Abstract
Empire’s Labor inverts much of the scholarship and discussion on the participation of private contractors in war. The focus on contractors often centers on the provision of security, which grabs our attention but comprises less than 10% of the work performed by contractors. Instead, Moore focuses on the vast majority of contractors who engage in the type of work that we would consider logistical, such as cooks, drivers, and construction workers. This work does not grab headlines in the same way that security contractors did in Abu Ghraib or Nisour Square, but their work facilitates wars waged by the United States. Moore calls to our attention the history and present-day politics of this labor, much of which is performed by locals from the country where services are being performed or by third-country nationals. To this end, he discusses contractors from Bosnia and the Philippines, both of which are significant sources of third-country nationals hired by contractors. This approach sets the stage for a second way in which Moore seeks to alter the narrative about military contractors: by telling their stories.
Moore concentrates on the US-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as counterterrorism operations in Africa, each of which pose their own logistical challenges. Overcoming these obstacles requires labor, which companies draw from third countries such as Bosnia and the Philippines. Because of the economic conditions in their countries of origin, these third-country nationals are paid significantly less than their American counterparts—in some cases as little as $600/month for work in Iraq. These economic incentives make them attractive employees to corporations seeking to earn a profit. Because of their vulnerability, economic and otherwise, these workers are potentially objects of exploitation as well. Moore traces the routes that labor takes from home to these far-off conflicts that constitute their workplaces.
Perhaps the most compelling section of Empire’s Labor directs attention to the realities and the unexpected aspects of base life for these logistics workers. These aspects include a surprising degree of labor activism. Workers dissatisfied with conditions may engage in strikes or protests, which often draw together workers from multiple countries. Alternatively, workers may engage in “jumping,” a process in which a worker may leave one company for another in search of better conditions or a higher wage. Like their security provider counterparts, these logistics contractors live as a group apart from military personnel. Unlike those security contractors, the laborers who provide logistical support may live in conditions that are inferior to the military and security contractors. Perhaps the most important aspect of logistics contractors’ involvement in this work is the potential for events to create entanglements between their home countries and the United States. This fact is likewise not without a parallel among security contractors. The United States was drawn into the conflict in Fallujah because of attacks on four Blackwater contractors in that city. But for the graphic nature of the deaths of these contractors and the ensuing conflict in Fallujah, these casualties would undoubtedly have gone unnoticed in the United States, where contractor deaths are unremarkable. The deaths of third-country nationals are all the easier to ignore in the United States. By contrast, casualties among contractors hired from the Philippines and Bosnia resonate within those countries. Entanglements occur even outside the extreme case of contractor deaths. The money earned creates consequences for the societies from which these workers are drawn. While one of the perceived advantages of contractors is the plausible deniability they allow, the reality is often very different.
Moore assumes a sharp divide between logistics and combat—between the rear and the front—that may not always exist. Particularly in conflicts that form the focus of his inquiry, Iraq and Afghanistan, once the regimes were toppled and the counterinsurgencies began, these conflicts lacked discernible fronts as such. Because of this, contractors performing seemingly “safe” tasks, such as transporting goods, could potentially come under attack at any time despite the fact that their assigned tasks were in principle removed from the battle space. For analytical purposes though, it makes sense to consider the purposes for which individuals were hired, even if the realities of these conflicts tend to blur those lines. By shifting the focus from the relatively small number of companies and individuals hired to provide force to those engaged in the more mundane logistical tasks without which the US military could not function, and particularly by focusing on this phenomenon from the perspective of individual employees rather than companies or the states that hire them, Empire’s Labor inverts the story commonly told about private military companies in the 21st century. The book presents a provocative argument that is supported by original research including interviews with the people who fill these jobs and analysis of contracts and other relevant documents. It is a worthwhile read for anyone interested in the transnational market for force that relies upon an additional private market.