Financial Times 'Contract interrogators hired to avoid supervision'

"Several high-ranking military legal officers believe the Pentagon used private contractors to interrogate prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan in a deliberate attempt to obscure aggressive practices from congressional or military oversight, according to a civilian lawyer who has spoken with them."

""They believed that there was a conscious effort to create an atmosphere of ambiguity, of having people involved who couldn't be held to account," he said."

redux [05.03.04]
Financial Times Scandal throws spotlight on private contractors

"The mounting scandal over the torture of Iraqi prisoners at a US military prison in Baghdad has again focused attention on the Pentagon's extensive - and sometimes controversial - use of private military contractors in the Iraq war.

Employees from two companies, CACI International and Titan, participated in interrogation sessions at the Abu Ghraib prison as both interrogation specialists and linguists, according to an internal army report completed in late February."

NPR: All Things Considered Contractors Called on for Iraqi Security

"NPR's Adam Hochberg reports on the growing use of private contractors to provide security in Iraq."

redux [04.15.04]
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?"

"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."

Independent Online, South Africa Deaths of scores of mercenaries not reported

"At least 80 foreign mercenaries - security guards recruited from the United States, Europe and South Africa and working for American companies - have been killed in the past eight days in Iraq."

"At least 18 000 mercenaries, many of them tasked to protect US troops and personnel, are now believed to be in Iraq, some of them earning $1 000 (about R6 300) a day. But their companies rarely acknowledge their losses unless - like the four American murdered and mutilated in Fallujah three weeks ago - their deaths are already public knowledge."

Global Guerrillas Mercenaries Unbound

"Private military services are big business. Currently, there are hundreds of firms that generate over $100 b a year in revenue (about 1/4 of the entire US military budget, and if taken in aggregate the second largest military in the world) and is growing at many times the rate of the DoD.

PMCs (private military corporations) are central to the US effort in Iraq. With between 10-15,000 PMC mercs in Iraq, they represent the second allied military force in theater. They are also used extensively in hot spots across the world (over 50 countries). Given this widespread use, large size, and the sensitive nature of their services; it is surprising that the industry is relatively free of regulation."