Abu Ghraib Inmates Lose U.S. High Court Bid to Sue Contractors
by Greg Stohr at Bloomberg News June 27, 2011
The U.S. Supreme Court refused to revive a lawsuit that accused two military contractors of abusing inmates at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, turning away an appeal by 26 onetime prisoners.
The inmates sought to sue CACI International Inc. (CACI), which helped interrogate prisoners at the facility, and Titan Corp., which provided translation services. Titan has since been renamed and is now part of L-3 Communications Holdings Inc. (LLL)
The inmates, who were civilian detainees, said they were subjected to abuses by CACI and Titan employees including beatings, sexual humiliation, exposure to extreme temperatures and rape. In court papers, the inmates said some prisoners were tortured into unconsciousness and several were murdered.
Abu Ghraib became an international embarrassment for the U.S. in 2004, when photographs surfaced showing guards mistreating inmates.
Subcontracting Substandard Services: Military Contracts in Iraq Still Controversial
by David Isenberg at CorpWatch June 27th, 2011
Najlaa International Catering Services won a $3 million five-year contract in February 2010 to prepare food for the U.S. Agency for International Development compound in Iraq. The deal was approved despite the fact that Bill Baisey, CEO of the Kuwaiti company, faces numerous complaints and court actions for non-payment of bills and alleged fraud in Kuwait and Iraq.
U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have been plagued by private military contractors that have performed poorly or failed miserably in fulfilling their contracts. Some overstated their capabilities or were badly managed and under-skilled, while others committed outright fraud.
Past investigations concentrated on major contractors such as Halliburton and Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR), but recently the smaller companies – such as Najlaa – to which these giants subcontract have drawn fire.
“The government has limited visibility into subcontractor affairs and limited ability to influence their actions,” said former U.S. Congressman Christopher Shays at a July 2010 hearing of the Commission on Wartime Contracting. “This fact presents a challenge to transparency and accountability for the use of taxpayers’ dollars. Poorly conceived, poorly structured, poorly conducted, and poorly monitored subcontracting can lead to poor choices in security measures and damage to U.S. foreign policy objectives, among other problems.”
The United States, however, has become so dependent on contractors who do the laundry, feed the troops, and build and run facilities that it would be difficult if not impossible for the military to continue without them.
Iraq:: Basra Provincial Council Bans All U.S. Troops from Basra province
ALL VOICES June 25, 2011
According to this site the Basra Provincial Council has banned all U.S. troops from the province. The U.S. took over control of the Province from British forces in 2009. There were complaints that the Brits were not being aggressive enough against Shiite groups in the mostly Shiite province.
Apparently the area residents are not at all happy with the U.S. presence. The council voted to ban all U.S. troops from entering the province and demanded that they leave the Basra International Airport.
The US has a military base at the airport and also controls all traffic on the civilian side of the airport. Imagine Iraq still does not even control civilian air traffic at a major international airport but the U.S.
The motion comes after a US attack helicopters launched strikes against “suspects” in the city, with reports of several civilian casualties.
The resolution passed 26-9 vote in the council. There was strong support from the Sadrist Trend. The resolution also demanded that the US compensate citizens for damages suffered during military operations in the oil rich province.
U.S. contractors face dangers in Iraq
American civilians working for the U.S. government and Embassy are targeted by militants and hounded by Iraqi police.
The raids are believed to be under the supervision of Maliki’s son, Ahmed, according to Iraqi and Western sources, as Iraqi officials seek to regain control of the Green Zone.
Stephen Everhart was brought to Iraq by the U.S. Agency for International Development to assist the University of Baghdad’s business college in qualifying for international accreditation.
He was killed Thursday outside the gates of the university when a powerful bomb commonly used by Shiite Muslim militias detonated.
The attack highlighted the precarious position of contractors for the U.S. government and Embassy as the American military prepares to leave the country.
Militia groups, some with ties to the Iraqi government, are intent on hitting U.S. diplomats, soldiers and contractors employed by the embassy. And it is no longer clear how far Prime Minister Nouri Maliki and his security forces can go in reining the groups.
Civilian contractors working on projects to help build the country’s democracy are also coming under intense pressure from the Iraqi police and army. In the last month, there have been at least four raids by the army and police on USAID contractors’ compounds in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone.
The deputy head of a USAID program was detained for about a week by the Iraqi security forces; he was released Thursday.
In part, the harsh treatment now is baggage from eight years when Americans had virtual immunity from Iraqi rules, and Iraqi officials came to resent civilian and security contractors who were seldom, if ever, held accountable.
Iraq car bomb kills U.S. contractor, two injured
The American civilian killed earlier Thursday was Dr. Stephen Everhart, said a U.S. State Department spokeswoman, Victoria Nuland.
