Iraq: Security Companies and Training Camps

by Sarah Meyer Index Research

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This article originally published on 17/5/2006.
For Updates please see: here

FPS in Samawa, Iraq. Yahoo photo

Private US and UK security firms are closely allied to Mr. Bremer’s ‘Facilities Protection Service’ programme in Iraq. Newsweek (24.04.06) suggested 146,000¹ belong to this ‘security’ force. The Interior Minister, Bayan Jabr, associated the FPS with the endemic ‘death squads’ operating inside the police forces, which are hastening the disintegration of Iraq².

1. Facilities Protection Service: What is it?
2. Private Security Firms working in Iraq
3. Where is training for the FPS taking place in Iraq?
4. Appendix 1: Paul Bremer's 'order" establsihing FPS
5. Comments
6. Related Sites and Footnotes
7. Updates various security companies; new stories

What is the Facilities Protection Service?

The establishment of the ‘Facilities Protection Service’ was on 04.10.03, according to Paul Bremer’s Coalition Provisional Authority Order Number 27 (see appendix one).

This document says that “The FPS may also consist of employees of private security firms³ who are engaged to perform services for the ministries or governorates through contracts, provided such private security firms and employees are licensed and authorized by the Ministry of Interior as provided in Section 7 herein.”

According to Global Security.org, “The Facilities Protection Service works for all ministries and governmental agencies, but its standards are set and enforced by the Ministry of the Interior. It can also be privately hired. The FPS is tasked with the fixed site protection of Ministerial, Governmental, or private buildings, facilities and personnel. The FPS includes Oil, Electricity Police and Port Security.

The majority of the FPS staff consists of former service members and former security guards. The FPS will now secure public facilities such as hospitals, banks, and power stations within their district. Once trained, the guards work with US military forces protecting critical sites like schools, hospitals and power plants.”

See Coalition Provisional Authority (sourcewatch).


Which private security firms are operating in Iraq?

There are about 30 known private security firms working in Iraq. These include:

Aegis PLC
Aegis is run by Lt. Col. Tim Spicer. A film recently showed Aegis members happily shooting Iraqi civilians. See the film here.

Sourcewatch information on Aegis: “Aegis Defence Services was initially awarded a $293 million contract by the Pentagon in May 2004 to act as the ‘coordination and management hub’ for the fifty-plus private security companies in Iraq. As of December, 2005, that contract was worth in excess of $430 million. They also contributed seventy-five teams of eight armed civilians each (= 600) to assist and protect the Project Management Office of the United States. They also provided protection for the Oil-for-Food Program inquiry.”

Blackwater USA.
Blackwater was the security firm hired to protect Paul Bremer in Iraq.

Sourcewatch on Blackwater. “Blackwater is one of two companies which make up The Prince Group, the other being Prince Manufacturing. … The Prince Group bought Aviation Worldwide Servies. AWS consists of STI Aviation, Inc., Air Quest, Inc., and Presidential Airways, Inc. These companies provide the logistical and air support for Blackwater operations. Blackwater itself consists of Blackwater Training Center, Blackwater Target Systems, Blackwater Security Consulting and Blackwater Canine."

Blackwater K9 dog

Whose dogs were used at Abu Ghraib - and are now being used at some training camps? Were these dogs from Blackwater K9?

Blackwater vs. Fallujah
The 1st Marine Expeditionary Force took over Fallujah on 27.03.04. During a demonstration on the 28th, the US killed 18 Fallujah civilians. The Iraqi response to this was the murder and hanging of 4 Blackwater employees on 31.03.04. War crimes committed by the United States followed. See: Fallujah, the Hidden Nightmare (Rai/ICH)

Najaf was also affected. Sourcewatch says: “According to Russel Mokhiber and Robert Weissman, a few days after the Fallujah killings, "Blackwater Security Consulting engaged in full-scale battle in Najaf, with the company flying its own helicopters amidst an intense firefight to re-supply its own commandos. … The increased scrutiny of security firms led Blackwater to hire the Alexander Strategy Group (now involved in three “K Street” scandals) for crisis management, public and media relations.”

For a shady story that gets progressively darker, see IRAQ: Blood is Thicker Than Blackwater

Erinys Iraq Ltd.
According to Global Security, “Erinys Iraq Ltd is the private security company hired to protect Iraq’s oil pipelines under a US$40 million contract awarded in August 2003. Erinys Iraq is an affiliate of Erinys International formed in 2001, landed the Iraq contract to supply and train 6,500 armed guards charged with protecting 140 Iraqi oil wells, 7,000 kilometers of pipelines and refineries, as well as power plants and the water supply for the Iraqi Ministry of Oil. A majority of Erinys’ workforce (15,000 Iraqi and 350 international staff) in Iraq are Kurdish peshmerga.”

Sourcewatch information on Erinys. “Erinys Iraq Ltd, which won an $80 million contract last August from the Coalition Provisional Authority to provide security for the oil infrastructure in Iraq, has had some powerful alliances in Iraq.

Erinys set up a Joint Venture with Nour USA Ltd.. Nour's founder is Abul Huda Farouki, a wealthy Jordanian-American who lives in northern Virginia and whose companies have done extensive construction work for the Pentagon.

Farouki's businesses established $12 million of loans from the Petra International Banking Corporation in the 1980s, which was managed at the time by Ahmed Chalabi’s nephew, Mohammed Chalabi. The Jordanian government says this was part of a massive embezzlement scheme involving Chalabi⁴ and a bank he owned in Jordan.

A founding partner and the director of Erinys Iraq is Faisal Dhaghistani. Faisal is the son of Tamara Daghistani, who played a large role in the development of Ahmed Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress.

The firm's counsel in Baghdad has been Chalabi's nephew, Salem Chalabi.

