Contact your Members of Congress to phase out the use of private military contractors.
The 218th General Assembly (2008) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) stated its opposition to "the use of armed private military contractors paid to perform security, intelligence, training, and military operational services traditionally rendered by U.S. military and other U.S. government personnel in wars, military conflicts, or any type of military operations because it is immoral to wage war or kill essentially for private gain, even if the war, occupation, or potential use of force is justifiable, and because of the additional costs and lack of accountability of these forces." (Minutes, 2008, p. 1177)
The Assembly called on congress "to review and revise the laws applicable to military contractors and other civilian employees of the United States in order that human rights abuses and criminal acts committed abroad by military contractors and other civilian employees fall within the jurisdiction of U.S. criminal law when the Uniform Code of Military Justice does not apply, and that Congress further be urged to review past instances of human rights violations and serious violations of law by military contractors."
Last week, Congress, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D – IL) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (D – VT) introduced the Stop Outsourcing Security Act (HR 4650 and S 3023), a bill aimed at rolling back the use of private military contractors in warfare. Reports indicate that private military contractors in are being used in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan.
Without a system in place to hold these companies accountable to the rule of law, the growing numbers of civilian contractors operating in America's wars abroad continue to operate with nearly free reign, unbound by the U.S. Code of Military Justice or international law.
The effort to hold private military contractors accountable to the law is long overdue. This piece of legislation calls for the U.S. to end its reliance on private security contractors, and it would prohibit the use of private contractors for military, security, law enforcement, intelligence, and armed rescue functions altogether. It would also increase transparency over any remaining contracts by increasing reporting requirements and Congressional oversight.
Contact your Representative and Senators today and ask them to co-sponsor the Stop Outsourcing Security Act (HR 4650 and S 3023).