Peace Researcher 30 – March 2005
PR 29 (June 2004) contained a long and detailed article (“The Privatisation
Of War”, Murray Horton) about mercenaries, concentrating on Africa and Iraq. It
can be read online at http://www.converge.org.nz/abc/pr29-96.html.
That article reported some rare good news on this subject, namely the April
2004 closure of Sandline International. Sandline was the British mercenary
company behind the failed attempt by the Papua New Guinean government to
forcibly retake the rebel island of Bougainville and reopen the enormous
transnational-owned gold and copper mine at Panguna. For the full story behind
that, read PR 13, August 1997 (“The
Dirty Dogs Of War”, Murray Horton).
However you can’t keep a bad man
down. Almost immediately, the most notorious front man for Sandline, namely
Lieutenant Colonel Tim Spicer, (who was arrested in the 1997 debacle in Papua
New Guinea) turned up in Iraq. The following comes from the Los Angeles Times, (24/6/04, "The
Coalition of the Billing", Robert Young Pelton).
“In March 2003 Secretary of State, Colin Powell, announced that the war in Iraq would be fought by ‘a Coalition of the Willing’, a group of 30 countries bound together by benevolence. That changed with the ‘handover of power’ to the Iraqi ‘government’, in June 2004. Our biggest armed ally in Iraq will not be a country, but rather a for-profit corporation run by a self-professed mercenary who will be charging us on a cost plus basis. America's efforts in Iraq can now be accurately called the ‘Coalition of the Billing’.
“On May 25, 2004 the US Army awarded Lt. Col. Tim Spicer and his company Aegis (a tiny London-based holding corporation only incorporated on September 23, 2002) contract #W911S0-04-C-0003, the largest and most important piece of Iraq security business in its history. For almost one third of a billion US dollars over three years, Aegis will be in charge of all security for our $US18.4 billion in reconstruction projects. They will coordinate all other private security groups and hire a force protection detail of around 600 armed men. But this is just the beginning. Aegis will also coordinate the operations of the 60 other Private Military Companies (PMCs) and their 20,000 men currently in Iraq as well as take charge of new hires, intelligence, prisoners, and oilfield security. A no-risk, cost-plus arrangement of up to $US293 million over three years. As the owner of almost 40% of Aegis, financial experts estimate that depending on tax planning, Spicer could personally pocket $US20 million. There is nothing wrong with most of the above. This is, after all, America.
“There is however one small problem. It appears that no one in the bidding system bothered to check who Tim Spicer is, or rather was. If Spicer remains true to his historical roots, controversy is a given and the political fallout to the US government and our efforts in Iraq may be staggering.
“Pratap Chatterjee, Program Director of CorpWatch, has fired the first shot, ‘Aegis had no experience in Iraq. This is also a person that historically has done business with dodgy characters, in ventures that have contravened the law. Aegis would be the last company you would hire, not the first’.
“What wasn't on Spicer's CV that accompanied Aegis' bid document was that this is THAT Tim Spicer. The controversial British mercenary whose actions brought down the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea in 1997 after an aborted security contract that ended up with him being arrested, jailed and charged for weapons violations. He is the central figure in the Arms to Africa scandal which caused considerable embarrassment for our British allies, including Prime Minister Tony Blair, by breaking a 1998 UN arms embargo, he is the same ‘Spicer, Timothy Simon’ whose passport is flagged by Immigration and Naturalisation Service computers when entering the US, and the same soldier of fortune who accepted $US70,000 from a fugitive financier accused of embezzlement to look into overthrowing the government of Sierra Leone.
“Spicer not only brings drama and surprise to his endeavours but also runs with an interesting crowd. His company Aegis lists two senior advisors; Sir Roger Wheeler, former UK Chief of Staff and Sir John Birch, a former UK rep to the UN. Both are on record as two staunch opponents of the invasion and occupation of Iraq. The man that hired Spicer to run one of Aegis' many predecessor companies, Simon Mann, is currently languishing in jail in Zimbabwe for allegedly trying to overthrow the oil rich government of Equatorial Guinea (see the section below on Equatorial Guinea for details). The US Project Management Office head of security who wrote the proposal specifications and Spicer’s direct boss is retired UK Army Brigadier Tony Hunter-Choat, a retired British officer, and you guessed it, a former mercenary. Hunter-Choat is a former French Foreign Legionnaire who fought in Algeria in the late 50's and early 60's. And that's just scratching the surface.
