The world of private 'security': Unleashed: the fat cats of war

The world of private 'security': Unleashed: the fat cats of war

The US is finally facing up to its failures to supervise the private armies operating on its behalf in Iraq. But the problem may be worse than it admits. Kim Sengupta reports on a booming industry
Published: 26 October 2007

The killings by Blackwater's private security guards on Baghdad's Bloody Sunday were brutal and unprovoked. Terrified men, women and children were mowed down as they tried to flee from the ferocious gunfire, cars were set on fire incinerating those inside.

I was in Nisour Square, in Mansour district, on the afternoon of 17 September when the massacre took place, and saw the outpouring of anger that followed from Iraqis vociferously demanding that Western, private armies acting violently, but immune from scrutiny or prosecution, should face justice.

But there was always the underlying feeling that this was, after all, Iraq, where violent deaths are hardly unusual. The scapegoat for America's dependence on private armies appears to be a mid-ranking official who yesterday resigned as the State Department overseer of security contractors.

Richard Griffin made no mention of the Mansour killings or their aftermath in his resignation letter but it came just one day after a study commissioned by Condoleezza Rice found serious lapses in the department's oversight of private guards. At the same time Congress is moving to put under military control all armed contractors operating in combat zones, an effort the State Department is strongly resisting.

In Iraq, no one expects anything to be done. The widely prevalent view was expressed by Hassan Jabar Salman, a lawyer who was shot four times in the back as he attempted to get away from the American convoy. "This is not the first time they have killed innocent people, and they will do it again, you'll see," he said as he sat swathed in bandages at Yarmukh Hospital. "Nothing, absolutely nothing will be done."

The government of Nouri al-Maliki, which had declared that they would expel Blackwater, was forced to let the company operate again after just three days under pressure from Washington. But, surprisingly, what happened at Nisour Square has not faded.

Blackwater has remained defiant, despite a welter of testimonies contradicting their version of what happened. Others in the industry, however, are much more circumspect, acknowledging that new rules are necessary and the process of self-regulation needs to be tightened up.

People in the industry are keen to stress that not all security contractors behave in the same way.

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http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article3098892.ece