Det danske Fredsakademi

Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik 17. August 2004 / Timeline August 17, 2004

16. August 2004, 18. August 2004

08/17/2004
Iraq Casualties
By Kurt Singer
To count the dead and wounded in a war remains a difficult task. Military and civilian government sources are reluctant to release final statistics.Figures available on August 17, 04 by the Washington Post, Boston Globe and the Internet count American death at 943. Iraqi death between 10.00 to 25.000. Wounded American soldiers 5.890. However the military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany treated 13.591 American soldiers from Iraq in the same time period.
Officicial American estimates of wounded Iraqis are not published, but Iraqi hospitals reported large amount of casualties. How many bombs were dropped over Iraq has never been released. As Erich Maria Remarque wrote about World WAr I, "there is nothing new in the West."

08/17/2004
Who goes there? Congress should review use of civilians to guard Army bases
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040816/OPINION/408160543
Because the U.S. Army doesn't have enough soldiers available for guard duty at 50 bases in the United States, the job is done by private security guards.
Military veterans must shake their heads in disbelief when they hear that civilians now pull guard duty for the Army.
The situation may sound ridiculous, but it raises serious security concerns
As U.S. Rep. Lane Evans, R-Ill., told the Los Angeles Times, private security guards patrol installations where there are "chemical weapons and intelligence materials." That kind of material, he says, "should not be compromised with questionable contracting processes and poor security." He wants the House Armed Services Committee to conduct hearings on the contracts.
Evans is right. Congressional hearings are needed for several reasons.
First, there's the security issue. After attacks on the Pentagon and New York on Sept. 11, 2001, the Army saw a need to increase security at its bases. But should civilians, rather than soldiers, do that job? Are these private guards adequately screened for security clearance? Congress should delve into the issue.
Also, the fact that 4,300 private guards are working at 50 military bases points out how thin the Army is stretched by the deployment of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Military planners in the Pentagon didn't anticipate that the war in Iraq would lead to a continuing commitment of about 135,000 troops. Congress should ask Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld how long he expects the government to resort to using civilian guards at Army bases.
The committee also should review why two of the security-guard contracts worth as much as $1 billion were obtained by companies that were not required to submit bids.
The two companies -- taking advantage of a law meant to aid impoverished Alaska natives -- received two no-bid contracts even though they had little security experience, the Los Angeles Times reported. The companies -- both small, native Alaska firms -- then subcontracted the guard work to Vance Federal Security Services and Wackenhut Services Inc. The latter companies, both large and experienced, failed to win contracts when bids were required.
The Armed Services Committee needs to pull a little guard duty of its own and look into the billion-dollar program that pays civilians to guard Army bases.
Local Bases Use Private Guards
Newport News Daily Press
August 13, 2004
By Kimball Payne
The head of a local security firm and military officials defended the Army's decision to use civilians as base guards Thursday, saying the private company provides top-notch security that frees up the military and cuts costs.
"My people have to be able to meet the qualifications of an MP. They can run, they can jump, they can shoot," said Ron Hancock, the chief executive officer of Alutiiq Security and Technology in Chesapeake. "My guys are mostly former MPs and police officers. ... They are not mall guards."
Alutiiq guards have been working posts and checking cars at Fort Eustis, Fort Monroe and Fort Story since February.
Military officials stressed that the guards work almost exclusively at entrance gates and are given the same training as Department of the Army civilians, who routinely staff Army bases with military police.
"They're strictly the checks at the entrances ... gate guards essentially," said Dawn Thacker, a spokesperson for Fort Monroe and Fort Story. She declined to say how many contractors were working on the bases, citing security concerns.
A mixture of Alutiiq employees and contractors from Wackenhut Services - one of the county's largest security firms - stand guard at all three bases under the contract. Thacker said the guards have done a superb job and have meshed well with the Army, which has been changing the way that gates are guarded over the past few years.
"It used to be soldiers and then it became soldiers and Department of the Army civilians and now it's Department of the Army civilians and the contractors," Thacker said. "So soldiers are actually being phased out of base operations entirely."
By staffing the gates with civilians, the Army has been able to concentrate on other missions.
With ballooning costs and an increasing number of deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq, the move also made budget sense. "It's easier to pay a contractor than it is to pay a federal employee with all their benefits," Thacker said.

08/18/2004

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