Americans Being Evacuated From Iraqi Air Base

[PoliticAverse]

21. U.S. companies pulling contractors from Iraqi bases as security crumbles

The crisis in Iraq has prompted U.S. contractors with personnel there to evacuate them from areas near Baghdad that are increasingly in the line of fire as insurgent fighters capture more territory with the apparent end goal of seizing the Iraqi capital.

The individuals are being “temporarily relocated by their companies due to security concerns in the area,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement Thursday evening. The individuals involved include U.S. citizens who are currently working under contract with Iraq’s central government in support of the Pentagon’s foreign weapons sales program.

Psaki did not mention the number of personnel affected, but it could be hundreds, if not thousands, of people. The Pentagon oversaw 6,624 contractors in Iraq in October, including 1,626 Americans, according to a quarterly report released at the time. The number plummeted to 0 as the Defense Department transferred oversight of those contracts to the Baghdad government, but it is believed that many of the individuals involved stayed in Iraq and continued their work.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2014/06/12/u-s-companies-pulling-contractors-from-iraqi-bases-as-security-crumbles/