There is a winnowing of security companies taking place among Iraqi officials who are deciding who’s in and who’s out, according to a former CPA guy who I spoke to recently (and a winnowing of other select industries as well, according to other sources). He credits it to survival of the polite.
Security companies that were rude to local officials and business leaders when the CPA was in full swing — such as giving the third-degree search and glare to Iraqis with once-and-future political muscle — are now getting the squeeze and tacit directions out of the country.
Those that were cordial stand to do very well, predicted the former CPA offial, who is now setting up an import-export business.
Keep that in mind if you read the June 30 Fox News story, “Iraq’s New War Zone: American vs. American.” It may be more of a story about Iraqi officials flexing their own new sense of newly-acquired sovereignty — and whatever local culture that reflects.
The Fox story largely focuses on Richard Peters, the new manager for Morrison Security (based near Chicago) and his ongoing dispute with Iraqi police and U.S. Army officer Lt. Col. Mike Casey who is responsible for aiding Iraqi officials with enforcing evictions of illegitimate tenants in the International Zone.
Peters attempted to move into the IZ after his company paid $13,000 for an office lease that may or may not have been legitimate.
(Who holds the rights to some real estate is still being sorted out. After the toppling of Saddam’s regime and the March 2003 invasion, Coalition forces and their contractors often simply took over apparently-public buildings that met their needs. The tales of the controversial security contractor, Custer Battles, now accused of using Iraqi real estate for their own business advantage may be one of the more vivid accounts. Such business opportunities are now disappearing.)
When I looked into the Morrison Security story last week, Peters told me his company originally was located at BIAP and that it had had no security contracts as yet. Moving from BIAP shortened the dangerous commute to the IZ, which is a better location for drumming up business, he said. All of the major name security companies have offices there.
“I’m doing what it takes to bid on contracts,” said Peters, a former manager with Blackwater security and a 20-year veteran with the Navy Seals who says he served in Vietnam, Grenada, Panama and Afghanistan.
I asked if Morrison Security had registered with the Iraqi Ministry of Interior as required under Iraqi law. Peters said no.
“They’re putting all this laws in place and I can’t keep up with them while I’m out and about,” he said. “They don’t understand what we’re up against here. We’re fighting a stinking war.”
How does a private security contractor fight a “stinking war” without a contract?
Peters than ranted a bit about all the payoff the local Iraqi police want.
I referred Peters to the Private Security Company Association of Iraq, run by an American and former CPA official who claims to know all the rules and regulations. The association acts as an intermediary between private security outfits and the Ministry of Interior. (But the association head refuses to share any contact information with me about the Interior Ministry because of his concerns about the “safety and security” of ministry officials. That,of course, is a different story.)
Rudeness may be the problem Global Strategies Group now faces with its security agreement at Baghdad International Airport, a.k.a., BIAP.
They frisked the wrong people thinking that coalition forces and the CPA would be calling all the shots for years to come. Some of the employees for the British firm apparently forgot their manners at times and the Iraqi officials now in power have a long memory.
Giles Morgan, Global Risks’ communications manager, has always been polite to me — albeit, certainly oblique about the company’s business challenges at BIAP, which led to a two-day shutdown of the airport beginning June 24.
“We’re continuing our discussions with the Iraqi Government and hope to resolve any outstanding issues shortly,” he told me in a June 29 e-mail. “As soon as I know anything further I will let you know.”
I haven’t heard Global Risks side on Baghdad etiquette.
As for allegations about baksheesh paving the way for contractors, rude and polite people are equally capable of opening their wallets and showing other forms of hospitality, the former CPA official said.
Those with the competitive edge are the polite ones.