Early Bird 0/27/2007

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C U R R E N T N E W S E A R L Y B I R D

September 27, 2007

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GATES/PACE TESTIMONY
1. Increase In War Funding Sought
(Washington Post)...Josh White and Ann Scott Tyson
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates asked Congress yesterday to approve an additional $42.3 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, bringing the Bush administration's 2008 war funding request to nearly $190 billion -- the largest single-year total for the wars so far.
2. U.S. Needs ‘Long-Term Presence’ In Iraq, Gates Says
(New York Times)...David S. Cloud
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told Congress on Wednesday that he envisioned keeping five combat brigades in Iraq as a “long-term presence.”
3. Gates Moves To Rein In Contractors In Iraq
(Los Angeles Times)...Peter Spiegel and Julian E. Barnes
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has ordered U.S. military commanders in Iraq to crack down on any abuses they uncover by private security contractors in the aftermath of a deadly shooting involving American guards that infuriated Iraqis.
4. Pentagon Team To Study Oversight Of Security Firms
(Washington Post)...Ann Scott Tyson
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said yesterday that his concerns over insufficient oversight of private security firms in Iraq led him this week to dispatch a team to the country to investigate the issue, while also instructing commanders to tighten their controls over the armed guards.
5. Gates: Administration Split On Guantanamo
(The Hill)...Roxana Tiron
Despite signaling that he wants to see the controversial military prison at Guantanamo Bay shuttered, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that he has been unable to reach agreement within the executive branch on how to proceed with the closure.
6. Pace's Remarks On Gays Upset Hearing On Hill
(Washington Post)...Josh White
Marine Gen. Peter W. Pace, outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, touched off audience outbursts and the brief suspension of a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing yesterday after he reiterated his belief that homosexual activity is immoral.
7. General Causes Stir Over Gay GIs
(Washington Times)...Associated Press
Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, caused a stir at a Senate hearing yesterday when he said he thinks homosexual activity is immoral and should not be condoned by the military.
DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
8. Pentagon Hints Contractors Can Be Tried In Military Courts
(Washington Times)...Sharon Behn
Pentagon officials suggested yesterday that U.S. civilian security contractors in Iraq fall under the Uniformed Code of Military Justice and could be prosecuted in military courts for offenses against Iraqis.
9. Gates Names England As DOD CMO
(Inside The Pentagon)...Unattributed
Defense Secretary Robert Gates has named Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England as the Pentagon’s Chief Management Officer, according to a Sept. 18 Defense Department directive. In addition to his traditional responsibilities as the No. 2 official at DOD, England will now be tasked with the following:
10. Private Security Providers Become A Pentagon Focus
(Wall Street Journal)...August Cole
The fallout over the recent Blackwater USA shooting in Iraq may redefine how private security forces operate in hot spots around the world.
IRAQ
11. Shootings By Blackwater Exceed Other Firms In Iraq
(New York Times)...John M. Broder and James Risen
The American security contractor Blackwater USA has been involved in a far higher rate of shootings while guarding American diplomats in Iraq than other security firms providing similar services to the State Department, according to Bush administration officials and industry officials.
12. 19,000 Militant Fatalities Since '03
(USA Today)...Jim Michaels
More than 19,000 militants have been killed in fighting with coalition forces since the insurgency began more than four years ago, according to military statistics released for the first time.
13. Iraqi Oil Exports To North Rise
(Christian Science Monitor)...Leslie Sabbagh and Tom A. Peter
A campaign to stop sabotage on the key Iraqi oil pipeline running north from Kirkuk to Turkey has led to sustained oil exports for the first time since the war began, say US officers and Iraqi officials.
14. Blasts Kill At Least 30 Across Iraq In Growing Campaign Of Violence
(Washington Post)...Sudarsan Raghavan
Insurgents are stepping up a campaign of violence across Iraq during the holy month of Ramadan, staging six car bomb attacks on Wednesday that killed at least 30 people and wounded dozens, U.S. and Iraqi officials said.
15. Bombings In Iraq Said To Signal Ramadan Offensive
(New York Times)...Andrew E. Kramer
A surge in suicide and car bombings in Iraq this week is evidence that militants have begun an offensive they had threatened for the holy month of Ramadan, an American general said Wednesday.
16. 59 Iraqi Troops Held In Raid
(Los Angeles Times)...Ned Parker
Iraqi and U.S. special forces have arrested at least 59 army officers and enlisted men accused in killings, bombings and kidnappings in the latest case linking elements of the Iraqi army to sectarian militias and criminal gangs, authorities announced Wednesday.
17. Al-Maliki Seeks Support At U.N.
(USA Today)...Wire reports
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki warned the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday that the continued flow of weapons, suicide bombers and terrorism funding into his country would result in "disastrous consequences" for the region and the world.
18. Maliki Warns On Terrorism
(Boston Globe)...Justin Bergman, Associated Press
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of Iraq told the UN General Assembly yesterday that terrorism is threatening to erase any gains made in reducing sectarian killings and establishing democratic principles in his country.
19. Iraqi Arms Request Seen As Hopeful
(Washington Times)...Sara A. Carter
Pentagon officials yesterday hailed an Iraqi request to purchase up to $2.3 billion worth of U.S. weapons as a sign that the fledgling government is taking steps to secure the war-torn nation.
20. Deal With Iraq On Kurdish Rebels
(Washington Times)...Unattributed
Turkey and Iraq have agreed to sign a counterterrorism deal cracking down on separatist Kurdish rebels holed up in bases in northern Iraq, officials said yesterday.
21. O.C. City Reaches Out To Iraqis
(Los Angeles Times)...Tony Barboza
The suburban community of Laguna Niguel knew there would be obstacles to starting a sister city program with the Qaim district of Iraq.
22. Report Says Hussein Was Open To Exile Before 2003 Invasion
(Washington Post)...Karen DeYoung and Michael Abramowitz
Less than a month before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Saddam Hussein signaled that he was willing to go into exile as long as he could take with him $1 billion and information on weapons of mass destruction, according to a report of a Feb. 22, 2003, meeting between President Bush and his Spanish counterpart published by a Spanish newspaper yesterday.
CONGRESS
23. Senate Backs Separating Iraq Into 3 Regions
(Los Angeles Times)...Noam N. Levey
Implicitly criticizing the Bush administration's reliance on the Iraqi central government to unify the country, the U.S. Senate on Wednesday overwhelmingly endorsed the decentralization of Iraq into semi-autonomous regions.
24. House Leaders Plan Push On Iraq
(CQ Today)...Alan K. Ota and John M. Donnelly
The Iraq War debate is expected to resume as early as next week in the House, where the leadership is lining up measures intended to unify Democrats around an anti-war position and attract some Republican votes.
25. Abercrombie, GOP Colleague Differ On Iraq Visit
(Honolulu Star-Bulletin)...Frederic J. Frommer, Associated Press
Two members of the latest congressional delegation to visit Iraq have differing views of how normal the country has become since the so-called surge of U.S. forces.
26. House Condemns Attack On Petraeus
(USA Today)...Unattributed
The House condemned the liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org for running a newspaper ad that referred to Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, as "General Betray Us," a play on the pronunciation of his name. The vote was 341-79. The Senate passed a similar resolution last week.
27. Kerry Asks Gates To Investigate DOD's Handling Of Troops' Data
(Inside The Pentagon)...Christopher J. Castelli
Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) is asking Defense Secretary Robert Gates to investigate the Pentagon’s handling of military Social Security numbers following revelations about the Navy’s failure to safeguard warfighters’ personal data at bases nationwide.
28. Senate Urges Bush To Declare Iran Guard A Terrorist Group
(New York Times)...David M. Herszenhorn
The Senate approved a resolution on Wednesday urging the Bush administration to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organization, and lawmakers briefly set aside partisan differences to approve a measure calling for stepped-up diplomacy to forge a political solution in Iraq.
29. House Passes A Stopgap Bill To Pay For Programs
(New York Times)...Robert Pear
...The stopgap bill provides money for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, including $5.2 billion for mine-resistant vehicles.
30. Senate Halts Change In Tomb Of Unknowns
(Washington Times)...Unattributed
An amendment to a House bill that would prevent the Army from replacing the marble sarcophagus at the Tomb of the Unknowns received unanimous approval from the Senate yesterday.
MILITARY HEALTH CARE
31. Report Says Fixes Slow To Come At Walter Reed
(Washington Post)...Steve Vogel
More than half a year after disclosures of systemic problems at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and other military hospitals, the Pentagon's promised fixes are threatened by staff shortages and uncertainty about how best to improve long-term care for wounded troops, according to a congressional report issued yesterday.
32. Report Says Army Hasn’t Met Goals For Injured Soldiers
(New York Times)...Associated Press
The Army has yet to fully staff the new teams being put together to improve treatment of wounded soldiers at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, according to a Congressional report made public on Wednesday.
33. Military Faces Big Hurdles In Goals For Mental Health Care
(USA Today)...Gregg Zoroya
The Pentagon said it would take at least eight months to complete major improvements to its mental health program, which treats troops with post-traumatic stress disorder and other conditions.
ARMY
34. Army Is Worn Too Thin, Says General
(Boston Globe)...Bryan Bender
The Army's top officer, General George Casey, told Congress yesterday that his branch of the military has been stretched so thin by the war in Iraq that it can not adequately respond to another conflict - one of the strongest warnings yet from a military leader that repeated deployments to war zones in the Middle East have hamstrung the military's ability to deter future aggression.
35. Soldier Pleads Not Guilty In Killing Of Iraqis
(Washington Post)...Katarina Kratovac, Associated Press
A U.S. soldier pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of killing Iraqis and then trying to cover it up by planting weapons on their bodies.
36. Contract Is Awarded For Complex At APG
(Baltimore Sun)...Timothy B. Wheeler
The Army Corps of Engineers awarded a $477.5 million contract yesterday to design and build an office and laboratory complex at Aberdeen Proving Ground for the high-tech military jobs to be moved there from Fort Monmouth in New Jersey.
AIR FORCE
37. Air Force May Accelerate Deployment Of CV-22s Into Combat, Says Moseley
(Defense Daily)...Michael Sirak
The Air Force may accelerate the combat debut of the CV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft to avoid a decrease in the vertical-lift capabilities available to the special operations community as the service's remaining MH-53 Pave Low helicopters are phased out over the next 18 months, Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley said yesterday.
AFGHANISTAN
38. Coalition Reports Heavy Toll For Taliban
(Washington Post)...Alisa Tang, Associated Press
U.S.-led forces used artillery and airstrikes to kill more than 165 insurgents and repel large assaults on coalition troops in two Taliban strongholds, officials said Wednesday.
39. Purported Taliban Contact Held
(Los Angeles Times)...Associated Press
A purported Taliban spokesman has been arrested in Helmand province, the Interior Ministry said today.
40. Bush, Karzai Agree To Agree On Afghanistan
(Los Angeles Times)...James Gerstenzang
President Bush and Afghan President Hamid Karzai agreed Wednesday on the need to work jointly to fight narcotics trafficking, terrorism and a resurgent Taliban, and on the necessity of international help with energy needs, a White House official said.
IRAN
41. Washington Sees An Opportunity On Iran
(New York Times)...David E. Sanger and Thom Shanker
A year and a half after President Bush told top aides that he feared he might be forced someday to choose between acquiescing to Iran’s nuclear ambitions and ordering military action, the struggle to find an effective alternative — sanctions with real bite — is entering a new phase.
42. U.S.: 'Case Is Not Closed' On Iran Nukes
(Miami Herald)...Jonathan S. Landay
The dispute over Iran's nuclear program is far from over, despite Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's assertion before the U.N. General Assembly that his government considers the issue ``closed.''
ASIA/PACIFIC
43. S. Korea To Seek Cuts In DMZ Posts
(Seattle Times)...Unattributed
South Korea will call for the removal of hundreds of guard posts in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that divides the two Koreas at a summit of their leaders next week, a leading newspaper reported today.
INTELLIGENCE
44. NGA Chief Says Cyberspace Intel Faces Growing Security Threat
(Aerospace Daily & Defense Report)...Michael Fabey
The U.S. cyberspace intelligence network is battling a growing threat to its cyberspace assets, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) Director Vice Adm. Robert Murrett says.
BUSINESS
45. Contract Snagged For Australia Jets
(Seattle Times)...Unattributed
Boeing has won an order valued at $1.32 billion to build 24 F/A-18 fighter aircraft and related equipment for Australia.
OPINION
46. Preaching To The Chorus
(Washington Post)...Dana Milbank
Democrats' anger has built for weeks over their failure to end the war in Iraq. When Defense Secretary Bob Gates and Joint Chiefs Chairman Peter Pace arrived on Capitol Hill yesterday, the lid came off.
47. Refugees? What Refugees?
(New York Times)...Roger Cohen
...Between January and August this year, Sweden took in 12,259 Iraqis fleeing their decomposing country. It expects 20,000 for all of 2007. By contrast, in the same January-August period, the United States admitted 685 refugees, according to State Department figures.
48. The Nuclear Missile Foul-Up -- (Letters)
(Washington Post)...Michael W. Wynne; Jeff Lindemyer
Regarding the Sept. 23 front-page story "The Saga of a Bent Spear," about problems with the handling of six nuclear weapons last month: The Air Force has acted swiftly since this incident occurred.

