The Clipboard: Crackdown on rogue mercenaries

From an article¹:

Former British soldiers who signed up to work as bodyguards in Iraq have told how they have been sent recruits from Britain with no military training and who lied about their backgrounds on application forms.

One British army veteran who has just left Baghdad said: "You see Americans, Serbians and South Africans strutting around with guns and knives strapped to their thighs like something out of Rambo.

"There is no shortage of alcohol here, and at nights there are firefights involving some of these cowboys.

"I have never heard of some of the firms the new recruits work for, but you can get a gun for hire in Iraq from dozens of rogue operators who advertise on the internet."

Some British firms are shifting their headquarters and training camps to offshore bases in the Gulf and eastern Europe to evade any attempt to regulate them or their mercenaries at home.

The army veteran, who recently led a team protecting an Arab banker in Baghdad, claims some British private security firms are being allowed to use RAF aircraft to move men and equipment into Iraq and Afghanistan.

Critics say the legions of foreign mercenaries in Iraq enjoy virtual immunity from prosecution. (link)

A lot of attention has been focused on American firms like Blackwater, but that's only the tip of the iceberg.

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Complete text of the article, Crackdown on rogue mercenaries, by Daniel McGrory

The British Government is planning tough new laws to control security firms who supply armed bodyguards to work in war-torn countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has been asked for help by Iraq's interim Government, which fears that some of the thousands of gun-toting guards now roaming the country are out of control.

Mr Straw is believed to want the Blair cabinet to consider urgently ways in which Britain might regulate these hired mercenaries.

One measure might be aimed at British backers of private armies such as the group put together by Old Etonian Simon Mann, allegedly to stage a coup in Equatorial Guinea.

Mann reportedly had a list of British millionaires prepared to invest in the project. It was the South African police investigation into Mann's alleged backers that led to the arrest of Mark Thatcher, who has strenuously denied involvement in the coup plot.

In the past fortnight, drunken security guards on private contracts are accused of killing four Iraqi civilians in late-night shooting rampages.

The number of private military contractors operating in Iraq has doubled in the past year, with an estimated 1500 Britons among the 20,000 mercenaries thought to be operating in the country.

Government officials in Baghdad admit they have no idea of the number of foreign mercenaries in Iraq, while US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has predicted there could be 100,000 there within the next 12 months to help Western forces provide protection for foreign diplomats and businessmen.

Britain's Foreign Office pays £15 million ($38 million) to private contractors to guard its staff and buildings in Iraq. Some former SAS troops claim to be earning pound stg. 1500 a day as bodyguards, while British security companies are said to have quintupled their turnover since the invasion of Iraq, and the business is now worth more than £2 billion a uear.

Mr Straw has told cabinet colleagues any law would be difficult to enforce, but to be effective it should apply all over the world.

The problem is that, while security firms may be based in Britain, they hire guards from a score of different nationalities. One Whitehall source said: "Do you prosecute the company in the UK, or the private security guard in his country, or in Iraq where they commit an offence?"

Another concern is that there is evidence of rogue companies having no proper vetting for new applicants.

Former British soldiers who signed up to work as bodyguards in Iraq have told how they have been sent recruits from Britain with no military training and who lied about their backgrounds on application forms.

One British army veteran who has just left Baghdad said: "You see Americans, Serbians and South Africans strutting around with guns and knives strapped to their thighs like something out of Rambo.

"There is no shortage of alcohol here, and at nights there are firefights involving some of these cowboys.

"I have never heard of some of the firms the new recruits work for, but you can get a gun for hire in Iraq from dozens of rogue operators who advertise on the internet."

Some British firms are shifting their headquarters and training camps to offshore bases in the Gulf and eastern Europe to evade any attempt to regulate them or their mercenaries at home.

The army veteran, who recently led a team protecting an Arab banker in Baghdad, claims some British private security firms are being allowed to use RAF aircraft to move men and equipment into Iraq and Afghanistan.

Critics say the legions of foreign mercenaries in Iraq enjoy virtual immunity from prosecution.

MPs from all parties in Britain are demanding the Government step in. Liberal Democrats foreign affairs spokesman Menzies Campbell said: "It is almost impossible to prevent the spread in the use of private military companies. It makes sense to ensure they are regulated."

reference=http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,10618203%5E2703,00.html