It’s hard not to laugh when seeing this headline in the New York Times: Rice Says ‘Hole’ in U.S. Law Shields Contractors in Iraq. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s testimony in the House today is inexcusable, indefensible, and insulting.
The Secretary of State began her statements by rightly praising State’s staff in Iraq, but as we have seen most recently with Ambassador Ryan Crocker’s statement this summer, the staff is only part of the problem. At the heart of the problem is a lack of inspired and proactive leadership from Foggy Bottom. In fact, it is challenging to consider Rice’s reactive leadership as intelligent.
While I don’t agree with many of Representative Henry Waxman views, he nailed some points in his opening statement today. He correctly pointed out Rice’s State Department has a significant role in Iraq mission, but he veered into "mercs are bad" once too often. Remember most private military firms, security or otherwise, DynCorp or Blackwater, do what they are told or what they are permitted to do.
Also, in the opening statements, it is good to hear Rice get challenged on State’s myopic approach to diplomacy with publics through the embassy to reconstruction to staffing the mission to mismanagement to police training to security policies.
In the past many looked at former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s role in shaping the image of the U.S. in Iraq and around the world. Much of what Rumsfeld did, as many of reminded colleagues, was filling gaps left State’s inaction or misaction. After the not-a-team-player Secretary of State Colin Powell, Rice stepped in and State disappeared.
Fast forward to October 25, 2007, and Rice just recently decides to address a "hole" in security contractor accountability. It’s clear that State sees the end justifies the means while ignoring how the means influences the end. The military and many analysts and authors have long noted the impact of private security companies on the mission in Iraq. From firms like Custer Battles to DynCorp to Blackwater, State has turned a blind eye. if Rice was really concerned about private security companies, she would have acted sooner than in the wake of the September 16th incident as news of State’s culpability in Blackwater’s posture comes out. It just makes me laugh to hear this redirection, but I see she’s put herself into a corner and can’t do anything else.
See also:
- A bigger problem than Blackwater: DynCorp (Updated)
- State’s insular world
- State’s Diplomatic Security Chief Resigns
- The Cost of Keeping the Principal off the X (Updated)
- Mercenaries: Useless and Dangerous? It is a matter of choice
- IED as a Weapon of Strategic Influence: Creating the Blackwater Nightmare
- Rescinding CPA Order 17
- Congress continues to screw up its priorities and we still don’t get privatization issue
See also Karen DeYoung’s related article at the Washington Post.