Security Guards Feared Suicide Attack

Australian Firm Confirms Its Guards Involved In Shootings That Killed 2 Iraqi Women

(CBS/AP)  Unity, which is owned by Australian partners but is headquartered in the United Arab Emirates, provides security services to RTI International, a group based in Research Triangle Park, N.C., that promotes governance projects in Iraq for the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Both Unity and RTI acknowledged a security contract between them but said RTI staffers were not present at the shooting in Baghdad's Karradah district.

A U.S. Embassy spokeswoman said RTI was under contract by USAID but was responsible for its own security. "USAID does not direct the security arrangements of contractors," Mirembe Nantongo said.

According to the USAID Web site, RTI has about $450 million in U.S. government contracts to work on governance projects in Iraq. USAID is a semiautonomous arm of the State Department that manages U.S. aid programs.

The deaths of the two women - including one who used the white car as a taxi to raise money for her family - came a day after the Iraqi government gave U.S. officials a report demanding hefty payments and Blackwater's ouster from Iraq for a shooting last month that left at least 17 civilians dead.

The Blackwater guards implicated in the Sept. 16 shooting also were protecting American specialists working under USAID contracts on development projects in Iraq, highlighting the difficult balance facing Western agencies trying to help rebuild Iraq while keeping their own staff safe.

Tuesday's killings were certain to sharpen government demands to curb the expanding array of security firms in Iraq watching over diplomats, aid groups and others - nearly all based in the United States, Britain and other Western countries - as they are increasingly seen as symbols of the lawlessness in Iraq since the U.S.-led ouster of Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Unity also has come under scrutiny before.

In March 2006, the company issued an statement of sympathy after one of its guards was blamed for shooting a 72-year-old Iraqi-born Australian, Kays Juma, at a Baghdad checkpoint.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Juma was killed because he was in a car that failed to stop. Unity said multinational forces and Iraqi police also were present at the checkpoint at the time.

Unity provides armed guards and security training throughout Iraq. Its heavily armed teams are Special Forces veterans from Australia, the United States, New Zealand and Britain - as well as former law enforcement officers from those countries.

[wdrussell1]

Foreign invaders gun down two women for the crime of driving a car in their own country

[s1ckd09]

Would that be your fault?
Posted by s1ckd09

If the house you were building was on someone else''''s land, then yes it is your fault.

Posted by brianbwb at 03:15 AM : Oct 11, 2007

So are you saying the security guards did nothing wrong?

[brianbwb-2009]

Would that be your fault?
Posted by s1ckd09

If the house you were building was on someone else''s land, then yes it is your fault.

[s1ckd09]

Perhaps this should be directed at Austrailia, since that is who was responsible for this?

Posted by s1ckd09

They were under contract to USAID, not one of Australia''''s contracts. These thugs were hired by the cowboy''''s crew.
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Posted by firststate at 01:09 AM : Oct 11, 2007

No, the security company (Unity, which was Australian) was the ones who hired the security people. Unity was hired by RTI, and RTI was under contract with UASAIR. USAIR didn''t hire the security people. RTI didn''t hire the security people. Would you be responsible if you hired a contractor to build a house, and the contractor hired a roofer, the roofer hired his helpers, and one of those helpers killed someone? Would that be your fault?

[rowdytexan2]

Where is it well documented? In two weeks how many Iraqi''s have been killed when there were NO car bombs? It''s still like saying they''re all game for target practice because somebody else does car bombs. Ooops this is war, you''re dead. Too bad.

And if you ran up on a convoy you didn''t know was around the corner? Oops, this is war, you''re dead. Too bad.

I think you''re forgetting that you''re not the only one paying those taxes. I do too. The difference is I don''t mind paying and helping someone else out.

pfffffffft...there went another toad, akkk, it wasn''t a prince!

[firststate]

Perhaps this should be directed at Austrailia, since that is who was responsible for this?

Posted by s1ckd09

They were under contract to USAID, not one of Australia''s contracts. These thugs were hired by the cowboy''s crew.

[j-whitman]

xzavierbrown,,,, Not to mention the attacks from our own private security groups....... Way to go Bush & your followers, way to go ----- Which God did Bush listen to ???? The God of ENRON

[j-whitman]

xzavierbrown,,,
, Oh great wise one, just who the attacks coming from ???? The Sunni War Lords Bush has armed & funded that every one seemed to know except Bush that would continue to attack our troops, the Sheiites militias Bush put in power by invading & the Turk''s Bush funded for access to Iraq

[tbweb]

The Iraqis have had almost 5 years to learn to stop their cars when they are signlaed to do so. It''''s well known what happens to cars and people who don''''t stop for checkpoints. Yet, we continue to find idiots driving around in a daze, not paying attention. It''''s simple: if you don''''t stop, you die. How hard is this to learn? Personally, it''''d take one quick story on TV for me to learn THIS lesson. I guess I must be a genius or something.

