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NEWS
June 22nd 2004
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Feature Armed to the teeth and controlled by no-one, private security firms are on the rampage in Iraq. Mercenaries who have been involved with atrocities in Sierra Leon, Chile, Papua New Guinea and South Africa protect VIPs and installations. Now, the US government has awarded a UK firm, Aegis, with a generous contract to coordinate them all into one big army. Iraq: the new Wild West, where fortunes are made as easily as lives are lost. While the country's resources and infrastructure are being carved-up by large multinationals, private security firms are stepping in to protect their operations as well as the activities of foreign governments. Security corporations now provide thousands of bodyguards for corporate executives and prominent Americans in the civilian command, as well as for the officials of other foreign powers and the temporary governing council that will end its term of office on June 30. They supply risk-assessment reports to companies seeking to exploit the new Iraqi market, and are responsible for key positions and training in the security apparatus around oil fields and other installations. They have their own weapons, ammunition and intelligence gatherers. They even make agreements with heads of local families to supply defence and information. There are no accurate figures on the number of individuals employed by private security agencies in Iraq, but it is estimated at tens of thousands, mainly foreign nationals and members of Iraqi minority groups. As Iraqi guerillas continue their attacks on installations and administrative centres, contractors must take into consideration that security will increase the cost of projects by about 20 percent. This rate includes not only the cost of salaries for security personnel, but their life insurance as well. A rough calculation shows that of the $70-80 billion cost of rebuilding Iraq, $51 billion will line the pockets of security firms. Also, despite the much-touted "handover" of Iraq to an interim government, it has become clear that the mercenaries are there to stay. American firms that have won contracts to develop infrastructure in Iraq will continue to operate, and they are unlikely to replace their private security personnel with Iraqi soldiers, whose level of skills and loyalty is uncertain. The new Iraqi army and police force are not only small and under-paid, but also under constant attack by guerillas who have killed over 850 policemen since April - making recruitment an exceedingly difficult task. Rich and Ruthless Not surprising, then, that security operations in Iraq have been handed over to powerful corporations, with ties to US and UK governments. One of these firms, Diligence, is headed by Richard Burt, former U.S. Ambassador to Germany and a consultant in the Carlyle Group (which also has George Bush Sr. , John Major and James Baker on its payroll). Whitley Bruner, formerly head of the CIA Baghdad station, is now director of the Iraq branch of Diligence. The deputy chairman of Diligence, Joe Allbaugh, was George W. Bush's presidential campaign manager in 2000. In 2003, 40 percent of the stock in a Diligence subsidiary, Diligence Middle East (DME), was sold to a Kuwati businessman, Muhammad al-Saqer, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Kuwaiti parliament. This year, Diligence signed a contract with New Bridge Strategies, a firm headed by Allbaugh, to supply business information about postwar Iraq.Other companies include Erinys, a South African business, that has more than 15,000 local employees charged with guarding the oil pipelines; Control Risks Group, a British company that provides security to Bechtel and Halliburton; North Carolina-based Blackwater Consulting, which provides everything from back-up helicopters to bodyguards for Paul Bremer, the American ambassador in charge of the occupation; and the British firm ArmorGroup, which manufactures security equipment and provides consultant services, maintaining hundreds of workers in Iraq to protect British administration officials. This week it was reported that the Foreign Office is paying a staggering £1 million a week to ArmorGroup and Control Risks for their services. ArmorGroup's director is former British foreign secretary, Sir Malcolm Rifkind. On the ground, a security guard's salary can
run to as much as $1,000 a day for a complex operation involving
helicopters and armoured cars. It is dangerous work - several dozen
security personnel from various countries have already been killed. But
the attraction of big money seems to outweigh the risk. Employment
agencies list jobs in police work and training for the Iraqi
government, with salaries of $75,000 a year - almost three times the
annual salary of a police officer in the U.S.. One employment agency
does warn of risks in Iraq and describes the difficult lifestyle and
the terrible weather, but states that even so, it's a place for
"adventurers." Questionable Pasts But “adventure” is certainly a euphemism for