Washington Post
September 27, 2007
Pg. 1
Increase In War Funding Sought
$42 Billion Boost Would Raise 2008 Total to $190 Billion
By Josh White and Ann Scott Tyson, Washington Post Staff Writers
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates asked Congress yesterday to approve an additional $42.3 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, bringing the Bush administration's 2008 war funding request to nearly $190 billion -- the largest single-year total for the wars so far.
The move came as Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the Army chief of staff and former top U.S. commander in Iraq, warned lawmakers that the Army is stretched dangerously thin because of current war operations and would probably have trouble responding to a major conflict elsewhere. "The current demand for our forces exceeds the sustainable supply," Casey said yesterday. "We are consumed with meeting the demands of the current fight and are unable to provide ready forces as rapidly as necessary for other potential contingencies."
The administration's funding request -- which came on the same day that the Senate voted overwhelmingly in favor of a nonbinding resolution calling for the split of Iraq into three semiautonomous regions -- would boost war spending this year by nearly 15 percent and would bring the total cost of both conflicts to more than $800 billion since Sept. 11, 2001, according to the Congressional Research Service. The request comes two weeks after President Bush announced a limited troop drawdown from Iraq starting in December and the continuation of the "surge" troop increase through next summer. In the days since, Democrats have failed to force a shift in policy on troop rotations or the adoption of withdrawal timelines, but the debate over war funding offers them another chance to push for a change in course.
In a rare sign of bipartisan consensus over war policy, the Senate plan to divide Iraq, conceived by Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), was approved 75 to 23, with support from 26 Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.).
Even so, some Senate Democrats yesterday expressed dismay at the administration's consistently rising "emergency" requests for war funding, calling them "habit-forming" and open-ended, while others said they think the wars are breaking the military. Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.), chairman of the Appropriations Committee, before which Gates testified, called the Iraq war "nefarious" and "infernal."
"We do not create a democracy at the point of a gun," Byrd said. "Sending more guns does not change that reality. And this committee will not rubber-stamp every request that is submitted by the president."
As lawmakers expressed concern over the rising costs and the strain on U.S. forces, Gates said he believes it is critical to continue until conditions on the ground permit a larger drawdown. "It's very important that we handle this drawdown in a way that allows us to end up in a stronger position in Iraq in terms of a more stable country, one that is an ally in the war on terror and one that is a blockade to Iranian influence in the region," Gates said. "I don't know what that timeline looks like."
Gates said the additional money is needed to pay for the continuation of the president's troop buildup in Iraq and to purchase thousands of new Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles.
Yesterday's request for $42.3 billion came on top of the $141.7 billion requested in February and a request earlier this year for $5.3 billion for MRAP vehicles. Gates said the new request, to be submitted to Congress by Bush, includes $6 billion to support the Army and Marine units in Iraq; $14 billion for force protection, including MRAP vehicles; $9 billion to ensure that critical equipment and technology are available for future missions; and $6 billion for training and equipment to improve the Army's readiness for future deployments. Another $2 billion would be used for U.S. facilities and to train and equip Iraq's security forces.
Gates reiterated Bush's concept of a long-term U.S. presence in Iraq, but said it probably would be a smaller force focused on countering al-Qaeda in Iraq, training Iraqi forces and acting as a bulwark against Iran. He said he envisions a long-term force -- possibly for many years -- of about a quarter of the current U.S. force there, or slightly more than 40,000 troops.
"We're at a point where the pacing of all of this is really what is at issue, and quite frankly my biggest worry is if we . . . handle this next phase badly, then all bets are off in terms of what our commitments or what our requirements may be in the region," Gates said.
Casey, testifying before the House Armed Services Committee for the first time as the Army's top officer, expressed deep concern over the Iraq and Afghanistan wars' impact on the service. In an unusual move, Casey had asked for the hearing so he could explain the strains on the Army, according to Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.), the panel's chairman.
"Overall, our readiness is being consumed as fast as we can build it," Casey said, explaining that U.S. soldiers do not get enough time at home to train for full-scale combat operations and that equipment is wearing out "at a far greater pace than expected." He added: "I believe we can put this back in balance in three or four years."
In his testimony, Gates urged Congress to approve the State Department's requests for additional war funding. Deputy Secretary of State John D. Negroponte said in the hearing that State will seek more money on top of the $3.3 billion it has already requested.
"The challenges we face in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere are fundamentally political, economic and cultural in nature, and are not going to be overcome by military means alone," Gates said. "It will be very difficult for our troops and their commanders to succeed without the key non-military programs and initiatives included in the request for the State Department."
The Senate vote yesterday calling for the division of Iraq into three regions does not force Bush to take any action, but the vote carves out a common ground in a debate that has become more polarized and focused on military strategy.
The plan envisions a federal government for Iraq, with separate autonomous regions for the Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish people. The structure is spelled out in Iraq's constitution, but the Senate measure calls for local and regional diplomatic efforts to hasten the process. "This has genuine bipartisan support," said Biden, "and I think that's a very hopeful sign."
Staff writer Shailagh Murray contributed to this report.

