GLOBE EDITORIAL
A privatized warWHEN RUMSFELD testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee today, senators should quiz him not just about the alleged abuse and killings of Iraqi detainees but also about the military's increasing reliance on civilian contractors, especially for sensitive work like prisoner interrogation. The 20,000 contractors represent by far the largest group working for the coalition in Iraq after the US uniformed forces, dwarfing Britain's 7,500 troops.
The Pentagon's reliance on private contractors for duties beyond kitchen police or truck driving became clear with General Antonio M. Taguba's report on the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison. The report singles out employees with two major Pentagon contractors, In addition, The New York Times reported yesterday that the Justice Department is investigating the role of Central Intelligence Agency officers and CIA contract employees in the suspicious deaths of three detainees, two in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. The Pentagon says it must turn to contractors because -- although it has 2.4 million troops -- it lacks personnel in a number of specialties, including linguists and interrogators. The shortage of troops capable of speaking Arabic is understandable, but it should have long since been clear that the military needed more personnel trained in interrogation. One major problem presented by heavy reliance on civilian contractors is their legal status when they are alleged to have committed crimes. Unlike military personnel, they are not subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Legal experts say they can probably be prosecuted under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act. But this four-year-old law has never been tested under circumstances like the ones at hand. The deeper issue with civilian contractors in a situation like the Abu Ghraib prison is overall accountability -- how they fit into the chain of command. Many of the contractors are ex-service personnel who are older and more experienced than the uniformed soldiers they work with. This is of little consequence when contractors are guarding a pipeline, but it is easy to imagine contractors in a complex situation like a prison interrogation facility gaining sway over the commissioned officers who are ostensibly in charge.
The Pentagon's increasing reliance on contractors is a privatizer's way to have the military fight more wars without reverting to the political third rail of the draft or incurring the substantial cost of recruiting and retaining more volunteer troops. But at Abu Ghraib prison, relying on a shadow army of civilian contractors raises the issue of whether the Defense Department is not paying attention or whether it is consciously trying to avoid accountability. © Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company.
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