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APUS Officials Reach Consensus On Iraq Private Contractor Oversight
WASHINGTON (AP)--Defense and State department officials have reached a " general understanding" that the U.S. military command in Baghdad should have more oversight of the U.S. government's private security contractors in Iraq, a Pentagon official said Tuesday.
"We need to be more clear" on rules for the use of force and coordination of the movement of the contractors, whether they work for the State Department or the Pentagon, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said.
He said this didn't necessarily mean the Pentagon would have full control over all private contractors. He stressed that the top priority, from the point of view of the Defense Department, is to have better coordination of the movement of security contractors on the battlefield.
He spoke to reporters shortly after Defense Secretary Robert Gates met with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to discuss ways to improve control over private security contractors in the aftermath of the Sept. 16 shooting involving Blackwater USA security guards that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead.
Morrell said a working team of State and Defense department officials reached a general understanding on some, but not all, aspects of reforming oversight of contractors. The group will travel to Baghdad in early November to present a set of proposals to Ambassador Ryan Crocker and Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Morrell said.
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