Private Contractors to Lead Iraq Security

(CANVAS STAFF REPORTS) - As American soldiers exit from Iraq, it will be up to private security forces to fill the void.

The military is scheduled to leave Iraq by the end of 2011. The Sydney Morning Herald said that  the last U.S. combat brigade left at dawn on Thursday as about 56,000 U.S. soldiers are left to handle support roles.

The New York Times reported that the State Department will be in charge of training the Iraqi police and is expected to rely heavily on private security contractors whose job will include protecting the diplomats working in the country.

State Department officials told the Times that the agency plans to more than double its number of private security guards to as many as 7,000. The security force will defend five fortified compounds, operate radar to warn of enemy rocket attacks, fly reconnaissance drones and search for roadside bombs.

The Times said there will also be American diplomats staffing two new $100 million outposts who will be trying to head off potential confrontations between the Iraqi Army and Kurdish pesh merga forces.

"I don't think State has ever operated on its own, independent of the U.S. military, in an environment that is quite as threatening on such a large scale," former ambassador James Dobbins told the Times. "It is unprecedented in scale."

Members of the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan said during a hearing in July that such reliance on security contractors may not be ideal but may be the only solution available, the Defense News reported.

Commission co-chairman Michael Thibault said it may mean that it will be up to contractors to rescue Iraqi police trainers if they come under fire by Iraqi insurgents.

The State Department often leaves it up to host countries to handle emergency needs, security and other services, but Thibault told Defense News that Iraq isn't in a condition to handle those responsibilities.

Such work remains a risky business in Iraq, as PBS Newshour correspondent Margaret Warner wrote during a recent visit to Iraq.

"Terrorists still have the ability to strike at major symbols of Iraqi government power – the Trade Bank of Iraq, the Central Bank and army and police installations have all been hit in recent weeks," Warner wrote in her report.

"This is happening now almost every day in Iraq," an electronics shop owner told Warner.

PBS said violence increased in Baghdad in Iraq. There were 127 people killed country-wide during the first week in July, up sharply from July's weekly average of 75.

The website icasualties.org states that 467 contractors have been killed in Iraq. Causes of death include rocket fire, suicide car bombs, roadside bombs and small arms fire. Several have been kidnapped, their bodies turning up later.

There are already tens of thousands of contractors working for the U.S. Department of Defense in both Afghanistan and Iraq. According to the UK Guardian , the last figures available show that about 112,000 contractors are employed by the military in Afghanistan and 95,000 in Iraq.

Out of that, 16,733 are private security contractors in Afghanistan and 11,610 in Iraq.

While 70 percent of contractors and 93 percent of private security contractors in Afghanistan are Afghan nationals, Iraqi nationals make up only 18 percent of all contractors and 10 percent of private security contractors in Iraq.

U.S. Department of Defense data from March shared by the Guardian showed that 1,207 U.S. citizens are serving as private security consultants in Iraq while only 137 are in Afghanistan.

While numbers will go up in Iraq, there will be a steep decline in Afghanistan. The Guardian said that Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai wants private security firms disbanded within four months and replaced by the Afghan police force.

The Sydney Morning Herald said increased reliance on security contractors could also lead to conflict with Iraq's government following alleged involvement of foreign security personnel in incidents involving civilian deaths.

The contractors will be required to register with the country and will not have immunity from Iraqi prosecution.