U.S. Military Will Oversee Contractors

[RamboLiberal]

Source: NY Times

All State Department security convoys in Iraq will now fall under military control, the latest step taken by government officials to bring Blackwater Worldwide and other armed contractors under tighter supervision.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates agreed to the measure at a lunch on Tuesday after weeks of tension between their departments over coordination of thousands of gun-carrying contractors operating in the chaos of Iraq.

Mr. Gates appears to have won the bureaucratic tug-of-war, which accelerated after a Sept. 16 shooting in central Baghdad involving guards in a Blackwater convoy who Iraqi investigators say killed 17 Iraqis. Military coordination of contractor convoys will include operations of not only Blackwater, formerly known as Blackwater USA, but also those of dozens of other private firms that guard American diplomats, aid workers and reconstruction crews.

In Iraq, the government approved a draft law to overturn an order imposed by the American occupation authority in 2004 granting the employees of foreign contractors immunity from Iraqi law. Also on Tuesday, the State Department confirmed that some Blackwater employees questioned in connection with the Sept. 16 shooting had been granted a form of immunity in exchange for their statements. However, officials insisted that the immunity was limited and that it did not foreclose the possibility of prosecutions.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/31/washington/31contractor.html?hp

[maddezmom]

1. geez, I go to dinner and the deal changes once again

from an earlier post it looked like it wasn't decided:

another link....looks like Pentagon won't have control over any contractors
However, the agreement appeared to fall short of a deal putting contractors under the command of the military, as Pentagon officials had suggested.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said from a practical standpoint, it was decided not to put contractors under military command.

"Once they did an analysis of it, they decided this was not something they wanted to take on," said McCormack.

Gates and U.S. commanders have expressed concern that contractors' actions could undermine the U.S. mission in Iraq.

"If we can agree on a common set of standards, common rules for the use of force and can agree that there will be coordinated movements of contractors ... that may suffice," Morrell said.

more:http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N30198899.htm

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3047858&mesg_id=3048239

But the link has since changed to reflect the NYT article. My head is spinning today from all the announcements, comments from State.

[DCKit]

2. Just another game of "Hot Potato" until the issue goes away.... unless it doesn't

Then they'll look for another scapegoat and make a lot of noise. Same old, same old.

America needs to get a clue.

[maddezmom]

3. kick

:kick: