Security contractors questioned following death of soldier

Security contractors questioned following death

By Murray Brewster, THE CANADIAN PRESS




OTTAWA - They are often a ragtag band of locally hired guns.

Many are known to have a drug problem.

The vast majority of them are illiterate and slap on a uniform after receiving what can only charitably be described as cursory instruction in military tactics and the handling of an assault rifle.

In Afghanistan, they are called private security contractors, and their possible role in the death of Canadian soldier last weekend was under increasing scrutiny Monday with experts accusing the federal government of not heeding warnings raised last fall.

"In a lot of instances we have this picture of private security as Blackwater-types, ex-navy SEALS, but a lot of the contracts in Afghanistan, as I understand them, are with local Afghan companies," said Dave Perry, a defence researcher at Dalhousie University's Centre for Foreign Policy Studies in Halifax.

The Canadian army is investigating whether shots from an Afghan private security contractor led to the death of Master Cpl. Josh Roberts in a confused firefight in the volatile Zhari district over the weekend.

Details of what happened are unclear.
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Linked from ICasualties.org