A little "old" news
Iraq turns into bonanza for world's private security firms amid increasing violence in war-ravaged country.
By Sam Dagher - BAGHDAD
His steely blue eyes scan the lobby of one of Baghdad's fortress-like hotels, his speech is fast and agitated, peppered with words like "discipline" and "assessment" and he has nothing but contempt for his Iraqi counterparts.
He is a member of a burgeoning and shadowy army of western private security advisors and guards charged with protecting civilian coalition members, private contractors, Iraq's interim Governing Council elite and the country's vital oil infrastructure.
"Clients are looking for the maturity of soldiers that have been in intense security situations and are not going to jump out and start shooting right away," said the British security advisor on condition of anonymity.
Since the fall of Saddam Hussein, Iraq has sunk into what the United States has characterised as "low intensity warfare" carried out by "desperate" former regime loyalists and "foreign terrorists".
Private security firms jumped in, turning the country into a magnet for veterans of guerrilla wars in Africa, Latin America and Northern Ireland and cops who worked in America's meanest streets. And all of them are mainly motivated by cold hard cash.
"It is about finances first and foremost," said the British advisor, refusing to disclose details of his own remuneration.
But he said that the starting monthly salary for security advisors in Iraq was about 10,000 dollars, more than double the going rate in Britain, and not counting expenses and extras.
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/features/?id=8320BEHIND THE HEADLINES
Security workers face a dangerous time in Iraq
Wednesday's tragic attack in Fallujah showed U.S. troops aren't the only Americans doing guard duty in Iraq. Another whole army is in play here, and it's a dangerous game.
By ALISSA J. RUBIN and ESTHER SCHRADER
Los Angeles Times
4/3/2004
http://www.buffalonews.com.nyud.net:8090/graphics/2004/04/03/actualsize/0403bwater.jpgAssociated Press
Along with Blackwater USA, the elite North Carolina company that employed the victims of the Fallujah violence, more than 35 other security companies from around the globe employ an estimated 15,000 private security workers in Iraq.
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The four American civilian security workers brutally killed and mutilated in Fallujah on Wednesday were among thousands of ex-soldiers and others who work in the murky universe of private security firms operating in Iraq, frequently outside the control of the U.S. military or any Iraqi authority.
Along with Blackwater USA, the elite North Carolina company that employed the victims of the Fallujah violence, more than 35 other security companies from around the globe employ an estimated 15,000 private security workers in Iraq. Dozens more companies are competing for lucrative contracts available here.
The security firms operate in a world where the military, the intelligence community and private companies merge. Many of the employees once served in elite units such as the Navy SEALs or Army Green Berets.
Those employees are also well paid, with some of the more dangerous positions reportedly garnering up to $1,000 per day.
Their clients, activities and even the names of security firm employees are largely kept from public view. Security experts estimate that dozens of the heavily armed security workers have been killed since entering Iraq after the ousting of President Saddam Hussein nearly a year ago.
The vast majority of their work in Iraq is government-funded, either through direct contracts with government agencies or indirectly as security for firms that have contracts to help rebuild Iraq.
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20040403/1017733.asp Britain's secret army in Iraq: thousands of armed security men who answer to nobody
The presence of thousands of armed Westerners and others, including Gurkhas and Fijians, says much about America's fear of military casualties. Security firms are escorting convoys. Armed men from an American company are guarding US troops at night inside the former presidential palace where Paul Bremer, the American proconsul, has his headquarters. When a US helicopter crashed near Fallujah last year, an American security firm took control of the area and began rescue operations.
Details of the number of companies here - there may be as many as 400 - are further complicated by the number of security firms that are subcontracted by larger companies on a daily or weekly basis. Larger companies such as Control Risks complain that many are unregistered and uninsured.
Much of the money being earned by British companies is coming from the British taxpayer. The Independent on Sunday has learnt that the Foreign Office and Department for International Development have spent nearly £25m on hiring private bodyguards, armed escorts and security advisers to protect their civil servants. That figure is set to increase sharply in July when sovereignty is handed over to an Iraqi administration.
The largest contract is with Control Risks, which has earned £23.5m. It employs about 120 staff to protect about 150 British officials and contractors.
http://www.independent.co.uk/c/?ec=500The growing number of gun-toting civilians in Iraq has created a wild west-like atmosphere that could become particularly troublesome once the United States hands over control to Iraqis on June 30, experts say.
Without special diplomatic agreements in place, a U.S. civilian who is accused of mishandling a weapon or killing or injuring an Iraqi civilian might be subject to an Iraqi justice system.
"They're not members of the U.S. military or governed by the code of conduct, but they're civilians operating in a combat zone ... an inherent disconnect," said P.W. Singer, a military analyst at the Brookings Institution and author of Corporate Warriors - The Rise of the Privatized Military.
"What happens if they get in a firefight and something goes wrong and they get captured? We're in a sense making up the rules as we go along, and that's not a recipe for good policy."
Before yesterday's blast that leveled the Mount Lebanon Hotel in Baghdad, at least 20 foreign contractors had been killed in Iraq since major hostilities were declared at an end by President Bush last May 1, along with a number of Iraqis working for contractors, according to published reports.
No one formally tracks civilian deaths and injuries.
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