03 December 2007

Security crews ponder future in Iraq

Several private contractors say that losing legal immunity wouldn't drive them from their high-paying jobs.

By Christian Berthelsen
Los Angeles Times, 02 December 2007

BAGHDAD — The security contractor settled into the back of the armored Mercedes parked under the crossed-swords monument, and contemplated the question: If the Iraqi government follows through with its plan to withdraw legal immunity for private guards operating in the country, would he continue to work here?

"I can tell you there's a lot of guys that are worried about it," said the burly former policeman, now in his fourth year in Iraq. He works for an American company that guards high-level U.S. military officials on daily missions around Baghdad. But, he added, "I get paid a hell of a lot of money to be here. I'm in their country, and I need to respect that.

"It's not going to make a difference in how I operate, and it's absolutely not going to cause me to leave," he said.

So it goes for the legions of armed guards that make up the private security forces in Iraq. In the wake of a number of recent shootings, most notably the Sept. 16 incident involving the security firm Blackwater USA that left 17 Iraqis dead and 24 wounded, public rage has boiled over and the government has aggressively been pursuing new efforts to bring private guards under control. Chief among them is to withdraw the immunity from prosecution in Iraqi courts that had been bestowed on the contractors by the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority that helped set up the new Iraqi government after Saddam Hussein was ousted.

Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's Cabinet has approved the immunity rescission, and it awaits adoption by the parliament. But on Nov. 19, the Iraqi government signaled the seriousness of the intent to move forward with the new oversight, arresting 43 people involved with a security convoy that shot and wounded a pedestrian as she crossed a street in the Baghdad neighborhood of Karada.

In interviews with the Los Angeles Times, an executive and four guards from four companies in the secretive world of security contracting agreed to share their thoughts about the impending crackdown on the grounds that neither they nor their firms' identities would be disclosed.

Generally, there was a sense of resignation among the guards about the immunity repeal and a reluctant acknowledgment that it is probably necessary, because the legal protection appeared to have given some a sense of impunity -- or, at a minimum, a willingness to cut corners when it came to following rules of engagement or escalation of force. None said they believed they would receive a fair trial in an Iraqi court, but none said they would quit the business and leave the country, either.

"From an individual point of view, I don't think there will be a great reaction, because a lot of operators live for the day or the week, and as long as the money's there, there will always be people willing to work in this environment," said another contractor, who works for a British firm. Losing immunity "does make people think twice, but when you bear in mind the personal risk people take in working here, it's probably low down on their list of priorities," he said.

Among some, there was also frustration -- with the high-profile American security firms, particularly Blackwater, whom they accuse of an over-aggressive attitude that creates more problems than necessary -- and with Iraqis who they say continue to approach convoys rapidly and provoke guards to fire despite more than four years of warnings. Some said the U.S. government had not done enough to strike a balance that would hold contractors accountable for unjustified shootings while also ensuring complaints would be heard fairly. And one said the debate over security firm conduct was a luxury afforded by the newfound stability in the country, and one that wasn't even contemplated when hundreds of Iraqis died on a daily basis.

Though the guards expressed a willingness to continue working despite the new legal risk, the executive -- who works for an American firm under contract with the U.S. government -- said the company would have to reexamine whether it would remain in Iraq if immunity for its guards was withdrawn. In two cases, the firm's guards fired on, and disabled, vehicles that turned out to be car bombs driven by suicide attackers. But the company also has been accused of killing drivers who were found to pose no risk.

"We have to seriously think about whether we could do business in Iraq under those conditions," the executive said. "I think under normal conditions no company would have a problem with its employees being accountable to local law. But the reason we're in Iraq is because normal conditions don't exist."

One contractor said the U.S. might have to hire private guards and make them government employees so they would continue to receive diplomatic immunity. Some companies are said to be considering installing video cameras on convoy vehicles to support their contentions that incidents involving the use of force occur in response to threats.

The contractors operate under difficult and dangerous circumstances, guarding high-profile diplomats and military officials who would be prime targets for insurgents. Threats can lurk anywhere, hidden amid the chaos of Baghdad's streets.

In theory, contractors are supposed to follow rules that call for verbal and visual warnings, warning shots, and shots intended to disable vehicles before resorting to lethal force. But in an unpredictable environment where attacks can unfold in seconds, contractors must sometimes abandon interim steps to act fast.

In one year, the contractor under the crossed-swords monument said, he had to fire only two warning shots. But then, in one afternoon, he had to return fire three separate times when his convoy came under attack. Still, he said, he trusted his training and instincts enough to do the right thing.

"If it's done according to the rules of engagement, you will know that," he said. "You will know that you did the right thing."

His colleague, who also came to the meeting under the crossed swords, said immunity had allowed some contractors to skip the interim steps because they would never have to defend their actions.

"Immunity puts you in an untenable position," he said. "We should all be able to be answerable to the law. If people aren't accountable, it becomes easy. It's the easiest thing in the world to let everything go and shoot people in Iraq."

Some say contractors' own comportment determines how much of a target they or their charges are. By keeping a low profile, following the rules and doing enough intelligence research to know where threats exist and avoid them, security contractors can do their jobs safely and rarely need to resort to force, said a fourth guard, who has been in the country for more than three years.

In the previous year, his firm moved 1,200 clients -- engineers and other workers involved in development projects -- more than 50,000 miles, and had been involved in just two incidents, neither fatal.

But some firms, they say, choose to operate in a way that invites attention, and puts them in a position of having to use force. The fourth contractor said he had a run-in with a Blackwater convoy in which the firm's guards ran him off the road and brandished a weapon at him, even though he had just passed a checkpoint inside a secure area and was clearly not a risk.

"What I've seen happen here is some of the companies are taking the law into their own hands," he said. "That is not the right thing. We've already got enough enemies in the country, and we don't need more enemies."

He said he recognized the need for tighter regulation of the industry, even as he believed the new rules would be slanted against contractors.

"People can't do whatever they want," he said. "There has to be control. And that goes for everybody. But don't think you'll get a fair trial under Iraqi law. They don't want us here."

christian.berthelsen@ latimes.com



Citation: Christian Berthelsen. "Security crews ponder future in Iraq," Los Angeles Times, 02 December 2007.
Original URL: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/complete/la-fg-contractors2dec02,1,3240340.story?coll=la-iraq-complete&ctrack=1&cset=true