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MEANWHILE, IN IRAQ. Steve Fainaru's article in yesterday's Washington Post on the American private contractors and their hired guns in Iraq is well worth reading. What Fainaru describes is a subsociety where odd jungle versions of laws apply. Because Paul Bremer granted private contractors immunity from Iraqi laws in 2004 and because military laws don't apply to civilians it is unclear if any laws at all apply to the private mercenaries:
Current and former Triple Canopy employees said they policed themselves in Iraq under an informal system they frequently referred to as "big boy rules.""We never knew if we fell under military law, American law, Iraqi law, or whatever," Sheppard said. "We were always told, from the very beginning, if for some reason something happened and the Iraqis were trying to prosecute us, they would put you in the back of a car and sneak you out of the country in the middle of the night."Naucukidi said the American contractors had their own motto: "What happens here today, stays here today."The article mainly discusses what this lawless state means in terms of getting any mercenaries prosecuted for random violent acts, but I also found it fascinating that the lawlessness means unequal wages for the same job:
Washbourne sported a shaved head, a goatee and a mosaic of tattoos and piercings on his muscular, 6-foot-3-inch frame. He led one of two teams on Triple Canopy's "Milwaukee" project, a contract to protect executives of KBR Inc., a Halliburton subsidiary, on Iraq's dangerous roads. He earned $600 a day commanding a small unit of guards armed with M-4 rifles and 9mm pistols, the same caliber weapons used by U.S. troops.The men referred to each other by their radio call signs. Washbourne was "JW," his initials. Sheppard, a former U.S. Army Ranger, was "Shrek," for his resemblance to the cartoon monster. Schmidt, a former Marine sniper, was "Happy," an ironic reference to his surly demeanor. Naucukidi was "Isi," an abbreviation of his first name.Schmidt and Sheppard earned $500 a day. Naucukidi earned $70 a day for the same work.And how did Naucukidi differ from Schmidt and Sheppard? He is Fijian.
--J. Goodrich
