Sure, He's Got Guns for Hire. But They're Just Not Worth It.

¿ Encourages a "bigger is better" approach to operations, contrary to the best lessons of U.S. military strategy. Turning logistics and operations into a for-profit endeavor helped feed the "Green Zone mentality" of having Americans huddle inside sprawling bases in Iraq. Bigger bases may yield bigger profits for the private firms, but they also entail an isolation that runs counter to everything your field commander, Gen. David H. Petraeus, told us we need to win a counterinsurgency campaign in the new Army-Marine Corps manual he helped write.

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¿ Inflames popular opinion about the U.S. mission. Even when no one gets hurt, the standard tactics used by Blackwater and other private military firms ignore the fundamental lessons of counterinsurgency warfare. Of course, not all contractors are "cowboys" or "mercenaries," as they are often described; many are talented ex-soldiers (for whose training we are now being doubled-billed, but that's another memo). But their "job," as Prince put it at the hearings, is quite different from the broader mission. Focused only on their contract, the private firms' standard practices include driving their convoys up the wrong side of the road, ramming civilian vehicles, tossing smoke bombs and opening fire with machine guns as warnings. As one contractor hired to guard U.S. officials put it, "Our mission is to protect the principal at all costs. If that means pissing off the Iraqis, too bad."

¿ Produces a series of abuses that undermine efforts to win Iraqi hearts and minds. The pattern of contractors hurting or killing civilians extends back to 2003, involving everything from prisoner abuse and "joyride" shootings to an alleged incident in which a drunken Blackwater contractor shot dead the bodyguard of Iraq's vice president after the two got into an argument inside the Green Zone on Christmas Eve 2006.

¿ Hurts American efforts in the "war of ideas," in Iraq and beyond. As one Iraqi official explained, even before the recent shootings: "They are part of the reason for all the hatred that is directed at Americans because people don't know them as Blackwater, they know them only as Americans. They are planting hatred because of these irresponsible acts." The recent shootings were covered extensively across the wider Muslim world, yet again hammering U.S. attempts at public diplomacy.

¿ Undermines efforts to build up Iraqi civilian institutions, the very things we need to get our troops out. Iraqi officials say that recent incidents have "embarrassed the government," making it seem as if the contractors were above the law. As one Iraqi soldier said of Blackwater: "They are more powerful than the government. No one can try them. Where is the government in this?"

¿ Creates huge vulnerabilities that undermine the overall mission. When the insurgency flared dramatically in 2004, contractor convoys suspended operations, leading one retired U.S. Army general to describe our military supply system as a "house of cards." When the Iraqis recently banned Blackwater, it wasn't just the firm that stopped operations for five days; so, in effect, did all U.S. diplomatic and intelligence efforts in Iraq, because they were completely reliant on Blackwater guards to leave the Green Zone.