Rising Tension over 'Shadow Army' in Iraq

Revolt · Jul 7, 2005

Fascinating series of stories by Fox.

On one side are Americans who have gone to Iraq as private contractors, helping Iraqis and the U.S. military with construction or security while often earning a bigger paycheck than they would have made at home.

On the other side are Americans serving in the U.S. military — soldiers and Marines who earn less money and whose primary responsibility is fighting a violent insurgency and stabilizing the Iraqi government.
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I never knew there were THIS many contractors:

Overview: More than 120,000 private contractors are in Iraq, the majority of these perform reconstruction duties.
An estimated 20,000 contractors do security work. Of these, 6,000 are in armed tactical roles, protecting important installations such as corporate enclaves, U.S. facilities, and the Green Zone in Baghdad and guarding key Iraqi and U.S. officials.

The remaining 100,000 contractors help rebuild oil pipelines, electricity grids and other critical infrastructures.
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According to the Center for Public Integrity, the top 20 contractors, ranked by total contract value, for activities in Iraq and Afghanistan, from 2002 through July 1, 2004, are:

1. KBR (Halliburton), Houston, Texas: $11.431 billion

2. Parsons Corp., Pasadena, Calif.: $5.286 billion

3. Fluor Corp., Aliso Viejo, Calif.: $3.755 billion

4. Washington Group International, Arlington, Va.: $3.133 billion

5. Shaw Group/Shaw Engineering and Infrastructure, Baton Rouge, La.: $3.051 billion

6. Bechtel Group Inc., San Francisco, Calif.: $2, 830 billion

7. Perini Corporation, Framingham, Mass.: $2.525 billion

8. Contrack International Inc., Arlington, Va.: $2.325 billion

9. Tetra Tech Inc., Pasadena, Calif.: $1.542 billion

10. USA Environmental Inc., Tampa, Fla. $1,542 billion

11. CH2M Hill, Englewood, Colo.: $1.529 billion

12. American International Contractors, Inc. $1.5 billion

13. Odebrect-Austin $1.5 billion

14. Zapata Engineering, Charlotte, N.C.: $1.479 billion

15. Environmental Chemical Corporation, Burlingame, Calif.: $1.475 billion

16. Explosive Ordnance Technologies Inc., Rumson, N.J.: $1.475 billion

17. Stanley Baker Hill, LLC, Muscatine, Iowa: $1.2 billion

18. International American Products, Irmo, S.C.: $628 million

19. Research Triangle Institute, North Carolina: $466 million

20. Titan Corporation, San Diego, Calif.: $402 million

Other companies include: Louis Berger Group, BearingPoint, Creative Associates International Inc., Chemonics International Inc., Harris Corporation, Readiness Management Support LC, DynCorp (Computer Sciences Corp.), Lucent Technologies and EOD Technology Inc., Blackwater Security Consulting, General Electric, Detection Monitoring Technologies and Sealift Inc.
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Revolt · Jul 7, 2005

Marine Col. John Toolan, who was the military commander of the area that included Fallujah when four private security contractors employed by Blackwater (search) were ambushed and murdered last year, told PBS' "Frontline" that the part of the problem is that the military and contractors have different motivations in a dangerous environment.

"We have a tendency to want to be a little bit more sure about operating in an environment," he said. "Whereas I think some of the contractors are motivated by the financial remuneration and the fact that they probably want to get someplace from point A to point B quickly, their tendency [is] to have a little more risk. So yes, we're at odds. But we can work it out."
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I saw the Frontline show - a must-see.

metroflip73 · Jul 7, 2005

Corporate/Shadow armies = Mercs. Where do you think the term "Free lance" comes from?

Anyway, I'm not surprised. After all, didn't some Merc/Security Corporation quell a revolt in Africa within the past 10-15 years? Coulda sworn I saw that on History or Military Channel several months ago.

Sine Pari · Jul 7, 2005

metroflip73 said:

Corporate/Shadow armies = Mercs. Where do you think the term "Free lance" comes from?

Anyway, I'm not surprised. After all, didn't some Merc/Security Corporation quell a revolt in Africa within the past 10-15 years? Coulda sworn I saw that on History or Military Channel several months ago.
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That was Executive Outcomes

It was in Sierra Leone

USvsIRELAND · Jul 7, 2005

Weren't 2 American Security guys arresting in Iraq a while ago???

They had made their own jail??

or am I remembering wrong?

Phoenix13 · Jul 7, 2005

That was in Afghanistan. The one guy's name was Keith Idema. He used to run a paintball company Idema Sports with his dog Sarge. Supposedly he was running relief missions in Afghanistan, but ended up capturing and interogatting prisoners at his own jail.

Personally after today I think he was on the right track.

USvsIRELAND · Jul 7, 2005

Phoenix13 said:

That was in Afghanistan. The one guy's name was Keith Idema. He used to run a paintball company Idema Sports with his dog Sarge. Supposedly he was running relief missions in Afghanistan, but ended up capturing and interogatting prisoners at his own jail.

Personally after today I think he was on the right track.
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Thanks. Sorry I knew I remembered something.

352klr · Jul 7, 2005

Phoenix13 said:

That was in Afghanistan. The one guy's name was Keith Idema. He used to run a paintball company Idema Sports with his dog Sarge. Supposedly he was running relief missions in Afghanistan, but ended up capturing and interogatting prisoners at his own jail.

Personally after today I think he was on the right track.
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Keith Idema is a complete sh!thead who has nowhere near the experience he claims to have and is a compulsive liar. His method of grabbing people because they had long beards is absolute clownsh!t and he deserves to rot in his Afghan jail cell.

superdave · Jul 7, 2005

Phoenix13 said:

Personally after today I think he was on the right track.
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You obviously didn't follow the case. He was a total clown.

Hard Karl · Jul 8, 2005

I will also echo the clown sentiment and raise it a "complete nutter". I have yet to formulate an opinion on Sarge.

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Yeah though, those private contractors (read: mercenaries) are some seriously spooky business. Very little of what they do strikes me as wise or in any way promoting a better situation in Iraq (I'm talking about the mercenary contractors, not the guys building treament plants and such).

Hard Karl · Jul 8, 2005

Actually, I have reached a decision about Sarge... he clearly must have been the brains behind this paintball operation.