“Dr. Everhart was an American citizen who was working in Iraq for an implementing partner of the United States Agency for International Development’s Mission in Iraq. He was killed while working on a project to introduce a new business curriculum to a Baghdad university in a program supported by the Iraqi Ministry of Higher Education,” she said in a statement.
“We are saddened by this tragedy and extend our thoughts and prayers to Dr. Everhart’s family and loved ones, and to the three other injured victims and their families,” she said.
Everhart worked at the American University in Cairo, where he was associate dean of the Business School and a finance professor. Before joining AUC, he worked extensively with the World Bank and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, a U.S. government agency designed to help businesses break into developing markets.
He also wrote articles on topics like international aid, corruption and financial markets.
Officials at Georgia State University said Everhart listed San Antonio, Texas, as his hometown on his registration paperwork. Everhart got both his master’s and doctorate in economics at Georgia State in Atlanta.
Mary Beth Walker, dean of the School of Policy Studies, said Everhart met his wife, Stephanie, while in graduate school there. She described him as a “hard worker” with a good sense of humor.
Walker said Everhart had contact with Georgia State faculty members in the last two weeks about his work in Iraq and said he was planning to move to Vietnam soon to work at a university there.
The State Department gave no information about how he was killed, but an Iraqi police official said the American contractors were visiting a satellite office of Mustansiriyah University in eastern Baghdad when they were hit by a roadside bomb.
By Ned Parker, Los Angeles Times June 23, 2011, 8:45 a.m.
The civilian contractor and another American who was wounded in the blast were attacked in eastern Baghdad on the way to a Baghdad University campus, the U.S. Embassy reports.
A U.S civilian contractor was killed and another American wounded in a car bomb attack in eastern Baghdad on Thursday, according to the U.S. Embassy.
The slain American had been traveling to Baghdad University’s Mustansiriya campus when attackers detonated a car bomb near Palestine Street, a busy commercial avenue.
“An American civilian working with an implementing partner of the United States Agency for International Development in Iraq was killed in a terrorist attack today in Baghdad,” embassy spokesman David Ranz said. “Two additional civilians were wounded in the attack, including one American citizen.”
UK security guards ‘shot dead by Iraq captors’
Three British security guards were shot dead by their captors in Iraq about a year after being seized by an armed gang in 2007, an inquest has heard.
BBC NewsJune 21, 2011
Jason Creswell (l), Alec MacLachlan (c) and Jason Swindlehurst were captured in Iraq in May 2007
A coroner ruled Alec MacLachlan, 30, of Carmarthenshire, Jason Swindlehurst, 38, of Lancs, and Jason Creswell, 39, of Glasgow, were unlawfully killed.
They had been in Baghdad protecting IT consultant Peter Moore, who was also captured but later released.
Fellow guard Alan McMenemy was abducted too and is now believed to be dead.
The inquest in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, heard that on 29 May 2007, the four security guards, armed with automatic rifles and pistols, collected Mr Moore and another IT consultant, Peter Donkin, from their accommodation in Baghdad’s green zone.
They were escorted to the ministry of finance where the pair were installing a new IT system.
But that morning between 50 and 100 armed men dressed in police and military uniforms entered the building and took the four guards and Mr Moore hostage, the coroner’s court heard.
Det Ch Insp Mark Moles, who led the investigation into their deaths, said the militia pulled their weapons on the guards only at the “last second”.
“It gave them no chance to challenge them and sadly they were very quickly overpowered,” he said.
“Even as highly trained, ex-military close-protection officers, they could have taken no action to prevent their kidnap
Explosives Experts killed/wounded in two incidents in Iraq
Alsumaria Iraqi Satellite TV Network June 18, 2011
In Anbar, a police major was killed and three policemen were wounded in a roadside bomb explosion in Al Khamsa kilo region, western Ramadi. The bomb exploded when explosives experts were disabling it, a source told Alsumaria.
In a similar incident, four people were wounded including two explosives experts, northern Baaquba.
Two roadside bombs were placed at the road leading to Al Amin region. One of them exploded and wounded two civilian passers-by. While explosives experts were disabling the second bomb, it detonated wounding two of them. Four suspects were arrested on account of the incident.
Briton, Iraqi driver killed on roadside bomb targeting security firm cars
Kuna News Agency Kuwait June 19, 2011
BAGHDAD, June 19 (KUNA) — A security contractor of British nationality was killed Sunday along with an Iraqi citizen accompanying him on an assault targetting a convoy of security firm in Basra, south of Iraq.
A security source from the police said that the explosive charge exploded near to the intersection between Safwan town and Zubair district, 16 km west of Basra, when a convoy of SUVs of a security firm was passying by in what caused the death of the Iraqi driver, and a Briton security contractor who was with him in the car when it bumped into the roadside bomb.
