Washington
Fields Mercenary
Army In Iraq
By Harvey Thompson
05 May 2004
World Socialist Website
The
killing and mutilation of four private security guards in Fallujah,
on March 31, not only gave the US military the pretext to conduct the
most brutal and sustained assault on Iraqis to date in its year long
occupation of their country. It also revealed a large body of mercenaries
operating throughout Iraq.
According to recent
estimates there are around 15,000 private bodyguards and security personnel
operating inside Iraq, of which at least 6,000 are believed to be armedmaking
them the second biggest military presence after the US Army. The number
is set to increase even furtherin what is being described as an
Iraqi Klondikeafter the so-called handover of sovereignty to the
Iraqi Governing Council on June 30.
Thousands of former
soldiers and police officers from the US, Britain, Australia, South
Africa and elsewhere are being paid up to $1,500 a day (many times a
soldiers wage) to protect Western dignitaries, oil company executives
and construction firm bosses in Iraq. Private security firms are also
employing veterans of anti-insurgency conflicts in Colombia and Algeria,
former soldiers who fought in the Russian governments war in Chechnya
and Chilean mercenaries trained during the brutal dictatorship of General
Pinochet.
Two correspondents
for the British Observer newspaper in Baghdad on April 18, recalled
the bacchanalian atmosphere that existed amongst this community of hired
thugs a year ago:
In the first
rushafter the fall of Baghdadyou would see French and Belgian
ex-paratroops singing regimental songs in the Sheraton restaurant; steroid-pumped
former US special forces; solitary Russian veterans of Chechnya; US
women who were once police dog handlers; and scores of former British
soldiers varying in age from 25 to 50.
Robert Fisk, writing
in the Independent on Sunday on March 28, described the lawless and
increasingly powerful role of these semi-military privateers in the
Iraqi capital:
Many companies
operate from villas in middle-class areas of Baghdad with no name on
the door. Some security men claim they can earn more than £80,000
a year: but short term, high-risk mercenary work can bring much higher
rewards. Security personnel working a seven-day contract in cities like
Fallujah can make $1,000 a day.
Although they
wear no uniform, some security men carry personal identification on
their flak jackets, along with their rifles and pistols. Others refuse
to identify themselves even in hotels, drinking beer by the pool, their
weapons at their feet. In several hotels, guests and staff have complained
that security men have held drunken parties and one manager was forced
to instruct mercenaries in his hotel that they must carry their guns
in a bag when they leave the premises. His demand was ignored.
Britain tops mercenary lists
British security
firms have won the largest share of private security contracts in Iraq.
By the end of March, apart from ex-British soldiers and police, an estimated
1,500 former Special Air Service elite assassins, marines, paratroopers
and Royal Ulster Constabulary officers were believed to be operating
in Iraqs major cities. The SAS is said to be facing an unprecedented
loss of personnel as its highly trained operatives are lured to Iraq
by offers of lucrative security work.
The largest single
contract has been awarded to Control Risks, which has so far accrued
£23.5 million. It has 120 staff to protect around 150 British
officials and business contractors. Another British-owned company, AmorGroup,
presently supplies 20 security guards for the Foreign Office, and has
been assured a dramatic increase in contracts from July. The firm also
employs 500 Gurkhas to guard executives with the US companies Bechtel
and Kellog Root & Brown. Erinys, another British-run firm, employs
14,000 Iraqis as watchmen and security guards to protect Iraqs
oil fields and pipelines.
David Claridge,
company director for security firm Janusian, estimates that British
firms have earned around £1 billion within the first year of the
occupationmaking private policing the UKs biggest export
to Iraq.
A significant sum
of the money being made by British security companies is being indirectly
extracted from taxpayers. The Independent on Sunday revealed last month
that the British Foreign Office and the Department for International
Development has already spent £25 million on hiring private bodyguards,
armed escorts and security advisers to protect civil servants. This
figure is set to be dwarfed in July.
