WASHINGTON — How can a small army take on big jobs? First, it calls up more reserves and National Guardsmen than have been called up in 50 years. Second, it privatizes much of its work, paying civilian contractors to perform
WASHINGTON — How can a small army take on big jobs?
First, it calls up more reserves and National Guardsmen than have been called up in 50 years. Second, it privatizes much of its work, paying civilian contractors to perform military functions. This is why civilians keep popping up in Iraq. We see them in military convoys, or in combat regalia providing security for various people, or even in the infamous Abu Ghraib prison interrogating or terrorizing prisoners.
Exact numbers for American civilians in Iraq are not available, but some estimates claim there are more than 100,000 U.S. civilians working for the United States or U.S. government-authorized contractors such as Halliburton, the company once run by Vice President Dick Cheney.
There are several important aspects to this civilianization of the war. First, it lacks accountability. Second, it is expensive.
U.S. civilian casualties are not counted in the military casualty reports. So, while U.S. military deaths in Iraq are approaching 800, U.S. civilian contractor deaths go untallied. This will eventually become the uncounted-casualty scandal. But we first need to find out what the toll is.
The second problem is a budget problem. Whereas U.S. service personnel receive meager wages — so meager that some of them are on food stamps — U.S. civilian contractors are typically receiving six-figure incomes, of which the first $80,000 is free from federal taxes. Further, they receive bonuses, insurance packages and other benefits.
Even so, Halliburton and other contractors are having difficulty filling the slots because the duty is so hazardous.
What Congress needs to be asking is how much of the $87 billion previously authorized and the $25 billion just authorized to pay for the war is going for wages. Then, those wages need to be compared to the wages of service personnel who are performing or are capable of performing similar tasks. The figures are sure to be shocking.
Of note is the fact that the troop level that is officially cited as 138,000 (though with delays in redeployments, it is probably closer to 160,000-180,000), however, when you add civilian contractors, the number could be as high as 280,000. And even this number is proving to be insufficient to quell the Iraqi insurrection.
What we need, then, are truth in numbers, both in people and dollars. If Americans are expected to support the military effort, they must be told the truth.
To do otherwise is to undermine that support. Even those citizens who now support the war could turn on an administration that plays loose with the numbers.
Of even more concern is the undermining of the military. How do we expect to retain good people in the service when they can resign and triple or quadruple their incomes?
This undermines re-enlistments as well as morale, and is, therefore, undoubtedly undermining the war effort.
Political Correspondent: Eleanor Clift
Copyright 2004 Anderson and Cohn
Distributed by United Feature Syndicate, Inc.
