Spicy Mercenary

Controversial Commando Wins Iraq Contract

Occupation authorities in Iraq have awarded a $293 million contract effectively creating the world’s largest private army to a company headed by Lieutenant Colonel Tim Spicer, a former officer with the SAS, an elite regiment of British commandos, who has been investigated for illegally smuggling arms and planning military offensives to support mining, oil, and gas operations around the world. On May 25, the Army Transportation command awarded Spicer’s company, Aegis Defense Services, the contract to coordinate all the security for Iraqi reconstruction projects.

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Major Gary Tallman, a spokesperson for the U.S. Army, explained that the contract was to create an “integrator” or coordination hub for the security operation for every single reconstruction contractor and sub-contractor. “Their job is to disseminate information and provide guidance and coordination throughout the four regions of Iraq.”

I sure hope that doesn’t mean that they’ll be doing any “gathering and analysis of tactical intelligence” because that would be against Army regulations, as this article in today’s NY Times discusses:

The use of private contractors as interrogators at Abu Ghraib and other prisons in Iraq violates an Army policy that requires such jobs to be filled by government employees because of the “risk to national security,” among other concerns, the Army acknowledged Friday.

An Army policy directive published in 2000 and still in effect today, the military said, classifies any job that involves “the gathering and analysis” of tactical intelligence as “an inherently governmental function barred from private sector performance.”

Lt. Col. Pamela Hart, an Army public affairs officer, acknowledged after consulting with senior Army officials that the service was in violation of that rule, but added that military commanders in Iraq, “retain the right to make exceptions.” Another senior Army officer, in Baghdad, explained that using contract interrogators was a solution to shortages of suitable Army personnel.

The rule does not authorize exceptions for jobs involving the collection or analysis of tactical intelligence, which is perishable information the military can use for planning operations. A related White House policy directive insists that agencies “perform inherently governmental activities with government personnel.”

Well gosh, it’s getting a little bit hard to know where those lines are drawn, isn’t it, what with private contractors being the second biggest providers (after the US military) of manpower in the coalition of the willing?

Private security companies have been asking the military for help in coordinating work for several months. In April, following the killing of several private security contractors in Baghdad, Falluja, and Kut, the companies started to pool information on an ad-hoc basis. At the time, Nick Edmunds, Iraq coordinator for the Hart Group, which provides security to media and engineering groups in Iraq, told The Washington Post, “There is absolutely a growing cooperation along unofficial lines. We try to give each other warnings about things we hear are about to happen.”

This particular contract is interesting not only because it is run by a war criminal (which in this administration is a selling point) but it is also a big fat payoff to the UK, for huge money:

Under the “cost-plus” contract, the military will cover all of the company’s expenses, plus a pre-determined percentage of whatever they spend, which critics say is a license to over-bill. The company has also been asked to provide 75 close protection teams–comprised of eight men each–for the high-level staff of companies that are running the oil and gas fields, electricity, and water services in Iraq

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Industry insiders speculate that Aegis won the contract because of growing anger in Britain that UK-based companies have not been awarded large contracts in the reconstruction of Iraq, despite the leading role that the Tony Blair’s government has played in the “coalition of the willing.” The only other British bid for the contract, the Control Risks joint venture, was disqualified because one of the partners was under investigation for undisclosed reasons at the time the bids were evaluated.

Because of the politics in the decision, some groups are questioning the contracting process. “It’s not evident why they they would run a rent-a-cop contract through an Army transportation division in Virginia except that maybe the staff there are more experienced and can write a professional contract that can withstand a bid protest better than the Heritage foundation interns that run contracting in Baghdad,” said John Pike, a spokesman for the military watchdog group Globalsecurity.org. For the first 12 months, all contracts in Iraq were evaluated by a group of six men and women in their 20s who were hired on the basis of job resumes they posted at the right-wing foundation’s website.

Maybe. More likely they are just hiding the paper trail.

If you want to read about the super-hero owner of this company, here’s a good run down. He’s quite a glamorous war criminal as war criminals go. Now he’s going to be filthy rich on our dime. Ain’t freedom and democracy great?