There are many credible reports of both Iraqi military recruits and police cadets, after having completed their training, selling their uniforms and equipment and disappearing. Some are just not interested in the job. Some are lazy. Others will serve only in their own community. Still others are known to have defected to the insurgents. Some were insurgents to begin with. The common denominator among these quitters and defectors is that they are not motivated to fight for their country. Their interests are far more personal. The number of “trained” soldiers and police officers is very deceptive. The numbers by themselves tell us nothing. More than anything else, those who remain in the service of their country are poorly led.
The only clear winners in this conflict to date are the Kurds. After many years of oppression by the Iraqi Arab population, they are unquestionably motivated, and they take their military training seriously. Many Kurds believe that one day, the Arab Shiites and Sunnis will again turn against them, and they are quietly preparing for that day. The Kurdish people from northern Iraq have had a taste of their long-awaited freedom, and they have no intention of returning to the previous condition—even if that means having to create their own fortress-like country within Iraq. Because of this, the Kurdish-populated military units are often the most combat-ready of all Iraqi military units.
Further complicating our effectiveness to transition Iraq into a democratic form of government is the nature and conditioning of the people. Democracy may be theoretically attractive, but as a practical matter the Iraqi people simply aren’t used to it. People gravitate toward what they know, and what they know in Iraq is that you respect power. This is best summed up in an article written by Elaine Grossman, a writer for IPW News. She quotes Middle East expert Hisham Melhem, “Americans have lost haiba.” Haiba is an Arabic term for a combination of “respect and intimidation.” Saddam had haiba. The Iraqis have centuries of conditioning to respond only to those who have haiba. Once you have lost haiba, it is difficult to command respect anywhere in Iraq.
Ted Weekley, of the Jordanian police academy, was right when he said to Donna Kerns, “We’re planting seeds.” I have no doubt that we are making progress, but perhaps it’s like trying to walk up a down escalator. Can we get to the top in any reasonable time frame? Is the job bigger than we are? Is the commitment required longer than anything our government recognizes? It is not that we cannot democratize Iraq, but can we devote the time, money, and lives it may take to implement our vision in that region of the world? Democracy has two very important components: The first, free elections, are taking place with remarkable participation, and that is certainly encouraging. However, the second component, respecting the outcome of those elections, remains to be seen. Many of the soldiers and civilian contractors I met while writing this book truly believe that we will achieve our goals. They have worked so very hard and risked so much. I hope they are right.
Civilian contractors are as necessary on the modern battlefield as soldiers. Whether by design or by default, the United States’ wartime strategy now requires large numbers of civilians to go into harm’s way. The call to duty echoes beyond the recruiting stations and draft boards. It reaches past the career soldiers, the teens, and the young men and women who wear U.S. uniforms. It reaches into every U.S. industry, every skill, every age group, and every gender and race. The civilian men and women who have answered this call are unrecognized and unappreciated patriots.
Throughout this book we have seen the attenuated problems of an ambiguous policy concerning the deployment, protection, and application of civilians supporting a war effort or covert national objectives. The potential for abuses by overzealous and uncontrolled civilian contractors is abundantly clear. No question, the use of civilians in war has both the potential for good and the potential for bad. It is a matter of policy and organization that can harness the good and limit the bad.
Our ability to anticipate and prepare the military for future conflicts is impaired and challenged by the rapidly changing nature of war, types of potential adversaries, developing technologies, and the sheer number of dissimilar requirements for the use of military force. These exigencies will require vast numbers of civilian contractors on short notice. In many cases, civilian contractors will be less expensive and more efficient than the deployment of regular military units.
Weapons of mass destruction, once thought to be in the exclusive realm of high-intensity conflict, are now a possibility at every level in what the military refers to as the spectrum of conflict. Biological warfare, until recently dismissed as highly unlikely, is now a real probability. Cyber attacks against our banking and economic infrastructure are in the planning and development stages. Religious networks are known to provide direct and indirect support to our enemies. Enemy sympathizers and active combatants live in our neighborhoods, go to our schools, and plan our demise. Our enemies operate in horizontal, and often, independent networks. They employ the latest communication technologies, which are now readily available on the open market. They are able to change methods of operation and adjust to our tactics very quickly.
To respond to these ever-broadening threats, many civilians will be required to participate in the defense of our nation, whether at home or abroad. Nation building in the aftermath of war has become, by our choice, a necessary consequence of our military forays into other countries. Civilian carpenters, electricians, technicians, truck drivers, police officers, cooks, and clerks will be recruited in droves. In the next conflict, we may need computer experts, bioengineers, nuclear physicists, and hazardous-waste-disposal experts. The military cannot conceivably maintain the personnel resources to respond to such a wide variety of threats and reconstruction requirements. These requirements are not all entirely new. Civilians have always been required in post-war reconstruction, but the breadth and scope has changed. And, most importantly, the assumption that these tasks can be accomplished in an environment of relative peace is no longer applicable.
