Use of private contractors by US would increase human rights violations
Attacks on embassies, especially the US embassies, in conflict zones, have become a norm these days. Incidentally, most of the embassies that were attacked were either in nations that were previously ‘invaded’ by the US or the nations where American army were found violating human rights. However, the recent attack on the US embassy in Benghazi (September 11, 2012), in which four Americans including the Ambassador Christopher Stevens, were killed, became a highly debated issue in the political corridors of the US government.
The responsibility of not safeguarding the US embassy has fallen on the Libyan government. The US government also found the State Department to be ‘understaffed’ and ‘ill-equipped’ to provide security in war zones. Moreover, ‘there was no protest prior to the attacks’ to anticipate an onslaught of such an intensity. As a result, the US government has decided to rope in private ‘Blackwater’ contractors for strengthening its security. But deploying contract security forces may not be easy.
Unlike other nations, Libyan government post-independence has banned the deployment of foreign or domestic private armed contractors on Libyan soil. The decision of the Libyan government was on the pretext that the private contractors were found committing atrocities in other nations. On September 16, 2007, Blackwater Worldwide (later Xe and now Academi) private security contractors working for the US Department of State shot dead 17 unarmed civilians and wounded 24 more in an unprovoked incident in Baghdad’s Nisoor Square.
As per a US official report released in October 2007, Blackwater employees had been involved in at least 196 fire-fights in Iraq since 2005, an average of 1.4 shootings per week and in 84 per cent of those cases – Blackwater employees opened fire first violating contract stipulation of using force only in self-defence. Thus, the State Department had to depend on local Libyan police and unarmed locals for the security of their diplomats and staff at American embassy in Libya.
Amidst all these blame games, the US government continues to use Blackwater security for its embassies in various nations in spite of accusations of using unprovoked force in Iraq and Afghanistan. Worse, these private contractors are not even prosecuted for their human rights violations. It seems private contractors would virtually close all options of the US missions on foreign soils. Presently, the US army has deployed its army (or their private security contractors) in various conflict zones in the veil of securing the resident Americans in the respective lands. Deploying private contracts further allows the US government to dodge laws and pass the bucks to the private companies in case of ‘intended’ human right violations.
Attacks on embassies, especially the US embassies, in conflict zones, have become a norm these days. Incidentally, most of the embassies that were attacked were either in nations that were previously ‘invaded’ by the US or the nations where American army were found violating human rights. However, the recent attack on the US embassy in Benghazi (September 11, 2012), in which four Americans including the Ambassador Christopher Stevens, were killed, became a highly debated issue in the political corridors of the US government.
The responsibility of not safeguarding the US embassy has fallen on the Libyan government. The US government also found the State Department to be ‘understaffed’ and ‘ill-equipped’ to provide security in war zones. Moreover, ‘there was no protest prior to the attacks’ to anticipate an onslaught of such an intensity. As a result, the US government has decided to rope in private ‘Blackwater’ contractors for strengthening its security. But deploying contract security forces may not be easy.
Unlike other nations, Libyan government post-independence has banned the deployment of foreign or domestic private armed contractors on Libyan soil. The decision of the Libyan government was on the pretext that the private contractors were found committing atrocities in other nations. On September 16, 2007, Blackwater Worldwide (later Xe and now Academi) private security contractors working for the US Department of State shot dead 17 unarmed civilians and wounded 24 more in an unprovoked incident in Baghdad’s Nisoor Square.
As per a US official report released in October 2007, Blackwater employees had been involved in at least 196 fire-fights in Iraq since 2005, an average of 1.4 shootings per week and in 84 per cent of those cases – Blackwater employees opened fire first violating contract stipulation of using force only in self-defence. Thus, the State Department had to depend on local Libyan police and unarmed locals for the security of their diplomats and staff at American embassy in Libya.
Amidst all these blame games, the US government continues to use Blackwater security for its embassies in various nations in spite of accusations of using unprovoked force in Iraq and Afghanistan. Worse, these private contractors are not even prosecuted for their human rights violations. It seems private contractors would virtually close all options of the US missions on foreign soils. Presently, the US army has deployed its army (or their private security contractors) in various conflict zones in the veil of securing the resident Americans in the respective lands. Deploying private contracts further allows the US government to dodge laws and pass the bucks to the private companies in case of ‘intended’ human right violations.
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