rssBlackwater Out of Iraq, but Mercs to Stay?
Thursday, January 29, 2009 at 3:57 pm
- 3 Comments
Here’s an idea so diabolically perfect in its simplicity only Noah Shachtman at Danger Room was able to report it. Sure, Blackwater might be kicked out of Iraq. But does that really mean its mercenaries will leave?
The State Department has a contract for “Worldwide Personal Protective Services” with three firms: Blackwater, DynCorp, and Triple Canopy. If Blackwater is no longer allowed to operate in Iraq, a lawyer steeped in the field tells Danger Room, there’s no legal reason why the other two firms can’t scoop up Blackwater’s employees. “State simply issues a new task order to DynCorp or Triple Canopy, who turn around and hire some or all of Blackwater’s employees,” he says.
And that’s why it’s significant that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton backed away from her campaign pledge to ban private military companies from doing business with the department. The contract is up in September. Why wouldn’t Triple Canopy and DynCorp, who’ll benefit from their suddenly-increased size of the Iraq contract, just hire the people with the most in-country experience? Blackwater’s employees seem unable to quit Iraq. After all, as Noah notes, it was hard enough kicking Blackwater contractors out when they were just, you know, shooting members of the Iraqi vice president’s entourage.
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3 Comments
Comment posted January 30, 2009 @ 3:27 pm
Actually, this is pretty common stuff. A lot of guys in the industry hop around to all sorts of companies. And with the WPPS contract, all individuals are trained to a standard that DoS dictates. So that is one of the reasons why these guys would be picked up–Triple Canopy and Dyncorp would be getting guys who already know the drill.
Also, in order to maintain the correct amount of resources in country for protection, picking up guys from the outgoing company is totally standard. There are guys that have worked for up to 6 companies over there, some more.
DoS probably dictates that there must be a certain percentage that are already experienced with WPPS on each contract. Just my two cents.
Now the big one that I see, are all the infrastructure stuff, armored vehicles, and air assets. BW comes with lots of toys, and TC and Dyncorp would have to play catch up pretty quick to get up to the same level as BW. I am sure those companies are a little gun shy as well, seeing the way BW got treated for trying to do a really difficult and dangerous job over there.
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[...] Spencer Ackerman called it "an idea so diabolically perfect in its simplicity only Noah Shachtman at Danger Room was able to report it." [...]
Comment posted January 30, 2009 @ 11:27 pm
Actually, this is pretty common stuff. A lot of guys in the industry hop around to all sorts of companies. And with the WPPS contract, all individuals are trained to a standard that DoS dictates. So that is one of the reasons why these guys would be picked up–Triple Canopy and Dyncorp would be getting guys who already know the drill.
Also, in order to maintain the correct amount of resources in country for protection, picking up guys from the outgoing company is totally standard. There are guys that have worked for up to 6 companies over there, some more.
DoS probably dictates that there must be a certain percentage that are already experienced with WPPS on each contract. Just my two cents.
Now the big one that I see, are all the infrastructure stuff, armored vehicles, and air assets. BW comes with lots of toys, and TC and Dyncorp would have to play catch up pretty quick to get up to the same level as BW. I am sure those companies are a little gun shy as well, seeing the way BW got treated for trying to do a really difficult and dangerous job over there.
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