According to the U.S. Government (and many media) the violence in Iraq is caused by terrorists. Many people ask: “Why are the Iraqi people not happy that we have freed them from a dictator like Saddam Hussein?” According to Aaron Glantz in his book How America Lost Iraq the Iraqi people were initially happy that Hussein had been overthrown. Glantz acknowledges that there was a group who had been faithful to Hussein and profited from his leadership. This group was not happy he had been overthrown. But the ordinary Iraqi citizen was happy. (1) Why are they no longer happy?
I stress that what I present in this article is not opinion but facts. The majority of the data is taken from official documents. What I present regarding the Coalition Provisional Government of Iraq is taken from their own documents. The companies I look at are on the official list of the United States Department of State of companies approved to do business in Iraq. Data on these approved companies comes from basically three sources: A) information of the company itself B) newspaper or other media stories C) material from SourceWatch. SourceWatch has this to say of itself
The primary purpose of SourceWatch is documenting the activities of public relations firms and public relations professionals. Sourcewatch also includes specific case studies of deceptive PR campaigns, corporate PR campaigns, the activities of front groups, think tanks, industry-funded organizations and industry-friendly experts. We are also building profiles on public relations associations, specific criticisms of PR, common propaganda techniques, war propaganda and much, much more. (2)
Each source will be clearly identified in a footnote.
1. Cf. Aaron Glantz; How America Lost Iraq; Penguin Books Ltd:London 2005 2. Website of SourceWatch cf. http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=SourceWatch -1-
THE COALITION PROVISIONAL AUTHORITY
The Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) is the organization set up to govern Iraq until it achieves its own governing authority. L. Paul Bremer was appointed to run the CPA. In its initial document L. Paul Bremer states the purpose of the CPA is:
… to create conditions in which the Iraqi people can freely determine their own political future, including by advancing efforts to restore and establish national and local institutions for representative governance and facilitating economic recovery and sustainable reconstruction and development. (3)
It is significant that nowhere in this document does it speak of the Iraqi people being able to freely determine their own ECONOMIC FUTURE. (4)
In a second document Bremer sets up an Iraqi Central Bank. This central bank is run by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Monies of this Bank are to be deposited in the Bank For International Settlements. (5)
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, in fact the entire Federal Reserve system, is independent of the United States Government. The Federal Reserve System issues U.S. currency which are “Federal Reserve Notes” that is debts owed by the U. S. Government to the Federal Reserve Bank. The U.S. Constitution says that only the U.S. Congress can issue money. (6) The Federal Reserve Bank independent of the Congress determines how much money (Federal Reserve Notes) is put into circulation.
The Bank For International Settlements (BIS) was set up after World War 1. Like the Federal Reserve it is not subject to any governmental agency. It makes its own laws. It is not subject to review by any one. Each year BIS puts out a review of the financial condition of every nation in the world. That review is the bankers gospel. A good review makes the nation fit for loans and other economic benefits. A bad review makes it more difficult for a nation financially. How can the Iraqi people be free to determine their political future when they are being placed under the direct control of another nation’s central bank? (7)
3. L. Paul Bremer Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) Regulation Number 1 May 16, 2003 Section1:1 4. Cf. rest of same document 5. Bremer CPA (get number and date) 6. Cf. U S Constitution Article 1 Section 8 7. For a more detailed explanation of this monetary tragedy see Surrogate Wars: A Real Look At Wars, Rev. William Crumley CSC. Bloomington:AuthorHouse 2004 esp. Chapters 2 and 3
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The Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) was formalized in the Iraqi Constitution. The Constitution gives the Bank broad powers. These powers are independent of any governmental authority like The Federal Reserve Bank and the Bank For International Settlements. The CBI may invest money as it sees fit. (8)
The CBI has exclusive rights to issue Iraqi money. (9) The bank is given authority to enforce compliance with its own law. (10) The Constitution sets up a financial services tribunal but it has no authority to review CBI decisions or actions. (11) CBI has authority to determine and implement monetary and credit policy without approval of the Minister of Finance. (12) If neither the Iraqi people nor their elected representatives have any control over their finances why have an elected government? I guess the answer to that question lies with the ones who set it up. The truth is that neither we Americans or our elected officials have any control over our finances.
