Washington, DC - In the wake of a series of high profile incidents involving military contractors in Iraq, Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), the Co-Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, today joined 388 of her colleagues in passing H.R. 2740, the MEJA Expansion and Enforcement Act of 2007.  The legislation would fix a loophole in the 2000 Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act (MEJA), ensuring that all contractors working with the US government overseas would be held accountable to the same U.S. law as military troops.

“American contractors in Iraq have lived by their own rules for too long.  While American taxpayers fund the equipping and training of these private military contractors, companies like Blackwater continue to escape accountability to international, Iraqi, or even American laws,” Woolsey told her colleagues on the House floor.  “Today, the Democratic Congress will put an end to the question of whether we are training mercenaries and murderers in place of our nation’s warriors. By passing H.R. 2740, we can ensure that every contractor in Iraq is held accountable under American criminal law.”

The legislation comes amidst growing concern, and confusion, regarding the U.S. government’s ability to hold military contractors accountable for potentially criminal behavior conducted in Iraq.  A recent report issued by the Oversight and Government Reform Committee documented a series of incidents involving Blackwater military contractors in Iraq, in which Iraqi civilians were killed.  Of the 195 ‘escalation of force,’ incidents that Blackwater has been involved in since 2005, several involving civilian deaths had been until then unreported, and newly unearthed State Department documents point to potential cover-ups by the firm.

“We must never allow the importance of security to trump the need for legal accountability,” Woolsey warned.  “We must never forget that the way to end the abuses by contractors in Iraq is to bring our troops and the 180,000 American contractors home.”