Gonzaga Debate Institute 2010

Iraq Forces Adv. – Link – Hearts and Minds

PMC’s lose hearts and minds
Schwartz 9 (Moshe Specialist in Defense Acquisition December 14 http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/R40764.pdf TBC 6/25/10)

Some analysts believe that DOD strategy and doctrine does not sufficiently address the issue of contractors. These analysts argue that the public backlash following Abu Ghraib and other such incidents, as well wasteful spending, should compel DOD to reexamine the role contractors play in contingency operations and the way DOD integrates contractor support into current strategy and doctrine.47 For example, then Senator Barack Obama stated that “we cannot win a fight for hearts and minds when we outsource critical missions to unaccountable contractors.”48 The Gansler Commission echoed a similar sentiment, finding that segments of the Army have not recognized the important role contractors now have in DOD operations and the ability of contractors to influence the success of a contingency operation.49 Further integrating contractors into doctrine and strategy could help DOD better manage contractors, which in turn may mitigate the negative effects that some contractors have on DOD operations.

PMC’s kill Iraq effort – Undermines troop commitment and loses hearts and minds
Kovach 10 (Christopher M. Connections Quarterly Journal // Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes June 7^th http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/documents/PfPConnections_CowboysInTheMiddleEast_PrivateSecurityCompanies.pdf TBC 6/25/10)

Waging war with a combination of regular troops and private security company (PSC) contractors can be done; however, at times the contractors act at cross-purposes with the stated objectives of the campaign. Abuses by PSCs in the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have, according to some analysts, undermined the mission.5 Local inhabitants are not the only people who object to these incidents. Regular troops do so as well; discipline suffers. And even the President of the United States, before assuming the responsibilities of commander-in-chief of the nation’s armed forces, presciently noted that “we cannot win a fight for hearts and minds when we outsource critical missions to unaccountable contractors.”6 The issue of accountability remains salient. While the United States’ criminal justice system has made strides toward holding PSCs accountable—namely by extending military court-martial jurisdiction over PSC troops and permitting federal district courts in the United States to try certain crimes committed abroad—these advances do not go far enough. Haling civilians before courts-martial may be unconstitutional, and the framework for bringing accused criminals back to the U.S. is rarely used. Ultimately, these approaches ignore the military need for swift, visible punishment; the lack of teeth also sends the dangerous message to troops that tossing off a uniform leads to a tripling of one’s salary and freedom from obeying those pesky laws of war.

Iraq Forces Adv. – Link – Backlash

PMC’s create backlash which undermines the US mission
Soder 10 (Brenda Bowser February 2 Human Rights First http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/media/usls/2010/alert/576/index.htm TBC 6/25/10)

"Failing to hold contractors accountable for serious crimes in war zones abroad has created a culture of impunity which has fostered hostility among civilian populations towards the United States. This increases the threat to U.S military personnel and contractors and undermines the U.S. mission," wrote Human Rights First President and CEO Elisa Massimino in a letter to Senator Leahy and Representative Price. Human Rights First notes that there are currently more private contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan than U.S. military forces serving there. A significant number of these contractors are armed and carrying out security functions. According to a Congressional Research Service report released in January 2010, there were over 22,000 armed private security contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan in September 2009. The U.S. government has never before relied on contractors to such a degree. "With this increased reliance on contractors, there has been an increase in serious criminal conduct, including high-profile incidents of excessive force against civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan," Massimino noted. "Despite Congress' elevated scrutiny and oversight over contractors, accountability gaps persist. To date, only a handful of U.S. contractors have been prosecuted for violent criminal abuses in Iraq and Afghanistan."

PMC impunity causes resentment and makes enemies
Luban 7 (Daniel September 19 http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/II19Ak04.html TBC 6/26/10)

"The problem is in protecting the principal they had to be very aggressive, and each time they went out they had to offend locals, forcing them to the side of the road, being overpowering and intimidating, at times running vehicles off the road, making enemies each time they went out," Hammes told Public Broadcasting Service in 2005. Sunday's firefight in Baghdad was only the latest in a series of tense incidents involving Blackwater employees in Iraq that have highlighted the ambiguous legal status of private security contractors. On December 24, 2006, an off-duty and inebriated Blackwater employee shot and killed an Iraqi bodyguard of vice president Adil Abdul-Mahdi. The employee was fired and brought back to the US, but as of yet no charges have been filed in the case. And in May, a Blackwater guard killed an Iraqi driver near the Interior Ministry in Baghdad, which set off an armed standoff between the Blackwater convoy and Interior Ministry forces. As private-sector employees, security contractors are not subject to military court-martial, but under a 2004 decree of the Coalition Provisional Authority, they cannot be tried by the Iraqi justice system, either. As of yet, no US contractors have been convicted for killing Iraqi civilians. The perception among Iraqis that US security contractors can act with impunity has engendered widespread resentment, and led the Iraqi government to vow on Monday that the perpetrators of Sunday's deaths in Baghdad will be tried in Iraqi courts.