The blow-up damaged the car in which was the security contractor, and inflicted heavy damages on the other SUV which were part of the autocade.
A security force cordoned off the scene, while the two bodies were transported to a nearby hospital, and investigation started into the accident’s circumstances.
Hashem Al-Luaibi, Basra governorate’s spokesperson, asserted to KUNA the incident, making clear that a Briton serving as a security contractor has been killed along with his Iraqi driver when an explosive charge targeted an autocade of four-wheel-drive cars of their company, west of Basra.
Mine explosion kills 7 Iranians along border with Iraq: report
The Tehran Times June 18, 2011
TEHRAN – The Iraqi Kurdish forces spokesman has claimed that seven Iranian soldiers were killed when they strayed into a minefield laid along Iran’s border with Iraq’s Kurdish region. Jabar Yawar told Reuters on Thursday the Iranian troops were new to the area and had accidentally entered a minefield. However, Iran’s consul-general in Arbil, the capital of Kurdistan region, said he was not aware of the incident
Iraq law won’t apply to Maseth wrongful death suit
By Brian Bowling PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW Friday, June 17, 2011
A defense contractor wasn`t in Iraq at the request of the government or because of its business climate, so Iraq has no interest in applying its civil tort laws to a wrongful death lawsuit brought against the company by the parents of a dead soldier, a federal judge ruled today.
The parents of Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, 24, a native of Shaler, are suing KBR Inc. for the Jan. 2, 2008, death of their son while he showered on a military base in Iraq maintained by the company. Cheryl Harris and Douglas Maseth claim shoddy electrical work by the contractor caused their son’s electrocution.
KBR had the maintenance contract for the base but claims it was not responsible for repairs and did not work on the pump.
The Houston-based defense contractor asked U.S. District Judge Nora Barry Fischer to apply Iraqi law to the lawsuit because Iraq`s laws would make it hard for Maseth`s parents to prove KBR was responsible for his death, limit the compensatory damages they could receive and prevent them from getting punitive damages.
In a 39-page opinion, Fischer noted that a report by KBR`s expert on Iraqi law failed to mention Coalition Provisional Authority Order 17, which made KBR and other defense contractors exempt from Iraqi law and, instead, makes them liable under the laws of the “sending state.”
Whether that state is Pennsylvania, the home of Maseth`s parents, or Tennessee, where Maseth was living before deployment, is still up for debate, but it`s clear that Iraq could care less if the family recovers damages from KBR, the judge says in her ruling.
The country may have benefited from KBR`s actions, she noted. “But, KBR certainly was not invited nor encouraged by Iraq‘s government to engage in business there. Instead, KBR‘s presence in Iraq was solely attributable to the United States` continued presence in that country after the initial invasion.”
Security Contractors and U.S. Defense: Lessons Learned from Iraq and Afghanistan
David Isenberg at the CATO Institute June 14.2011
David Isenberg is an analyst in national and international security affairs and a US Navy veteran. He is also a member of the Coalition for a Realistic Foreign Policy, an adjunct scholar with the Cato Institute, and the author of a new book, Shadow Force: Private Security Contractors in Iraq.
Although the United States has been using private contractors in one way or another since the founding of the country, it is the experience of the past decade, since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, that has focused attention on private military and security contractors (PMSCs) to unprecedented levels.
The U.S. Defense Department and State Department, as well as other U.S. agencies and other countries, have used contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan both for logistics work, which accounts for the vast majority of contractors, as well as for much more publicized, but numerically far smaller, security roles. As a result, even if much of the most useful information is closely held by governments and companies and thus not available to the public, we now have a rich source of information on contractors that allows us to draw some tentative lessons and conclusions as to their impact and proper role.
Before going further, however, it is important to note that while some of the following points have implications for the use of PMSCs around the world, it would be wrong to assume they can be applied globally. It is a simple fact that the United States has privatized and outsourced former military and associated national security functions to a degree unmatched by any other country. Thus, the lessons described here should be viewed through a U.S.-centered lens.
A look through that lens reveals that contractors are fully integrated into U.S. national security and other government functions. To paraphrase a popular commercial about the American Express credit card, the United States cannot go to war without them.
Iraq expells 6 US congressmen
The Iraqi government has expelled six US congressmen from the country. The decision was so shocking to the US embassy in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, that only 24 hours later the US embassy declared that the congressmen had made personal statements
Press TV June 14, 2011
What raised the Iraqis’ anger was a request by these congressmen that Iraq pays a portion — and even up to a half — of the expense of the US occupation of this country. The US delegation of congressmen had also requested a visit to Camp Ashraf, whish was also opposed by Iraqi authorities.