New York Times
September 27, 2007
U.S. Needs ‘Long-Term Presence’ In Iraq, Gates Says
By David S. Cloud
WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told Congress on Wednesday that he envisioned keeping five combat brigades in Iraq as a “long-term presence.”
Mr. Gates told the Senate Appropriations Committee, “When I speak of a long-term presence, I’m thinking of a very modest U.S. presence with no permanent bases, where we can continue to go after Al Qaeda in Iraq and help the Iraqi forces.”
He added that “in my head” he envisioned a force as a quarter of the current combat brigades.
There are now 20 combat brigades in the country, a number that is scheduled to drop to 15 by next summer. Mr. Gates has previously expressed hope that if security conditions in the country continue to improve, force levels in Iraq could drop to 10 brigades by the end of 2008.
Mr. Gates gave no timetable for reaching that force level or for how long the forces would be required to stay. He added that there had been no detailed planning by the Pentagon about what level of forces would be required on a more or less permanent basis.
A combat brigade has 3,500 to 4,500 soldiers, leaving a minimum of 17,500 combat troops in Iraq under the plan Mr. Gates described. The total American force required would probably end up being at least twice that, because of the need for support troops and other related personnel.
Mr. Gates also laid out at the hearing a Bush administration request for an added $42 billion for war-related expenses in 2008. The request increases to nearly $190 billion the amount the Bush administration is seeking for 2008 to finance military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. In February, the administration asked for $141.7 billion for the wars, an amount that officials said at the time was an estimate that could increase.
The Appropriations Committee chairman, Senator Robert C. Byrd, a Democrat from West Virginia, responded with blistering criticism of the administration’s Iraq strategy and warned that his panel would not “rubber stamp” Mr. Bush’s requests for war financing.
“The president and his supporters claim that we’re now finally on the cusp of progress and that we must continue to stay the course,” Mr. Byrd said. “I’ve heard that before. Call me a skeptic, but we have heard this tune before. Yes, haven’t we?”
Antiwar protesters in the hearing room responded with cries of “Yes! Yes!”
Mr. Byrd later had the room cleared of protesters after they disrupted an answer by Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Mr. Gates said $11 billion of the requested money was for building 15,000 heavily armored vehicles designed to better withstand the roadside bombs that cause the majority of American casualties in Iraq.
The Pentagon also seeks $9 billion to repair and refit American equipment stocks. The administration is also requesting $1 billion to train Iraqi security forces, bringing the total 2008 request for training funds to $5.7 billion.
But Mr. Gates said that American troops, “under some of the most trying conditions, have done far more than what was asked of them, and far more than what was expected.”