Many among the 14,000 guards recruited by Erinys to protect the oil infrastructure came directly from the Iraqi Free Forces, a militia that had been loyal to Chalabi's movement.”

Following is an up-to-date State Department list ⁵ of 27 further known security firms working in Iraq:

AD Consultancy (which firm?) (UK)
AKE Ltd (UK)
BAGHDAD FIRE AND SECURITY (IRAQ)
ARMOR GROUP (in Mosul, Baghdad, Basra) (UK)
CONTROL RISKS GROUP (Baghdad) (UK)
CUSTER BATTLES (now being investigated) (US)
DEHDARI GENERAL TRADING & CONTRACTING EST.(KUWAIT)
DILIGENCE MIDDLE EAST (US)
GENRIC (outside Basra) (UK)
GLOBAL MIDDLE EAST RISK STRATEGIES (originally a firm based in UK, known as Global Risk Strategies) (Dubai,UAE)
GROUP 4 FALCK A/S (INDIA)
HENDERSON RISK LTD (UK)
HILL AND ASSOCIATES (HONG KONG)
ICP (employees are only either former British and US Special Forces or Elite Forces personnel. (UK)
ISI (Baghdad Conference Palace: (“the only security company to provide 24 hour Iraqi security guards to the CPA "Green Zone". All guards are trained by the U.S. army … ISI's senior management includes experienced military personnel mostly ex-special forces from both the US and UK.”) (IRAQ)
METEORIC TACTICAL SOLUTIONS (S. AFRICA)
MEYER & ASSOCIATES, (TEXAS, US)
OLIVE SECURITY LTD (UK)
OPTIMAL SOLUTION SERVICES (AUSTRALIA)
OVERSEAS SECURITY AND STRATEGIC INFORMATION, INC/SAFENET-IRAQ (US)
RAMOPS RISK MANAGEMENT GROUP (comprised of US special operations and military intelligence professionals.) (US)
SOG-SMG INC. (US)
SUMER INTERNATIONAL SECURITY (trained by DYNCORP. INT; (IRAQ)
TOR INTERNATIONAL (former SAS and Special Forces staff) (UK)
TRIPLE CANOPY (more than 20 years in the most elite military Special Operations units) (US)
UNITY RESOURCES GROUP (Middle East) LLC. (security professionals drawn from the Special Forces and Police SWAT communities of the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Europe. (Dubai, UAE)
WADE-BOYD & ASSOCIATES (US)


Where is training for the Facilities Protection Service ("death squads"?) taking place?

• Basra Palace (UK)

“19/5 Battery: “Maj. A. J. Layden is responsible for the Facilities Protection Service (FPS). The Battery oversees a wide range of activities; from working with the border guards away to the east of Basra, to running training courses for the FPS. Sgt Duncan’s multiple (sic) is one that has been tasked with this FPS training task. He and his team have already run four five-day courses which include foot drill, weapon handling, basic first aid and vehicle check point drills. The aim throughout each course is to raise confidence amongst the men of the FPS in basic standards and encourage good practice. At the end of each course, the top students have been selected to receive further instruction to educate them how to lead future courses. Sgt Duncan and his team are now reaping the rewards of their hard work with Iraqi FPS staff leading the most recent course under their guidance. “ (There is no date on this communication.)

• Baghdad, Al Rashid district

Col. Jon Brockman said (21.01.04) “that those achievements include recruiting, training, equipping and employing 2,900 Iraqis as Facility Protection Services guards.”

• MEK Compound / FOB Mercury / Camp Mercury

A photo tour of Camp Mercury can be seen here. The photo of the prisoner compound has been deleted.

Global Security says: “Forward Operating Base [FOB] Mercury is an abandoned Iraqi military base and a former Iranian terrorist training camp, located midway between Baghdad and Fallujah.”

“TF 1-504 operates out of FOB Mercury. They are responsible for several towns west of Baghdad, including the external security of the largest prison and detention facility in Iraq. TF 1-504 recently started training Iraqi Facility Protection Service guards. This is a program to train and equip Iraqis so they can begin guarding their own critical facilities, such as police stations, food warehouses, oil storage depots, etc. … A class of twenty-five Iraqis completed the Facilities Protection Force (FPS) program 11 October 2003 at Forward Operating Base Mercury. The group of students is the first to participate in the three-day course. Upon their graduation, they became an integral part of the Iraq rehabilitation process. …”

“There have been allegations made that between 2003-2004 at Camp Mercury U.S. military personnel engaged in routine and widespread physical punishment towards Iraqi detainees. It is alleged that enlisted men conducted beatings of prisoners prior to questioning, forced strenuous exercises to the point of unconsciousness and exposed detainees to extremes of heat and cold. These alleged methods were employed to produce greater cooperation with interrogators some of whom were apparently members of the CIA. As of September 2005 the U.S. Army was conducting an investigation on what exactly happened at Camp Mercury. Some military personnel also claim that these actions were also used as a form of stress relief from the war.”

• An Najaf

An Najaf area: "two hundred one facility protection service guards graduated from security training on 03 July 2003. Sixty-seven guards will work at oil and gas facilities and 134 will work at hospitals." On 29.08.03, the mosque in Najaf was bombed.

The 11th MEU commander declared Nov. 30 (04) that Iraqi security forces have formally assumed local control of An Najaf province. Col. Anthony Haslam said, "In the past three months, they have demonstrated their ability to keep this province and its citizens safe and secure." As of 09.12.05, The Iraqi army had the primary responsibility for security in Najaf and Karbala, but full control had not yet been handed over.

06.14.06. Car bombing. 10 people killed near Shi’ite Muslim shrine.

Further Najaf security matters can be seen here.

• AR RAMADI
• KARBALA

There is no further detailed information about where the FPS members are being trained. There is, however, further information about Training Camps for Iraqis. For example, see the description of Camp David, where Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT), emergency response, and dignitary protection, similar to functions carried out by the U.S. Secret service, take place. Black masks are ‘de rigour’ (see photo). These camps will be detailed in my research on US bases in North/South/East/West Iraq.