“Spicer's history as a businessman is also not reassuring. He has been involved in four private military corporations that have either failed financially, done poorly or have suspended business. Considered by insiders as being blackballed by the UK government for any of their PMC security work, he has looked overseas. His activities over the last few years have centred on anti-piracy and harbor port security surveys in places like Israel and Sri Lanka.
He Just Filled Out The Forms
“How did someone with this background ending up billing us millions to run the world's largest private security force protecting all 2,300 reconstruction projects? Easy. He just filled out the forms. In June 2004, in Eustice, Virginia, the Army Transportation Board reviewed six competing proposals. They chose tiny Aegis Defence Systems Limited over giants like Dyncorp, Control Risks Group, and other seasoned players. Army Spokesperson Major Gary C Tallman insists that Spicer's CV showed that he had an impeccable military career in the British Army and that Spicer had acknowledged that he had done ‘security work in Africa and SE Asia’. When asked if he knew if Spicer was a mercenary, Tallman replied, ‘My understanding is that they (Aegis) met all the requirements’. He did admit when pressed, that other than checking candidates against the official debarment list, ‘It's not part of the process to look into the backgrounds of the principals’. A baffled Tallman insists that ‘Aegis met the criteria and we don't know what else to say’.
“Spicer's latest reincarnation combined with the Army's rush to get warm bodies in place for the post-handover may mean that because of the US bidding system one privateer's ship may have finally come in, even in the deserts of Iraq. Peter Singer, a Fellow at the Brookings Institute, referring to the current controversy swirling around other Iraq contracts, says: ‘This was the most important security contract out there, the awarding of it to Aegis shows that we have learned absolutely nothing from our prior experience’. Two of the losing bidders have asked for a review and a spokesman for one losing bidder has ominously warned us to ‘Stay Tuned’. Good advice, since the Bush Administration appears to still be out of tune with what is going on in Iraq”.
The awarding of this contract caused enormous controversy, from both sides of the argument about the central role of mercenaries in Iraq. Corporate rival Dyncorp appealed it but Spicer’s Aegis contract survived the review process and was upheld. Mind you, based on his track record, he could turn out to be the best secret weapon that the Iraqi Resistance has. Who needs suicide bombers when you’ve got Tim Spicer?
Equatorial Guinea
In March 2004, Equatorial Guinea,
in West Africa, was suddenly catapulted into world headlines. Zimbabwe arrested
64 alleged foreign mercenaries plus three flight crew, and seized the cargo
plane that they were on, at Harare Airport. The men were South Africans,
Namibians, Angolans, Congolese and a Zimbabwean. The plane, which was full of
military equipment, had started from the tiny West African island state of Sao
Tome and Principe and had flown to Zimbabwe to collect its’ passengers and
weapons. Equatorial Guinea alleged that the men were mercenaries hired by
exiled opposition leaders in Spain, with the backing of British, American and Spanish
Intelligence services, aiming to overthrow its’ government. Furthermore, both
Equatorial Guinea and Zimbabwe alleged that unnamed transnational corporations
backed the plot to overthrow the government of the tiny, oil rich nation. An
additional 15 foreign mercenaries, the alleged advance guard, were arrested in
Equatorial Guinea itself. One of them, a South African, said that their mission
had been to abduct the President, force him into Spanish exile (or kill him, if
he resisted) and replace him with the leader of the opposition who has already
been in Spanish exile for many years (the latter had tried to mount a coup in
1997 and was sentenced, in absentia, to 100 years prison).
The
company that owned the plane said that it was all a dreadful misunderstanding
and that the men were being flown to the Democratic Republic of Congo to
provide security for transnational mining projects there. What has been
described as Africa’s first world war, with millions of Congolese deaths, and
the role of mining transnationals in that, is a whole other story. But neither
Zimbabwe nor Equatorial Guinea was buying that explanation. Zimbabwe identified
one of those arrested as a former member of Britain’s Special Air Service (SAS)
and a leading figure in the South African mercenary firm, Executive Outcomes,
and the British company, Sandline International (see the section above on Tim
Spicer for details). These two firms were controversial leading players in
several of Africa’s interminable wars of the 1990s, most notably in Angola and
Sierra Leone. Zimbabwe was adamant that the arrested men would face charges
under aviation, firearms and immigration laws, and that they could face the
death penalty. That was where PR 29
left the story.