One only needs to Google the term civilian contractors to see how maligned and often despised these men and women and their firms are in the eyes of so many journalists and pundits. Not all of the bad press about defense contractors is unwarranted. Undeniably, some firms have been caught with their hand in the till. Several are under investigation, and some have been found liable for fraud. Improved controls on doling out money to military contractors are desperately needed. However, when disaster strikes, even natural disaster, the rapid flow of money frequently has to take precedent over caution. We will have to deal with the corrupt as best we can later.
The Iron Pony Express civilian truck drivers don’t think of their job as glamorous. They don’t see themselves as heroes. They just see themselves as a bunch of middle-aged men and women helping soldiers do their job in a war zone. They are the old guys who bring the food, mail, and clothing to our young soldiers in combat. These truckers are confused and frustrated as to why the U.S. government prohibits them from carrying weapons. In October 2005, four U.S. civilian truckers made a wrong turn in the wrong Iraqi town. Two were killed in a hail of bullets, another, after being captured, was executed with a bullet to the back of the head. The fourth truck driver was soaked in gasoline and lit on fire. Mark Taylor (Ugly Puppy) went ballistic. He wrote a scathing article for Land Line magazine (a trucking industry publication) asking why this happened. Why weren’t those men armed?
Hundreds of U.S. civilian contractors have been killed in Iraq and thousands have been wounded. As a percentage of the total number of Ameicans killed in Iraq, the number of civilian contractors killed and wounded is probably quite shocking. It seems that no one knows exactly what those numbers are. The U.S. government claims to not maintain an accountability of dead and wounded contractors. Contracting firms are generally quiet about the numbers. Strange how the U.S. government can provide figures on how many Iraqi civilians have been killed but have no idea of how many U.S. civilians have died. It’s a lot of subterfuge to disguise the true number of U.S. cas
ualties. This practice is dishonest to the public and unfair to the U.S. contractors and their families who have made such a major contribution to the war in Iraq.
In the course of writing this book, I interfaced with hundreds of individual contractors. I met them here in the States, in Kuwait, and in Iraq. I met dozens of their family members. They all wanted their story told. I have never heard one mumble a word of disrespect or resent the attention given to soldiers. To the contrary: they have greater respect and admiration for the U.S. military than most people in the United States.
In most past conflicts, there has been some rear area or some safe haven where both soldiers and civilians could periodically relax and enjoy themselves between major combat encounters. For the civilian contractors in Iraq, who operate outside the wire, there is no such thing. Day after day, month after month, they are risking their lives. As long as they are in country, they run missions every day of the week. There is rarely a day off that they can spend inside the wire. A close call today is history by morning, and each new day will bring another close call, injury, or death.
When death or serious injury does occur, civilian contractors have an unceremonious return home. Even when they come home in one piece, if they share their experiences with friends or neighbors, inevitably they get harangued with questions like, “Why would you go to Iraq? Are you crazy? Do you have a death wish? Are you that desperate for money?” They soon tire of the abusive questions and just avoid discussing the subject. Their closest friends are the civilians and soldiers they served with in Iraq. The difference is that our soldiers will, in most cases, be respected for their participation. Our U.S. civilian contractors deserve nothing less.
Appendix
Security and Training Companies in Iraq
AD CONSULTANCY
www.portaliraq.com/showbusiness.php?id=419
Services: Risk and threat assessment as well as close-protection teams/bodyguards for personnel in Iraq. Travel and escort security to and from oil and gas facilities as well as surveillance and countersurveillance.
“We support a wide range of clients, such as embassies, law enforcement, military customs, oil and gas companies, financial institutions, cargo organizations, and constructions companies.”
Headquarters:
ADC House, PO Box 153, Sutton, Surrey SM39WF, U.K.
Tel: 0870 707 0074, Fax: 0870 707 0075
e-mail: [email protected]
Contact in Iraq: Ian Grealey, Tel: 0870-707-0074
AEGIS DEFENCE SERVICES
www.aegisdef-webservices.com
Services: Involved in maritime security. Aegis has a contract to provide seventy-five teams of eight men each for security on major Iraqi government projects such as oil and gas fields and water and electricity supplies. Aegis has four divisions focusing on risk analysis, research and intelligence, risk mitigation, strategic protective security, maritime security, and defense assistance.
“We have a global reach and work for clients in many sectors including insurance, reinsurance, telecommunications, media, shipping, and logistics. We also provide consultancy services to selected government bodies and international institutions in Europe, the Middle East, Far East, and the Americas.”
Headquarters:
118 Piccadilly, London W1J 7NW, U.K.
Tel: 44 20 7495 7495, Fax: 44 20 7493 3979
e-mail: [email protected]
Contact in Iraq: Lieutenant Colonel Tim Spencer: 703-343-8136
AIRSCAN
www.airscan.com
Services: AirScan was created in 1989 to provide airborne surveillance security for U.S. Air Force launch facilities. Provides ground, air, and maritime surveillance equipment.