Los Angeles Times
September 27, 2007
Gates Moves To Rein In Contractors In Iraq
The Pentagon chief's order for private security firms contrasts the State Department's reaction to the Blackwater case.
By Peter Spiegel and Julian E. Barnes, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
WASHINGTON —Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has ordered U.S. military commanders in Iraq to crack down on any abuses they uncover by private security contractors in the aftermath of a deadly shooting involving American guards that infuriated Iraqis.
Gates took the step after concluding that the thousands of heavily armed private guards in Iraq who work for the Pentagon may not be adequately supervised by military officers.
In a three-page directive sent Tuesday night to the Pentagon's most senior officers, Gates' top deputy ordered them to review rules governing contractors' use of arms and to begin legal proceedings against any that have violated military law.
Gates' order contrasts with the reaction of State Department officials, who have been slow to acknowledge any potential failings in their oversight of Blackwater USA, the private security firm that protects U.S. diplomats in Iraq and was involved in a Sept. 16 shooting that left at least 11 Iraqis dead.
For years, there have been tensions between mid-level military officers who operate under strict rules and private security firm employees who work in Iraq under less-rigorous guidelines. But Pentagon officials emphasized they do not believe that wrongdoing is widespread among the agency's 7,300 security contractors or that the armed guards operate with impunity.
However, one senior Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity when discussing internal department debates, said a five-man team that Gates sent to Iraq over the weekend discovered that military commanders there were unclear about their legal authority.
Commanders were not certain whether they had the authority to enforce existing laws, including the U.S. Uniform Code of Military Justice. The officers requested a clarification, the official said, prompting Gates to issue the directive.
"Commanders have UCMJ authority to disarm, apprehend and detain DoD contractors suspected of having committed a felony offense" in violation of the rules for using force, said the memo, written by Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon R. England and obtained by The Times.
The Pentagon directive does not affect private security guards under contract to other agencies, including the State Department, which is investigating the Blackwater shooting.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has ordered her agency to review its security practices in Iraq but has not taken action to change any of its policies. The State Department's 842 Blackwater guards have resumed the job of protecting U.S. diplomats in Iraq, despite Baghdad's efforts to bar the company from operating in the country.
State Department officials have defended the firm, saying its guards were ambushed while escorting a motorcade.
In a statement issued Wednesday, Deputy Secretary of State John D. Negroponte again defended the department's oversight of Blackwater. He said the agency provided "close in-country supervision" of the firm.
"I personally was grateful for the presence of my Blackwater security detail, largely comprised of ex-Special Forces and other military, when I served as ambassador to Iraq," he said.
The Pentagon's move to step up its enforcement activity came after Gates requested a briefing last week on policies toward security contractors but was dissatisfied with the information available. He sent the five-man team of officials from his office to find out whether regulations were being enforced.
"We've tried to answer the question from afar," said the senior Pentagon official, describing the reasoning behind the fact-finding team. "Let's get some ground truth."
Facing questions about private security contractors during a Senate hearing Wednesday, Gates said his primary concern centered on whether Defense Department officials had been keeping a close enough eye on operations. "I think that we have the proper procedures, the proper rules and the proper legal authorities in order to prosecute contractors who violate the law," Gates said. "My concern is whether there has been sufficient accountability and oversight in the region over the activities of these security companies."
The Pentagon official said that Gates' team was now investigating whether commanders in Iraq need additional resources -- including more investigators or military lawyers -- to carry out more intensive oversight of contractors. It is expected to report back by the end of the week.
Gates' testimony came during a sometimes-chaotic hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which must consider a $189.3-billion request to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2008.
The request, which has not been formally presented by the Bush administration, is $47.6 billion more than the Pentagon originally estimated and would make 2008 the most expensive year of the wars. The Pentagon was given $173 billion for the conflicts this year.
The funding request was overshadowed, however, by the debate over Blackwater and by antiwar protesters' outbursts in the committee room.
Small numbers of protesters, organized by the group Code Pink, have attended war-related congressional hearings for months. But since the high-profile testimony this month by Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq, the group has become more vocal.
The hearing Wednesday -- involving Gates, Negroponte and Marine Gen. Peter Pace, outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff -- was the most turbulent yet, prompting Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) to close the panel room to public observers.
Gates emphasized during his testimony that the Pentagon still needed security contractors to perform duties once carried out by military personnel, and said that most were performing non-security functions.
In the past, Petraeus has credited contractors with providing armed support that has helped carry out his counterinsurgency strategy.
Gates placed the role of private contractors in the context of the post-Cold War shrinkage of U.S. armed forces.
"One of the consequences of the drawdown in the size of the American ground forces in particular over the past 15 years is the fact that we don't have the number of people that we require to perform logistics and transportation and cooking and laundry and the various kinds of mundane things that have to be done on a daily basis," Gates said. "That's why we have 137,000 contractors in Iraq to carry out all these functions."
Gates said he had asked Pentagon lawyers to consider the use of "noncompete clauses" that could prevent contractors from recruiting active-duty troops to join their firms.
"I worry that sometimes the salaries that they are able to pay in fact lure some of our soldiers out of the service to go to work for them," Gates said.

Washington Post
September 27, 2007
Pg. 16
Pentagon Team To Study Oversight Of Security Firms
By Ann Scott Tyson, Washington Post Staff Writer
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said yesterday that his concerns over insufficient oversight of private security firms in Iraq led him this week to dispatch a team to the country to investigate the issue, while also instructing commanders to tighten their controls over the armed guards.
The actions demonstrate Gates's scrutiny of Pentagon supervision of its estimated 7,300 private security workers in Iraq following a Baghdad shooting incident this month involving Blackwater USA security guards, working for the State Department, that left at least 11 Iraqis dead.
"My concern is whether there has been sufficient accountability and oversight in the region over the activities of these security companies," Gates said at a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee. He said the team would look into whether commanders have "the means and the resources that they need to be able to exercise adequate oversight."
The five-person Pentagon team will meet with the top two U.S. commanders in Iraq, Gen. David H. Petraeus and Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, as well as "all the key players" who deal with contract guards, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said yesterday. The team will return at the end of this week and report to Gates.
Underscoring Gates's concern, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon R. England issued a memo late Tuesday calling on senior Pentagon leaders and military commanders to tighten supervision of Defense Department contractors. The three-page memo lists seven steps, including a requirement that commanders ensure that private guards are authorized to carry their weapons and that those who are not are disciplined. It also requires commanders to stop guards who commit felonies from leaving the country.
Commanders must also ensure that guards follow rules on escalating force and deadly force, the memo says. They should also "review periodically the existing RUF" -- Rules on the Use of Force -- "and make any changes necessary to minimize the risk of innocent civilian casualties or unnecessary destruction of civilian property," the memo says.
The memo spells out the military and civilian laws that apply to guards and aims to make "abundantly clear to commanders" the means they have to enforce the rules by which the guards operate, Morrell said. Pentagon security contractor personnel are subject to administrative sanctions, the Uniform Code of Military Justice and referral to the Justice Department for felonies under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act.
The memo also reveals that "over the past several months" the Pentagon has been developing new guidance regarding use of the military code to discipline guards serving with U.S. armed forces overseas.
According to Gates, rules of force for contract employees are different from U.S. military "rules of engagement" in that they are defensive. "Contractors . . . are not allowed to carry out offensive operations," he said. Asked by a senator whether he considered the contractors "mercenaries," Gates replied that many of the security contractors in Iraq are former members of the U.S. military and do not see themselves in that light.
The Defense Department's estimated 7,300 private security employees in Iraq include about 5,000 who guard fixed locations such as infrastructure, Gates and Pentagon officials said. But none of the guards are from Blackwater, and in contrast to the State Department, the Pentagon has no Blackwater protective service contracts in Iraq, the officials said.

The Hill
September 27, 2007
Gates: Administration Split On Guantanamo
By Roxana Tiron
Despite signaling that he wants to see the controversial military prison at Guantanamo Bay shuttered, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that he has been unable to reach agreement within the executive branch on how to proceed with the closure.
In response to questions by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) during a Senate hearing, Gates said that disagreement is focused on where the United States should send the prisoners and what kind of legislation would be required to guarantee the rights of the most dangerous prisoners while protecting Americans.
The Pentagon earlier this year diverted funds to build a so-called “expeditionary legal complex” at Guantanamo Bay.
“The building that is currently occurring is not consistent with the idea of closing the detention center,” said Harkin.
“My intent remains the same,” Gates responded to Harkin, adding that he ran into several obstacles put up by lawyers within the executive branch.
Gates said that he asked his subordinates at the Pentagon to examine the issues and put together a proposal that could serve as a “basis for discussion” with the State Department and the Department of Justice.
Democrats have pressed for months and have taken legislative steps to close the prison, which was opened in 2002 to house terrorism suspects captured during military operations.
Earlier this year, Vice President Dick Cheney and the Justice Department argued that moving combatant suspects considered “unlawful” to the United States would give them undeserved legal rights.

Washington Post
September 27, 2007
Pg. 16
Pace's Remarks On Gays Upset Hearing On Hill
Marine Gen. Peter W. Pace, outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, touched off audience outbursts and the brief suspension of a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing yesterday after he reiterated his belief that homosexual activity is immoral.
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) called Pace's prior comments on the issue "demoralizing" to gays in the military and asked Pace to clarify. Pace said he supports the "don't ask, don't tell" policy and respects gays who serve, but he called their sexual activity "counter to God's law."
"My upbringing tells me that sexual activity outside the bonds of marriage between a man and a woman is immoral," Pace said.
At Pace's final congressional appearance before he steps down at the end of the month, lawmakers praised his dedication. Pace thanked them and said, "To participate in this process has been a privilege."
-- Josh White

