The crisis in Iraq has prompted U.S. contractors with personnel there to evacuate them from areas near Baghdad that are increasingly in the line of fire as insurgent fighters capture more territory with the apparent end goal of seizing the Iraqi capital. The individuals are being “temporarily relocated by their companies due to security concerns […]
WASHINGTON — Hundreds of contractors working for America's biggest defense companies are taking on a broader role in helping Iraq's military learn to use new weapons in a growing battle against Islamist insurgents. Over the next few months, the U.S. government is expected to begin sending more than $6 billion in military equipment to Iraq. The latest […]
The rapidly developing Al-Qaeda incursion is forcing the Iraqi government not only to buy more American weapons and supplies, but also to payroll an army of mercenaries and private contractors, previously hired by the US Defense Department. According to the Wall Street Journal, more than 5,000 specialists have been contracted by the Iraqi government. They are […]
WASHINGTON — After years of delays, four former guards from the security firm Blackwater Worldwide are facing trial in the killings of 14 Iraqi civilians and the wounding of 18 others in bloodshed that inflamed anti-American sentiment around the globe. Whether the shootings were self-defense or an unprovoked attack, the carnage of Sept. 16, 2007 […]
WASHINGTON — A U.S. House-passed Pentagon policy bill raises concerns about the Defense Department’s use of private contractors in Africa, citing problems encountered in Iraq and Afghanistan. The lower chamber’s version of the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), passed May 22, contains a provision that would require the US comptroller general to deliver lawmakers […]