“AirScan is a private military company [that] is committed to providing clients with the best air, ground, and maritime surveillance, security, and aviation possible. AirScan strives for professional, timely results in response to clients’ worldwide airborne surveillance and aviation requirements.”
Headquarters:
AirScan, Inc.,3505 Murrell Road, Rockledge, FL 32955
Tel: 866-631-0005/321-631-0005, Fax: 321-631-5811
e-mail: [email protected]
AKE LIMITED
www.akegroup.com
Services: Security risk specialists who provide not only armed security services but also hostile-regions training, political security, intelligence and cultural briefings, and a secure database of security risk and intelligence information. Believed to be employing Australian SAS teams in Iraq.
“In today’s uncertain world, the security of businesses and professionals is at a premium. In a high-risk geographical, legal, or technological environment you need to know how to protect your investment, facilities, staff, and yourself. Otherwise, the result could be failed projects, reduced efficiency, additional costs, injury, illness, and even death, along with high insurance premiums.”
Headquarters:
AKE Asia-Pacific Pty, Ltd., Level 4, 201 Miller Street,
North Sydney, NSW 2060, Australia
Contact in Iraq: Peter Hornett, Tel: 66(0)2 9025 3525
e-mail: [email protected]
AMA ASSOCIATED LIMITED
www.ama-assoc.co.uk
Services: Security consultancy, aviation security, maritime security, training services.
“AMA Associates Ltd. provides training and consultancy in the following: risk and crisis management; fraud investigation; surveillance; technical counter-surveillance; security management; counter terrorist and hostage release; maritime security; aviation security and air cargo security at all levels; close protection and executive management, and management of aggressive behavior.”
Headquarters:
AMA Associates Ltd., PO Box 130,
Chorley, Lancashire, PR7 3GA, U.K.
Tel: 44 (0) 1257 231172, Fax:44 (0) 1257 231173
e-mail: [email protected]
Contact: Sharon Ripley, Business Development Manager
AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY
www.aisc-corp.com
Services: Executive protection, crisis management, event security, strike management and security, vulnerability assessments.
“AISC offers a comprehensive set of security services that identify vulnerabilities and implement procedures to reduce and eliminate these risks—all from one trusted source. Drawing from an extensive array of available personnel and services, AISC will develop a highly customized security program for your organization.”
Headquarters:
AIS, 60 State Street, Suite 700, Boston, MA 02108
Tel: 617-523-0523, Fax:617-367-4717
e-mail: [email protected]
APPLIED MARINE TECHNOLOGY
www.amti.net
Services: Training and security, corporate security, exercise management, SOF CBRNE, EOD, and IED operations, and integrated information solutions.
“Provides government and private sector customers with professional and technical services in international and homeland security, information systems and communications, and the rapid prototyping of unique technical solutions. This includes the test and evaluation contract for the Predator UAV drone.”
Headquarters:
Applied Marine Technology, 2900 Sabre Street, Suite 800,
Virginia Beach, VA 23452
Tel: 757-431-8597, Fax: 757-431-8391
e-mail: [email protected]
Contact: Bill DeSteph, Vice President, Business Development
ARMOR GROUP
www.armorgroup.com
Services: Armor Group operates in Mosul, Baghdad, and Basra, and has ongoing operations throughout Iraq. They provide major corporate and government clients in Iraq with risk assessment and management. Operations include guarding Baghdad headquarters and transport depots of U.S. conglomerates Bechtel and the Halliburton subsidiary KBR.
“Private military company with practices in security planning and management, training, mine action, response center, kidnap and ransom, hu
manitarian support, information business intelligence and fraud, and intellectual property asset protection.”
Headquarters:
25 Buckingham Gate, London SW1E 6LD, U.K.
Tel: 44 20 7808 5800, Fax: 44 20 7233-7434
email: [email protected] or [email protected]
Contact in Iraq: John Farr, MBE, Country Manager
Tel: 0088 216 511 20010, e-mail: [email protected]
ATHENA INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS
(formerly MZM, Inc.)
www.athenaisinc.com
Services: Veritas Capital acquired MZM through its subsidiary, Athena Innovative Solutions. Athena has a contract to provide linguistics support services. They also provide witness protection services for the Iraqi Provisional Authority witness protection program.
“Provides a wide range of consulting services to homeland security clients that complement the company’s expertise in intelligence operations, counterintelligence, systems and data management, program management, national security, intellectual and technical development.”
Headquarters:
1523 New Hampshire Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20036
Tel: 202-518-5240, Fax: 202-518-5241
BH DEFENSE
www.bhdefense.com
Services: BHD works for the Coalition Provisional Authority Program Management Office. Services in Iraq include providing secure warehousing, logistics support, and convoy escort.
“BH Defense has a strong network of partners and allied businesses in Iraq. Through close cooperation with network partners, BH Defense can offer comprehensive solutions including logistics, airfreight, construction, life support, ground transport, and advanced distribution services.”
A Bloody Business Page 24