Where do the INC’s prodigal Iraqis “normally reside”?
I ask because we, (US), may’ve helped the INC acquire a “legally lawless” militia trained by Apartheid era human rights violators.
The second largest group of armed forces in Iraq are Private Military Companies of privately employed soldiers. PMCs use and provide training in military methods, leadership, and equipment. There’re up to 20,000 non-Iraqi PMC employees in Iraq. The coalition’s Program Management says security costs are now 10% of the US’s $18.4bn investment in Iraq.
Non-Iraqi business entities and employees not normally resident in Iraq who’re under contract to Coalition Forces or the CPA are immune from Iraqi legal process. This immunity only applies to official activities per the terms and conditions of their contracts. It requires the personal involvement of Presidential Envoy, Ambassador L. Paul Bremer III, Administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority to apply Iraqi or CPA legal process to contractors’ unofficial activities.
There’re few legal mechanisms regarding serious misconduct on the part of military contractors. Previously, DOD civilians working overseas [www.amsc.belvoir.army.mil/Articles/00-3/scott.htm+%22Military+and+Extraterritorial+Jurisdiction+Act%22&hl=en&lr=lang_en]could](http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:GhyyrMMWO2sJ:[url) literally get away with murder. Currently, they may be held legally liable under The [Military and Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act](http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=106_cong_public_laws&docid=f:publ523.106). Under MEJA, SECDEF Rumsfeld must designate and authorize someone to make the arrest.
Erinys is a non-Iraqi PMC in Iraq reportedly based in London and Johannesburg. It’s a prime contractor to the Gulf Regional Division of the United States Army Corp of Engineers supplying security details, is contracted to the Iraqi Ministry of Oil for security for Iraq’s oil infrastructure, and is subcontracted to protect Kellogg, Brown and Root.
Erinys Iraq was financed by Abul Huda Farouki’s Nour USA. Nour is a joint venture partner with Erinys on the “oil police” contract. Jordanian court records from Ahmed Chalabi’s Petra Bank embezzlement trial show bankrupt Farouki companies owed Petra more than $12 million.
The relationship between Farouki and Chalabi highlights conflict of interest and bid fixing concerns regarding the $327 million contract, (temporarily), awarded Nour to outfit the new Iraqi army. Industry experts contend the equipment alone costs more than $500 million. Nour USA lacks experience with similar contracts as required by bid guidelines.
Faisal Daghistani, founder and director of Erinys Iraq, is the son of INC official Tamara Daghistani, a long-time friend of Ahmed Chalabi key in the creation of the INC, and alleged getaway driver when Chalabi fled prosecution for embezzling. Mr. Daghistani said US-trained Iraqi Free Forces who entered Iraq with Chalabi are now Erinys recruits. Vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. Peter Pace, said Iraqi Free Forces would “become basically the core of the new Iraqi army once Iraq is free.”
Erinys’s counsel in Baghdad Ahmed Chalabi’s nephew Salem Chalabi.
An Iraqi Governing Council member accuses the Iraqi National Congress of undermining central authority by using a private military company to secure the oil sector. There’re concerns that Erinys is Chalabi’s private militia.
Employees of Erinys, (and subcontractors), who’re neither “normally resident” in Iraq, nor American citizens, are subject to little if any legal liability for their official or unofficial activities. Some recruits from the Iraqi Free Forces may be in this category. Also in this category’re any of the estimated 1,500 South African PMC employees in Iraq, who, like François Strydom, (former member of the Koevoet, a South African group that paid bounty for the bodies of blacks), and Deon Gouws, (who worked with the notorious Vlakplaas death squad), were contracted or employed by Erinys. Strydom and Gouw trained Erinys recruits.