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The Perils Of Privatizing Security

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 5, 2007

Members of Congress need to guard against political grandstanding, but they are right to investigate a private security firm accused of opening fire on innocent Iraqis last month and committing other misdeeds.

In addition to the September case in which Blackwater guards killed 17 Iraqis and wounded 25, a congressional staff report has detailed several other cases where Blackwater USA employees killed Iraqis, covered up the killings and shuttled the shooters out of Iraq, sometimes with State Department help.
Company president Erik D. Prince denies the charges and argues against a rush to judgment. On this, members of both parties should listen.

Because Prince and Blackwater executives have given heavily to Republican candidates,this could easily become a muddled partisan affair. But Americans deserve an impartial accounting of what occurred in the shootings and why the taxpayers have had to spend more than $1 billion on Blackwater services.

The U.S. State Department has even entrusted Blackwater with diplomatic security in Iraq. It's one thing for the government to use private guards to safeguard private contractors in Iraq, but does the nation need to sub out the protection of its diplomats?

It's also troubling that, as the congressional report found, the government pays Blackwater $1,222 per day for each guard. That is more than six times more than is paid a comparable enlisted man.

Blackwater's contracts and conduct need rigorous but unbiased scrutiny. If Democrats simply use try to taint the president or Republicans focus on minimizing the political fallout, then the public is unlikely to ever learn the truth - or what's best for taxpayers and national security.

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