May 17, 2006
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.
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."
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."
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?
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.
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
Sarah Meyer is a researcher living in Sussex, UK Her email address is sarahmeyer@freedom255.com
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