US turns to mercenaries for dirty work
On a US government
sponsored web site, Services for American Citizens in Iraq [http://travel.state.gov/iraq_amcitservices.html],
under the section, Security Companies doing Business in Iraq,
there is a list of official security firms prefaced by the following
disclaimer:
The US government
assumes no responsibility for the professional ability or integrity
of the persons or firms whose names appear on the list.
Many of these companies
have long since moved on from standard security work, such as guarding
oil installation and construction sites, and have become increasingly
involved in the military occupation. Armed security contractors from
an American firm now guard US troops during the night as they reside
inside the former presidential palacethe residence of US administrator
Paul Bremer. When a US helicopter crashed near Fallujah last year, an
American security firm took control of the area and began rescue operations.
Speaking on the
nature of the work of these companies, CNN national security analyst
Ken Robinson said, They provide very focused security for detailing
out how a protectees day occursfrom the beginning of the
morning until they tuck that person back into bed at night.... These
are typically former special operations community personnel who are
highly trained in the use of deadly force, also in surveillance detection
and also in risk avoidance.
Unnamed sources
have told CNN that the Pentagon is urging contracting companies not
to speak to the media about the dangers in Iraq, claiming that it makes
things more dangerous for their workers who are willing to take the
risk.
The US firm, Blackwater
Security Consulting (a division of Blackwater USA), which employed the
four security guards killed in Fallujah, is one of a growing number
of contractors that are hiring army veterans for jobs previously assigned
to the military. Blackwater is also a typical example of the proliferation
of military hybrid firms. Headed by former US Navy SEALs, the company
has it roots in the Special Operations community and was founded to
take advantage of business opportunities created by the downsizing of
parts of the US military.
The company is based
in Moyock at a 6,000 acre site in rural North Carolina, a campus the
company calls the most comprehensive private tactical training
facility in the United States.
Blackwaters
web site advertises its services by stating; Our mission is to
provide the client with veteran military, intelligence and law enforcement
professionals with demonstrated field operations performance tempered
with mature experience in both foreign and domestic requirements. We
employ only the most highly motivated and professional operators, all
drawn from various US and international Special Operations Forces, Intelligence
and Law Enforcement organisations.
Blackwater currently
has 450 employees in Iraq, many of them providing security to Coalition
Provisional Authority (CPA) employees and to VIPs visiting Iraq. The
company has applied to occupy a former MIG air base near Baghdad as
a counterterrorism training facility for Iraqi forces. The
training range will mirror the 6,000-acre Moyock site, which is frequented
by US law enforcement and military personnel.
Just how heavily
involved such firms as Blackwater are in the waging of the US-led military
offensive in Iraq, was confirmed by a report carried by the Washington
Post on April 6. Detailing an attack by the Iraqi resistance on a US
post in Najaf four days after the killing of the Blackwater guards,
the paper reported, An attack by hundreds of Iraqi militia members
on the US governments headquarters in Najaf on Sunday was repulsed
not by the US military, but by eight commandos from a private security
firm, according to sources familiar with the incident.
Before US
reinforcements could arrive, the firm, Blackwater Security Consulting,
sent in its own helicopters amid an intense firefight to resupply its
commandos with ammunition and to ferry out a wounded Marine, the sources
said.
... Shiite
militia forces barraged the Blackwater commandos, four MPs and a Marine
gunner with rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47 fire for hours before
US Special Forces troops arrived. A sniper on a nearby roof apparently
wounded three men. US troops faced heavy fighting in several Iraqi cities
that day.
During the fierce
and bloody confrontation, thousands of rounds were fired and hundreds
of 40 mm grenades shot. Sources who asked not to be identified because
of the sensitivity of Blackwaters work in Iraq reported
an unspecified number of casualties among Iraqis.
At a news conference
held near the scene of the fighting the following day, Brig. Gen. Mark
Kimmitt of the US military avoided speaking on the specific role of
the Blackwater men. He simply added, somewhat cryptically, They
knew what they were here for ...Theyd lost three wounded. We were
sitting there among the bullet shellsthe bullet casingsand,
frankly, the blood of their comrades, and they were absolutely confident.