what some of these armed corporate retainers have been up to. Security
personnel from Chile operating in Iraq served in the private army of
General Pinochet. An American driver who was a drug dealer became a
security guard, and another American became a private arms dealer in
Iraq. Security personnel from South Africa swagger down the streets of
Baghdad and Basra like cowboys. One South African security contractor,
Gray Branfield, who was killed in Iraq in April, had admitted to having
been part of the death squad that killed a senior official of the South
African ANC party in 1981. No less worrying is the background of the senior men in Aegis Defence Systems Ltd, the latest British company to join the Iraqi security bonanza. A UK-registered "risk assessment, security and defence assistance company", Aegis has won a $293 million contract from the US department of defence to coordinate all security operations for VIPs and "reconstruction contractors" in Iraq. Under the new contract, the military will cover all of the company's expenses, plus a pre-determined percentage of whatever they spend. Although it has no track record in this kind of operation, Aegis is effectively being asked to consolidate the disparate armed groups operating in Iraq into one large, well-functioning private army. Aegis was started by Lieutenant Colonel Tim Spicer, a former officer with the Scots Guard, an elite regiment of the British military. Spicer claims he is in the business of keeping the peace, rather than in out-sourcing war, reflecting on his student days when he had long hair, wore a shirt made out of the North Vietnamese flag, and joined demonstrations against the war in Vietnam. But extensive research by Corpwatch (USA) highlights the fact that Spicer has been investigated for illegally smuggling arms and planning military offensives to support mining, oil, and gas operations around the world. In 1998, Spicer's previous company, Sandline International, was contracted to sell 30 tons of arms to the forces of Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, the former leader of Sierra Leone, in contravention of a UN arms embargo but in apparent cooperation with Craig Murray, a junior staffer at the British Foreign Office. Spicer maintains that he was unaware that the scheme was illegal and the government eventually agreed to draw up new rules on arms trafficking and the conduct of private military companies in Britain. A year earlier, Sandline had received $36 million from the government of Papua-New Guinea to invade the island of Bougainville, to rescue a copper mine which had been shut down by a local rebellion. But the operation was cancelled, and Spicer says he found himself staring into the barrel of a gun pulled by a Papua-New Guinean soldier, part of an angry group who wanted to know why the government was spending so much money on foreign "mercenaries". Spicer officially quit working for Sandline and its associated companies in September 2000 but the company continued to operate until April 16 this year. The reason for closure, as reported on the company's website, was "the general lack of governmental support for Private Military Companies willing to help end armed conflicts in places like Africa, in the absence of effective international intervention". Seven weeks later Spicer re-appeared in the public eye, with the contract in Iraq, and some of the very same employees and consultants who worked for Sandline. Much of Aegis' recent publicity has been to highlight the growing threat to maritime transportation from piracy and Islamic terrorists. At the end of 2003, Aegis released a report available only to clients, which looks at the rise in terrorism and how it will affect international business. The conclusion: it's on the rise, and you need us to protect you. Lately, Corporate Watch (UK) has learned, Aegis has been actively advertising itself to companies seeking to do business in Iraq. In a generic letter to corporate executives, Ageis' Chief Operating Officer, M. A. Bullough, flaunts his company's "close links with one of the major US security organisations which has been operational in Iraq from the outset". Aegis, he says, can offer "considerable assistance in helping you assess the viability of any given contract, as apart from the reputational duty of care to your employees, the cost implications of security in an environment such as Iraq are material in every sense of the word". Actively pursuing more contracts, Aegis are listed as attending an "Iraq procurement conference" in Jordan this November. American and British soldiers might be on their way out, but now an even more unaccountable gang of mercenaries will be holding the major fire-power in Iraq, to the greater glory of their own paychecks. Increasing in size and coordination, there is no telling what this private army will mean for ordinary Iraqis, but one thing is clear: the occupation of Iraq won't be over on June 30th. Further resources: Corpwatch (USA) report on Aegis and
Tim Spicer: www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11350
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