How Not to Use Contractors Posted by Michael Cohen

This is simply astounding. Apparently killing 17 people, whether justified or unjustified, is not a disqualification for government contracting:

The U.S. State Department has agreed to renew Blackwater USA's license to protect diplomats in Baghdad for one year while the FBI investigates a 2007 incident in which the company's guards are accused of killing 17 Iraqis. Assistant Secretary of State Gregory Starr told reporters Friday that because the shooting of Baghdad civilians is still under investigation, there is no reason not to renew the contract when it comes due in May.

No reason? Really? There is no reason not to renew their contract? You know I can think of one reason not to renew Blackwater's contract -- their guards killed 17 innocent Iraqis.

I think it's quite possible that what Blackwater guards did in Iraq is not criminally liable -- although admittedly this seems less and less likely. Nonetheless, anytime a company that is in a position of offering protective services kills 17 innocent people, it seems like they might not be the best contracting firm to use. You would think that the bar for using protective service companies would be higher than, "have they been criminally prosecuted of wrongdoing."

And what about the optics of this move? Part of the reason the Nisour Square incident created such a furor is because this was not the first time that Blackwater guards were accused of indiscriminately discharging their weapons against civilians. The Iraqi government has repeatedly complained about BW guards and yet here is the State Department blithely ignoring these complaints and rehiring these guys. It's sort of hard to believe that these guys are in the diplomacy business.

What is so aggravating about this is that many of folks who see benefit in using private contractors (or at least have accepted it as a reality of 21st century war fighting) have been for years calling for increased government oversight and enhanced accountability for  groups like Blackwater. In recent months, we've seen real progress on this front, particularly from the Pentagon, which has finally codified the application of the Uniform Code of Military Justice to PSCs. In addition, there is legislation on the Hill to create better legal frameworks for holding contractors accountable. And yet, here we have State thumbing its nose at these efforts and hiring the same bad actors who have given the industry, and practice, such a bad name.

Just sickening.

Comments

[Don Bacon]

Thank you, Michael. How much lower can US moral depravity sink. Unfortunately, and this is what saves them, Blackwater has done nothing that US military forces haven't done.

"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil. You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them. Actually, it's a lot of fun to fight. You know, it's a hell of a hoot. It's fun to shoot some people. I'll be right upfront with you, I like brawling."--General James Mattis, USMC

[Timothy Lovestedt]

I am not being naive when I suggest that it just shouldn't be this way. This job should be handled by military personnel that we can train and command in theater. The problem is that BW's mission is not the US military mission. The intersection of those two separate tasks succeeds in creating chaos and distortion. BW employees act in ways that are contrary to the mission, but those actions are seen as US military. This puts soldiers at risk. This is similar to Haliburton burning perfectly good tractors and trailers simply because they need an oil filter or new tires. Their "cost-plus" contracts make it less lucrative to repair these vehicles and more lucrative to order new ones. Iraqis must be completely baffled by our actions which in reality are not "our actions." As for regulation, it seems those voices calling for it would be the very ones engaged in the activity needing regulation. That has been a formula for disaster in the past and would no doubt be the same in this circumstance