To understand how this phenomenon can happen we need to know something about the man who masterminded this plan and those who back L. Paul Bremer. He is one of those men who seem to come up with every Republican administration. He seems to somehow be connected with people involved in some of our large political scandals (e.g. Watergate, Irangate). Bremer was assistant to Henry Kissinger and five other Secretaries of State. He was Executive Secretary and Special Assistant to Alexander Haig in 1981. In 1983 President Reagan appointed Bremer as Ambassador to the Netherlands. (13) The biography also says this of L. Paul Bremer:
Ambassador Bremer is one of the world’s leading experts on crisis management, terrorism and homeland security. In September 1999, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dennis Hastert, appointed him Chairman of the National Commission on Terrorism. In June 2002, President Bush appointed Ambassador Bremer to the President’s Homeland Security Advisory Council. He has also served on the National Academy of Science Commission examining the role of Science and technology in countering terrorism and chaired a Heritage Foundation study, “Defending the Homeland”. (14)
Even though the CPA has been dissolved, the USA continues to oversee the dispersal of Iraqi funds
8. Cf. Iraqi Constitution Article 27 9. Ibid. Articles 31-38 10. Ibid Articles 49-62 11. Ibid. Articles 63-70 12. Find articles 13. Cf. http://www.cpa-iraq.org/bios/ 14. Cf. Ibid. Edwin Meese was co chair with Bremer on this commission. The plan set forth by this group became the blueprint for the Department of Homeland Security
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When we look at the companies which are approved by The U. S. Department of State to do business in Iraq we find a large list of companies who are listed as “Risk management” companies or “counter terrorism” companies. These groups are hired by oil companies, governmental groups, construction companies and other foreign companies to keep the oil flowing and do the rebuilding. We do not seem to want to look at the economic injustices we bring on the people of Iraq. We act as if the only form of terrorism is physical. We pretend there is no such thing as economic terrorism. I have a friend who says: “If fire fighters fight fires and bull fighters fight bulls, what do freedom fighters fight?” To appreciate the insight of this remark let us look at some of the companies approved by the U.S. Department of State to do the “Risk management” work in Iraq.
STATE DEPARTMENT APPROVED COMPANIES
A. CUSTER BATTLES
Custer Battles had little or no experience in security and yet they landed a $16 million contract to secure the airport in Baghdad. This was one of the first contracts. Custer Battles soon came under criticism and eventually a lawsuit for fraudulent claims. A case was filed in U. S. District Court For Eastern Virginia against Custer Battles on four counts. (15)
The four counts were that Custer Battles issued false and fraudulent claims for payment, maintained false records, schemed to use intermediary shell companies to obtain excessive profit mark ups and to so defraud the United State Government, and intentionally and maliciously caused the resignation or discharge of Realtor Baldwin when he discovered (said scheme) and caused Custer Battles to be investigated.
Newsweek, NBC News, and several other media reported that the Bush Administration refused to allow the U. S. Government to enter into this suit as a prosecuting party. The Government publicly has given no reason for its refusal. However, Newsweek and others report that privately the “Bush Administration” has stated that the Coalition Provisional Authority is a multinational institution and so technically the U. S. Government has not been defrauded. Later reports tell of Pentagon investigations which support the charges against Custer Battles. (16)
(15) August 26, 2004 in U.S. District Court for Eastern Virginia Robert J. Isakson and William D, Baldwin VS. Custer Battles, Secure Global Distribution, Middle East Leasing, Custer Battles Levant, Laru Ltd, Scott Custer, Michael Battles, Joseph Morris, Muhammed Issam Abu Darwish, and Murtaza Lakhai
(16) Cf. MSNBC.com Newsweek “Follow The Money” April 4, 2005. Several of the media quote one or more persons who state that the refusal of the Bush Administration to enter into the prosecution of his case makes it virtually impossible for anyone to prosecuted for fraud in Iraq. Franklin Willis, a former CPA senior adviser says the refusal turns Iraq into a “free fraud zone”.
B. ISI GROUP
The official U. S. Department of State listing of Corporations doing business in Iraq says that the ISI Group “is the only security company to provide 24 hour Iraqi security guards to the CPA ‘Green Zone‘” (17) The green zone (also known as the International Zone) is “the heavily guarded area of closed-off streets in central Baghdad where US occupation authorities live and work. The Green Zone in the central city includes the main palaces of former President Saddam Hussein. The area houses the civilian ruling authority run by the Americans and British and the offices of major US consulting companies.” (18) If it is the only security company which provides 24 hour security to the heart of the U.S./British effort it must be a company of special interest/special value to the efforts of the Coalition Provisional Authority. Just who is this special company?