Posted by robertkjjj at 12:44 AM : Oct 11, 2007,,,

Agreed. Not only that, anyone in these Security Forces situation under these circumstances after numerous escalated warnings would have shot the car up too trying to stop it! Its easy sitting behind a safe keyboard saying otherwise!

[s1ckd09]

s1ckd09,
,,, How is New Yorker''''s booing relevent 2 nights ago ???? Guiliani is the GOP''''s top pick,, If he can''''t convince New Yorker''''s he''''s any good on fighting terrorists or leadership, Rudy doesn''''t stand a snowball''''s chance in hell

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Posted by j-whitman at 12:48 AM : Oct 11, 2007

Well, there you have it. All we have to do is put all the candidates in Yankee stadium and let them decide who is President. They are, after all, completely rational and a perfect representation (except for the lack of class) of the whole of America... you''re brilliant!

[brianbwb-2009]

"The measure that would recognize the World War I-era killings of Armenians as a genocide had been strongly opposed by Turkey, a key NATO ally that has supported U.S. efforts in Iraq."

If you think Armenian genocide is cool, wait until you get a load of what Turkey has planned for northern Iraq. Of course, after the carnage, Bush will wring his hands in a show of crocodile tears, then make a deal with the Turkish occupiers to share the oil profits, 85%/15% in favor of the US.

[s1ckd09]

s1ckd09,,,, You think God also told Bush to Lose the Iraq War of Roses & the War on Terror as all the experts say he is ?????

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Posted by j-whitman at 12:45 AM : Oct 11, 2007

No, I don''t. Your point?

[j-whitman]

s1ckd09,
,,, How is New Yorker''s booing relevent 2 nights ago ???? Guiliani is the GOP''s top pick,, If he can''t convince New Yorker''s he''s any good on fighting terrorists or leadership, Rudy doesn''t stand a snowball''s chance in hell

[xzavierbrown]

Posted by RowdyTexan2 at 12:23 AM : Oct 11, 2007
+ report abuse


******
you should replace the "you think they might" to "they are always"..attacks are constant in iraq..it is well documented..

Do you think these attacks are coming from soldiers wearing uniforms and dogtags?? do you think they come in tanks or humvees?? you best stop licking that texas toad and realize the nature of the situation.

trust me, thanks to those liberal democrats..I am already paying up the arse trying to fund thier social programs.

[s1ckd09]

Posted by j-whitman at 12:33 AM : Oct 11, 2007

And by the way, those were Yankee fans... what do they know these days, other than early defeat and humiliation? :)

[j-whitman]

s1ckd09,,,, You think God also told Bush to Lose the Iraq War of Roses & the War on Terror as all the experts say he is ?????

[s1ckd09]

s1ckd09,
,,, How did Rudy do the other night at the Yankee Stadium ??? ---- New Yorker''''s remember him well,, They booed him not once, but twice, once during the 7th inning streatch during the singing of "Goc Bless America"

---------------------------------------------

Posted by j-whitman at 12:33 AM : Oct 11, 2007


And this is relevent...how???

[robertkjjj]

The Iraqis have had almost 5 years to learn to stop their cars when they are signlaed to do so. It''s well known what happens to cars and people who don''t stop for checkpoints. Yet, we continue to find idiots driving around in a daze, not paying attention. It''s simple: if you don''t stop, you die. How hard is this to learn? Personally, it''d take one quick story on TV for me to learn THIS lesson. I guess I must be a genius or something.

[s1ckd09]

Posted by badaxmofo at 11:51 PM : Oct 10, 2007

FACTS? Did you say FACTS?

Based on the link you cited, BUSH CLAIMS he never said that despite two witnesses who claim otherwise.

Based on Bush''''s proven track record of pathological lying, I''''ll believe the two witnesses. They''''re more credible.
------------------------------------

Posted by tuckerndfw at 12:04 AM : Oct 11, 2007

Doesn''t it suck when your own source disputes what you say? And Mahmoud Abbas never claimed it was what Buch said...

"Soon after, the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz carried a Palestinian transcript of the meeting, containing a version of Mr Bush''s remarks. But the Palestinian delegation was reluctant publicly to acknowledge its authenticity."


Nabil Shaath: "President Bush said that God guided him in what he should do, and this guidance led him to go to Afghanistan to rid it of terrorism after 9/11 and led him to Iraq to fight tyranny," he said.

"We understood that he was illustrating [in his comments] his strong faith and his belief that this is what God wanted."

[j-whitman]

s1ckd09,
,,, How did Rudy do the other night at the Yankee Stadium ??? ---- New Yorker''s remember him well,, They booed him not once, but twice, once during the 7th inning streatch during the singing of "Goc Bless America"