Saturday, June 25, 2005

Private Military Company on Strike in Iraq: "Reuters. Not a way to run a war. Security contractors at Baghdad airport went on strike on Friday as part of a contract dispute between their British employer and the Iraqi government, shutting down most of the country’s civil aviation. ‘We have suspended our operations at the airport,’ said Giles Morgan, a spokesman for Global in London. ‘We’ll resume work to ensure the airport’s security as soon as we’ve reached a satisfactory agreement with Iraq’s Ministry of Transport.’ The US military said plans were in place for soldiers to step in and take over the contractor’s guard duties, ensuring that the airport can continue to be used for military operations. But all civilian use will be blocked. Global employs some 500 people at the airport, many of them Nepalese former soldiers with British Gurkha units. The company took over the contract to protect the airport in June 2004. " (Via John Robb's Weblog.) I wonder if some Iraqi chose not to pay the mercenaries as a clever way of disrupting the occupation, which relies on large numbers of nominally civilian mercenaries because of the shortage of "real" soldiers? 6:24:42 PM    comment () Eyeballing CIA-Renditioner Robert Seldon Lady: "June 25, 2005" (Via Cryptome.) Perhaps the Italians can use this information to kidnap him and bring him back to stand trial for his role in the kidnap and torture of Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr. I doubt it would happen, though, as that would require the Italians to lower themselves to behaving somewhat like the US government. 2:02:40 PM    comment ()

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