Gunslingers for hire with legal immunity

So-called contractors in Iraq, mercenaries by any other name, have a terrible reputation and deservedly so. They can commit crimes with impunity, a situation that is being belatedly addressed by the US House of Representatives which is considering legislation making them accountable to US law for crimes committed in Iraq.

Among Iraqis they are considered swaggeringly arrogant and dangerous. They are not the solution to the chaotic security situation but a consequence of it.

Mercenaries have filled the vacuum in Iraq by providing cover to construction firms trying to rebuild the public utilities that insurgents keep trashing, and by riding shotgun for American embassy and other civilian staff when they venture beyond the Green Zone.

US diplomats insist that if the contractors were withdrawn it would damage security. But security should never be handed over to mercenaries and the fact that these guns for hire are there in the first place is a damming indictment of US policy. Iraqis also look unfavourably at the impressive security detail given to officials and compare it with their own lack of protection from mayhem.

The use of the mercenaries and the agreement struck by the US to grant them immunity in Iraq, coupled with White House opposition to the International Criminal Court, are symptoms of an administration that has confused might with right.

It is estimated that private security companies have so far been paid about $4 billion in Iraq, out of some $18 billion of US funds that were supposed to be used to rebuild the country.

Private military contracting is the country's biggest growth industry. No one is denying the dangers in Iraq, but security must be provided by those who are legally accountable. Depending on contractors for security is an option that should never have been considered.