Washington Times
September 27, 2007
Pg. 7
General Causes Stir Over Gay GIs
Pace reiterates his opposition
Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, caused a stir at a Senate hearing yesterday when he said he thinks homosexual activity is immoral and should not be condoned by the military.
Gen. Pace, who retires next week, said he was seeking to clarify similar remarks he made in the spring, which he said were misreported.
"Are there wonderful Americans who happen to be homosexual serving in the military? Yes," he told the Senate Appropriations Committee during a hearing focused on the Pentagon's 2008 war-spending request.
"We need to be very precise then, about what I said, wearing my stars and being very conscious of it," he added. "And that was very simply that we should respect those who want to serve the nation, but not through the law of the land condone activity that, in my upbringing is counter to God's law."
Antiwar protesters sitting behind Gen. Pace jeered the four-star Marine general's remarks, prompting committee Chairman Sen. Robert C. Byrd, West Virginia Democrat, to abruptly adjourn the hearing and seal off the doors.
The hearing resumed about five minutes later, with Gen. Pace saying he would be supportive of efforts to revisit the Pentagon's policy as long as it didn't violate his belief that sex should be restricted to a married heterosexual couple.
"I would be very willing and able and supportive" of changes to the policy "to continue to allow the homosexual community to contribute to the nation without condoning what I believe to be activity — whether it to be heterosexual or homosexual — that in my upbringing is not right," he said.
Gen. Pace's lengthy answer on homosexuals was prodded by Sen. Tom Harkin, who said he found the general's previous remarks as "very hurtful" and "very demoralizing" to homosexuals serving in the military.
In March, the Chicago Tribune reported that Gen. Pace said in a wide-ranging interview: "I do not believe the United States is well-served by a policy that says it is OK to be immoral in any way."
Mr. Harkin, Iowa Democrat, said he wanted to give Gen. Pace a chance to amend his remarks in light of his retirement.
"It's a matter of leadership, and we have to be careful what we say," he said.
Gen. Pace noted that the Uniform Code of Military Justice prohibits homosexual activity as well as adultery. Mr. Harkin said, "Well, maybe we should change that."

Washington Times
September 27, 2007
Pg. 1
Pentagon Hints Contractors Can Be Tried In Military Courts
By Sharon Behn, Washington Times
Pentagon officials suggested yesterday that U.S. civilian security contractors in Iraq fall under the Uniformed Code of Military Justice and could be prosecuted in military courts for offenses against Iraqis.
Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell told reporters that while U.S. civilians working in Iraq under Department of Defense contracts were not subject to Iraqi law, they could be held accountable under U.S. law.
Iraqi officials have complained of their inability to prosecute civilian contractors, some of whom have been accused of shooting indiscriminately into crowds and killing innocent civilians. Questions have been raised whether the contractors are subject to any law at all.
But Mr. Morrell said yesterday that the United States has the means through the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act and the Uniform Code of Military Justice "to hold contractors accountable."
"We have the means to go after them through the Department of Justice and we have the means to go after them through the military courts," he said.
Gary Myers, an Austin, Texas, lawyer who has defended both contractors and U.S. military personnel — including Sgt. Evan Vela, the soldier accused in a recent sniper-baiting case — disagreed. "Attempting to impose the military justice system on civilians is foolhardy, he said. "It raises more questions than it answers, and is probably constitutionally deficient with respect to civilians."
Such prosecution would subject civilians to trial before a jury of uniformed personnel, not their peers, for actions not usually considered crimes, such as disobedience of an order.
"These men and women [would] now become recognized as a stealth army, and that is an admission that this nation does not need," he said.
Contractors working in Iraq were a lot more blunt. "I think it is pure [expletive]," said one contractor, a former soldier now working on security contract. "Contractors are not military."
"The whole thing is absurd. What is the starting point and end point? I think they would be hard-pressed to make it stand, and it's going to open a big bag of worms."
While industry representatives support the clarification of accountability and oversight proposed by the Pentagon, they reject putting civilians under military law.
"We don't think it's a good idea," said Doug Brooks, president of the International Peace Operations Association based in Washington. He said the Pentagon could consider using the military justice system as a temporary solution while it completes revisions to regulations which applies to civilians working on U.S. military bases abroad.
"The Department of Defense has an army of [judge advocates general] working out doctrine for it," said Mr. Brooks.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates on Sunday sent a five-person team to Iraq to speak with "key players" about the U.S. military's relationship with and oversight of private security contractors.
The directive follows an incident in which security contractors employed by Blackwater USA were involved in a shootout while protecting a State Department convoy in Baghdad. Eleven Iraqis were killed.
Iraqi authorities threatened to expel all Blackwater employees from the country as a result, but later retreated for fear of creating a shortage of security officers. The contractors cannot be prosecuted under Iraqi law under an order issued by the Coalition Provisional Authority in 2004 making private contractors immune from prosecution under Iraqi law.

Inside The Pentagon
September 27, 2007
Pg. 15
Gates Names England As DOD CMO
Defense Secretary Robert Gates has named Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England as the Pentagon’s Chief Management Officer, according to a Sept. 18 Defense Department directive. In addition to his traditional responsibilities as the No. 2 official at DOD, England will now be tasked with the following:
*Ensuring Department-wide capability to carry out the strategic plan of the Department of Defense in support of national security objectives;
*Guaranteeing core business missions of the Department are optimally aligned to support the Department’s warfighting mission;
*Establish performance goals and measures for improving and evaluating overall economy, efficiency, and effectiveness and monitor and measure the progress of the Department, and;
*Develop and maintain a Department-wide strategic plan for business reform.
The inclusion of those additional duties to England’s portfolio took effect the same day as the Gates directive.

