Privatizing Schools and Wars

More evidence of the virtues of privatizing key public functions. As with private SES (supplemental educational service) providers, there is absolutely no accountability.

Here's the link to the AP story. See below for excerpt.

---

U.S.-paid contractors accused of abuses in Iraq
By AP

LONDON -- The U.S. is riding roughshod over human rights by outsourcing key anti-terror work in Iraq to private contractors, who operate beyond Iraqi law and outside the military chain of command, Amnesty International said yesterday.

It called for tighter rules on the use of contractors in a statement released with its 2006 annual report detailing human rights violations in 150 countries around the world. The rights watchdog said contracting for military detention, security and intelligence operations fuelled violations.

"We're concerned about the use of private contractors in Iraq because it creates a legal black hole of responsibility and accountability," Amnesty's secretary-general, Irene Khan, told AP Television News.

"These contractors are protected from being prosecuted under Iraqi law, but they're not part of the U.S. military command. So when they commit crimes, or when they abuse human rights, they're accountable to no one." Few aspects of the multibillion-dollar U.S. contracting effort in Iraq have been disclosed.