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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
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October 7th,
2009 - Scuffle With Security Contractors Highlights Iraqis’ New Clout News article from the
Washington Post |
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Scuffle With
Security Contractors Highlights Iraqis’ New Clout in Green Zone By Anthony Shadid Washington Post October 7, 2009 Baghdad, Oct. 6 - In a
dramatic illustration of shifting authority in the Green Zone, once an
American preserve here, Iraqi soldiers confronted a security detail
contracted by the U.S. government, detained four of the guards and beat them
in a standoff last week that lasted at least two hours, according to Iraqi
officials, the company and the U.S. Embassy. The U.S. military negotiated
the guards' release several hours later, the U.S. Embassy said, and the four
men were flown out of Iraq, for fear that charges might be filed against
them. Philip Frayne, an embassy
spokesman, confirmed that an incident occurred at one of the fortified
entrances to the Green Zone but said no American diplomats were in the
convoy. "Information is still in the process of being gathered and
evaluated," he said. Douglas Ebner, a spokesman
for Falls Church-based DynCorp International, said the men involved in the
Sept. 28 incident were employed by the company. He said that they were
mistreated and that the company "has strongly voiced our deep concerns
regarding this incident both with the State Department and with Iraqi
authorities." A senior Iraqi officer with
the Baghdad Brigade, the Iraqi army unit charged with guarding the Green
Zone, also confirmed the incident but denied that the men were beaten. He
said the confrontation escalated because no interpreter was available. "The problem is that
the PSDs," an abbreviation that has entered Iraqi slang as a catchall
term for contractors' convoys, "don't understand that sovereignty is in
the hands of Iraqis now," the officer said. "These groups still
consider themselves above the law." Before a U.S.-Iraqi
agreement took effect Jan. 1, regulating the U.S. presence here and outlining
an eventual American withdrawal, contractors were immune from the Iraqi legal
process under an order signed by L. Paul Bremer, the head of the Coalition
Provisional Authority, in June 2004. At the time, it was unclear whether
contractors were covered under U.S. military or civilian law. The result was that not a
single private security contractor was charged with a crime despite dozens of
suspicious shootings involving Iraqi civilians. The legacy has made
contractors one of the most loathed groups in today's Iraq. In one of the
worst incidents, heavily armed guards for the North Carolina-based firm then
known as Blackwater opened fire on Iraqis in a crowded street on Sept. 16,
2007, killing 17 civilians, after the guards' convoy reportedly came under
fire. Under the agreement, some
U.S. contractors retain their immunity, but the Iraqi government, as it did
in the case of Blackwater, can revoke or refuse to renew operating licenses. An account of last week's
incident that appeared to be written by a DynCorp employee was forwarded by
e-mail to The Washington Post. Several people said the details of the account
seemed accurate, but Ebner said he could not confirm who authored it. According to the account,
the last vehicle of a convoy was stopped at an entrance to the Green Zone.
Iraqi guards tried to get the private security guards to turn over smoke
grenades. One of the private guards tried to find out who was in charge and
started shouting at an Iraqi captain. A member of the contractor team then
tried to photograph the captain, who grabbed the camera. The Iraqi officer with the
Baghdad Brigade said the security contractor hit the captain, although the
account denied that. The incident quickly escalated, according to the account
and the Iraqi officer. "This is where the
wheels fell off," the account said. "Our opinion is that
they were being aggressive against us 100 percent," the senior Iraqi
officer said in the interview. "That's not me as an Iraqi talking.
That's me as a professional soldier." The captain then fired two
shots in the air, the account said. An Iraqi colonel arrived, along with at
least five vehicles of Iraqi army personnel, eventually numbering about 80
soldiers. The security contractors refused to get out of their Suburban, and
the colonel ordered a tank to run over the vehicle. When asked whether a tank
was ordered to crush the Suburban, the senior Iraqi officer replied, "No
comment." Before the tank did so, the
account said, the contractors got out, one of them at gunpoint. The men were
cuffed and beaten, according to the Iraqi officer and the account. "The Iraqis loaded them
into their vehicles, putting one in the trunk/boot of the vehicle. They then
drove away to an Iraqi base with an Iraqi sitting on the hood waving his arms
up and down, screaming a victory cry," the account said. At the base, the account
said, the men were beaten, some of them with a bar used for weights in a gym.
One of their assailants was an Iraqi general, who repeatedly punched one of
the men, then took part in the negotiations over their release, it said. One "was beaten so bad
that he was covered in blood and began projectile vomiting from the head
injuries he was receiving," the account said. The Iraqi official denied
that the contractors were hurt in custody. "Trust me," he
said, "we didn't beat them up." The account ended with a
warning. "In the past, people
could shoot and not worry about the ramifications. Now, people must think,
analyze the situation and make appropriate decisions," it read.
"Unfortunately, not all people are capable of doing that and many of
them still see bad guys behind every bush, which just isn't the case
anymore." Special correspondent Qais
Mizher contributed to this report. External link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/06/AR2009100603715.html |