11 October 2007: Washington, DC -- Since the shooting incident last
month involving Blackwater employees in the deaths of 17 Iraqis, the company’s continued operation in Iraq has come into question. The Iraqi government now appears determined to see Blackwater brought to heel and expelled from the country, but more importantly the U.S. government has also awakened to the longstanding problems with using private security contractors in Iraq. Hearings are being held and a house bill has already passed on the issue, though it remains uncertain whether it will be approved.

Currently, the legal status of such contractors is so dubious that it renders them virtually immune to prosecution in Iraq. This is even more so given the long standing CPA law granting security contractors a carte blanche by placing them firmly outside Iraqi jurisdiction in addition to their undefined status in international law.

The U.S. government does not know how many private security contractors are currently operating in Iraq, though estimates range to well over 20 thousand. Their numbers are dominated by such companies as DynCorp International, Triple Canopy, Aegis, and of course Blackwater, which provides personal security for U.S. State Department diplomats in Iraq and has earned $678 million in contracts since 2003. Blackwater appears to be the distinct outlier in incidents and aggressiveness but in the past two weeks it has become an example of the problem that many outside of the U.S. government have been debating for some time.

What appeared as a single incident is actually two separate shootings within minutes of each other. By all observer accounts Blackwater contractors fired first. After a week of investigating the press has uncovered that there have been well over a hundred clashes involving Blackwater employees and in almost all cases they fired first at a perceived threat. They have also been involved in an armed standoff with Interior Ministry commandos and the well reported killing of a security guard for an Iraqi vice president. Matching this reputation for aggressiveness, the company was also the least accountable of all operating in the country, considered “untouchable” and “protected” by its employer, the State Department. Blackwater was not required to obtain Interior Ministry licenses or follow U.S. military restrictions on offensive weapons use. In addition, the movements or positions of Blackwater contractors were not known to the U.S. military and employees did not report shooting incidents when they occurred.

It is obvious why the Iraqi government developed a distinct animosity towards the company. The reasons for it being singled out today as an example may well be justifiable but the solution is far more complex than simply dealing with Blackwater, and it remains to be seen if the company will truly be penalized for a history of what appears to be inappropriate and unaccountable behavior. Secretary Rice has announced a joint U.S.-Iraqi investigation into the recent incident and numerous changes that will provide oversight of the company’s operations, along with the increased presence of official diplomatic security staff in Blackwater convoys. However, this is not the first investigation of Blackwater and the last one yielded no results. 

There have been numerous reforms for U.S. security contractors in Iraq, including policies on the registration of weapons, reporting of shooting incidents, required licenses from the Interior Ministry, and proper identification as U.S. Department of Defense contractors. But these have not been universally applied as contractors for other agencies follow their own regulations and the licensing process itself is inherently questionable given the security and corruption problems within Iraqi ministries. The recent House bill aims to establish a uniform environment, placing all private contractors under U.S. court jurisdiction, requiring the Justice Department to report on ongoing investigations and the FBI to serve as the primary investigator of all alleged contractor misconduct in war zones. Given the expressed reservations of the current administration, it remains to be seen whether this bill will be approved and if so in what format.

The distinctly reactionary approach of the U.S. government will not settle
the fundamental questions surrounding the use of private security contractors. While some question whether it is possible to sustain ongoing conflicts like Iraq and Afghanistan without their participation, their use does not come without a cost. It may not be possible to avoid misconduct whenever mercenaries are used in combat. Regulations and oversight are likely to fix many of the current problems, but the use of mercenaries in conflict zones makes it inherently impossible to have effective accountability. The war zone environment is simply not conducive to practical regulation, though such policies make for great legislation. Iraq is just one example, but there have been many episodes where the use of contractors in other wars, peacekeeping, and stability operations was fraught with allegations of
abuse and wrongful killing.

Private security contractors are now the second largest force in Iraq and
this is a growing industry throughout the world. The Blackwater case demonstrates that their use could benefit significantly from reforms to international and domestic laws, along with more effective accountability measures from outside and within the industry. But governments must recognize that the employment of mercenaries will be an inherent compromise as they are units operating inside a war zone but outside the military command—and there are areas where practical institution of oversight is even far more difficult than Iraq. This must be viewed in light of the fact that without them, long term stability operations cannot be maintained by currently strained and often ill-suited forces. They are a necessary compromise, and should continue to be treated as such, to be used on a case by case basis, independently of efforts by private military companies to transform the industry into a staple of modern warfare.