U.S. mercenary contractors sued over Abu Ghraib

Four Iraqis held prisoner at Saddam Hussein’s former torture center are suing top American mercenary contractors involved with their imprisonment.

The suit also alleges destruction of evidence, hiding prisoners from the International Red Cross and other no-nos.

Will Democrats stipulate that their Iraq withdrawal plans include defunding private contractors?

If we just replace American soldiers being shot at with more funding of private contractors, then the war potentially becomes more burdensome on the budget, and not a whole lot easier. Read Mother Jones for some good reporting on what contractors are doing in Iraq right now, and on their belief that, if we pull out, the Iraq government will have to come calling on them. (Unanswered: Where will Iraq get the money to pay for these guys when [I hope] the U.S. gravy train pipeline gets shut down?)

Demanding Democratic answers on Iraq and mercenaries

This Guardian story references a rumor that, when the British pull out of Basra, instead of leaving a vacuum for U.S. troops to fill, they’ll instead have their places taken by mercenaries.

This is another reason Obama’s and Clinton’s partial draw-down is simply not acceptable. Their plans say nothing about the Blackwaters of the world in Iraq, as to whether their numbers will be kept the same, or even increased.

Beyond Iraq, we need Democratic candidates to honestly address the question of U.S.-incorporated mercenary companies like DynCorp in places like Columbia, as well, especially since they are now fixing their eyes on getting a slice of U.N. peacekeeping budgets in war-torn areas where the U.N. is trying to step in.

Mercenaries outnumber US troops in Iraq

Crazy, no? But true. The details:

The number of U.S.-paid private contractors in Iraq now exceeds that of American combat troops, newly released figures show, raising fresh questions about the privatization of the war effort and the government's capacity to carry out military and rebuilding campaigns.

More than 180,000 civilians — including Americans, foreigners and Iraqis -- are working in Iraq under U.S. contracts, according to State and Defense department figures obtained by the Los Angeles Times.

Yes, 2/3 are Iraqis:

The numbers include at least 21,000 Americans, 43,000 foreign contractors and about 118,000 Iraqis — all employed in Iraq by U.S. tax dollars, according to the most recent government data.

But:

There are also signs that even those mounting numbers may not capture the full picture. Private security contractors, who are hired to protect government officials and buildings, were not fully counted in the survey, according to industry and government officials.

Continuing uncertainty over the numbers of armed contractors drew special criticism from military experts.

“We don't have control of all the coalition guns in Iraq. That’s dangerous for our country,” said William Nash, a retired Army general and reconstruction expert. The Pentagon “is hiring guns. You can rationalize it all you want, but that’s obscene.”

And, just how much do we know of the loyalties and intentions of those 118,000 Iraqis? Probably not a lot. They may be even less trustworthy than those that help our soldiers and marines.

Cross posted at SocraticGadfly.