This decision of the Iraqis was welcomed by various factions within the Middle Eastern country to a point where even Ayad Alawi’s faction, which enjoys warm ties with Saudi Arabia and the US, wasn’t able to disagree with it.
The US did not enter Iraq at the invitation of executed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein for the Americans to want to ask for compensation from the next Iraqi government.
Furthermore, US troops were never welcomed as ‘freedom forces’ by the Iraqi people.
The murders that US troops have committed in Iraqi prisons or on the streets of various Iraqi cities have not left a positive impression of the US military on Iraqi citizens. Despite the fact that the US forces ousted Saddam, Iraqi citizens never believed that these efforts were aimed at freeing them from dictatorship and not aimed at protecting US interests.
The monthly cost of maintaining US troops in Iraq was USD 4.4 billion in 2003 and USD 12 billion in 2008. So far the US has spent nearly USD 1.8 trillion in Iraq in the form of military hardware and personnel. Some analysts from within the US have even put this figure much higher than the official amount.
In September 2010, the Iraqi government agreed to pay USD 400 million in damages to the US for damages incurred during Saddam Hussein’s regime. In its 60th assembly last May, the Iraqi parliament agreed to pay this amount. The decision was met by widespread protests by the people and various political groups.
The US government has never officially asked Iraq to share the cost of the war but it tries to compensate itself by exclusively granting military and civil reconstruction projects to US companies.
NV man accused of selling stolen US military ammo
The Associated Press at The Las Vegas Sun
Friday, June 10, 2011 | 2:45 p.m.
A former defense contractor employee has been indicted on charges that he conspired with others to steal U.S. military ammunition in Iraq and then sold it back to Iraqis and U.S. forces.
Chad Eric O’Kelley was released on his own recognizance after being arrested at his Carson City home and making an initial appearance Thursday. He faces federal charges of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government and money laundering.
The indictment alleges O’Kelley was a manager in Baghdad with Minden-based defense contractor Security Operations Consulting in 2007 when he conspired with others to sell the ammo and send cash to the U.S. via Federal Express or couriers.
The 40-year-old man was ordered to appear in federal court in Texas, where he used to live in El Paso.
DynCorp Has Refunded $40.8 Million in U.S. War Work Billings
by Tony Capaccio at Bloomberg June 6, 2011
DynCorp International Inc., the largest contractor in Afghanistan, has refunded $40.8 million to the U.S. State Department for work in Iraq and Afghanistan, Under Secretary for Management Patrick Kennedy said today.
The department is seeking an additional $37.9 million in refunds from Falls Church, Virginia-based DynCorp, he said at a hearing of the Commission on Wartime Contracting.
The State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, which is handling DynCorp’s Iraq police training contract, is conducting a “100 percent reconciliation” of all DynCorp Iraq invoices “going back prior to 2006,” Kennedy said.
“We have not been able to verify the numbers cited, at this point,” said DynCorp spokeswoman Ashley Burke in an e- mail. DynCorp is a unit of New York-based Cerberus Capital Management LP.
“We respect and support the important role of oversight in government contracting, and are working closely with our customer and outside auditors to answer any questions that have been asked, provide additional documentation, if needed, and ensure that any issues are addressed to the satisfaction of the government,” she said.
Audit Warnings
The “reconciliation” is necessary because the INL Bureau “has no confidence in the accuracy of over $1 billion in charges” from DynCorp on early police training billings, the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, Stuart Bowen, said in a Jan. 25, 2010, audit.
Private Security Convoy Struck by Roadside Bomb in Baghdad
Reuters BAGHDAD – A roadside bomb exploded as a convoy guarded by private security contractors passed in central Baghdad, wounding four civilians, police said.
Security contractors inspect their armored vehicles after a roadside bomb attack
Overseas Civilian Contractors
CIVILIAN CONTRACTOR CASUALTIES
THE BEST KEPT SECRET OF THE WARS
At Least 59 Civilian Contractor Deaths Filed on in Second Quarter of 2012
At Least 49 Civilian Contractor Deaths Filed on in First Quarter of 2012
At Least 418 Civilian Contractor Deaths in 2011
Our Fallen Contractors Memorial
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A United Nations Mine Action Employee has filed a lawsuit against
for negligence after stepping on a landmine resulting in an immediate below the knee amputation in an area previously cleared by and certified clear of landmines by Ronco Consulting.
The United Nations board of inquiry found that Ronco failed to find the mine that injured Mr Fartham as well as three other mines.
The complaint states that Ronco Consulting, acting through it’s agents and/or employee’s, breached it’s professional duty of care to Fantham and did not exercise the reasonable care and skill expected of professional mine clearance companies.
Ronco Settles Negligence Lawsuit with UN Mine Action Employee
Ex Pat 2011 Tax Information UPDATED
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