APPENDIX ONE: PAUL BREMER’S ORDER NUMBER 27:

ESTABLISHMENT OF THE FACILITIES PROTECTION SERVICE

… The FPS is an organization of trained, armed, uniformed entities charged with providing security for ministry and governorate offices, government infrastructure, and fixed sites under the direction and control of governmental ministries and governorate administrations.

Section 2: Organization of the FPS

1) Governmental employees employed by the ministries or governorates are eligible to serve in the FPS. The FPS may also consist of employees of private security firms who are engaged to perform services for the ministries or governorates through contracts, provided such private security firms and employees are licensed and authorized by the Ministry of Interior as provided in Section 7 herein. Persons who have participated in Ba`ath Party activity within the leadership tiers described in CPA Order Number 1, De-Ba`athification of Iraqi Society (CPA/ORD/16 May 2003/01) may not serve in the FPS in any capacity except by the express grant of an exception by the Coalition Provisional Authority.

2) Ministers and heads of governorate administrations shall determine the need for FPS members at locations under their supervision. Each ministry or governorate administration is responsible for ensuring the FPS branch under its supervision is sufficient to protect key sites for which it is responsible, with the additional support of police or other forces in times of emergency.

3) Ministries and governorate administrations are responsible for the funding of FPS members assigned to their agency. Ministries and governorate administrations are responsible for the supervision and control of the FPS force assigned to their governmental agency, consistent with the standards and regulations established by the Ministry of Interior.

4) Governorates will establish Regional Operations Centers to coordinate the operations of FPS guards and to ensure their proper integration with police and other emergency services.

5) The Ministry of Interior will establish standards and training for the FPS including standards and training for private security firms performing FPS duties pursuant to contracts.

Pursuant to this Order, the Ministry of Interior will issue FPS
Administrative Instructions defining the standards for dress, training, certification, and deportment. All members of the FPS whether contracted or employed directly by the governmental agency are required to comply with the Administrative Instructions issued by the Ministry of Interior.

6) FPS organizations may be known by different names including, for example "Electricity Police," "Diplomatic Protective Services," or "Oil Police" but each will have only the specific powers and authorities granted in this Order.

7) Members of the FPS may not participate in any manner in organizations or activities that advocate racial, gender or ethnic hatred or intolerance; advocate, create, or engage in illegal discrimination based on race, color, gender, religion, or regional origin; or use, or advocate the use of, force or violence or other unlawful means to achieve internal political goals. Violations may result in the removal of the member from employment in the FPS or the withdrawal of the authorization for the member to perform FPS responsibilities as a member of a private security firm.

Section 3: Authority of the FPS

1) Members of the FPS may, while performing their official duties, apprehend persons who (i) they witness committing or attempting to commit a criminal offense, (ii) have escaped after being lawfully arrested, or (iii) otherwise interfere with their lawful activities. Persons apprehended by the FPS must be turned over to the Iraqi police or Coalition Forces within twelve hours of apprehension or be released.

2) Members of the FPS may, while performing their official duties, conduct reasonable searches for weapons or other dangerous or prohibited items of persons entering or within the governmental property or offices they are securing, criminal suspects in their custody, or vehicles entering or within the governmental property or offices they are securing.

3) Members of the FPS may, while performing official duties, use force against persons or things as is reasonable and necessary under the circumstances. However, the use of force that may be likely to cause death or serious bodily injury is not permitted unless the member reasonably believes that using such force is necessary to: (i) protect himself or others from the imminent use of deadly force or force likely to cause serious bodily injury, (ii) prevent the escape of a person suspected of committing murder or assault resulting in serious bodily injury, or (iii) defend ministry or governorate offices, government or state-owned infrastructure, and fixed sites under the direction and control of governmental ministries and governorate administrations, to prevent their destruction or incapacitation.

Section 4: Jurisdiction

1) Members of the FPS will be subject to Iraqi law at all times, and the courts of Iraq shall have jurisdiction over offenses alleged to have been committed by members of the FPS. The Administrator of the CPA may determine that offenses alleged to have been committed by members of the FPS while on duty may be submitted to the Central Criminal Court of Iraq in accordance with CPA Order Number 13 (Revised), The Central Criminal Court of Iraq (CPA/ORD/13 July 2003/13).

2) Members of the FPS shall enjoy immunity from civil liability for acts or omissions arising within the scope of their duties and in the conduct of authorized operations to the same degree as other governmental officials under the law of Iraq.

Section 5: Weapons
The possession of weapons by members of the FPS is regulated by CPA Order Number 3, Weapons Control Order (CPA/ORD/23 May 2003/03).

CPA/ORD/4 September 2003 / 27


Comments

The UK was criticized for starting the Basra turmoil in 10.05. Two SAS, part of a 24-member team, were discovered with explosives in the back of their car. They were dressed in Arab clothing. See Basra Shadowlands.

“Majid al-Sari, an adviser to the Iraqi Ministry of Defence, describing the situation in Basra to the daily al-Zaman, said that on average one person (in Basra) was being assassinated every hour … The governor of Basra, Mohammed Misbahal-Wa'ili, is trying to sack the city's police chief, claiming that the police have not carried out a single investigation into hundreds of recent assassinations,” according to Patrick Cockburn (17.05.06) in The Independent

On March, 06, a security contractor in Tikrit was arrested with a “Do It Yourself Car Bomb Kit” in his BMW. What was he going to blow up? Was this going to be a “suicide bombing?” How many ‘suicide bombings’ are actually caused by ‘security’ mercenaries, ordered to do so by the US/UK government?

