Following the removal of the
Video clip, The following message was posted
on the MESSAGE BOARD of Aegis Co Iraq at:
http://www.aegisiraq.co.uk/Message_Board.htm
To all the media contacting this site
requesting copies of the other nine Video Clips
you have been miss informed. [sic]
To Aegis I mailed one man and one man
only within your company to mention nine more
clips.
The Victory Director
Strange that the media should be asking
for the same figure
A souvenir
video has surfaced on the Internet showing
private security contractors working for Aegis
Defense Services "Victory" Group firing
indiscriminately at Iraqi civilian motorists in
Baghdad. The video was reportedly taken by an
Aegis employee and posted on a
web site run by an ex-Aegis employee. The
video has since been removed from the site. The
video contains four clips showing Aegis
mercenaries firing at civilian automobiles. The
video's soundtrack includes Elvis Presley's
"Train I Ride." Aegis is run by former
British Scots Guard officer Lt. Col. Tim Spicer,
an international mercenary who has been involved
in UN sanctions busting in Sierra Leone and
Bougainville invasion planning in Papua New
Guinea. Spicer's firm, Aegis, was awarded a $293
million security contract in Iraq. Spicer's men
also stand accused of shooting teenager Peter
McBride in the back in Belfast in 1992. That has
prompted a number of members of the Irish Caucus
in the Congress to demand the Pentagon withdraw
its contract to Aegis. The Pentagon has rejected
such action.
Aegis
maintains its head office in London's Picadilly.
It is also reported to have an office on K Street
in Washington, DC.
The
Pentagon has had a longstanding relationship with
Spicer. The Pentagon's love affair with mercenary
firms began in the 1990s when they were viewed
with favor for their military activities,
including sanctions busting, in Africa. Under the
Clinton administration, mercenary firms blossomed.
Under George W. Bush, they have flourished. On
June 24, 1997, the Defense Intelligence Agency
sponsored a seminar titled "The Privatization
of National Security Functions in Sub-Saharan
Africa." This conference ushered in the
present cooperation between mercenaries, oil
companies, diamond and other mineral companies,
U.S. intelligence agencies, the military, and
non-government organizations (NGOs), including the
always suspect Human Rights Watch, an NGO that
often obscures and obfuscates important facts, as
it did with the causality of the Rwandan genocide
and as it is currently doing with regard to
offering an incomplete list of CIA prisoner
aircraft in Europe.
WMR has obtained the attendee
list [Page
One Page
Two] for the 1997 Pentagon mercenary seminar.
Spicer attended along with two colleagues from
Sandline International (for which Spicer served as
CEO), a mercenary firm that had already been
implicated in illegal Sierra Leone and Papua New
Guinea operations.
Newspeak" are referred
to as "Private Military Contractors,"
"Private Security Contractors (PSCs), and
Personal Security Details/Detachments (PSDs),
are viewed by informed observers as the future
military forces that will continue to protect US
business interests in Iraq after the planned
withdrawal of a large number of U.S. troops next
year. These companies are not governed by any
military regulations or international legal
constraints. According to informed sources
within the security contractor community, three
U.S. firms, Phoenix, Anteon, and Sytex, should
be looked at closely by U.S. authorities for
their interrogation operations in Iraq. Sytex is
currently advertising for interrogators for the
US Central Command's Area of Responsibility
(AOR), which includes Iraq and Afghanistan.
Military interrogators who were charged with
sexually humiliating prisoners at Guantanamo and
Iraq are now working for firms like Anteon and
Phoenix Consulting Group.
'Trophy' video exposes
private security contractors shooting up Iraqi
drivers
By Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent (Filed:
27/11/2005)
The Telegraph
A "trophy" video appearing to show
security guards in Baghdad randomly shooting Iraqi
civilians has sparked two investigations after it
was posted on the internet, the Sunday Telegraph
can reveal.
The video has sparked concern
that private security companies, which are not
subject to any form of regulation either in
Britain or in Iraq, could be responsible for the
deaths of hundreds of innocent Iraqis.
Lt Col Tim Spicer is
investigating the incident The video, which first
appeared on a website that has been linked
unofficially to Aegis Defence Services, contained
four separate clips, in which security guards open
fire with automatic rifles at civilian cars. All
of the shooting incidents apparently took place on
"route Irish", a road that links the
airport to Baghdad.
The road has acquired the
dubious distinction of being the most dangerous in
the world because of the number of suicide attacks
and ambushes carried out by insurgents against
coalition troops. In one four-month period earlier
this year it was the scene of 150 attacks.
In one of the videoed attacks,
a Mercedes is fired on at a distance of several
hundred yards before it crashes in to a civilian
taxi. In the last clip, a white civilian car is
raked with machine gun fire as it approaches an
unidentified security company vehicle. Bullets can
be seen hitting the vehicle before it comes to a
slow stop.
There are no clues as to the
shooter but either a Scottish or Irish accent can
be heard in at least one of the clips above Elvis
Presley's Mystery Train, the music which
accompanies the video.
Last night a spokesman for
defence firm Aegis Defence Services - set up in
2002 by Lt Col Tim Spicer, a former Scots Guards
officer - confirmed that the company was carrying
out an internal investigation to see if any of
their employees were involved.
The Foreign Office has also
confirmed that it is investigating the contents of
the video in conjunction with Aegis, one of the
biggest security companies operating in Iraq. The
company was recently awarded a £220 million
security contract in Iraq by the United States
government. Aegis conducts a number of security
duties and helped with the collection of ballot
papers in the country's recent referendum
Lt Col Spicer, 53, rose to
public prominence in 1998 when his private
military company Sandlines International was
accused of breaking United Nations sanctions by
selling arms to Sierra Leone.
The video first appeared on the
website www.aegisIraq.co.uk. The website states:
"This site does not belong to Aegis Defence
Ltd, it belongs to the men on the ground who are
the heart and soul of the company." The clips
have been removed.
The website also contains a
message from Lt Col Spicer, which reads: "I
am concerned about media interest in this site and
I remind everyone of their contractual obligation
not to speak to or assist the media without
clearing it with the project management or Aegis
London.
"Refrain from posting
anything which is detrimental to the company since
this could result in the loss or curtailment of
our contract with resultant loss for
everybody."
Security companies awarded
contracts by the US administration in Iraq adopt
the same rules for opening fire as the American
military. US military vehicles carry a sign
warning drivers to keep their distance from the
vehicle. The warning which appears in both Arabic
and English reads "Danger. Keep back.
Authorised to use lethal force." A similar
warning is also displayed on the rear of vehicles
belonging to Aegis.
Capt Adnan Tawfiq of the Iraqi
Interior Ministry which deals with compensation
issues, has told the Sunday Telegraph that he has
received numerous claims from families who allege
that their relatives have been shot by private
security contractors travelling in road convoys.
He said: "When the
security companies kill people they just drive
away and nothing is done. Sometimes we ring the
companies concerned and they deny everything. The
families don't get any money or compensation. I
would say we have had about 50-60 incidents of
this kind."
A spokesman for Aegis Defence
Services, said: "There is nothing to indicate
that these film clips are in any way connected to
Aegis."
Last night a spokesman for the
Foreign Office said: "Aegis have assured us
that there is nothing on the video to suggest that
it has anything to do with their company. This is
now a matter for the American authorities because
Aegis is under contract to the United
States."
Copyright Telegraph, UK, 2005
ORIGINAL
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