Iraq-wide poll taken on the ground: Iraqis optimistic about improved security

The poll shows that a majority of Iraqis believe the security situation is improving. They're optimistic and living in peace but a quarter of Iraqis say they've seen a relative killed since the US invasion five years ago. These are the findings of a Channel 4 poll of 4,000 people throughout Iraq on the fifth anniversary of the start of the war.

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Simon Mann first interview about his involvement in the failed Equatorial Guinea coup

Tonight Channel 4 News broadcast the first interview with the former British army officer Simon Mann. Mann led an attempted coup against the West African state of Equatorial Guinea in 2004. The programme has overturned an injunction obtained by lawyers acting for Mr Mann. They claimed he had been forced to take part in the interview by the prison authorities in Equatorial Guinea two weeks ago. Find links in the page for video, transcript in Word format, and a timeline.

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Clinton does Obama and Obama does Clinton

Presidential campaigns inevitably produce rushed pronouncements and media analysis. Inasmuch as policy promises sometimes filter down with unintended consequences, they can also communicate the wrong message, be misinterpreted, or both. And so this week security contractors hit the Democratic campaign trail. Considering that the use of contractors in contingency operations has a long trajectory in the US and the administration of Bill Clinton re-engineered the process to new standards, it somehow came as a surprise that Hillary Clinton decided to target unfavourably security contractors. The policy basis on the use of contractors is sound and efficient. It is only the travesty of it that the George W. Bush administration, assisted by a SecDef from another era, made of it that caused the multitude of problems we are now debating. One would expect that good old Bill reminded Hillary about it. That is hard to tell, as she went on to issue a press release announcing that she is co-sponsoring “legislation to ban the use of Blackwater and other private mercenary firms in Iraq”. Leaving the unnecessary terminology not conducive for constructive dialogue aside, her advisors should know by now that the debacles of a handful of firms in Iraq have only proved to be an exception to an overall trajectory of good service to the US by PMCs. She went on to state that “the legislation requires that all personnel at any U.S. diplomatic or consular mission in Iraq be provided security services only by Federal Government Personnel.” One wonders where the supplementary forces and money to fund them are going to be found. One last thing, far from compromising the mission in Iraq as stated in the press release, there would not be any mission in Iraq without the private security personnel. All together, the statement reads along Barack Obama’s lines, i.e. it sounds good however implausible the strategy is. Obama, on the other hand, took a more pragmatic approach, with his campaign team informing that he will not be pursuing a banning of security contractors in Iraq. Off course he promises swift withdrawal from Iraq if elected, but this week this set the pulse. Even better for Obama, Jeremy Scahill miscalculated the mood and published a piece that made Obama look more centre ground than he ever intended and Clinton more to the left than her team ever planned. Where was Bill when Hillary decided to do an Obama number?

Hillary Clinton Cosponsors Legislation to Ban Use of Private Security Contractors

"From this war's very beginning, this administration has permitted thousands of heavily-armed military contractors to march through Iraq without any law or court to rein them in or hold them accountable. These private security contractors have been reckless and have compromised our mission in Iraq."

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Families of GardaWorld and BearingPoint hostages appeal to Iraqi captors

The families of five British men kidnapped in Iraq nine months ago today issued an emotional plea to their captors in the Islamic Shia Resistance, urging them to recognise that the hostages were "not responsible for the actions of the British and American governments." They were contractors working for GardaWorld and BearingPoint.

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Arab Channel Shows Kidnapped BearingPoint contractor

The hostage, who has been identified as Peter Moore, was kidnapped by heavily armed men in police uniforms in May 2007 from the Iraqi Finance Ministry, together with four of his British security guards. They were driven away in a convoy of 19 four-wheel-drive vehicles toward the Shiite enclave of Sadr City in Baghdad.

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Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama Tussle Over Blackwater

Senator Hillary Clinton broke her longstanding silence on private security contractors in Iraq. Her senate office announced late Thursday that she is co-sponsoring a bill to ban "Blackwater and other private mercenary firms in Iraq." The timing of the announcement is particularly curious.

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Obama's Blackwater Problem

A senior foreign policy adviser to leading Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama told me that if elected Obama will not "rule out" using private security companies like Blackwater Worldwide in Iraq. The adviser also said that Obama does not plan to sign on to legislation that seeks to ban the use of these forces in US war zones by January.

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