Wednesday, September 09, 2009
While American soldiers pull out from Iraq, Americans of another stripe keep arriving in country. Private security contractors from the U.S. and other countries are pouring into Iraq to take over the guarding of key installations and bases—at an estimated cost of nearly $1 billion.
The problem with relying on heavily armed security guards is that it takes more of them than regular soldiers to provide protection. According to the inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, Camp Bucca, which is used as a detention facility, is now guarded by 417 contractors, whereas only 350 soldiers used to do the same job. At Forward Operating Base Hammer, 124 private guards have replaced 102 soldiers, and at the supply base Camp Taji, more than 900 contractors have stepped in for 400 soldiers.
A review by Central Command of approximately 13,000 contractors found that 623 were Americans, 1,029 were Iraqis and 11,580 were “third-country nationals,” including many from Uganda and Kenya.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
With U.S. Forces in Iraq Beginning to Leave, Need for Private Guards Grows (by Walter Pincus, Washington Post)
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