Hired guns views about armed contractors in Operation Iraqi Freedom

"The use of armed private security contractors (PSCs) in the Iraq war has been unprecedented. Not only government agencies but also journalists, reconstruction contractors, and nongovernmental organizations frequently view them as a logical choice to fill their security needs, yet there have be...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Cotton, Sarah K.
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: Santa Monica, CA RAND 2010, 2010
Series:Rand Corporation monograph series
Subjects:
Online Access:
Collection: JSTOR Open Access Books - Collection details see MPG.ReNa
LEADER 03618nam a2200433 u 4500
001 EB001842658
003 EBX01000000000000001006647
005 00000000000000.0
007 tu|||||||||||||||||||||
008 180730 r ||| eng
020 |z 9780833049827 
020 |a 9780833049827 
020 |a 9786612940507 
020 |z 0833049828 
020 |a 0833049828 
020 |a 6612940506 
020 |a 1282940503 
020 |a 9781282940505 
050 4 |a DS79.769 
100 1 |a Cotton, Sarah K. 
245 0 0 |a Hired guns  |h Elektronische Ressource  |b views about armed contractors in Operation Iraqi Freedom  |c Sarah K. Cotton [and others] 
260 |a Santa Monica, CA  |b RAND  |c 2010, 2010 
300 |a xxvi, 115 pages  |b illustrations 
505 0 |a Introduction -- Private military and security contractors are not a new phenomenon : a brief history of military privatization -- Do private security contractors have a negative impact on military retention and morale? -- Have private security contractors had an adverse effect on local Iraqis' perceptions of the entire occupying force because of the legal impunity with which they operated in Iraq prior to 2009? -- Is there a relative lack of unit cohesion and systematic coordination between private security contractors and the military? -- Do private security contractors play a valuable supporting role to the U.S. military as a force multiplier? -- Do private security contractors provide skills and services that the Armed Forces lack? -- Do private security contractors provide vital surge capacity and critical security services? -- Summary of findings and policy recommendations 
505 0 |a Includes bibliographical references 
651 4 |a Iraq / fast 
651 4 |a United States / fast 
653 |a POLITICAL SCIENCE / International Relations / General 
653 |a HISTORY / Military 
041 0 7 |a eng  |2 ISO 639-2 
989 |b ZDB-39-JOA  |a JSTOR Open Access Books 
490 0 |a Rand Corporation monograph series 
024 8 |a RAND/MG-987-SRF 
773 0 |t Books at JSTOR: Open Access 
776 |z 9780833050755 
776 |z 0833050753 
856 4 0 |u https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7249/mg987srf  |x Verlag  |3 Volltext 
082 0 |a 956.7044/31 
520 |a "The use of armed private security contractors (PSCs) in the Iraq war has been unprecedented. Not only government agencies but also journalists, reconstruction contractors, and nongovernmental organizations frequently view them as a logical choice to fill their security needs, yet there have been a number of reports of PSCs committing serious, and sometimes fatal, abuses of power in Iraq. This study uses a systematic, empirically based survey of opinions of U.S. military and State Department personnel on the ground in Iraq to shed light on the following questions: To what extent are armed PSCs perceived to be imposing costs on the U.S. military effort? If so, are those costs tempered by positive contributions? How has the use of PSCs affected U.S. military operations in Operation Iraqi Freedom? While the military personnel did report some incidents of unnecessarily threatening, arrogant, or belligerent contractor behavior, the survey results indicate that neither the U.S. military nor State Department personnel appear to perceive PSCs to be "running wild" in Iraq. Moreover, respondents tended to consider PSCs a force multiplier rather than an additional strain on military troops, but both military and State Department respondents held mixed views regarding the contribution of armed contractors to U.S. foreign policy objectives."--Page 4 of cover