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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Concern over Iraq security firms |
| 2004-05-25 |
| Large dose of Aunty’s vitriol anyone? There is growing concern about the role of private security firms operating in Iraq, a BBC report has revealed. Some security personnel claim their lives are being put at risk as they are asked to do the work of regular forces. The investigation, by Radio 4’s File on 4 programme, came as two Britons - one a bodyguard - were killed in a Baghdad rocket attack on Monday. International Human Rights judge Richard Goldstone called for the work of firms in Iraq to be regulated. Mr Goldstone said no government should use private contractors to do the work of regular armies because of their lack of control and accountability. He said the situation in Iraq was "crying out" for international regulation. More and more security staff are being killed in Iraq, but the exact number of private security firms working there is not known. However estimates say that they take 10% of the country’s security budget. British companies working in Iraq employ mainly former soldiers who reportedly make as much as £500 a day. Speaking to File on 4, some security staff claimed they had been given inadequate equipment and had to work alongside inexperienced and poorly trained recruits. Vetting procedures were also questioned after the discovery that one British company hired a former soldier with convictions for helping loyalist paramilitaries in Northern Ireland. Another company with a major contract in Iraq was found to have employed two South Africans linked to atrocities carried out under the apartheid regime. The two Britons killed in Iraq on Monday died in a rocket attack only yards from the coalition headquarters in Baghdad. A third Briton was injured in the attack. Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the deaths were shocking and showed the risks civilians had to take in Iraq. Twelve British civilians had now died in Iraq since July last year, the Foreign Office said. [EFL] ...one British company hired a former soldier with convictions for helping loyalist paramilitaries in Northern Ireland... Precisely the sort of people we need in Iraq - completely ruthless. |
| Posted by:Howard UK |
| #1 "Some security personnel claim their lives are being put at risk..." Pretty much condenses this Beeb whine-piece. Some. Security personnel. Claim. Risk. The BBC has found a few bodyguards who are surprised to find themselves in some sort of danger after volunteering to work for private security firms in Iraq. WHAT THE HELL DID THEY EXPECT?!!!!! Why don't they just form a frikkin' union and go on strike?! |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2004-05-25 12:20:04 PM |