Headline (05.06). “Baghdad: American security contractors shot dead an Iraqi ambulance crewman on Tuesday when they opened fire on his vehicle after a roadside bomb blasted their convoy.” Which security firm did this? According to the Geneva Convention, it is a war crime to kill ambulance crew members.

Hospitals, as well as ambulances, have been bombed (also against the Geneva Convention). The excuse given is that they ‘harbour terrorists.’

Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt defended raiding al Tabul mosque in 01.04 because, he said, “Iraqi citizens had identified it as a hub of insurgency operations.” One has to extend this excuse, and ask, ‘Are mosques also bombed by security forces because they ‘harbour terrorists?’ Such charges have been made.

The Khadamiya shrine, according to Newsweek (24.04.06) is guarded by the FPS. “Not one ministry contacted by Newsweek would accept overall responsibility for the FPS.” If Bremer created the FPS, then isn’t the coalition responsible for the FPS?

No prosecution? Bremer’s Order 27 exempts security contractors as well as the Facilities Protection Service: “Members of the FPS shall enjoy immunity from civil liability for acts or omissions arising within the scope of their duties.”

How many Security (sic) people are there in total? How many of these belong now, or have belonged in the past, to the Special Forces / SAS? How many of these have put Car Bomb Kits in the back of their car? How many have carried out assassinations? How many ‘Kill For Fun’ (like Aegis)?

Are any of these ‘security’ people responsible for the 190 academic and 225 health worker assassinations? See http://www.brusselstribunal.org for details of these assassinations.

Is the increase in number of security companies / FPS directly related to / causing the increase of violence in Iraq?


Related Sites:

Negroponte supports FPS.

Wolfovitz supports FPS.

Rumsfeld (22.10.03) supports the FPS.

President Bush, in a 07.09.03 speech in which he talks about an Iraq “free of assassins, and torturers, and secret police,” supports the FPS.

The most important articles, with excellent links, are by Max Fuller:
For Iraq, “The Salvador Option” Becomes Reality
Crying Wolf: Media Disinformation and Death Squads in Occupied Iraq.

Video with annotated scene selection and selected links: Crying Wolf: Who is behind the death squads in Iraq?

And, additionally, articles by William Bowles:
Private Military Contractors – A $300 Billion Dollar Business (18.05.03)

Corporate Media Discovers Private Military Contractors (29.03.04)

The Curious Case of Tim Spicer (18.08.04), Tony Blair's Pet Bulldog

Footnotes

[1] Throughout this article you will notice a variation of given numbers, dependent on the source. However, these numbers are not unbearably far apart.
[2] The jumping off point for this research was E. Knickmeyer's Washington Post story Iraq Nears Consolidation of Paramilitary Unit (11.05.06) and Iraq Begins to Rein In Paramilitary Force (14.05.06)
[3] All italics in this article are the author's.
[4] Chalabi was one of the 1998 PNAC signatories to a letter to President Clinton, calling for regime change in Iraq.
[5] The Embassy of the United States – Iraq also has a website for Security Companies in Iraq, with websites, emails, details.

Updates

Please see: Security Company Death Squads Timeline by Dirk Adriaensens and Sarah Meyer (25.09.07) .

US investigators unable to account for $1.2B in Iraqi police training funds
23.10.07. Jurist. The US State Department cannot account for most of the $1.2 billion that it paid to a private contractor hired to train Iraqi police forces, according to an interim review report [PDF text; US State Department press briefing] from the US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) [official website] released Tuesday. DynCorp International [corporate website] was contracted by the Department of State's Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) [official website] in February 2004 to provide housing, security, and training support systems for the Iraqi civilian police training program.

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This article originally appeared at: http://www.brusselstribunal.org/SecurityCompanies.htm

The url to Iraq:Security Companies and Training Camps is: http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/05/iraq-security-companies-and-training.html

This article originally published on 17/5/2006.

Sarah Meyer is a researcher living in Sussex, UK.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Tags: Iraq, Paul Bremer, Aegis, Blackwater, CIA, Halliburton, L-3 Communications, Lockheed Martin, Pentagon, Titan

Not the Hay Festival: Juhasz, Muttit, Christodopoulos

By Sarah Meyer
Index Research


I used to be a Guardian Hay Festival addict. Good talks, good bookshops, good food. This year the festival is a bit incestuous. The blog editor of The Guardian is interviewing Alan Rusbridger, the editor of the Guardian, for example. Now this would have been a stimulating conversation if one of the Media Lens editors had conducted the interview. The BBC, under continual criticism from bloggers for ‘unbalanced’ reporting, is much again in evidence at Hay – unchallenged. It thus appears that the Hay Festival is supporting the Mainstream Media agenda whilst a roar of controversy and fear surrounds the incursion of bloggers into the corporate news world’s ratings. There seems to be a resistance to, or ignorance of, the radical and informed Blog World. There are excellent UK bloggers that would have given a needed stimulus to the festival.

“Club Regulars,” eg Winterson and Greer, are here.’ Al Gore will talk. But a wide gap remains unfilled by those authors questioning the political / corporate status quo. What has happened to the Hay challenge to expand our knowledge and fixed ideas? Visitors are again offered Christopher Hitchens (yawn). One local said, “Where are the Gore Vidals, the Norman Mailers, the Philip Roths? It seems to be mostly c-list celebs.”

There are exceptions – John Pilger; ‘girl-blogger’ from Iraq, Riverbend, author of Baghdad Burning; Gary Younge, author of Stranger in a Strange Land. Hearing the very special writer whose work cannot be categorized, Philip Marsden will be a treat. The activist / comedian Mark Thomas will try and make the lethal arms trade sound funny.

Last year, the festival moved from the centre of town to a field. Another local person said “Last year I could get a seat in the pub - I've never known that during a festival before.” Now the festival is a bus ride away. A small cut-out Guardian headline in a bookshop window reads: "Hell for low-paid locals."