Wall Street Journal
September 27, 2007
Pg. 9
Private Security Providers Become A Pentagon Focus
Blackwater Incident Sparks Rule Review; Walking Fine Line
By August Cole
The fallout over the recent Blackwater USA shooting in Iraq may redefine how private security forces operate in hot spots around the world.
With Blackwater's tactics at the center of the debate over what constitutes acceptable force, the Iraqi government's drive to impose its own laws on foreign security firms is being watched by the rest of the security industry.
Hard legal and tactical questions are being considered in an industry that owes its current robustness to the billions of dollars spent by the U.S. on security for diplomatic and reconstruction efforts in Iraq. There are myriad international laws and rules that address conduct by armies, but few that directly address a situation like that faced in Iraq by private security contractors working on behalf of American interests. That could soon change in Iraq, where an immunity agreement with the government has shielded U.S. contractors from criminal prosecution.
But figuring which laws should apply won't be easy. "One of the big issues with the laws is that there's a lot of overlap; it's just kind of this thicket of regulations," said Deborah Avant, a professor at the University of California, Irvine, and an expert on the subject of private military companies. "Blackwater is not accountable for how the counterinsurgency is doing. Blackwater is accountable for keeping their guy alive."
The role of private contractors and the question of their accountability came to the forefront after a Blackwater security detail got into a gunfight Sept. 16 while escorting a U.S. diplomat in Baghdad. The incident left 11 Iraqis dead. The Iraqi government alleged the Blackwater team acted with excessive force and killed civilians.
Blackwater denied doing anything wrong, and the State Department has stood behind the company. But the situation has put the U.S. in an awkward position of having to simultaneously defend one of its contractors while continuing to encourage the Iraqi government to take a greater role in its own affairs. The incident was the subject of discussions between Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki in New York this week, the State Department said.
"I think it's a very serious tension and one that this case exacerbates," said Rep. David Price, a North Carolina Democrat who has been working on legislation that will hold U.S. contractors to federal law. He said he believes the three-year-old immunity agreement exempting contractors from Iraqi oversight is "virtually sure to be withdrawn" by Iraq.
Such a move would have huge implications for an industry that is being called on to provide security on some of the most dangerous streets in the world. "If [security contractors] don't have confidence in the legal system or due process, they are going to be loath to put their employees in the field," said Doug Brooks, head of the International Peace Operations Association, a trade organization based in Washington that represents Blackwater as well as other security and military contractors.
Restricting the use of security contractors in Iraq would have a huge effect on the myriad agencies, international organizations and companies that couldn't work there without private guards. Iraqis comprise the majority of the estimated 20,000 to 25,000 private security guards employed in Iraq by foreign firms and the local firms that work for them.
Former U.S. soldiers and law-enforcement officers command a premium. Blackwater, one of the largest of the U.S. firms, has approximately 1,000 employees in Iraq.
Security contractors have become an important issue at the highest levels of the Defense Department, as well. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told a Senate committee yesterday that he has concerns about security-contractors oversight in Iraq and how their work affects U.S. military operations. A group from the Pentagon is also in Iraq currently looking into their use.
"My concern is whether there has been sufficient accountability and oversight in the region over the activities of these security companies," Mr. Gates said. "And that's the main thing that our team is looking into out there, whether -- what is required to give the commanders the means and the resources that they need to be able to exercise adequate oversight."
The Defense Department has 7,300 security contractors in Iraq, according to the latest quarterly census, an increase from 6,400 before the recent troop surge. Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England has also sent a memo to senior U.S. commanders that said they are authorized by military law to "disarm, apprehend and detain" Defense Department contractors that operate "outside the scope of their authorized mission" or commit felonies in violation of other rules.
The Pentagon believes that the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act and Uniform Code of Military Justice can be effective legal tools to prosecute Defense Department contractors.
The companies charged by the American government with keeping diplomats safe in Iraq have walked a fine line between making sure their clients don't get injured and aggravating an already tense relationship between Iraqis and occupying U.S. forces.
Some companies, most visibly Blackwater, have adopted an aggressive style that often more resembles a military operation than a discreet detail used to protect dignitaries. Security-industry executives say such an approach is necessary in Iraq because of the extreme threats posed by roadside bombs and ambushes by insurgents.
Blackwater has defended its tactics by pointing to its record of never having had one of its clients killed or injured in Iraq, although Blackwater has lost some of its own personnel.
Executives with U.S. security companies that operate in Iraq asked about the situation declined to talk on the record. One executive said that "in order to protect people in a high-threat environment, you're going to have to drive fast, jump the curb." Nevertheless, he said that "there need to be controls that whatever actions are taken are appropriate."
From Oct. 1, 2004, to Sept. 17, the State Department spent $964 million on security contractors in Iraq. The department has a world-wide umbrella security contract that includes Blackwater, as well as the Virginia-based companies DynCorp International and Triple Canopy Inc. This five-year contract is valued at as much as $1.2 billion for each firm and is bid according to the task that needs to be done.
The State Department sets the standards and requirements for these projects, including specifying what types of weapons the security forces can use and how much training the guards must have.
Despite the lucrative work in Iraq, the U.S. private-security industry has been looking beyond Baghdad. Triple Canopy this summer bought Clayton Consultants, which has an expertise in kidnapping situations.
DynCorp, which counts security work as only a small portion of its overall business, has other U.S. government contracts, including work on drug eradication in countries like Afghanistan and international police training.
And the business plan behind Blackwater and its parent, the Prince Group, goes well beyond providing security in high-threat areas. The firm's roots are in lifelike military and police training programs, which continue to be a core business at its North Carolina training grounds.
Other ventures include designing armored vehicles, operating and maintaining aircraft and a U.S. Navy contract for mentoring aspiring special-operations soldiers for their selection into the service's elite fighting forces, where many of Blackwater's executives, including its founder, served during their military careers.

New York Times
September 27, 2007
Pg. 1
Shootings By Blackwater Exceed Other Firms In Iraq
By John M. Broder and James Risen
WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 — The American security contractor Blackwater USA has been involved in a far higher rate of shootings while guarding American diplomats in Iraq than other security firms providing similar services to the State Department, according to Bush administration officials and industry officials.
Blackwater is now the focus of investigations in both Baghdad and Washington over a Sept. 16 shooting in which at least 11 Iraqis were killed. Beyond that episode, the company has been involved in cases in which its personnel fired weapons while guarding State Department officials in Iraq at least twice as often per convoy mission as security guards working for other American security firms, the officials said.
The disclosure came as the Pentagon said Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates had sent a team of officials to Iraq to get answers to questions about the use of American security contractors there.
The State Department keeps reports on each case in which weapons were fired by security personnel guarding American diplomats in Iraq. Officials familiar with the internal State Department reports would not provide the actual statistics, but they indicated that the records showed that Blackwater personnel were involved in dozens of episodes in which they had resorted to force.
The officials said that Blackwater’s incident rate was at least twice that recorded by employees of DynCorp International and Triple Canopy, the two other United States-based security firms that have been contracted by the State Department to provide security for diplomats and other senior civilians in Iraq.
The State Department would not comment on most matters relating to Blackwater, citing the current investigation. But Sean McCormack, the department’s spokesman, said that of 1,800 escort missions by Blackwater this year, there had been “only a very small fraction, very small fraction, that have involved any sort of use of force.”
In 2005, DynCorp reported 32 shootings during about 3,200 convoy missions, and in 2006 that company reported 10 episodes during about 1,500 convoy missions. While comparable Blackwater statistics were not available, government officials said the firm’s rate per convoy mission was about twice DynCorp’s.
The State Department’s incident reports have not been made public, and Blackwater refused to provide its own data on cases in which its personnel used their weapons while guarding American diplomats. The State Department is in the process of providing at least some of the data to Congress. The administration and industry officials who agreed to discuss the broad rate of Blackwater’s involvement in violent events would not disclose the specific numbers.
“The incident rate for Blackwater is higher, there is a distinction,” said a senior American government official who insisted on anonymity in order to discuss a delicate, continuing investigation. “The real question that is open for discussion is why.”
A Blackwater spokeswoman declined to comment.
Blackwater, based in North Carolina, has gained a reputation among Iraqis and even among American military personnel serving in Iraq as a company that flaunts an aggressive, quick-draw image that leads its security personnel to take excessively violent actions to protect the people they are paid to guard. After the latest shooting, the Iraqi government demanded that the company be banned from operating in the country.
“You can find any number of people, particularly in uniform, who will tell you that they do see Blackwater as a company that promotes a much more aggressive response to things than other main contractors do,” a senior American official said.
Today, Blackwater operates in the most violent parts of Iraq and guards the most prominent American diplomats, which some American government officials say explains why it is involved in more shootings than its competitors. The shootings included in the reports include all cases in which weapons are fired, including those meant as warning shots. Others add that Blackwater’s aggressive posture in guarding diplomats reflects the wishes of its client, the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security.
Still, other government officials say that Blackwater’s corporate culture seems to encourage excessive behavior. “Is it the operating environment or something specific about Blackwater?” asked one government official. “My best guess is that it is both.”
Blackwater was founded in 1997 by Erik Prince, a former member of the Navy Seals, and is privately owned. Most of its nearly 1,000 people in Iraq are independent contractors, rather than employees of the company, according to a spokeswoman, Anne Tyrrell. Blackwater has a total of about 550 full-time employees, the she said.
Its diplomatic security contract with the State Department is now the company’s largest, Ms. Tyrrell said, while declining to provide the dollar amount. The company also provides security for the State Department in Afghanistan, where it also has counternarcotics-related contracts.
In addition to the Sept. 16 shooting in the Nisour area of Baghdad, Iraqi officials said Blackwater employees had been involved in six other episodes under investigation. Those episodes left a total of 10 Iraqis dead and 15 wounded, they said.
Many American officials now share the view that Blackwater’s behavior is increasingly stoking resentment among Iraqis and is proving counterproductive to American efforts to gain support for its military efforts in Iraq.
“They’re repeat offenders, and yet they continue to prosper in Iraq,” said Representative Jan Schakowsky, an Illinois Democrat who has been broadly critical of the role of contractors in Iraq. “It’s really affecting attitudes toward the United States when you have these cowboy guys out there. These guys represent the U.S. to them and there are no rules of the game for them.”
Despite the growing criticism of Blackwater and its tactics, the company still enjoys an unusually close relationship with the Bush administration, and with the State Department and Pentagon in particular. It has received government contracts worth more than $1 billion since 2002, with most coming under the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, according to the independent budget monitoring group OMB Watch.
Last year, the State Department gave Blackwater the lead role in diplomatic security in Iraq, reducing the roles of DynCorp and Triple Canopy.
The company employs about 850 workers in Iraq under its diplomatic security contract, about three-quarters of them Americans, according to the State Department and the Congressional Research Service. DynCorp has 157 security guards in Iraq; Triple Canopy has about 250. The figures compiled by the State Department track the number of shootings per convoy mission, rather than measuring against the number of employees.
Just in recent weeks, Blackwater has also been awarded another large State Department contract to provide helicopter services in Iraq.
The company’s close ties to the Bush administration have raised questions about the political clout of Mr. Prince, Blackwater’s founder and owner. He is the scion of a wealthy Michigan family that is active in Republican politics. He and the family have given more than $325,000 in political donations over the past 10 years, the vast majority to Republican candidates and party committees, according to federal campaign finance reports.
Mr. Prince has helped cement his ties to the government by hiring prominent officials. J. Cofer Black, the former counterterrorism chief at the C.I.A. and State Department, is a vice chairman at Blackwater. Mr. Black is also now a senior adviser on counterterrorism and national security issues to the Republican presidential campaign of Mitt Romney.
Joseph E. Schmitz, the former inspector general at the Pentagon, now is chief operating officer and general counsel for Blackwater’s parent company, the Prince Group. Officials at other firms in the contracting industry said that Mr. Prince sometimes met with government contracting officers, which they say is an unusual step for the chief executive of a corporation.
No Blackwater employees, or any other contractors, have been charged with crimes related to the shootings in Iraq, although there are a number of American laws governing actions overseas and in wartime that could be applied, according to experts in international law. In addition, a measure enacted last year calls for the Pentagon to bring contractors in Iraq under the jurisdiction of American military law, but the Defense Department has not yet put into effect the rules needed to do so.
Separately, American officials specifically exempted all United States personnel from Iraqi law under an order signed in 2004 by L.Paul Bremer III, then the top official of the American occupation authority. The Sept. 16 shootings have so angered Iraqis, however, that the Iraqi government is proposing a measure that would overturn the American rule and subject Western private security companies to Iraqi law. The proposal requires the approval of the Iraqi Parliament.
In a sign of the Pentagon’s concern over private security contractors, Mr. Gates last Sunday sent a five-person team to Iraq to discuss with Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top American commander in Iraq, the rules governing contractors. “He has some real concerns about oversight of contractors in Iraq and he is looking for ways to sort of make sure we do a better job on that front,” Geoff Morrell, Mr. Gates’s spokesman, told reporters at the Pentagon on Wednesday.
On Tuesday night, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England sent a three-page memorandum to senior Defense Department officials and top commanders around the world ordering them to ensure that contractors in the field were operating under rules of engagement consistent with the military’s.

