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[images
added by this website]
Above:
the logo of "security contractor" Blackwater USA,
who lost four "employees" in Iraq
Friday, April 9, 2004
Rumsfeld asked
to explain role of private security contractors in
Iraq
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Thirteen of
the most powerful opposition US senators on Friday
released a letter to Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld asking to explain the role of civilian
contractors in Iraq.
The letter follows the killing and mutilation of
four US security contractors in Fallujah, Iraq, on
March 31.
In a letter to Rumsfeld dated April 8 -- but
released Friday -- the senators expressed concern
about "private armies operating outside the control
of governmental authority."
 The
letter also questioned if there were adequate
numbers of US troops in Iraq.
Signers included Senate Minority Leader Tom
Daschle, former first lady Hillary
Clinton, Ted Kennedy from Massachusetts,
as well as Carl Levin of Illinois.
"The shocking deaths of four American security
contractors in Fallujah have revealed the growing
role that private security contractors are playing
in Iraq," the letter read.
It said contractors -- often ex-soldiers --
operate in a fashion similar to special forces, but
they are not under US military control and not
subject to rules governing the conduct of American
forces.
"It would be a dangerous precedent if
the United States allowed the presence of
private armies operating outside the control of
governmental authority and beholden only to
those who pay them.
"In the context of Iraq, unless these forces
are properly screened by United States
authorities and are required to operate under
clear guidelines and appropriate supervision,
their presence will contribute to Iraqi
resentment," the letter said.
It said that such delegating raised "serious
questions." 
"The presence and number of these private
security personnel again raise the question of the
adequacy of United States troop levels in Iraq," it
stated.
It closed by requesting a full tally of the
number of privately armed non-Iraqi security
personnel operating in Iraq, and urged Rumsfeld to
adopt written guidelines for their use.
David Irving comments on the
curious role of American "civilian
contractors"
More on those innocent "civilian
contractors": Blackwater
USA to hold firearms Swat conference in May
2004 
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