How to shoot Iraqi citizens - reaching Hearts and Minds

The Sunday Telegraph reports the online availability of a "trophy" video said to be shot by AEGIS security staff from the rear vehicle in a convoy, on the Road (Irish) to Baghdad Airport. This shows vehicles being shot at (lit up) to slow or stop and not overtake. Crashes, result with unknown consequences to drivers and passengers. No date of incidents / filming is known.

Bareknuckle politics blog has a copy which is available as a .wmv file with a tuneful Elvis Presley backing track and perhaps Irish or Scottish voices to be heard, as well as bursts of automatic fire.

It was originally shown on a site (AEGIS IRAQ PSD TEAMS) said to be run by ex (or even present AEGIS) staff. A Company run by Col. Tim Spicer(pic) who is on contract to supply security services to the US Government in a contract worth £220Mn.(US$293Mn)

The cost plus contract ensures this officer and a gent of a profit -

Ted Kennedy and 5 democratic Senators asked the Pentagon to re-consider the contract in the light of Spicer’s background. In August, they asked Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to review the Spicer deal. In October, the Army admitted that its contracting officer was unaware of trouble spots in Spicer's past, but it refused to reconsider the contract.

"It is significant that the British Ministry of Defense was apprised of our intention...and did not object or advise against the action. Moreover, neither Aegis nor Mr. Spicer are on the...list of parties excluded from Federal contracting," wrote Sandra Sieber, director of the Army Contracting Agency. "We therefore had no legal basis to deny the award to Aegis, which won the competition fairly based on the rules and criteria established by our solicitation."

One of Spicer's most vocal critics is the Rev. Sean McManus of the Irish National Caucus, a Washington-based lobbying group. His group has a special section on its website devoted to the contract and Spicer's previous misdeeds, at www.irishnationalcaucus.org. "Mark my words, this contract is going to come back and bite them," McManus said. "He's a dangerous fellow. And as his record in Ireland shows.... I mean, these guys don't change their spots."

It was not likely that the US Army would reconsider the contract.


The video has been removed from the original site. To give a flavour of this very interesting site these comments may be of interest to those of us not used to running the tail gate, gunshop on a PSD convoy team.

------------------

Hi all Can someone explain to me what is all this bol'''cks with GUNSHIPS??? Since when did we turn into septic's and just cabby away at vehicles because they come TOO CLOSE?. who thought of the name GUNSHIP Mr A Murphy? I always thought that pulling the trigger was a last resort and not a jolly at people who cant shoot back.
-------------
Hi all Can someone explain to me what is all this bol'''cks with GUNSHIPS??? I think you mean GUN TRUCK, and if you think its a bad idea to have a belt fed and firing ports in the rear wagon i'd advise you to go out on the ground up north for a bit. and just cabby away at vehicles because they come TOO CLOSE?. Its to stop nutcases driving in and detonating up the backside of your convoy! Check the stats, back in late 2004 there was reckoned to be at least 1 suicide bomber on the BIAP every couple of days! Would i fire warning shots to keep traffic back, fucking right i would. why we no longer use intel and common sense and decent drills. please explain your "drill" that stops suicide bombers hitting your convoy? As for intel, fuck me when has Iraq ever been a "low threat" environment? Every time you roll out the wire expect the worst. Theres one drill, if it looks dodgy and its approaching at warp factor 9, hand signals - warning shots - brass the fucker into the stone age
------------------
You're talkin shite mate,if you deploy your LN assets correctly then it allows vehicles to pass PSD's in HAV's,without you advertising the fact that you have guns poking out of them brassing every cunt that gets too close up,it's the engaging of civvies that's causing the Iraqi Interior Ministry to begin to scrutinise the actions of certain PSD companies,and once again there plenty of High Profile Teams out there without rear gunners pissing off the local population.
------------------
guys, ref the video, are you surprised at this?? I mean you post this and other stuff on an unsecure site for everybody (media/terrorists etc) to see. Are you all fucking mad?? It's like the fusiliers getting their 'torture' photos developed at snappy snaps.....how daft can you get? All this plays into the hands of those that see us as mercenaries/ baby killers/ whatever. You wait for the fallout now. What the FUCK were you thinking putting it on here? I got sent it via other means, and believe me it's fast becoming the new 'Edinburgh Risk' video, ie everyone's seen it and it makes you all (and reflectively all of us in the AOR) look like cowboys. And it's a pretty bad clip lets face it (er, how many 'warning shots'??) I'm surprised the Guardian/Mirror and all the other media wankers haven't leapt on it (yet). Engage the brains guys cos EVERYONE can read these posts.... Incidentally, been doing PSD since summer '03 both high & low profile. No prizes for guessing which one I prefer...
---------------------
Well the shit has hit the fan. Now we get to witness the Tim Spicer tap dance routine as we did with the "Sandline Affair"....Goes to show the headshed that the guys on the ground aren't as stupid as they seem to think. Say what you wll about the shooting clips being posted on the site, nobody can say that they wouldn't do the same if they were treated as the owner of this site was a few weeks back (attempts made by the company hierachy to have him detained over a website). Well done man, fight fire with fire....paybacks a bitch ain't it London?

A spokesman for Aegis Defence Services 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.

Here is a useful article from the Nation about Spicer and the contract.See Anti-War piece with details of contacts to Buckingham / Heritage Oil/ Victor Bout etc.,

Recent blogs on same topic here

Interesting FOOTNOTE

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT: A Life in Conflict by Tim Collins

“Military contracts are big game. And one of the most notorious hunters is a former British soldier whose past business ventures include violating a UN arms embargo in Sierra Leone and unwittingly triggering a coup in Papua New Guinea. His name is Tim Spicer, and in March his London-based company, Aegis Defense Services, bagged a $293 million contract from the Pentagon to protect US diplomats in Iraq”.

Something else Col Collins had to share with the world - a "lost" SLR from Londonderry, Bloody Sunday, 1972 identified by its serial number – found in the possession of Sierra Leone’s murderous West Side Boys.

Just note also that Aegis co-sponsored a conference in Belfast , November 6th 2005 , where Spicer had been due to speak (but ducked) in a session on civilian/military co-operation chaired by Col Tim Collins. ... who is of course the BBC "Rentagob" on military matters in Iraq.... small world.

Then ... SNAP they both spoke at a Royal United ServicesInstitute conference in London on November 8th 2005 details here (PDF alert)

Which tells us that the military guru Spicer will speak at 15:10 hrs on Linking Civilian and Military Operations:
The CMOC as a Model for the Future,
Lt Col Tim Spicer OBE, Chief Executive, AEGIS Specialist Risk Management

...evidently . absolutely the right man for the job.... keeping up civilian morale etc.,

...You couldn't fucking make it up.