Not much is known about ISI Iraq. They have a very short history. Most information is available about ISI’s efforts in Pakistan. The South Asia Analysis Group reports that people associated with ISI Pakistan used Osama bin Laden on several occasions to further their efforts. One occasion is described here.
“… many covert action experts of the CIA were attached to the ISI to guide it in its operations against the Soviet troops by using the Afghan Mujahideen, Islamic fundamentalists of Pakistan and Arab volunteers, Osama bin Laden, Mir Aimal Kansi, who assassinated two CIA officers outside their office in Langley, US, in 1993, Ramzi Yousef and his accomplices involved in the New York World Trade Centre explosion in February, 1993, the leaders of the Muslim separatist movement in the southern Philippines and even many of the narcotics smugglers of Pakistan were the products of the ISI-CIA collaboration in Afghanistan.” (19)
The senior management of ISI “includes experienced military personnel mostly ex-special forces from both the US and UK. “ (20)
South Asia Analysis Group also speaks of “retired officers of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), who have been helping bin Laden and al-Zawahiri to evade capture and to remain in touch with their followers. Naturally, nobody in Pakistan would dare to stop and search them.” (21)
17. Cf. see official title. !8. Cf. Global Security website. The website has this to say of the area: “The headquarters of Paul Bremer and those working on reconstructing Iraq is surrounded by a wall of reinforced and blast-proof concrete, and guarded by tanks and helicopters. The Green Zone -- also called "The Bubble" - is the hub of the vision for the New Iraq. It is almost self-sufficient, and staff working there can be treated in the compound's hospital or run safely in its grounds. When they go out, it is by armored car with an armed military escort.” 19. South Asia Analysis Group, Paper number 287 (details) 20. U.S. Department of State “Companies Doing Business in Iraq” ISI Group 21. South Asia Analysis Group Paper no. 1192 December 17, 2004 BIN LADEN “AN OPEN LETTER TO PETER BERGEN by B. Raman
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C. ERINYS IRAQ LTD.
Erinys Iraq is a British corporation who provide security services in Iraq. Their foot soldiers are largely taken from Saddam Hussein’s soldiers. These local soldiers are paid about $4 a day, the pr1ce of about 1 kilo of meat. Supervisors, many of whom come from South Africa are paid many times that very minimal salary. Erinys has been “charged with protecting the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers” and are paid $50 million a year for the task. Erinys is staffed with an assortment of ex-Special Forces and policemen from around the world. A private security guard at Erinys makes approximately $400 dollars a day some make up to $1000 a day. (22) This is obvious foreign exploitation.
The corporate management and the services management personnel of Erinys come from the British army and British “special forces”. About half of both groups Come from Defense Systems Limited (DSL) which eventually became ArmorGroup. Their security division is directed by former senior members of the UK armed forces with extensive experience in providing security to the private sector with clients such as the UN, US and UK governments, the international petrochemical industry and commerce. (23)
Erinys Iraq Ltd, won an $80 million contract from the Coalition Provisional Authority to provide security for the oil infrastructure in Iraq. It has had some powerful alliances in Iraq. Erinys is part of an international group, the International Peace Operations Association. Many of the companies approved to do business in Iraq belong to this coalition. (24)
The Global Peace Operations Initiative was set up to train militaries around the world to do peacekeeping operations. More and more governments are going to look to the private sector to do that. There are several economic advantages to such a system.
ONE OF THE CENTRAL THEMES BEHIND THIS AND SIMILAR COMPANIES IS THAT PRIVATE COMPANIES ARE BEST TO PROMOTE THE PEACE. THAT TRANSLATES INTO THERE IS LESS OVERSIGHT AND PUBLIC SCRUTINY OF THESE COMPANIES THAN OVER A GOVERNMENT SUPPORTED MILITARY.
Proponents of a private military, especially the companies which will profit from such a system claim that the corporation will police themselves. They are companies in the business for profit. If they do not follow the rules they will lose the contract and there is no profit in that. (25) That really is no deterrent. The companies are much related and if the company fails it is quite easy to form another composed of the same parties and carry on under another name.
