Licensed to Kill (45 page)

When I ask Shannon, a Blackwater contractor with many tours of duty in Iraq, how extensive he thinks the problem of civilian casualties may be, he replies: “Contractors shoot at people all the time, but we don't stop to see if anyone was killed or injured.” When I press him for more information on his memory of any specific incidents, the usually loquacious Shannon remains uncharacteristically circumspect. Shifting angles, I ask him what he views as the worst-case scenario for the security industry in Iraq, to which he offers: “The FBI showed up once looking for a rogue group. And no one knows if the USIS rumors about contractors doing offensive operations in Fallujah are true. There are plenty of stories from Iraqis about drive-by shootings, but the fact is that there are plenty of white SUVs used by insurgents.” As a member of the close-knit, self-protective tribe of security contractors, it may be difficult for Shannon to acknowledge that his own contemporaries may actually represent a larger problem than any rogue group. Or he may just be putting a positive spin on the practices of his chosen profession.

Most contractors I have asked about this issue have responded with a chuckle or a sarcastic remark, and the general consensus has been that the most serious incidents—the ones in which civilians were likely killed—are the least likely to be reported. The only negative elements of the security industry Shannon would comment on were two items that have already been reportedly resolved: “We had a problem with black-market weapons, but that got shut down. There was the whole steroid thing, but State clamped down on that.” Though I have spent years traveling with and talking to contractors and have made many lasting and meaningful friendships through the experience, it is obvious that on many levels their world will remain a closed society—even to me. But even as simply a close observer of the standards and practices of private security in Iraq, two critical issues have become glaringly obvious. They are that some Iraqi security companies are very likely operating as private militias, and that there has yet to be an accounting of deaths caused by contractors—men who for now still operate with a license to kill.

As of spring 2006, there has not been a single contractor charged for any crime that occurred in Iraq, though hundreds of soldiers have been court-martialed for offenses ranging from minor violations of military code to murder. Even if a particularly negligent or intentional attack on civilians was publicly exposed, it is unclear what legal avenues would be used to hold the perpetrators accountable. The only contractor who has been charged with a crime during the War on Terror will be tried for a violation of the Patriot Act, even though the incident in question occurred in Afghanistan: David Passaro, an independent contractor working a covert paramilitary job, allegedly assaulted a prisoner in detention. He now awaits trial in his home state of North Carolina.

It is evident that the depth and breadth of this problem has yet to be fully explored, though there is a clear need to understand the impact that hired guns have on the people and environment in which they operate—not just for today's War on Terror, but also for the future.

The rise of the private security company in war zones and high-risk areas has created a new breed of private soldiers, armed mercenaries, security guards, and companies who have the license to resort to full-scale violence if attacked—a potential freelance warrior class that operates under murky legal restraint. The commercial provision of an armed force has become a standard way of doing business, as well as a supplemental tool of foreign policy. The thing to watch in the future will be whether or not armed men hired on a contract basis become an integral tool of foreign policy.

Some of the khaki-clad legions in Iraq do a ninety-day tour and realize that their life is worth more than $500 a day. Others will develop an addiction to the lifestyle and a dark craving for being “in the game.” The war against the Russians in Afghanistan drew legions of mercenaries to fight jihad, creating an army of thousands of trained, seasoned private soldiers with a tight network of contacts with aligned ideologies and capabilities. After the Russians withdrew, leaving the jihadis unemployed, some of them went home, but many ended up joining al-Qaeda and/or moving on to fight other Islamist insurgencies. Working in violent areas and being given a license to kill can be frightening to some and an addictive adrenaline rush to others. It is impossible to predict how successfully the thousands of security contractors now working in Iraq will integrate back into a normal civilian life after their wellspring of employment dries up.

Examining the coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea provides a good model of how private military forces can be harnessed by well- or ill-intentioned wealthy patrons for their own personal and financial designs. Established military powers have little to fear from the designs of a few dozen men winging their way on a 727, but had the coup been successful in Equatorial Guinea, America would have had to protect its oil interests from being sold off or diverted to the highest or most corrupt bidder. A small group of men with experience as hired guns could be exponential in their influence, given the right opportunity. Just as Billy Waugh was sent in to train and hire foreign legions in Southeast Asia in the 1970s and more recently in Afghanistan, it would take only a limited number of willing participants to act as the catalyst for a much broader military action.

