http://www.thenation.com/doc/20071022/scahill They've had free reign for years. The scary part is these guys were in New Orleans after Hurricane Karina.
All of the jobs that Blackwater and all of the other security firms are doing plus the logistics jobs that other non-security private contractors are performing are all evidence of that fact that the current size of the US military is not appropriate for a war of this type. In past wars all those jobs were performed by American military. On top of that there are no constraints on any of these guys or companies as we have learned. They operate under no rules, and were provided exemption from Iraqi laws when sent to Iraq. The punishments to date, as described in the article, are incredibly minor. The Pentagon has understood this during the past 4.5 years. It was a sort of time bomb ready to explode. It is just one element of this war that has escaped scrutiny. Previous efforts by journalists to determine the size and scope of the number of contractors in Iraq was incredibly difficult as the Pentagon makes it virtually impossible to ascertain. Journalists used insurance records from contractors to create estimates of about 100,000 total contractors in Iraq providing various services including security. This US military is too small to fight this war in Iraq. The evidence comes out in many ways and high military officials have been claiming this for some time. It puts an enormous strain on the capacity of the US to provide overall protection against all the elements of terrorism and dangerous nations. Providing security in a dangerous war zone is a tough job. Currently we are relying on a mercenary force that has avoided scrutiny of any kind until this episode. We never did this before. It is one more of the elements of this war that the administration has hidden from the public.
On Democracy Now and Al Jazeera English, I've heard numerous experts claim the Contractor workforce is closer to 180,000. My biggest issue with Blackwater is that there are a lot of reports that their cavalier and unchecked tactics are undermining the troops. My second biggest issue is that Blackwater receives no bid contracts. And that it is in the company's best interest to prolong the war so they can continue to provide service. My third biggest issue is that they are paid 4 or 5 times as much as American troops, and have better equipment and training. They get the security jobs while our boys are on the front facing IEDs.
This is not unexpected when the military is absolutely gutted in order to attempt to balance a budget that was never balanced. Our military was severely gutted during the 90s. Of course, some are ready to pounce an convict on allegations, but that's not really anything new.
And if you do a little reasearch on Price you will be even more troubled. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14659780 http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/23/1429259