USA Today
September 27, 2007
Pg. 1
19,000 Militant Fatalities Since '03
Military Discloses Stats For First Time
By Jim Michaels, USA Today
More than 19,000 militants have been killed in fighting with coalition forces since the insurgency began more than four years ago, according to military statistics released for the first time.
The statistics show that 4,882 militants were killed in clashes with coalition forces this year, a 25% increase over all of last year.
The increase in enemy deaths this year reflects more aggressive tactics adopted by American forces and an additional 30,000 U.S. troops ordered by the White House this year.
U.S. and Iraqi forces launched several large offensives aimed at crippling al-Qaeda since the arrival of more troops starting in February. The U.S. military says, however, there has been an increase in suicide attacks in recent days.
The size of the insurgency in Iraq has been difficult to measure and is fluid, making it hard to determine what impact the deaths have had on the insurgency in Iraq.
Last year, Gen. John Abizaid, then commander of military forces in the region, estimated the Sunni insurgency to be 10,000 to 20,000 fighters. He said the Shiite militia members were in the "low thousands." The U.S. military hasn't publicly provided any recent estimates.
There are 25,000 detainees in U.S. military custody in Iraq, according to the military. The numbers of enemy killed and detained would exceed the estimate given last year of the size of the insurgency.
Since the insurgency began after Baghdad fell in spring 2003, 19,429 militants have been killed in clashes with coalition forces, statistics show. The numbers do not include enemy killed during the invasion.
The statistics, provided at USA TODAY's request, were retrieved from a coalition database that tracks "significant acts." Militants are identified in the database because they are linked to "hostile action," said Capt. Michael Greenberger, a Freedom of Information Act officer in Baghdad. There is no way to independently verify the data.
"The information in the database is only as good as the information entered into it by operators on the ground at the time," Greenberger said. "Follow-up information to make corrections is done whenever possible."
The U.S. military rarely discusses the numbers of enemy dead, fearful of raising parallels with the Vietnam War when the U.S. military's reliance on "body counts" led to allegations of inflated figures because of political pressure to show results.
Today, U.S. commanders consider the number of enemy deaths a poor measure of progress in an insurgency and say there is no pressure to exaggerate. "The big difference is the command climate in Vietnam encouraged inflation," said T.X. Hammes, a retired Marine colonel and insurgency expert. "The general command climate (in Iraq) is: 'Don't exaggerate.' "
The military's new counterinsurgency manual emphasizes political and economic solutions to eliminate the conditions that breed militants. Those actions are considered more decisive than combat.
"You can't kill them all," Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon, commander of the American division responsible for northern Iraq, said in a recent interview.
The insurgency has been a mixture of Sunni groups, such as al-Qaeda, and Shiite militia extremists.
The enemy casualty numbers also reinforce the one-sided nature of battles on occasions when militants attempted to directly confront American forces.
The deadliest month for militants was August 2004 when thousands of militia fighters loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr clashed with American forces in Najaf in southern Iraq. That month, 1,623 militants were killed. The U.S. military lost 53 troops in fighting during the same time.