I went, instead, to hear three speakers at the London School of Economics, who should be in the Hay Festival schedule, and are not.

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I became a fan of Loukas Christodoulou³ when I read his excellent report, Corporate Carve-up: the role of UK corporations in Iraq (03.03. – 03.06). He spoke on this subject. “It was a political decision to bring corporations into Iraq. The corporations then support the Occupation.” Thus, he said, “it is important to find out who is there. The majority are US corporations.” Perhaps, he thought, the UK felt they were not getting value for money. A great deal of money could be made “all in the name of helping Iraqis.” However, “the restructuring of Iraq's economy is providing fertile opportunities for an army of consultants.” For example, AMEC, a large construction firm with a £500m contract in their pocket, is working alongside the US firm Fluor. “AMEC is organised much like Tony Blair’s PFI (Private Finance Initiatives) in UK hospitals.¹” Consultancy firms, advising the new Iraqi government and the Ministries have also moved in. “Brand Identity” is inserting itself alongside the private security / military companies, in which there are 30,000 private employees.

“A policy decision was taken to base Iraq’s future on corporations. It is an agenda that is being pushed. There is enough talent in Iraq to reverse this trend.” A precis of the excellent full report can be read here.


Greg Muttitt is the author of the revealing report by Platform, Crude Designs: the Rip-off of Iraq’s Oil Wealth.²

“The oil situation in Iraq is a repetition of history,” Muttitt said. “While Iraq was occupied by Britain, in 1925 a contract was signed. This contract gave foreign (especially British) companies control and ownership of Iraq for 75 years, continuing well beyond the occupation - despite enormous opposition in Iraq.” 1961 and 1972 saw nationalisation of oil in Iraq – which was only possible because similar changes were taking place around the oil-producing world.

“Now the players are slightly different, as the US is the Nunber One power, with Britain now as the junior partner. The other difference is that the Iraqi people have seen all this before – for this reason, the language has changed a bit. Oil companies are described as ‘contractors’, and the state is offered nominal ownership of the resource. But in practice, things are much the same – the contracts being considered would again give control over Iraqi oil, and a large chunk of revenues, to multinational companies.”

“The word ‘advice’ keeps coming up. It reflects a somewhat racist attitude, that ‘we know how this should be done and the Iraqi’s don’t. But it’s also misleading. An offer of advice which is backed up by 150,000 troops becomes an offer that’s hard to refuse.”

“Now that a government has been appointed, it has four months to review and potentially amend the constitution. After that, the next step will be to pass an oil law, which determines the structure of the oil industry, whether foreign companies can invest in it and on what terms. After that, it will be possible to sign long-term contracts, which could last for decades. The IMF (International Monetary Fund) has insisted on being involved in the drafting of the law, as one of its economic conditions imposed on the Iraqi government. And the US government has appointed the consultancy company, Bearing Point, to “advise” (that word again) ”on the writing of the law”.

“This process is not inevitable. There is considerable resistance to this process amongst Iraqi politicians and academics. Strikes have, for example, shut down Iraqi oil. Everyone needs to resist this theft of Iraqi oil.”

Muttitt’s recent article, Further Steps toward Long-Term Oil Contracts, (04.06) can be read here.



Antonia Juhasz is a vibrant speaker who knows her corporate facts and presents them with great flair. Her book, The Bush Agenda, has just been published in the UK. Having read her articles in various publications, I was keen to see and hear her speak. She told us a little of her background: she was a former Project Director at the International Forum on Globalization. Working meant “leapfrogging the federal government to help social welfare.” She is a Project Censored Award recipient.

In the nine days after 9/11, she said, the US government would be combating terror with trade, under the guise of the ‘war on terror.’ Pax Americana was mentioned 19 times in the mythical belief that Rome were peace creators. “All the key people in the US government are oil people - the President, the Vice President and the now Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice (Chevron). They have umbilical links.” Juhasz said that sixteen members of the Bush administration are involved with Lockheed Martin.

"The Reagan administration wanted greater economic links with Iraq, particularly in oil. The new system is to lock in the economic structure of the IMF (International Monetary Fund) so that it would not matter who was the head of a country in the future. Before the war in Iraq, all the foreign suitors for Iraqi oil were countries who had dealings with Iraq except the United States. So, a working group met at the State Department. All these oil contracts were cancelled. The contract was rewritten under Paul Bremer. Bremer gave 100 orders … The Iraqi government is not allowed to give priority to Iraqis for reconstruction. The Iraqis are not happy. The new government does not oppose either the oil laws or the corporate laws. The oil time-line is guiding the end of the occupation."

Juhasz said there was "poor monitoring of oil". Iraqi oil is definitely going to the US, she said. “The oil companies are doing all right but would like to do much better.” The corporate lobby, she said, “are more powerful than OPEC (Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries).” She feels that Mahdi is the most important person in the Iraq government now – “he backs US corporations.”

Juhasz felt the US was not buying the ‘fear’ of the US administration’s direction on Iran. “There is a good, strong anti-war organization.”

Footnotes

[1] There has been criticism of the PFIs in the UK. Its results are underwhelming.
[2] See: William Bowles (02.12.05), On the road to Damascus; James Cogan (08.12.05) Report outlines plans for corporate plunder of Iraqi oil; Sarah Meyer (07.03.06), PNAC: Rebuilding America's Defenses - A Biopsy on Imperialism; Part II: "Special Interests" - The Persian Gulf.
[3] Reader to note. The name Christodopoulos is incorrect due to a printout of the lecture with the incorrect spelling. The correct spelling is Loukas Christodoulou.


The url of 'Not The Hay Festival' is: http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/05/not-hay-festival-juhasz-muttit.html


Sarah Meyer is a researcher living in Sussex, UK.
Her email is: sarahmeyer@freedom255.com

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Khalilzad AP Interview

By Sarah Meyer
Index Research

AP: "Do you feel that the new government will have a honeymoon, or will it be immediately faced with challenges?"