Loosely organized old-boy networks and their financially motivated players have a proven ability to operate within clearly defined loopholes and then vanish when the gig is done. Even the more visible proponents of the soldier-for-hire club like Simon Mann, Tim Spicer, even Keith Idema, can relabel and reposition themselves as the times and opportunities dictate. The business has scurry holes where an egregious abuser can disappear, only to reappear with a different corporate label and purpose a few months later. I have met former Apartheid-era enforcers, dictators' bodyguards, bounty hunters, and mercenaries working as contractors for large Western security companies. I have also met seasoned cops, decorated veterans, and highly educated intellectuals working on the same teams. The first set would likely not hesitate to take a gig like Equatorial Guinea, but it will be interesting to see if any “normal” Western contractors will take money to make a big jump to the dark side.

In my years of travels among guns-for-hire, I have never seen an example of a clearly evil person deliberately doing evil things as a contractor. All have their own moral, professional, and emotional rationale for what they do. Their tribal nature forces reprobates out and word travels quickly. Many of the more recent initiates see their calling as identical to what they did in the military or police. Many switch back and forth seamlessly, such as the two men arrested in Zimbabwe with Simon Mann while they were on a “hunting vacation” from their jobs in Iraq. The more experienced ones see that times and rationale can change quickly, turning the savior into the demon.

President Obiang's lawyer, Henry Page, has spent quite a bit of time pondering the moral dilemma of employing a PMC to effect “regime change.” He has his own opinions about the future of the private security industry, and contrasts the post-9/11 “license to kill” to a passage from
A Man for All Seasons
in which Thomas More stands by the letter of the law against the wishes of the king, who wants to bend the rules to divorce his wife. In his terribly posh British accent, Page paraphrases, “If the laws protect you like trees from the devil, and you cut them down to get to the devil, what will protect you when the devil comes after you?”

GLOSSARY

         

ABC
—American Broadcasting Corporation

AIC
—Agent in charge

AK-47
—Avtomat Kalashnikov Model 47, a Soviet-designed assault rifle that fires heavy 7.62-mm rounds, developed for Russian motorized infantry in 1949

AN/PRC 112
—A palm-sized, 28-ounce survival radio/GPS for locating downed air crews and combat patrols

ANC
—African National Congress

ASIS
—American Society for Industrial Security

BBC
—British Broadcasting Corporation

BBC
—Bight of Benin Company

BIAP
—Baghdad International Airport

Blackside SF
—Covert Special Forces

Blue Badger
—Full-time CIA employee

BMW
—Bavarian Motor Works

CAC
—Common access card issued to contractors

CACI
—California Analysis Center, Inc

CAMCO
—Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company

CASA 212
—The newest version of Spanish-made short takeoff and landing transport aircraft, which can carry twenty-five equipped paratroopers or 6,500 pounds of payload

CAS
—Close Air Support, now called TAC-P, Tactical Air Control Party

CAT
—Counterassault team

CCB
—Civil Cooperation Bureau

CDI
—“Chicks Dig It”

CEO
—Chief executive officer

CH-47
—U.S. twin rotor workhorse helicopter that can transport forty-four troops or lift up to 26,000 thousand pounds by sling

CIA
—Central Intelligence Agency

CIDG
—Civilian Irregular Defense Group

Clandestine
—Actions done in secret, often in order to conceal an illicit or improper purpose

CNN
—Cable News Network

Covert
—Activities conducted, planned, and executed so that any U.S. government responsibility for them is not evident to unauthorized persons and that if the activities are uncovered, the U.S. government can plausibly disclaim any responsibility for them

CPA
—Coalition Provisional Authority

CQB
—Close-quarter battle

CRG
—Control Risks Group

CRM
—Crisis and Risk Management

DBA
—Defense Base Act Insurance

DC
—District of Columbia

DCI
—Director of Central Intelligence

DEVGRU
—Development Group (SEAL Team 6), short for United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group

DIA
—Defense Intelligence Agency

DoD
—Department of Defense

DPG
—Defense Planning Guidance

DSL
—Defence Systems Limited

DSS
—Diplomatic Security Service (U.S. State Department)