A spokesman for
Blackwater later confirmed that the company had a contract to provide
security to the CPA, but would not describe the incident that unfolded.
A Defence Department spokesman said that there were no military reports
about the opening hours of the fighting at the US headquarters in Najaf
because there were no military personnel on the scene.
According to Rick
Bardon of the Center for Strategic & International Studies, There
are something like 150 attacks per day of one kind or another and most
of them are intercepted.... So theres been some success in reducing
the impact of these attacks, but thats a lot of action that were
involved in all over the country.
Mercenaries targeted
As the increasingly
military role of private security personnel becomes apparent, they have
become a more frequent target of attack by the Iraqi resistance. At
least six security guards were killed during April, including Mike Bloss,
a former British paratrooper who served in Northern Ireland and the
kidnapped Italian, Fabrizio Quattrocchi, although the CPA does not include
them in the official body count report.
In response there
are growing calls by private companies for the right of their employees
to officially carry more powerful weaponry. There is also increasing
resentment within the private security industry that coalition forces
have been unable or unwilling to come to their aid when they have been
under fire.
The Guardian newspaper,
April 17, carried a revealing account of a firefight in the town of
Kut, 100 miles south-east of Baghdad, just two days after the Blackwater/Najaf
incident, between Iraqis and five security personnel of the Hart Group,
a Bermuda-registered security consultancy run by former SAS and Scots
Guards officer Richard Bethell (son of Lord Westbury).
Gray Branfield,
a South African security guard, was killed during the battle after coalition
forces from Ukraine failed to respond to repeated pleas for assistance
from the small group of besieged guards.
On April 6
the house where the five Hart Group bodyguards were living in, was attacked
by a large group, believed to be followers of the Shia cleric Moqtada
al-Sadr. Desperate calls were made to the local coalition forces. A
Ukrainian unit finally answered and promised assistance. It never came.
Coalition forces in Baghdad were also contacted and a rescue attempt
was promised, but again it never came.
The houses
defences were breached and the five bodyguards retreated to the roof.
The Iraqis fatally wounded Mr Branfield, but the four surviving men
continued to defend the roof against small arms and grenade attack for
more than six hours. During this time there were at least six promises
that a rescue mission was on its way. As dawn broke the four surviving
members of the team managed to escape.
It later emerged
that the Ukrainian unit had evacuated the nearby CPA headquarters during
the night without informing the four security men or attempting to assist
them.
An unnamed source
for Hart Group said of the incident, All of the security companies
assumed that if you got into a tight corner they would come and help
you out, I cannot really answer for other security companies, but there
is a feeling among many that we should be asking some questions and
if we are not going to be supported then we need to be able to carry
heavier weaponry.
There is every likelihood
that these demands will be heeded by the US occupation forces. Under
an agreement with the CPA private security guards are officially only
allowed to carry small personal protection weapons, but this is routinely
ignored by both parties. According to a source at Hart, discussions
were already under way with the authorities governing Iraq to allow
bodyguards to increase their firepower. The UKs largest private
security firm, Global Risk Strategies, (which is set to vastly increase
its presence in Iraq) has held negotiations with the CPA and Iraqi Governing
Council to draft new regulations.
In the context of
an increasingly bloody military occupation, where larger parts of the
population are actively opposing the US-led armies, and where the resolve
of more and more ordinary soldiers is failing as they become sickened
by what they are being called upon to do, a new layer of highly paid
and trained thugs is being prepared to carry out further atrocities.
Already, there are reports of secretive hired elements leading interrogations
and torture of incarcerated Iraqis.
Corporations require additional repression
This process is
intensifying as the June 30 deadline approaches. Businesses representing
the largest energy and construction companies in the worldincluding
Shell, Volvo, Chevron, Texaco, Pfizer and Kodakgathered recently
at a secret location in central London, to finalise billions of dollars
of contracts for Iraq. Many expressed their concern about the impact
of the deteriorating security situation on their future ventures. Some
of the same companies attending had declined to go to a recent conference
organised by the CPA for the oil industry, in Basra. The conference
has now been cancelled.