KHALILZAD: “I think it will be faced immediately with challenges because the terrorists are not going to go away, they're going to persist in their effort to promote a sectarian conflict. They want Iraq to fail, but Iraq in itself is not important for them. Iraq is one theater in a global war; that they want to provoke a war of civilization.”

One only needs to make a small addition to this statement for it to make sense.

“I think it will be faced immediately with challenges because the” US/UK “terrorists are not going to go away, they're going to persist in their effort to promote a sectarian conflict. They want Iraq to fail, but Iraq in itself is not important for them. Iraq is one theater in a global war; that they want to provoke a war of civilization.”

The url to this short comment is: http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/05/khalilzad-ap-interview.html

Sarah Meyer is a researcher living in Sussex, UK.
Her email is: sarahmeyer@freedom255.com

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Iraq: The Assassination of Academics : The Jalili Report

By Sarah Meyer

This article originally published 4/5/2006.

A conference recently took place in Madrid which focused on the 190 murdered academics and 224 murdered health officials in Iraq since the occupation. CEOSI (Statewide Campaign to End the Occupation and Restore the Sovereignty of Iraq) hosted the conference. CEOSI was supported by the respected BRussels Tribunal. Both of these organizations have taken an interest in collating information concerning the criminal assassination of highly esteemed intellectuals in Iraq. A petition, URGENT APPEAL TO SAVE IRAQ'S ACADEMICS can be found at http://www.brusselstribunal.org. The final resolution of the Madrid conference may also be found here, along with a wealth of information which world leaders and Mainstream Media ignore – to the detriment of “democracy and freedom.”

Dr. Ismail Jalili, who is on the advisory committee of the BRussels Tribunal, gave a detailed presentation about the assassinations (see below) at the Madrid conference.

Dr. Ismail Jalili is an Iraqi living and working in England. “I was a student in medical school in Baghdad. I was also the editor of a medical school journal. The security forces arrested me in 1969 and took me to Qasr el-Nihaya (Palace of Termination) because I was a political activist. I suffered political detention for a few months. I was tortured. After I was released, I decided to leave for Cairo. If I had stayed, I would have had to co-operate at the expense of my integrity, and be subjected to ongoing arrests. This was before I graduated, so I had to lose a year in the process of moving medical schools. In Cairo, I completed my studies and graduated in 1971. After graduation, I came directly to the UK to do post graduate studies. I started training in surgery. However, because there was a shortage of ophthalmologists in Iraq (there was only one), I decided to study and train in this field in the United Kingdom. I married; we have two sons.

I have friends and relatives who have been suffering for a very long time - first with the sanctions, and now with the lack of security following the invasion in Iraq. I feel helpless.”

However, Dr. Jalili does not respond in a ‘helpless’ manner. I have rarely met such an active and involved person. In spite of his recent operation, he has a large workload. “I work in several fields,” he said. As well as his involvement with the BRussels Tribunal, his kudos include:

1. Past President of the Iraqi Medical Association in the United Kingdom


2. Member of the Executive Council of the British Arab Medical Association, Founding member and Past President.


3. Chairman of the National Association of British Arabs


4. Chairman of the Stamford Liberal Democrats and Vice Chair of the Grantham & Stamford Constituency Party

Dr. Jalili is currently focusing his efforts on the plight of Iraqi doctors and academics and the deteriorating human rights situation in Iraq.

I asked him why he chose this focus. “It is an obligation and a commitment. I am most interested in the human rights issues of Iraq, and focusing on the academic and medical assassinations, threats to life and the pressure on them to leave Iraq. There are so many challenges – Iraq, Palestine, the rest of the diaspora. We have an obligation to lead the way.”


Following is Dr Jalili's report, published with his permission.

The Jalili Report on the Assassination of Academics

Plight of Iraqi Academics
Presentation by Dr Ismail Jalili

FRCS, DO, FRCOphth

Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon, UK

Presented at the Madrid International Conference on the Assassinations of Iraqi Academics, 23-24 April 2006

Updated 1 May 2006

Assassinated Iraqi Academics and Doctors

Sources of Data

• Association of University Lecturers in Iraq aul__iraq@yahoo.com
• BRussells Tribunal Lists (www.BrussellsTribunal.org)
• The Spanish List as provided by Madrid Campaign
• Personal communications with Iraqi academics
• Almosul Website (http://www.almosul.org)
• NABA Website (The Iraqi Human Rights Monitor) http://www.naba.org.uk/

Murdered Iraqi Academics and Doctors by Specialty

Assassinated Medical Professionals in Iraq

Deputy Iraqi Health Minister’s Statement (Feb 2006) - Since April 2003:

• Over 1000 doctors have fled Iraq
• Over 220 doctors have been killed in Iraq

Distribution of Assassinations

Other Non-Fatal Incidents

• Many assassination attempts resulted in the death of other family members and escorts which have not been included or referred to in this study.
• Multiple assassination attempts are ongoing.
• Repeated threats to life are made to force people to leave Iraq.
• Considerable numbers of threats to life go unreported.
• In the last week of April 2006, a mass campaign was reported in Mosul of threats to doctors calling on them to leave Iraq.

Temporal Trends in Assassinations

Conclusions

Plight of Iraqi Academics

• A new phenomena in Iraq,
• Never existed prior to April 2003.
• The pattern indicates a sinister campaign and motives.
• Similar pattern to El-Salvador see: Death-squad style massacres for Iraq, "The Salvador Option" Becomes Reality - Mike Fuller.
• The assassinations, kidnaps and threats to life forcing academics and doctors to leave Iraq do not follow any religious or sectarian pattern.
• The only dominant pattern is that the absolute majority of victims are ethnically Arabs.