EEZ
—Exclusive Economic Zone

EKG
—Electrocardiogram (EKG comes from the German name Elektrokardiogramm)

EO
—Executive Outcomes

ESS
—Eurest Support Services

FLIR
—Forward-looking infrared

GAO
—Government Accountability Office

GC
—Governate coordinator

GMC
—General Motors Corporation

GMSSCO
—Global Marine Security Systems Company

GPS
—Global Positioning System

Green Badger
—Freelance CIA contractor

Green Zone
—Ten-square-kilometer fortified area along the banks of the Tigris chosen as the U.S. occupation center in Baghdad

H&K
—Heckler & Koch

HVT
—High-value target

IC
—Independent contractor

ICDC
—Iraqi Civil Defense Corps

IED
—Improvised explosive device

IPOA
—International Peace Operations Association

ISI
—Inter-Services Intelligence

JDAM
—Joint Direct Attack Munition

JSOC
—Joint Special Operations Command

JSOTF
—Joint Special Operations Task Force

KAS
—Kilo Alpha Services

KBR
—Kellogg, Brown and Root

KIA
—Killed in action

KPD
—Karzai Protection Detail

K-Town
—Khartoum, Sudan

LOGCAP
—Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (U.S. Army)

LURD
—Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy

M4
—The M4 carbine, a more compact version of the M16A2 rifle with a shorter barrel and a telescoping four-position buttstock

M16
—The standard-issue U.S. rifle

MACV-SOG
—Military Assistance Command Vietnam–Special Observation Group

MI6
—UK Military Intelligence Section 6

MiG
—Russian aircraft designers Mikojan & Gurevich

MNF
—Multi-national forces

MP
—Military police

MRE
—Meals ready to eat

MTS
—Meteoric Tactical Services

MTS
—Military Technical Services

MVM
—Marquez Vance Marquez

NA
—Northern Alliance

NBC
—National Broadcasting Company

NGO
—Nongovernmental organization

NOC
—Nonofficial cover

NVA
—North Vietnamese Army

NVGs
—Night-vision goggles

ODA
—Operational Detachment, Alpha

OGA
—Other governmental agencies

Ops
—Operations

ORHA
—Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance

OSS
—Office of Strategic Services

PBS
—Public Broadcasting Service

PCO
—Project and Contracting Office

PKM
—Pulemyot Kalashnikova Modernizirovanniy, the standard general-purpose machine gun adopted in 1961 that fires the heavier 7.62 × 54 R bullet

PMC
—Private military company

PNAC
—Project for the New American Century

PNG
—Papua New Guinea

PNGDF
—Papua New Guinea Defence Force

POW
—Prisoner of war

PRS
—Primary ring security

PSC
—Private security company

PSD
—Personal security detail

R & R
—Rest and relaxation

REMFs
—Rear-Echelon Mother Fuckers

Red Zone
—Baghdad outside the Green Zone

RFP
—Request for proposal

ROWAL
—Ranger Oil West Africa

RPG
—Rocket-propelled grenade

RSO
—Regional Security Officer

RTI
—Research Triangle Development, Inc.

RUF
—Revolutionary United Front (Sierra Leone)

SAD
—Special Activities Division (CIA)

SADF
—South African Defence Force

SAS
—Special Air Service (UK)

SAW
—Squad automatic weapon

SCI
—Sensitive Compartmented Information above “top secret,” an access restriction applied to information that could cause exceptionally grave damage to the national security

SCG
—Smith Consulting Group

SEAL
—Sea, air, land (U.S. Navy)

SF
—Special Forces (U.S. Army)

SOAR
—Special Operations Aviation Regiment

SOCOM
—Special Operations Command

SOFLAM
—Special Operations Forces Laser Marker

SUV
—Sport utility vehicle

TAC-P
—Tactical air controller party

TCNs
—Third-country nationals

TF
—Task force

TFE
—TotalFinalElf

UAV
—Unmanned aerial vehicle

UN
—United Nations

UNITA
—União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola

USAID
—United States Agency for International Development

USIS
—United States Investigations Services

Vanilla SF
—Overt Special Forces Groups

VBIED
—Vehicle-borne improvised explosive device

VIP
—Very important person

VP
—Vice president

ZDI
—Zimbabwe Defence Industries