In harm's way: Titan in Iraq -Workers say 'Wild West' conditions...(SDU-T)

[Up2Late]

In harm's way: Titan in Iraq

Workers say 'Wild West' conditions put lives in danger
By David Washburn and Bruce V. Bigelow
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERS

July 24, 2005

Frank Sellin went to work in Iraq for San Diego's Titan Corp. to serve his country – and because the job paid far better than any other work he could find in Southern California. He knew it would be dangerous; he is an ex-Marine.

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Operation Iraqi Freedom has put into practice the Pentagon's thinking that the U.S. military can wage a cheaper, more efficient war by outsourcing many of the behind-the-lines support functions. But the lines between warriors and civilians have blurred amid the carnage of Iraq's insurgency. Employees of Titan and other corporations have become part of an experiment in government contracting run largely by trial and error. Several current and former Titan employees say they worked in a land of chaos and lawlessness, where company rules were often vague and employees were sometimes left to fend for themselves.

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"We called it 'the Wild West.' It was uncontrollable," said Marc Hill, a Titan manager from Arizona who was based near Baghdad from June 2003 until March 2004. "There was very poor planning, and they put people's lives in danger." Rick Inghram, who was Titan's highest-ranking executive in Iraq for most of 2004, acknowledged that "a working experiment" aptly describes Titan's experience in Iraq. But he said the company has worked with the Army over the past year to better protect its employees. (169 employees killed)

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Drew Halldorson found himself playing such a role as an employee of SOS Interpreting, a Titan subcontractor. Halldorson started his tour in Iraq as a site manager but ended up with an U.S. Army combat unit patrolling downtown Mosul, one of Iraq's more dangerous cities. Attached to the 82nd Airborne Division and with an assault rifle strapped to his shoulder, Halldorson spent January kicking in doors, rounding up suspected insurgents and "shooting and being shot at" as he helped make the streets safer for the Jan. 31 election. In just under a month, he completed 40 combat missions, he said. "In January alone I fired between 300 to 500 bullets in self-defense," Halldorson said in April from his Maryland home. It wasn't what Halldorson had in mind four months earlier when he went to Iraq to serve as a Kurdish-language specialist. In fact, the terms of the contract forbade Halldorson from even possessing a gun. "What I was doing was in direct violation of Titan's contract with the Army, but everybody knew about it," he said....

<http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20050724-9999-mz1n24titan.html>
(more at link above)

[msongs]

1. US soldiers should not defend war profiteers, our GI's lives are

far too valuable to waste on gold diggers and money grubbers who want to make a buck off of other peoples' miseries.

Msongs
www.msongs.com/political-shirts.htm

[leftchick]

2. hellooooo congress people...

anyone home?????

[Karenina]

3. cricket chirp...

[burrowowl]

10. Write them!

My critter Leather Heather, NM-R, wrote me to say that there have been no abuses under the Patriot Act. Wrote back with examples.
Write them and write them, they are getting worried about 2006.

[daleo]

4. He wasn't serving his country, he was working for a private business.

"Frank Sellin went to work in Iraq for San Diego's Titan Corp. to serve his country – and because the job paid far better than any other work he could find in Southern California. He knew it would be dangerous; he is an ex-Marine."

[brainshrub]

5. I have no pity for mercenaries.

Anyone who is in Iraq for a paycheck is a mercenary. Mercenaries suck, and I have pity for what happens to them.

One US soldier is worth more to me than a bus-load of money-grubbing, greedy opportunistic mercenaries. US soldiers should not have to waste a single bullet protecting these thugs.

[leetrisck]

11. Most are veterans of others wars

not all granted but your thugs are in the white house - this story in no way said the military was protecting Titan people - they were protecting themselves and others and in positions they were not supposed to be in - put there by more thugs. They went there for a job - one more job bush sent there - the companies do not do any better job of keeping up their end of the contract than the U.S. military does. And to put it bluntly - a lot of our military are in Iraq because they needed a paycheck.

[electricray]

6. I have been wondering about some numbers

When we invaded we used 150,000 troops even though reccomendations from those who know about how to win wars were in the 500,000 area. I have heard rumors that there are over 350,000 private contractors working in Iraq at many times the pay of our average soldiers. This kind of shits all over the neo-con idea that private companies can do things better and more efficiently than government agencies. If you ask me the score to date is Unchecked Capitalism 0 Socially Resposible Government 1.

[WhiteTara]

9. right you are and

welcome to DU electricray :hi:

[leetrisck]

7. bush, cheney, rumsefeld are

your mercenaries and war profiteers - it's not a war, it's a war crime

[gulfcoastliberal]

8. Wow - good thing we don't pay Iraqi's and give them jobs

Thank god Americans don't pay attention to history and remember why the Marshall Plan worked. But we aren't really trying to help them, are we. It's all about helping ourselves - too as much loot as possible, damn the consequences. What a morally bankrupt age we live in.

[joneschick]

12. where do we count the dead employees? eom

[Up2Late]

13. Related Article: Titan worker claims he was abandoned in Iraq (SDU-T)

Titan worker claims he was abandoned in Iraq

Friendly-fire victim says he's fighting for compensation
By David Washburn and Bruce V. Bigelow
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERS

July 24, 2005

As U.S. soldiers advanced on Baghdad in March 2003, Mazin al Nashi was in a Titan Corp. conference room in Fairfax, Va., preparing for his own deployment. At 50, the Iraqi-born La Mesa resident was too old for the military. But he was fluent in Arabic, French and English, a valuable skill to the San Diego defense contractor as it scoured the nation and beyond for translators willing to help the war effort.

Nashi was more than willing. He felt a duty to serve his adopted country. "When President Bush said, 'You are either with us or against us,' I wanted to serve because I knew for sure that I could help," Nashi said recently.

He quit his job as a private security guard to join Titan as a translator, a job that would pay more than $70,000 a year. By April 2003, he was on the ground in Iraq. Seven months later he was back home, a victim of a friendly-fire accident that he said left him blind and in constant pain.

Nashi said going to work for Titan was the biggest mistake of his life. He said Titan neglected him from the time he set foot in Iraq and has fought him over medical costs and disability payments since his return home. "Titan did not treat me with respect," he said.

<http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/iraq/20050724-9999-mz1n24worker.html>
(more at link above)