Madrid International Seminar on the Assassinations of Iraqi Academics
Final Statement on: http://www.brusselstribunal.org/SeminarMadrid.htm#resolution

This presentation can be downloaded as a PDF file.

The url for Iraq: The Assassination of Academics; The Jalili Report is: http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/05/iraq-assassination-of-academics-jalili.html

This article originally published 4/5/2006.

Sarah Meyer is a researcher living in Sussex, UK
Her email address is sarahmeyer@freedom255.com

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

IRAQ: “The Occupation is the disease”

INDEX RESEARCH
from Sarah Meyer

The following information is from three highly esteemed Iraqi professional people. Their lives are in danger. Two people’s names and professions have, by request, thus been withheld.

ONE: “There is no way out of this ‘Camp Iraq.’ “

Iraq is worse than during sanctions …

“By February 2006, 224 (health professionals) had been killed. 1000 had left the country. Since February, I personally know six more highly specialised doctors who have been killed … Many in medical training have also left Iraq … Post graduate studies have closed down because of lack of teaching staff. So a (generation) gap has been created. Experienced doctors are unable to pass on their experience to new doctors … Specialised health services have declined.

The airport road used to be a lovely area, with trees and roses. Families used to go there for picnics. An American soldier threw a stone at me because I didn’t stop. My architect friend was killed – shot dead on this road by Americans. If you don’t stop, the Americans will shoot you …

The US kill civilians and blame the resistance …

A doctor friend of mine was shot in front of his home by Americans. There was no apology. Why have doctors been killed – some by Americans? Some are kidnapped. In Fallujah, why did the Americans go inside the operating theatre and kill? Why go to a house at night? At 2 AM, there were helicopters and bombs. He was a neighbour of mine. His name was Riad Khammal.

A child runs to his mother when he hears a helicopter. A child is now afraid of helicopters …

Once a bullet came into my office, towards me, but it hit the metal on the window…

Omar Salem Khattab, a urology surgeon, was taken by the US - trained Iraqi police and National Guard when he was trying to help people in a bomb blast. He was taken away for detention. I went to ask about him. The doctor had been abused and hit. He was released. He left Iraq …

There is a difference in the study of history. In the West, one learned a little about western history, but nothing about the rest of the world. In our country, we studied the history of Europe and of the world.

Education had been free since Saddam. Books were free. It was compulsory for children to go to school until 1993. Literacy was compulsory for everyone who didn’t know how to read or write, no matter how old they were. Before the Gulf War, 92% of the children attended school. And now? The schools are closed; 362 schools are closed in Baghdad because of the difficult situation. Dijula school was bombed. Children are not going to school. People are afraid … I have a daughter. It is dangerous for her to go out.

There is poverty. The children are outside, begging. Begging is greater than in the ‘70s or ‘80s. There is malnutrition. Iraqi people want to eat just like all other people.

Why destroy the electricity, water supply, waste product system? … The aim is the complete destruction of Iraqi society … The healthy aspects of home life have disappeared. There is no water, no electricity. There are no drugs in the hospitals; no theatre gloves. Hospitals need to be renewed. They were destroyed in the sanctions, and now we can’t renew them. Twice my hospital has been destroyed – first in 1991, when it then took two years to rebuild; and again in 2003, it was destroyed when an American bomb hit the building beside the hospital, causing the hospital roof to collapse. The hospital needed to be renewed again, but there was no money - and there was the occupation. The hospital was out of action for 8 months. Now, the generator is sometimes not working. This is a danger to the patient during an operation, as the generator has to be worked by hand.

It is difficult and frustrating for a patient to go to hospital. There are bombs, no oxygen, no drugs, can’t do surgery. In the private sector, it is better.

Those inside the wire are not like those outside the wire. We need courageous men inside the wire.

Do you fight, or do you negotiate? If you negotiate, will you not be killed anyway? How can you say ‘fight’ when are also speaking for the children, who will be killed?

There is no way out of this ‘Camp Iraq.’

The US should announce that their forces will go out by – X - this date. And on this date, the UN should move the security forces to Iraq, so no one can then criticize anyone.”

TWO: Heart of Darkness

Another Iraqi source told me that there is a DU (Depleted Uranium) project in Baghdad supported by the University of (!) Texas. “Congenital abnormalities and stillborn children increased five-fold during the 90s, particularly in the Basra region … DU is killing thousands … Cancer increased 1 year after the bombing in Basra; there were 460 cases that year.”

My source suffers from “bad memories – first from the severe sanctions, then war and imprisonment in a 3x3m cell, now with the occupation.

It is a long pain, an interruption of peaceful living. … To live under occupation is Hell. We have elusive enemies we do not know. We don’t know why they are targeting us …

Many academics had senior posts; for example, they were the head of a department.

Academics have been subjected to four types of hassle. First, to being interrogated and detained, right after the war. This was due to an accusation of participating in the (non-existent) WMD secret programme. Detention was from a few days to three years. Two women scientists, Dr. Huda Amash and Dr. Rehab Taha, were only recently released after confirmation that there was no such secret programme.

The second hassle is that many have been subjected to ‘de-Baathification.’ Hundreds were fired from their jobs because they were members of the Baath party, although all of them were seniors in different scientific fields.

The third problem is having to endure threats and intimidation by students who are motivated by different political and sectarian parties. Academics receive threatening letters, asking them to leave the institute and the country. Or they find a bullet in their letterbox. Some letters are written by students who are not doing well – a kind of blackmail – but we cannot take chances.

The forth problem is the assassination list. Those who are still alive try and survive in the heart of danger – the heart of darkness. Many are trying to leave Iraq.

Iraq is very chaotic … The academics need temporary jobs or fellowships to get them away from the risks. They are the treasures of Iraq. The heart of darkness is overshadowing them.”

I ask: And if the US leaves Iraq?