22. Cf. SourceWatch: Erinys Iraq Ltd at http://www.sourcewatch.org/wiki.phtml?title=Erinys_International_Ltd. 23. http://www.erinysinternational.com/services.shtml 24. CHECK REFERENCE PBS program 25. Cf . Ibid
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DEFENCE SYSTEMS LIMITED/ARMORGROUP
Jim Vallette and Pratap Chatterjee, in a special to CorpWatch, September 5th, 2003 identify Erinys personnel as the owners of Armor Group (26)
In 1981 Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher turned much of Britain’s defense industry over to private corporations. Defence Systems Limited (DSL) was one of the first private military corporations (PMC’s) to emerge from this transfer. DSL was initially started with private financial support from London bankers, and possibly some Middle East investors. Over the next fifteen years they established a reputation in the security industry and a small fortune, before selling all to Armor Holdings, Inc. in 1997 for $26 million. (27)
DSC has been hired by prominent oil firms as well as governments. DSC trained and supplied soldiers have been implicated in serious acts of repression. The soldiers were from a known right-wing death squad, including a certain Maj. Gen. Herman Guzman Rodriguez, that has been implicated in several massacres. (28) An article in The Guardian a London newspaper says:
DSL employs a former Colombian army officer, Major General Herman Guzman Rodriguez, whose name appears in the Black Book of Colombian State Terrorism compiled by international human rights lawyers. The book says there is "abundant evidence and testimony" linking Gen Guzman Rodriguez to a paramilitary group responsible for 149 murders in 1987-90 (29)
DSL was willing to go to great extremes to protect the pipeline. These extremes included training troops in pyschological warfare operations and setting up spy organizations in communities in which it was necessary to protect British Petroleum’s interests. (30) These private security forces have created a human rights crisis in Columbia. Amnesty International says this of the situation:
… it would be extremely difficult to guarantee that any form of military, security and police training arranged by a private company to protect their own interests is not directly or indirectly contributing to further abuses against the local population." (31)
26. Op. Cit. 27. http://www.ipisresearch.be/ipis.txt/txt004/004contracting.pdf as quoted in Corpwatch.com under Defence Systems limited 28. Cf. http://www.flyingfish.org.uk/articles/rushdie/98-10-17gu.htm 29. “BP sacks security chief over arms deal.” Inquiry into arms and spy scandal. By Michael Gillard, Ignacio Gomez and Melissa Jones. Printed in The Guardian Saturday October 17, 1998 30. http://www.flyingfish.org.uk/articles/rushdie/98-10-17gu.htm 31. http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR230441997?open&of=ENG-390) Retrieved from "http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Defence_Systems_Limited
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ArmorGroup composes “the largest ever deployment of private security companies, without parallel. But it’s impossible to know exactly how many because so many agencies are involved and there’s no central register.” (32) It was originally a division of a large U.S. firm, Armor Holdings, Inc. It went bankrupt in 1992. It’ s Chapter 11 reorganization was led by international investors. The Group acquired over 20 companies in four years making it the biggest “security” company in the world. (33) ArmorGroup is talking about trading their stock publicly. If they do so, they would be the first international “security” company to trade their stock publicly. The “privatization” of the industry gives it one more layer of protection against any form of public oversight. (34)
A PBS interview contained the following statement:
During the elections, when Bush was taking on Kerry, and everybody was saying, "If Kerry wins, what's going to happen with industry?" -- well, nothing. Essentially the industry supports a military. ... It just doesn't really matter who's in charge; you're always going to have private companies supporting military operations, and the contracts will go up or they'll go down depending on the level of work that's available. If Ralph Nader had been elected, it wouldn't have made a difference. (35)
BLACKWATER
This is another example of several security companies existing under a single firm. Writing of the murder of four Blackwater employees FRONTLINE says this of Blackwater:
“Because of a tangled chain of contracts, it is difficult to determine any final accountability: Blackwater was contracted through a Kuwaiti company, Regency, to a Cypriot company, ESS, who was the food caterer on the base. But ESS has refused to tell FRONTLINE exactly whom they were working for. FRONTLINE asked ESS about a clause in its contract that references KBR, the engineering subsidiary of Halliburton. Without explaining the clause, ESS said it was not working for KBR on March 31. KBR also says it wasn't involved and that under the terms of its contract with the Army, KBR and all its subcontractors must use military security. Blackwater denies responsibility For the contractors' deaths. The families' lawsuit has yet to be scheduled in court. (36)
Blackwater also has characteristics of other special forces companies. It has strong ties to military “special forces” companies. Its founder was a former Navy SEAL. Blackwater has strong ties to the present administration. Breakwater employees have also been the victims of assassinations and other violence. (37)
A September 21, 2005 article in The Nation tells of the presence of Blackwater and other private security personnel in New Orleans and other Gulf Coast towns immediately after Hurricane Katrina struck. These personnel were hired by private corporations to protect their property. Some even claimed to have been “deputized” by State officials.