This
tragi-comic misadventure in an utterly obscure African dictatorship became a
major world news story in subsequent months. The men held by Zimbabwe underwent
a trial that lasted several weeks. The court rejected their cock and bull story
about the Congo. A number of the South Africans were allowed to return home,
where they were due to be arrested and charged under that country’s tough
anti-mercenary laws. Several others, including ringleader Simon Mann, were
sentenced to several years in Zimbabwean prisons. Mann was a colleague of Tim Spicer
and fitted the archetypal British mercenary mould – a public schoolboy (Old
Etonian in his case), and a product of the British Army’s officer corps and the
SAS. Those dealt with by Zimbabwe were luckier than those captured in
Equatorial Guinea itself. 19 mercenaries went on trial there, in late 2004, and
the prosecution called for the death penalty for the South African ringleader
and the exiled opposition leader alleged to be the figurehead.
What
really caught the world’s attention was the revelation of who was financing
this elaborate and expensive coup attempt. The moneymen were a collection of
millionaires in London and South Africa. The name of the notorious Jeffrey
Archer came up (he strenuously denied it). But the most high profile financier
turned out to be none other than Sir Mark Thatcher, the ne’er do well son of
former British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. In August 2004 he was
arrested at his South African home and charged with bankrolling the debacle.
This sent the British press into a frenzy. Mark Thatcher has been a
well-deserved target of media scorn for decades, having traded on his mother’s
name and position to enrich himself. He is a singularly graceless and
unlikeable individual. One lengthy profile of him was headlined with the
description of him by the Financial Times
as “’A sort of Harrovian Arthur Daley with a famous mum’” (Press,
14/1/05, Chris Moncrieff. Harrow was the public school that Thatcher attended;
Arthur – or, more properly, Arfur – Daley was the shifty Cockney wheelerdealer
in the classic British TV series, Minder).
There
was no going down in a blaze of glory for Thatcher. He cut a deal and pleaded
guilty to contravening South Africa’s anti-mercenary laws. The January 2005
deal allowed him to avoid a prison sentence or the even less appealing prospect
of extradition to Equatorial Guinea to face trial and a possible death sentence
there. He agreed to cooperate fully with prosecutors in unravelling the full
details of the plot, including who financed it. There was no honour among
thieves – he was quite happy to rat on his partners in crime.
It’s
All About Oil, As Usual
So
what’s the attraction of Equatorial Guinea? The mercenaries would have us
believe that they were foot soldiers in a glorious crusade to bring democracy
to a particularly benighted part of Africa. The President , Teodoro Obiang
Nguema Mbasogo, is nasty piece of work
who has ruled with an iron fist since 1979, and who counts cannibalism among
the various atrocities of which he has been accused by his numerous opponents.
It is a spectacularly corrupt regime, and in May 2004 featured in a US scandal
where the Riggs Bank was fined $US25 million for money laundering violations
related to the Equatorial Guinea and Saudi Arabian governments (former Chilean
dictator, Augusto Pinochet, was the bank’s most high profile illicit customer).
But the
reality is not quite as noble. Equatorial Guinea is knee deep in oil, being one
of West Africa’s smallest counties but a significant player in the region that
the US is cultivating as the acceptable replacement for Middle Eastern oil. The
Bush Administration sees this part of the world as a vital part of its strategy
of securing reliable new sources of oil, and isn’t bothered about the fleabag
dictators that control it. “Official” US mercenaries, in the form of security
advisers, are helping the Equatorial Guinea regime. And the hapless mercenaries
and their financiers simply wanted part of that action, in the form of highly
lucrative new oil concessions, which would be granted by a new government, to
be installed at gunpoint.
Fleas
Scratched
We
shouldn’t really be surprised. They were simply following the example of Bush,
Blair and Howard who illegally invaded Iraq in 2003 for exactly the same reason
– to steal its oil, at gunpoint. Big fleas have little fleas, but, in this
case, the little fleas got scratched, in both senses of the word (in the horse
racing sense, they were scratched from the race before it had begun). How
appropriate that Mark Thatcher’s nickname among his criminal mates was
“Scratcher”. But, have no doubt, there will be another bunch of murderous
clowns, with plummy accents, trying something similar in the future. The age
old temptation to plunder other people’s countries, be it in Iraq or Africa, is
just too strong for these upper class Pommy twits. They will always be eager to
try and disprove the old maxim that crime doesn’t pay. Which is why it is
important to demonstrate, each time one of these mercenary adventures happens,
that there is a very high price to pay for those both greedy and stupid enough
to try their luck.
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