There was also only
muted interest in the ambitiously named Baghdad Expo, due to take place
at the end of the month. It has been moved to the northern town of Sulaymania.
An Iraqi official explained, It is much safer there.
Germany and France
have already issued official advice to their citizens to leave Iraq.
And Russias largest contractor in the country, the power station
builder Technopromexport, announced it was pulling out its 370 employees
after eight Russia workers were kidnapped in Baghdad. Even the BBC has
dramatically scaled back its staff in Iraq and banned programme-makers
from organising any new trips there.
The UK firm, Amec
(whose chief executive, Sir Peter Mason, recently joined the growing
ranks of businessmen being paid more than £1 million a year for
reconstruction work in Iraq) with its US partner, Fluor, won a $1.1
billion (£617 million) deal last month to help restore Iraqs
water system. But it has yet to receive the detailed task orders on
its contract from the CPA. When it does, in the next few weeks, the
company has said it will decide whether to risk flying out more staff
to start work on the project, or delay it. Other British companies,
such as the engineering groups Halcrow and Foster Wheeler, which also
have staff in Iraq, refuse to discuss their plans in the light of the
worsening security situation.
Nick Day, the chief
operating officer of Diligence Information & Security (DI&S),
a security firm, said, Commercial contractors are considering
their positions in Iraq. They are either partially withdrawing their
expatriates or keeping a low profile to see how the situation pans out.
Day intimated that
for those companies waiting to see if the security situation stabilises,
the outlook, in the short term at least, does not look good. The
US is poised to take action in the south, and there are concerns over
the repercussions from that. There is talk of the trouble getting worse
at the end of April as people try to destabilise the country before
the next months handover.
One unnamed chief
executive of a large UK company underlined the thinking of many companies
already on the ground:
When things
are going wrong, the first thing you are told is to stay where you are.
You get hurt when you move.... We took a decision early on that we would
only do work where our people are protected by the military. I wake
up each morning and thank God that this is the case, as we are in some
pretty hairy places.
Other companies
that have yet to go into Iraq are weighing their options. Colin Adams,
the chairman of the British Consultants and Construction Bureau, said,
The companies which are well established have not shown any indication
of pulling out. The more difficult decisions must be made for those
who are thinking of going into Iraq.
The UK construction
firm Serco has just completed work on a contract to manage airport services
in Baghdad and Basra. A spokesman issued a cautious statement, saying;
We will monitor the security situation before bidding [for any
more contracts].
Another significant
factor facing companies in Iraq is the dramatic increase in the cost
of insurance. Brokers in London say that in the past 10 days, premiums
have doubled. Anne Williams, a director at insurance broker Heath Lambert,
quotes a premium of six percent to insure higher-risk professions such
as journalists or security guards. With the cover paying out up to $250,000
in case of death or injury (for more senior staff, the maximum can rise
to $500,000), such a policy would cost $15,000. This makes it 12 times
more expensive than, for example, the average policy in Afghanistan
(where premiums are typically 0.5 percent) or 24 times more expensive
than in Saudi Arabia (0.25 percent). But despite the higher prices,
demand is still there. There is a lot of business to chase,
said Williams.
The World Bank has
identified $55 billion worth of work needed to rebuild Iraq over the
next four years. Of that only $33 billion was pledged at the Madrid
donors conference in October.
For the major corporations
in Iraq, therefore, far too much is at stake in terms of lucrative contracts
for the wishes of the population or the legal conduct of war to get
in the way. There is every indication that further repression of Iraqis
will be exacted in the most ruthless manner.
As Mike Baker, chief
executive of Diligence LLC (a Washington security firm with hundreds
of employees in Iraq) and former CIA case officer said of the prospect
of using hired killers in the military upsurge:
No one is
retreating ... No one is calling saying we ought to pull our guys out.
I dont think its stopping anyone from going in. They are
fully aware of the security situation. Baker added that how the
military is responding is going to be very important. If theres
not a harsh, well-thought-out response [to the Iraqi resistance], they
will take that as a complete sign of weakness and they will become emboldened.