A former Scots Guards officer who suggested that murdered Belfast teenager Peter Mc Bride may have been carrying a bomb when he was murdered by two soldiers under his command has been awarded a major private security contract in Iraq by the US Department of Defence. Jean Mc Bride has appealed to supporters of the family to raise the issue in the US Congress and Senate. "We are asking our supporters in the US to raise this directly with John Kerry and call for a congressional hearing into Tim Spicer's track record.
Lt Col Tim Spicer of Aegis Defence Services has attempted to justify the Mc Bride murder on a number of occasions and in doing so has made inaccurate and offensive claims about the circumstances that have been proven totally wrong by various courts.
A spokesperson for the Pat Finucane Centre has urged all those concerned at the role of private security firms in human rights abuses in Iraq to raise concerns at this contract.
"Spicer is a highly controversial figure. Despite numerous court rulings that held that the soldiers under his command murdered an unarmed 18 year old boy and concocted lies to cover up their actions Spicer has continued to claim that his soldiers should not have been prosecuted. By his own admission he wanted to send Guardsmen Wright and Fisher back on patrol immediately after the murder. "It's the same principle as getting straight back on a horse when you have been thrown off" he wrote in his autobiography. His deeply offensive claims about the murder were repeated in the Daily Mail leading to calls for a boycott of the paper by Jean Mc Bride and a complaint to the Press Complaints Council.
Reacting to the news today Jean Mc Bride appealed to supporters of the family to raise the issue in the US Congress and Senate. "We are asking our supporters in the US to raise this directly with John Kerry and call for a congressional hearing into Tim Spicer's track record. Given the involvement of private security firms in torture and murder in Iraq I shudder to think that Spicer has been awarded a contract to create the world's largest private army. As Commanding Officer of the Scots Guards he told a pack of lies about Peter's murder and dragged his name through the dirt. God knows what his own private army will do in Iraq."
"We apply First World standards to all our military work, including respect for human rights." Extract from Spicer's autobiography.
"There was no question that these soldiers had concocted some story to cover their actions." Spicer's affidavit in relation to Guardsmen Wright and Fisher-June 1998.
"Not only did he not accept the verdict, he has continued to purvey the story that the judge described in court as a "concoction of lies." Roy Greenslade on Spicer The Guardian Nov 19 1999
"There was no reasonable possibility that either Wright or Fisher honestly held the belief that he [Mc Bride] was armed." LJ Kelly in judgement.
"Suddenly Mc Bride stopped running and ducked down between two cars." Extract from Spicer autobiography.
"It is a well known fact that if you take cover behind a car, whether you be a terrorist or a member of the security forces, the place to be is behind the engine block because that would give you the cover from fire that you need." Spicer's affidavit-June 1998
Peter Mc Bride did not take cover or duck down between two cars. He was shot in the back and fell wounded over a car. As he slid to the ground he was shot again. PFC
See the PFC response to Spicer's claims in an article entitled 'An Open Letter to Tim Spicer' Oct 1999