TJP

Iraq: Mercenary Killings

Byron A. Ellis

American security contractors working in Iraq are doing a disservice to the image of the United States. They act as if the lives of Iraqis are insignificant.

The Associated Press (AP) reports that a private security guard fatally shot an Iraqi taxi driver on Saturday, November 12, 2007. Apparently, the incident involved a security team from DynCorp International. According to AP, a spokesperson from DynCorp International indicated that one of their security team opened fire to disable a vehicle in Baghdad after it approached a convoy in a threatening fashion.

Clearly, if security contractors can shoot and justify the killing by saying that the victim was a threat, then they have no incentive to stop killing unarmed Iraqis.

If the US wants to reverse its image abroad, this predatory behavior by security contractors must be halted and punished.

And, what is so insidious is that these private security contractors open fire an innocent Iraqis and do not even stop to assess if the victims are who they believe them to be; they just shoot a drive away. In the US, we call it a drive by shooting and the drive by shooter is criminally responsible.

The security contractors after a killing incident always attempt to obscure it by claiming reporting conflicts. However, if they were required by the State Department to remain on the scene of the incident that they created; they would not be any reporting conflict. Moreover, their propensity to kill innocent Iraqis would diminish, since the cost of wrongly pulling the trigger would be high.

What is sad is that it appears that the U.S. Embassy has little or no control over the actions of these mercenaries. However, in the eyes of the world, these mercenaries represent the United States.

Furthermore, it appears that the Secretary of State is unable to exert effective constraints on the U.S. army of mercenaries. Since, a simple command indicating that unjustifiable or unprovoked killings by security contractors will be grounds for criminal prosecution has apparently not occurred. Rather, she has opted to require contractors to undergo sensitivity training.

The Secretary of State should be unambiguous in indicating to U.S. security contractors that killing innocent Iraqis is a punishable U.S. and Iraqi crime.

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