Pentagon eyes greater role over Iraq contractors

By Kristin Roberts

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Wednesday the U.S. military in Iraq should have better control over all private security contractors in Iraq who often operate without the knowledge of commanders.

A Pentagon team, reporting just weeks after State Department contractors were involved in a shooting that killed 11 Iraqis, recommended the U.S. military command in Iraq be given more information about the activities of thousands of contractors operating in the war zone, Gates said.

The team recommended more coordination between the coalition's military command -- Multi-National Forces-Iraq -- and private security contractors, who guard facilities and convoys transporting U.S. government civilians, Gates said.

"About 30 percent of the calls for help, for quick reaction forces, come from convoys that MNF-I doesn't know are out there," Gates told reporters en route to Chile during a five-nation tour of Latin America.

"So the idea is, how do you coordinate this in a way that MNF-I has a better picture of what's going on in its own area," he said, discussing the review team's suggestions, which he called "commonsensical."

Private security contractors have come under intense scrutiny since contractors with the U.S. firm Blackwater were involved in a shooting while escorting a convoy through Baghdad last month. That incident is under investigation and has infuriated Iraqis who see the thousands of security contractors operating throughout Iraq as private armies that act with impunity.

The Pentagon employs at least 7,300 security contractors in Iraq, but none from Blackwater. The State Department employs thousands more.

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