Index to the Traditional Enemies of Free Speech

 Alphabetical index (text)

[images added by this website]

Above: the logo of “security contractor” Blackwater USA, who lost four “employees” in Iraq

---

Friday, April 9, 2004 

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Thirteen of the most powerful opposition US senators on Friday released a letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld asking to explain the role of civilian contractors in Iraq.

The letter follows the killing and mutilation of four US security contractors in Fallujah, Iraq, on March 31.

In a letter to Rumsfeld dated April 8 — but released Friday — the senators expressed concern about “private armies operating outside the control of governmental authority.”

The letter also questioned if there were adequate numbers of US troops in Iraq.

Signers included Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, former first lady Hillary Clinton, Ted Kennedy from Massachusetts, as well as Carl Levin of Illinois.

“The shocking deaths of four American security contractors in Fallujah have revealed the growing role that private security contractors are playing in Iraq,” the letter read.

It said contractors — often ex-soldiers — operate in a fashion similar to special forces, but they are not under US military control and not subject to rules governing the conduct of American forces.

“It would be a dangerous precedent if the United States allowed the presence of private armies operating outside the control of governmental authority and beholden only to those who pay them.”In the context of Iraq, unless these forces are properly screened by United States authorities and are required to operate under clear guidelines and appropriate supervision, their presence will contribute to Iraqi resentment,” the letter said.

It said that such delegating raised “serious questions.”

“The presence and number of these private security personnel again raise the question of the adequacy of United States troop levels in Iraq,” it stated.

It closed by requesting a full tally of the number of privately armed non-Iraqi security personnel operating in Iraq, and urged Rumsfeld to adopt written guidelines for their use.

 David Irving comments on the curious role of American “civilian contractors”
 More on those innocent “civilian contractors”: Blackwater USA to hold firearms Swat conference in May 2004