Christian Science Monitor
September 27, 2007
Pg. 1
Iraqi Oil Exports To North Rise
Attacks fall sharply on oil pipeline to Turkey thanks to new security measures.
by Leslie Sabbagh, Correspondent, and Tom A. Peter,Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
KIRKUK, IRAQ -- A campaign to stop sabotage on the key Iraqi oil pipeline running north from Kirkuk to Turkey has led to sustained oil exports for the first time since the war began, say US officers and Iraqi officials.
Iraq's state oil company now has 15 million barrels of crude for sale at the Turkish port of Ceyhan this month, the biggest amount at least since the war began. And foreign oil investors are taking notice.
When measured against Iraq's vast oil reserves (the world's second largest), the precious crude flowing north these days is modest. But the ability to sell – and generate revenues for the nation – is directly connected to the ability to secure the pipelines. In the first three months of this year, the pipeline from the central Iraqi refinery at Bayji (one of three in Iraq) suffered 30 attacks that caused "significant" financial loses, Iraqi officials say. But in the past six months, there have been fewer than 10 attacks.
The key, says Col. Jack Pritchard, has been the successful training of 3,000 Iraqi soldiers to guard the pipeline. A year ago, when the 3rd battalion of the US Army's 7th Field Artillery Regiment arrived in Kirkuk, many of the Iraqi guards were suspected of working with insurgents to attack pipelines, says Colonel Pritchard, the battalion commander. The bad apples were replaced, and Iraqi Army units from Baghdad were brought in. The great challenge now for the Iraqis, Pritchard says, lies in "sustaining their army and keeping themselves free of corruption."
"The benefits that can be gained from Iraq's oil potential are now starting to exceed the potential costs of instability in the North because the North has shown itself to be more stable over time," says Steve Yetiv, a professor of political science at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va., and author of "Crude Awakenings: Global Oil Security and American Foreign Policy."
US units and the Iraqis have also been hard at work building fortifications to make it more difficult to attack the pipeline between Kirkuk and the refinery at Bayji. The 50-mile Bayji to Kirkuk "pipeline exclusion zone" (PEZ) is to be a maze of concertina wire, ditches, high berms, and guard towers.
The "obstacle alone cannot keep people away, but it will slow them down enough so they can be captured," said Lt. Col. Bob Ruud of the Army Corps of Engineers. .
The pipeline fortifications are scheduled for completion by March at an estimated overall cost of $30 million – about the same as the estimated value of one day's oil flowing through the Bayji to Kirkuk pipeline. Most of Iraq's vast pipeline network is above ground. Early in the war, US officials explored the option of burying existing pipeline, but that was found to be too expensive.
But some are skeptical that the pipelines long-term safety is assured. James Paul, executive director of the Global Policy Forum in New York, closely follows the Iraqi oil situation.
While attacks may have gone down on the northern pipeline, Mr. Paul says that the real question is if American and Iraqi security forces can maintain the relative peace. "It's a matter of whether they can keep this thing going," he says. "They don't have a very good record anywhere in the country of maintaining these pipelines."
"It's a shell game," says Paul. He argues that when the US floods an area with troops, the insurgents simply relocate. "The insurgents are not stupid; they don't do stand-up battles with the United States."
Iraqi oil officials in Kirkuk say the region's fields are producing 520,000 barrels a day at the moment, 320,000 of which are piped to Ceyhan on Turkey's Mediterranean coast. Ministry of Oil officials say current national production is 2.4 million barrels a day – nearly prewar levels – though outside analysts estimate production is close to 2 million barrels.
Iraqi officials say the security improvements in the Kirkuk area could help them lure investment to an industry that is saddled with outdated equipment.
At a recent meeting in Amman, Jordan, Iraqi oil officials discussed the possibility of developing fields in southern Iraq with Chevron, the Kirkuk fields with Shell, and the eastern Baghdad fields with Japex.
The Russian company Ivanov is looking at Ghiada in northwest Iraq, while Conoco Phillips and the Iraqi government's Northern Oil Company (NOC) have an agreement to share information that could lead to the development of a new field in the Kirkuk area, says Manaa Abdullah, the director general of Northern Oil.
Plans are being discussed to build three new major refineries in the north, center, and south. The intent is to produce 6 million barrels a day, and to export 5.2 million barrels by 2010. The NOC would contribute 1.5 million to 2 million barrels, Mr. Abdullah says.
The greatest obstacle to oil production and oil export in Iraq is security, and then investments, says Abdullah. Iraq's oil industry needs investment in two areas – rebuilding oil infrastructure now and field development in the future. And this depends on "how companies look at Iraq, because any company wants profit," he added.
However, oil legislation has been stalled in Iraq's parliament for over a year, with Kurds, Shiites, and Sunnis fighting to divide the national oil wealth in a manner that favors their ethnic or sectarian interests. In the meantime, the regulatory framework remains unclear to foreign companies.
Iraq's Oil Minister Hussein Shahristani told Reuters earlier this week that his ministry will start to sign development deals by the end of the year, whether the legislation is finished or not.
But the legal vacuum has already created a great deal of confusion, particularly with the semiautonomous Kurds signing a number of recent oil deals that Mr. Shahristani alleges are illegal. The most prominent of the deals signed with the Kurds was made by Hunt Oil, whose owner, Ray Hunt, has been a key fundraiser for President George Bush.
The deals being made by the Kurds are predicated on the fact that the region is much safer than the rest of the country. But there, too, oil companies should take care, argues Amy Myers Jaffe, energy fellow at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University in Houston.
"The Kurds would like to give the impression that it's this stable oasis in the state, but it's much more complicated than that," says Ms. Jaffe.
Given Turkey's concerns about a separate Kurdish state, Jaffe says that if the north of Iraq begins to break away from the rest of the country, Turkey, and even Iraq's south, may not allow the Kurds to export oil through their territories. "If you're an international oil company, you have to be concerned with the politics of the north," says Jaffe.
As a member of the Iraq Study Group, Jaffe interviewed people about the Bayji oil refinery nearly a year ago. At the time, the plant was subject to so many attacks that those Jaffe spoke with suggested that the best option would be to close down the refinery. "So if [the security situation there] has changed, it's a big improvement."
Staff writers Tom A. Peter in Boston and Dan Murphy in Cairo contributed to this story

Washington Post
September 27, 2007
Pg. 18
Blasts Kill At Least 30 Across Iraq In Growing Campaign Of Violence
By Sudarsan Raghavan, Washington Post Foreign Service
BAGHDAD, Sept. 26 -- Insurgents are stepping up a campaign of violence across Iraq during the holy month of Ramadan, staging six car bomb attacks on Wednesday that killed at least 30 people and wounded dozens, U.S. and Iraqi officials said.
"We have seen an upturn in levels of violence in the last few days," Brig. Gen. Kevin J. Bergner, the military's chief spokesman in Iraq, told reporters. Citing past patterns, he said extremists "will continue to increase levels of violence during the period of Ramadan," which began Sept. 13.
The level of violence during the first two weeks of Ramadan, the military said, was roughly equivalent to 2005, but down 38 percent from last year. Still, the violence illustrates the challenges in stabilizing the country, even as thousands of additional U.S. troops have arrived in Baghdad and surrounding areas this year to stem sectarian tensions and buy time for national reconciliation.
In Internet postings two weeks ago, the Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella group believed to have been founded by the Sunni insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq, vowed to mount a new offensive during Ramadan that would target among others tribal leaders and officials who have allied themselves with U.S. forces. On Monday, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden belt at a reconciliation gathering of Sunni and Shiite tribal leaders in Baqubah, the capital of Diyala province, killing 24 people, including the city's police chief.
No groups asserted responsibility for Wednesday's attacks, although all bore the trademark of al-Qaeda in Iraq. Bergner placed the blame squarely on the extremist group, saying that it continued to stage "spectacular attacks" and "incite sectarian violence" that he said was the most significant near-term security threat to Iraq.
The deadliest assault on Wednesday occurred in the mostly Shiite neighborhood of Bayaa in southwest Baghdad when two car bombs detonated in an outdoor market as Iraqis were preparing for the evening iftar, the feast that ends the sunrise-to-sunset fast during Ramadan. The blasts, minutes apart, killed 11 people and injured 28, and shattered nearby shops and houses, police said.
A suicide truck bombing in a village near Sinjar, 240 miles northwest of Baghdad near the Syrian border, killed 10 people and injured nine, said Kifah Mohammed, the director of Sinjar Hospital. The blast was apparently intended for a Sunni tribal leader who was opposed to al-Qaeda in Iraq. The leader's son was among those killed, according to news agencies.
In Mosul, a car bomb exploded at the city courthouse, which was under construction, killing three people and injuring more than 40, the U.S. military said in a statement.
In the northern village of Sharqat, two more suicide car bombings, one targeting an Iraqi police convoy, the other a police station, killed two policemen and six civilians and injured 34, the military said.
On Tuesday morning, Iraqi special operations forces, accompanied by U.S. advisers, raided a prestigious military academy in the Baghdad district of Rustamiyah, detaining scores of cadets and instructors in connection with the kidnapping and murder of the college's director, as well as the kidnapping of his successor, who was freed in the raid.
Maj. Gen. Mohammad al-Askari said 20 people were arrested, including mid-ranking officers, noncommissioned officers and civilians. Iraq's army and police are widely said to be infiltrated by Shiite militias, but Askari said those arrested were not militiamen and had staged the kidnappings for profit. "They were working for money," he said.
Bergner, speaking about Tuesday's raid, said those detained had used their positions and access for criminal purposes. The military, he said, was working on determining whether they were affiliated with any militia or insurgent group.
"The individuals detained allegedly use security personnel to carry out murder, kidnapping," the U.S. military said in a statement, adding that those detained were also involved in roadside bomb attacks and provided military equipment and weapons to "criminal elements."
Bergner also displayed two sophisticated armor-piercing roadside bombs called explosively formed penetrators that U.S. and Iraqi