pmcimagazine.com
FRONTLINE: FOCUS
ALL PICTURES COURTESY OF MOD
THE DRAW DOWN BY ROB WOOD
American troops have a silent partner in Iraq; tens of thousands of contractors who support their
mission in unsung but critical ways, serving food, providing security, and cleaning bathrooms. But as
President Obama reduces the American military presence there over the next year-and-a-half, US
commanders face the challenge of weaning themselves off the contractors’ services and sending
them home.
T
he top US commander in Iraq recently
issued a directive asking his subordinate
commanders to reduce the use of
civilian contractors on at least 50 bases
and small installations across Iraq and,
where possible, provide employment
to Iraqis instead. Over the course of the
next year or so, most of the 150,000
civilian contractors working in Iraq,
more than the total number of US
troops there now, will have to leave Iraq
and return to Peru, Bangladesh, Sri
Lanka, the Philippines as well as the USA.
“This initiative supports our desired end state of a stable,
sovereign, and prosperous Iraq,” General Odierno wrote in a
directive dated Jan. 31. “It’s the right thing to do, so let’s move out.”
Soon after the invasion of Iraq in 2003, US forces found they
needed a corps of contractors to provide a number of services,
from security to transportation to construction and translation.
Over the years, the number of contractors ballooned to as many
as 200,000. Controversies surrounding their role in Iraq began
to emerge, as in the case of security firm Blackwater USA.
But most contractors are doing work that the military doesn’t
16