Armed men shuffled in and out of the building as a handful told stories of their past experiences in Iraq. "I worked the security detail of both Bremer and Negroponte," said one of the Blackwater guys, referring to the former head of the US occupation, L. Paul Bremer, and former US Ambassador to Iraq John Negroponte. Another complained, while talking on his cell phone, that he was getting only $350 a day plus his per diem. "When they told me New Orleans, I said, 'What country is that in?'" he said. He wore his company ID around his neck in a case with the phrase Operation Iraqi Freedom printed on it.
When asked what authority they were operating under, one guy said, "We're on contract with the Department of Homeland Security." Then, pointing to one of his comrades, he said, "He was even deputized by the governor of the state of Louisiana. We can make arrests and use lethal force if we deem it necessary." The man then held up the gold Louisiana law enforcement badge he wore around his neck. Blackwater spokesperson Anne Duke also said the company has a letter from Louisiana officials authorizing its forces to carry loaded weapons.(38)
The article ends with an ominous warning:
In May Blackwater's Jackson testified before Congress in an effort to gain lucrative Homeland Security contracts to train 2,000 new Border Patrol agents, saying Blackwater understands "the value to the government of one-stop shopping." With President Bush using the Katrina disaster to try to repeal Posse Comitatus (the ban on using US troops in domestic law enforcement) and Blackwater and other security firms clearly initiating a push to install their paramilitaries on US soil, the war is coming home in yet another ominous way. As one Blackwater mercenary said, This is a trend. You're going to see a lot more guys like us in these situations." (39)
What does the future hold for Iraq now that it has had free elections? In Mid January, 2006 the “Iraq Security, Technology & Communications Summit” is being hosted in Dhabi United Arab Emirate. If the focus of the conference is any indication, not much will change in Iraq with a freely elected government. 37. Ibid. 38. Op. Cit. 39. Ibid.
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The website for the summit identifies the purpose of the summit:
The summit is aimed at identifying the best partners to aid the Iraqi Government in providing best practice solutions. Such solutions require superior technology and communications and the event is therefore being organised accordingly with a coalition of the key Iraqi ministries:” “40”
Ten of the fifteen sponsors are British and/or American. One sponsor builds temporary buildings. The only Iraqi sponsor is a car dealer who sells predominantly American cars. Not a single mention is made of means of making Iraq economically free.
CONCLUSIONS
We attempted to create free elections and help Iraqi people become politically independent. But no attempt has been made to help the Iraqi people become economically independent. In fact their central bank is completely under the control of the Federal Reserve System of the United States. Their funds are deposited in the Bank For International Settlements in Switzerland. Their elected officials have no oversight powers over their central bank. While we react strongly to terrorism we promote economic terrorism.
The companies set up to do business in Iraq are predominantly British and/or American. Most of them are para military. Much of the civil unrest in Iraq is a reaction to these military forces imposed on the Iraqi people. In addition to terrorizing the people they are also economically exploiting them. Iraqi workers are paid only enough to buy a small amount of meat. Foreign mercenaries doing the same work are paid considerably more. Foreigners performing oversight services receive $400 to $1000 a day.
“Security” companies are now a major force in our nation and in the world. They are all private corporations and so no one has oversight of them. One company may in turn own twenty or more other “security” companies. The “security” companies that are “protecting” us in Iraq are the same people who set Saddam Hussein in power and promoted Osama bin Laden.
We do not realize that many of the conditions imposed on the Iraqi people are also being imposed on us. Neither we as individuals nor our elected officials have any control over our money. The Federal Reserve Bank which controls our money (and now the Iraqi money) is a group of private bankers. It is they who create the money. Each dollar created is a dollar of debt owed by our government to this private group of bankers. “Homeland Security” is the brain child of the man who initially oversaw the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq. In the days after Hurricane Katrina that act was used to bring in the same forces that were terrorizing Iraqi people to terrorize people in New Orleans. President Bush is trying to repeal the ban on using US troops in domestic law enforcement and allow security firms to install their paramilitaries on US soil. What we have done in Iraq is coming home in yet another ominous way. 40. Cf. Website of summit