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Contractor Atrocities At Abu Ghraib: Compromised Accountability In A Streamlined, Outsourced Government, Steven L. Schooner

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

Staggering numbers of contractor personnel have supported, and continue to support, American combat and peace-keeping troops and the government's Herculean reconstruction efforts in Iraq. Yet recent experiences in Iraq, particularly allegations that contractor personnel were involved in inappropriate and potentially illegal activities at the Abu Ghraib prison, expose numerous areas of concern with regard to the current state of federal public procurement. Sadly, because these incidents coincide with a series of procurement scandals, the likes of which the government has not experienced since the late 1980's, they cannot be dismissed so easily as anomalies.

The Abu Ghraib abuses suggest at …