Why are contractors in Iraq and Aghanistan allowed to operate outside the UCMJ, and are were not held to account by the 'governments' in those countries for their actions?
.. update: Tigre Caps offers this in the comments:
U.S. Military Contractors operating in combat zones are now subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). Congress quietly made this change as part of the FY 2007 Military Authorization Act.
What basis in our current system of law allows for a private military force to be used in nearly a one to one ratio? How did we get here? What parts of legislation spell out the shield which extends to cover Blackwater, CACI, Aegis Defence Services, Zapata Engineering, Dyn Corp, KBR, Halliburton? Can the funds that support these companies be separated out from the allocations for the US military?
How can there be a de facto separate and unequal compensation of these people, using our taxpayer monies to support this quasi-government operation? Where is the accountability? Who is accountable?
And finally, and most importantly .. when can the Democrats sitting on Committees that appropriate funds take action to investigate and stop this privatization of our military?
I was going to publish this as an open thread comment, but I feel that this is a discussion we as a community need to have.