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05-07-2004, 10:13 AM
Civilian accused of killing ‘doing fine job’
MICHAEL SETTLE, Chief Political Correspondent
May 06 2004
THE US civilian accused of killing an Iraqi prisoner was still at work yesterday and doing a "damn fine job", according to his employers.
Executives from Virginia-based CACI International complained that they had still not been informed by their client, the US defence department, that their employee, working for the CIA as an interrogator, was involved in the abuse of inmates at Abu Ghraib jail near Baghdad.
Jack London, CACI president, said: "The fact remains we are simply not able to confirm in any fashion any CACI employee was involved in the abuse at Abu Ghraib prison."
Ken Johnson, the company's president of US operations, added: "The employee questioned is still on the site and still performing the duties there and, by all accounts from our understanding, is doing a damn fine job."
It has been suggested the CIA contractor could escape any prosecution because US Army jurisdiction does not extend to American private contractors in Iraq.
Uncertainty about the process for dealing with a man potentially facing a murder charge was seen by some observers as indicative of the loose arrangements covering "mercenaries" in the war theatre.
Stories abound of heavy-handed and trigger-happy behaviour by so-called "guns for hire". There are reports that some security firms claim powers to detain people, erect checkpoints without authorisation, and confiscate identity cards.
It is estimated there are at least 5000 heavily-armed foreign mercenaries in Iraq, with another 15,000 contractors involved in roles such as driving, communications, intelligence-gathering, and security.
Last night, a spokesman for the Foreign Office made clear that all British contractors were "like our military, bound by the UK and UN rules of engagement". He declined to say what they were, but made clear that if any UK contractor fell foul of them, then he would face the full force of British justice.
Asked if any contractor had been arrested thus far for any alleged breaches, the spokesman said: "Not to my knowledge. The contractors have all behaved themselves."
A recent CACI International advert illustrated an almost humdrum approach to a far from humdrum activity. It read: "Wanted – interrogator, Baghdad, Iraq. Under moderate supervision, provide intelligence support for interviewing local nationals and determining their threat to coalition forces."
It also made clear the successful applicant had to have worked for at least two years as a policeman or an intelligence agent with "experience in conducting tactical and strategic interrogations".
A background in the military or security has produced a gold rush in Iraq, with ex-policemen and former soldiers from around the globe flocking to pick up lucrative wage packets for risking – and sometimes losing – their lives. Depending on the danger levels of an assignment, security staff can earn up to £1000 a day.
Duncan Bullivant, head of Henderson Risk, a small UK firm with 40 staff in Iraq, said: "Doing this kind of work for a year means some people have enough to retire on."
Thomas Hamill, the Mississippi farmer who escaped on Sunday after three weeks as a hostage, had gone to Iraq to work as a truck driver to pay off debts.
The widespread use of private security workers was tragically illustrated in March, when four Americans were murdered and mutilated in Fallujah. They worked for the secretive US firm Blackwater, which has 450 staff in Iraq, some of whom are ex-US special forces.
But the attraction of high pay is beginning to cause problems for several serving armies, including Britain's. More than 40 regular SAS soldiers are understood to have applied to leave the Army in the last year.
Yesterday, the Indian government, which has turned down US requests for it to send troops to Iraq, launched an inquiry after it was claimed private security agencies had illegally hired 1500 former soldiers to protect installations in Iraq.
Some thought they were heading to Kuwait and Jordan to work as butchers, but the contracting agency had placed them as kitchen assistants at a US military base near Mosul in northern Iraq.
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/15501-print.shtml
MICHAEL SETTLE, Chief Political Correspondent
May 06 2004
THE US civilian accused of killing an Iraqi prisoner was still at work yesterday and doing a "damn fine job", according to his employers.
Executives from Virginia-based CACI International complained that they had still not been informed by their client, the US defence department, that their employee, working for the CIA as an interrogator, was involved in the abuse of inmates at Abu Ghraib jail near Baghdad.
Jack London, CACI president, said: "The fact remains we are simply not able to confirm in any fashion any CACI employee was involved in the abuse at Abu Ghraib prison."
Ken Johnson, the company's president of US operations, added: "The employee questioned is still on the site and still performing the duties there and, by all accounts from our understanding, is doing a damn fine job."
It has been suggested the CIA contractor could escape any prosecution because US Army jurisdiction does not extend to American private contractors in Iraq.
Uncertainty about the process for dealing with a man potentially facing a murder charge was seen by some observers as indicative of the loose arrangements covering "mercenaries" in the war theatre.
Stories abound of heavy-handed and trigger-happy behaviour by so-called "guns for hire". There are reports that some security firms claim powers to detain people, erect checkpoints without authorisation, and confiscate identity cards.
It is estimated there are at least 5000 heavily-armed foreign mercenaries in Iraq, with another 15,000 contractors involved in roles such as driving, communications, intelligence-gathering, and security.
Last night, a spokesman for the Foreign Office made clear that all British contractors were "like our military, bound by the UK and UN rules of engagement". He declined to say what they were, but made clear that if any UK contractor fell foul of them, then he would face the full force of British justice.
Asked if any contractor had been arrested thus far for any alleged breaches, the spokesman said: "Not to my knowledge. The contractors have all behaved themselves."
A recent CACI International advert illustrated an almost humdrum approach to a far from humdrum activity. It read: "Wanted – interrogator, Baghdad, Iraq. Under moderate supervision, provide intelligence support for interviewing local nationals and determining their threat to coalition forces."
It also made clear the successful applicant had to have worked for at least two years as a policeman or an intelligence agent with "experience in conducting tactical and strategic interrogations".
A background in the military or security has produced a gold rush in Iraq, with ex-policemen and former soldiers from around the globe flocking to pick up lucrative wage packets for risking – and sometimes losing – their lives. Depending on the danger levels of an assignment, security staff can earn up to £1000 a day.
Duncan Bullivant, head of Henderson Risk, a small UK firm with 40 staff in Iraq, said: "Doing this kind of work for a year means some people have enough to retire on."
Thomas Hamill, the Mississippi farmer who escaped on Sunday after three weeks as a hostage, had gone to Iraq to work as a truck driver to pay off debts.
The widespread use of private security workers was tragically illustrated in March, when four Americans were murdered and mutilated in Fallujah. They worked for the secretive US firm Blackwater, which has 450 staff in Iraq, some of whom are ex-US special forces.
But the attraction of high pay is beginning to cause problems for several serving armies, including Britain's. More than 40 regular SAS soldiers are understood to have applied to leave the Army in the last year.
Yesterday, the Indian government, which has turned down US requests for it to send troops to Iraq, launched an inquiry after it was claimed private security agencies had illegally hired 1500 former soldiers to protect installations in Iraq.
Some thought they were heading to Kuwait and Jordan to work as butchers, but the contracting agency had placed them as kitchen assistants at a US military base near Mosul in northern Iraq.
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/15501-print.shtml