private Army hired by Chimpco.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/03/16/1712217

The dummer you are the harder you fall.

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Before the war, private firms helped out with an array of tasks -- operating supply lines, running training exercises, and even assisting with the war gaming and battle planning in the Kuwaiti desert that later proved so successful. The huge U.S. Army complex at Camp Doha, where the invasion was launched, was built, operated and guarded by a vast private operation led by a consortium called Combat Support Associates. (While CSA was operating in Kuwait, firms in the consortium were registered as "100 percent Native American-owned" and thus could use Minority Business Enterprise certifications as a way to gain preference in the government acquisition process.) These roles were not without their risks. Even before the battle started, several private military personnel were killed or wounded in live-fire exercises and, in a taste of what was to come, two civilian technicians were murdered by terrorists in a drive-by shooting in Kuwait.

lots more
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/04/15/warriors/index1.html

Now, I understand that Americans need work, what with "outsourcing", etc.

But, paying for the travel expenses, combat pay, etc for US truck-drivers probably exceeds $1,000 per day.

Realizing that these guys are driving trucks in convoys with armed humvees, etc., what's wrong with hiring Iraqis? Its terribly hard too believe that the US needs to set up a training program for truck drivers.

Isn't there anyone who knows how to drive a truck in Iraq?

Will Americans work for less than Iraqis?

Can't the US trust Iraqis with expensive equipment?

Do Iraqis refuse to work for the coalition?

Or is this one of those great cost-plus government contracts where the more it cost the more profit you make?

I fear that it is the latter, Halliburton doesn't give a damn about controlling costs because they charge a percentage over what they pay.

if we had gotten our act together earlier they would have been. Now too many are too pissed off. We'd risk losing our equipment.

The US Army does need a training program for truck drivers because driving a truck in a combat zone is much different than driving down I-95.

Be it mercenary/war profiteering corporations or the voting machine industry the money is good.
Every Goverment job that has been privatized usually costs double.

Welcome to DU!! :toast: