Exclusive: U.S. Blocks Oversight of Its Mercenary Army in Iraq

[cal04]

By Spencer Ackerman
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/07/iraq-merc-army/

By January 2012, the State Department will do something it’s never done before: command a mercenary army the size of a heavy combat brigade. That’s the plan to provide security for its diplomats in Iraq once the U.S. military withdraws. And no one outside State knows anything more, as the department has gone to war with its independent government watchdog to keep its plan a secret.

Stuart Bowen, the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR), is essentially in the dark about one of the most complex and dangerous endeavors the State Department has ever undertaken, one with huge implications for the future of the United States in Iraq. “Our audit of the program is making no progress,” Bowen tells Danger Room.

For months, Bowen’s team has tried to get basic information out of the State Department about how it will command its assembled army of about 5,500 private security contractors. How many State contracting officials will oversee how many hired guns? What are the rules of engagement for the guards? What’s the system for reporting a security danger, and for directing the guards’ response?

(snip)
State wouldn’t comment for this story, saying it would be “inappropriate” to discuss an internal matter concerning Bowen. A department official who wouldn’t speak on the record merely said that it provides him with “extensive materials in response to their audit requests for documents and information falling within its statutory responsibilities.”

[iwishiwas]

1. the article has a see also section....State Dept. to Pay Out Billions More to Mercs

See Also:

Despite Clinton Pledge, State Dept. to Pay Out Billions More to Mercs
5,500 Mercs to Protect U.S. Fortresses in Iraq
Exclusive: Blackwater Wins Piece of $10 Billion Mercenary Deal
Two More Merc Firms Get Big Iraq Contracts
Accused Blackwater Shooters Turning Themselves In

[aquart]

2. Mercenaries are paid WAY more than soldiers.

And they have no rules. And anyone who catches one will have no rules.

Good luck on the stupidest most expensive way to run a war ever known.

[Dept of Beer]

3. Before its fall the Roman Empire relied heavily on mercenaries

to do its bidding. So it goes, so it goes.

[awoke_in_2003]

8. As did the Brits...

during the Revolutionary War.

[Dept of Beer]

9. Same group actually: Germans.

[Scalded Nun]

4. Why are we even doing this?

If a mercenary army is in fact needed then why are the Iraqis not taking care of this? This country has NO business standing up ANY mercenary force for ANY reason.

This is nothing more than shoveling more shitloads of dollars out the window to war-buddies in the US. Iraq is going to be getting all of that oil money from the countries/companies they have now signed agreements with. Let Iraq or those countries/companies foot this bill.

We really need to get out of the business of taking care of other countries until we start learning (or re-learning) how to take care of ourselves. We are pushing everything we should be holding dear off of a cliff just so the few in power can further enrich their friends and benefactors. Of course no one wants transparency! We might see the real game being played out.

[blkmusclmachine]

5. Secrecy you can believe in

[Fearless]

11. +1

[dixiegrrrrl]

6. When did the STATE dept go into the overt warfare business?

Not the "covert" warfare business, but the overt business?
Is it not enough that we have DOD, and the Penetagon, and the CIA, snuffing out lives with impunity, now the STATE Dept. is doing it?
Way to go, Hillary.

[Hawkowl]

7. Loose the Brownshirts!

To be completely serious, the Nazi SS started out as a private security group that morphed into the Brownshirts and then became the infamous SS. Mercenaries have no place in a Republic. We can go further back in time to when the Romans paid the Goths, Visigoths, and Huns as mercenaries. That also did not turn out so well. Or the British East India Company and the Sepoy rebellion.

Mercenaries and torture camps were supposed to have ended under Obama.

[snagglepuss]

10. Important story unfortunately lost amidst all the breaking news.

:kick: