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Polis: Private security firms risky in Iraq

By Chris Barge, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published November 24, 2007 at 12:30 a.m.

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Polis, a Democrat, is running for U.S. Congress seat.

Polis, a Democrat, is running for U.S. Congress seat.

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The United States' use of private contractors to provide security in and around Baghdad is pervasive and extremely risky, a candidate for Colorado's 2nd Congressional District said Friday.

Jared Polis spoke in a conference call from Amman, Jordan, having just returned from three days in Iraq.

He said he saw many checkpoints being guarded by soldiers-for-hire from countries like Peru and Chile. By outsourcing military work to private companies, which in turn hire soldiers from around the world, the Unites States is inadvertently training armed forces which could rebel or otherwise cause trouble, Polis said.

"I think those private militias should be banned," Polis said. "I think we should pass a law that no corporation should be allowed to operate a militia."

He also said he was disappointed there was so little news about mercenaries in Iraq, and he urged Coloradans to keep pressure on the media for more in-depth reporting.

Polis' trip to Iraq was criticized as a publicity stunt by some, including former Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald and environmentalist Will Shafroth.

But the Democrat made it clear from the outset he was taking his campaign to Iraq because he thought the first-hand experience he would gain with Congress' No. 1 policy debate - the war - would be invaluable.

Polis, a multimillionaire entrepreneur and former member of the state school board, met with leaders of several Iraqi nonprofits, which were only allowed to emerge after Saddam Hussein was overthrown, in order to help connect them to potential donors back home. He also met with local Iraqi officials.

"I would characterize the feelings of the municipal government toward the Americans as that of a clumsy giant that tends to crush what it tries to hug, and punches up the wall to kill a fly," Polis wrote in a blog posted Friday on his campaign Web site. "They are slow to request American help in many matters because they usually think that the medicine is worse than the disease, and while we might be well-intended, we are grossly incompetent."

During his call, Polis said his views on Iraq align most closely with Democratic presidential candidates Dennis Kucinich and Bill Richardson, who advocate a prompt transition to a self-governed Iraq.

He added that in the coming year, Americans can expect to hear less about violence in Iraq and more about corruption of all sorts, including war profiteering by private corporations.

"It's stifling," he said. "It's a cancer. It just eats at peoples' ability to get the job done."

Polis will spend this weekend visiting with Iraqi refugees in Jordan. He said he plans to be back home by Monday or Tuesday.