Despite presidential opposition, the U.S. House
passed a bill today that would make private contractors working in combat zones subject to prosecution where wrongdoing occurred. The bill had broad bipartisan support, passing 389-30, but all "nay" votes came from Republicans (roll call vote). House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers commented:
"We have never fought a war in which private contractors not only outnumber U.S. troops as they do in Iraq, but perform many tasks that are very similar to those historically performed by our troops. A critical difference, however, is that these contractors, unlike our troops, are not subject to the requirements of military discipline and U.S. law governing the conduct of warfare."
Called the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act (MEJA) Expansion and Enforcement Act of 2007, the bill responds to reports of government contractors' questionably shooting civilians in Iraq. Blackwater USA is only one example of contractors that acted questionably without facing legal consequences, due to a regulation that made contractors largely immune from prosecution. Recently, Blackwater has faced trouble on several fronts....
Over the last few weeks, we learned that Blackwater : 1) questionably fired at civilians in Iraq, 2) may have illegally smuggled weapons into Iraq, and 3) may have overcharged the U.S. taxpayers (BN-Politics-1 and BN-Politics-2).
This week, Blackwater CEO Erik Prince and State Department officials testified at House Oversight Committee hearings, though some newspapers failed to cover what actually happened at the hearings (see hearing video). Among the incidents discussed was a Blackwater contractor's killing of the Iraqi vice president's guard at a Christmas Eve party last year: with help from the State Department, the contractor was whisked out of Iraq and hasn't yet faced prosecution.
For more about Blackwater and our nation's government-contracting woes, see the posts linked below:
* Blackwater Hearings: Details, Odd Comments & Poor Media Coverage
* New Evidence of Blackwater's Bad Behavior
* State Dept. Staff Threatened for Cooperating with Congress
* Have U.S. Officials Protected Blackwater?
* State Dept. Inspector Blocked Investigations?
* Justice Official Turned Blind Eye to Contractor Fraud?
* Gov. Contractors: Driving up War's Costs
* Contractor Fraud: Driving Up Healthcare Costs?
* How the Energy Dept. Incinerated Tax Dollars
* New Orleans Still Suffering after 2 Years and Billions of Tax Dollars
* Billions over Baghdad: Poor Accounting Allowed Waste & Fraud
* Interior Officials Allowed Oil Companies to Underpay Royalties
* Time for Pentagon to Get Serious About Contractor Fraud
* Contractor UNISYS in Trouble Again
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