Halliburton Co. has suspended some convoys
delivering supplies to the military in Iraq due to escalating violence,
U.S. Army and company officials said Monday, raising the danger of
shortfalls in food, fuel and water supplies if the situation continues.
[...]
Peter W. Singer, a scholar at the centrist Brookings Institution in
Washington who has written a book on military contractors, said the
decision to suspend deliveries revealed one of the risks involved with
private contractors.
The military can order soldiers to perform tasks, but contractors in
Iraq are free to make their own decisions about security risks. While
the U.S. can eventually hold a company responsible, there is no
immediate recourse to force a civilian worker to do a job.
"There is no legal jurisdiction over these personnel to order them the
way the military does a soldier," Singer said. "That's why these gaps
in service are quite dangerous."