“America is the germ. We need to flush the germ out. The symptoms can then be treated and relieved. Then we can restore our living.”

THREE: “We need international support”

Eman Khamas. Photo by Sarah Meyer

Eman Khamas is a journalist, author and human rights advocate. She is passionate about her work; driven by and dedicated to injustice.

Eman says:
“With every dead man, woman and child, Iraq is killed anew. The bombing continues to this minute. The US bombs hospitals, and bury the people under the rubble. Schools are bombed and destroyed. Every time, all Iraqi’s rights are violated.

It is criminal to kill thousands of people because there are a few individual criminals. Almost 300,000 Iraqis have been killed in the last 3 years. 1,400 Iraqi civilians were killed in the last month.

Students cannot go to school. Professors cannot go to school. Many girls do not go to school. It is dangerous for girls. The roads are closed, or there is a curfew, or bombs, or suicide bombing. People have to walk for miles to get to their school. For some, it is a two-hour, dangerous walk ... We had a demonstration under the window of the dean of a university. He wouldn’t look out the window …

We have never had this phenomena in the past – only since the occupation. 224 (health professionals) have been killed. 1000 are in exile. The only thing these people have in common is that they are Iraqi and intellectual. If they are in jail, they are tortured, released, and then they disappear … People are assassinated by Americans and insurgents. We don’t know who they are. There are lists on the wall of people who are going to be killed – so these people leave Iraq. They are afraid of retaliation. People are threatened either by being accused by the occupation or by those who are giving information to the occupation. If one talks about the occupation, one is fired. It is dangerous to talk about the occupation.

The United States and the United Kingdom have programmes. There is collaboration. They are only interested in scientists with certain qualifications. They want to ensure those scientists stay in the country, and not to go to the ‘Axis of Evil’ countries. They say, ‘come attend a workshop in Jordan,’ for example. There are ‘trainers.’ They might organise something for environmental health, for example, in Oman.

There is no information from any institution. They are not allowed to give information to journalists …

What is the future of Iraq under occupation? The killing is done by the militias – political militias, using the religious emotions of the Iraqi people to gain power. The US know they can do this and get away with it. There are no official Iraqi investigations. The people in government are behind this killing …

What about the families of those who have been assassinated?
Displacement, too, is a problem because of the bombing and fear. These people need everything. They cannot wait. They need help NOW. There are widows, orphans. They have no financial help. Their husbands have been killed or are in jail. There are homeless families, living in tents or in unsafe structures. There is a problem with a shortage of medicines. The US apologises for bombing hospitals, but this means nothing.

We need to work to educate people. It is the right of any people to resist occupation. Iraqis have resisted because of the killing of civilians – the bombing of cities. Mainstream Media does not understand the urgency … The US and Mainstream Media concentrate on political success, elections, democracy. All of this is irrelevant to the Iraqi people.

The occupation is responsible for everything that happens. What happens are the symptoms. The occupation is the disease. The occupation works on division. The issue they are working on now is civil war. We have never had civil war in our history. Because the occupation is in Iraq, there is violence. The US says that Iraqis are not capable. This is a lie. There are many Iraqis who are capable, given a chance.

We need international support for the Iraqi intellectuals … I have a recommendation … to call for Spanish universities and then to the International Federation of World Universities and the Association of Arab Universities, and ask them to raise the issue in regular meetings … Scientists are national treasures."

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The Dead and Homeless

Refugees. The number of Iraqi refugees is up for grabs. The Displacement and Migration Ministry said two weeks ago that the number of refugees was about 60,000. A 28.04.06 Reuters article quotes the Iraqi vice president as recently saying that there are around 1/2 million refugees.

The number of widows in Iraq is increasing. There is a rising number of orphans. Families huntfor Iraq's Lost.

Murdered Academics & Doctors.

On 01.06, The Washington Post reported on the Exodus of Iraqi educated professionals.

The Iraqi Minister of Health has just declared that “220 health professionals” have been assassinated. Approximately 190 academics have been murdered. See the BRussels Tribunal list, report and Madrid conference resolution here. The Spanish website CEOSI, (Statewide Campaign to End the Occupation and Restore the Sovereignty of Iraq) has further details.

For latest information on doctors in Mosul, see 01.05.06 Reuters report.

The BRussels Tribunal needs help from the Iraqi people themselves to substantiate the number of doctors and academics killed, when, and how. The dead are victims of war crimes.

Murdered Journalists.

Reporters without Borders says that 88 journalists and media assistants have been killed since the start of fighting in Iraq in March 2003. Two are still missing. To put this in perspective, “around 63 journalists were killed in Vietnam during the 20 years from 1955 to 1975.” Read their March ’06 report, Three Years of Slaughter, here.

Dead Iraqi Civilians.

The Iraq Body Count, 38,661 killed, appears to be incorrect. Mr. Sloboda has tried to defend his figures. Both Media Lens and Gabriele Zamparini at The Cat’s Dream have disputed the Iraq Body Count figures, backed by evidence. William Bowles does not find Mr Sloboda’s Newsnight defense convincing.

In 2004, The Lancet, a UK medical journal, wrote a report, Mortality before and after the 2003 invasion of Iraq: cluster sample survey. This report said there were approximately 100,000 dead Iraqi civilians.

The estimated number of civilian dead now is estimated at between 250,000 - 300,000+. Iraqis are afraid to go to the police if a relative has been killed.

Suicide Bombers.

There have been rumours that in Iraq, the US secretly puts bombs in cars and then sets them off from a helicopter. These rumours are now becoming more substantiated. See The Independent, 29.04.06, Robert Fisk

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The url for Iraq: The Occupation is a Disease is: http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/05/iraq-occupation-is-disease.html


Sarah Meyer is a researcher living in Sussex, UK.
Her email is: sarahmeyer@freedom255.com

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.