PFC Action Alert - Spicer in Berlin

See sample email below

Tim Spicer, the former Scots Guards CO who is now involved in mercenary/ private security work has been invited to speak at a defence conference on Wednesday July 4 in Berlin. Spicer, who defended the murder of Belfast teenager Peter Mc Bride by soldiers under his command, is due to take part in a workshop titled:

Private security firms – Operating in a legal grey area?
Experiences of a private security company
Tim Spicer, (Lieutenant Colonel ret.), OBE, CEO, Aegis Defence Services

Jean Mc Bride has appealed to friends/supporters to protest this invitation to the German Defence Minister who is participating in (not organising) the conference.

Email Dr Thomas Raabe, Chief of the Press and Information Office, German Defence Ministry presse.bmvg@bundeswehr.de

Email the conference organisers: Senior Conference Manager, Karin Hanten at Karin.hanten@euroforum.com

Suggested text for copy and paste:

I am writing to protest the invitation to Tim Spicer to participate in the 4th Handelsblatt conference on Security and the Defence Industry taking place in Berlin on July 3 and 4. Two British soldiers under the command of Spicer in 1992, Mark Wright and James Fisher, were convicted of the murder of an unarmed teenager, Peter Mc Bride, in Belfast. Their Commanding Officer, Tim Spicer, sought to portray an entirely fictitious and untruthful version of the events preceding, during and after the actual murder. He opposed the arrest and trial of the soldiers and did not accept that the rule of law should apply. He is unsuited to speak on the issue of ‘legal grey areas’.

Mrs Mc Bride, mother of the victim, has made representations to the British Foreign Office and the US Government as to why a man who has sought to justify a murder is not fit to be in charge of armed security guards/mercenaries in conflict zones in his present role as CEO of Aegis Defence Services. Spicer’s mercenary activities in Papua New Guinea and Sierra Leone have led to riots, a coup, his arrest in PNG, the search of his previous business premises in London and government inquiries into the violation of British and UN Arms Export Embargoes. The award of a Pentagon security contract in Iraq to Aegis has led to protests from members of the US Senate and Congress. Aegis employees in Iraq have also been involved in a controversial shoot-to-kill video where employees were filmed shooting unarmed Iraqi civilians driving their own vehicles. See www.patfinucanecentre.org for extensive background on Spicer, Aegis and the Mc Bride case. Spicer should not be invited to Berlin!

 

We would also ask friends/supporters in Germany to contact the press

Conference details:

German language: http://www.defence-conference.de/default.asp
English language: http://www.defence-conference.de/eng/home.asp

As Aegis faces internal problems (see report below from Intelligence Online) it is clear that the renewal of the contentious US contract is by no means assured. No better time for US subscribers to contact their elected representatives and demand that the contract not be renewed.

Aegis Executives Bail Out - London
11 May 2007
Intelligence Online

A number of leading executives of Aegis Defense Services, a private security firm founded by Tim Spicer, have left the company as it waits to see whether its lucrative contract to manage seven American Reconstruction Operations Centers (ROC) in Iraq will be renewed. In addition to Lou Possanza, head of Aegis' American affiliate, who left at the end of last year, Steve Brooking and Johnny Farr have also bailed out. Brooking ran Aegis' office in Afghanistan while Farr represented the firm in Iraq. Aegis' director for the Middle East, Dubai-based Jan de Haldevang, has also quit. The wave of resignations has coincided loosely with a protest by the U.S. firm Blackwater and Britain's Erinys to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in the U.S. The two were competing with Aegis for the ROC contract but their bids were eliminated in the preliminary stages in the tender.

The contract was initially to have been awarded on May 10 but the decision may now be put back by three to six months to allow the GAO to examine the two protests. In the meantime, and at the behest of the Democrat representative from Ohio, Marcy Kaptur, officials from the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction announced that they would conduct an audit of Aegis' activities in Iraq.

 

10 Questions for US legislators about the Aegis contract

  1. How was a company with no prior experience in Iraq awarded a $293 million dollar contract? Why was the contract renewed after receiving poor performance ratings from the GAO?
  2. Has former British Army General James Ellery's involvement in the award of the Aegis contract been investigated? At the time the contract was awarded he was a senior advisor to the Provisional Coalition Authority (CPA). Soon after the contract was awarded Mr. Ellery left this post and took up a position with Aegis managing the RSSS contract in Iraq. Mr. Ellery currently serves on the board of directors of Aegis.
  3. What information about the background of Aegis CEO Tim Spicer was evaluated when the $293 million contract was awarded?
  4. At the time the contract was awarded, was the CPA aware that Spicer had justified a human rights abuse, the murder of 18 year old Peter McBride by soldiers under his command in Belfast in 1992. In justifying the murder, Spicer portrayed a version of the events in his sworn affidavit and later in his autobiography that was dismissed by the trial court as fictional.
  5. Was the CPA aware that Spicer's statement in his autobiography that his soldiers should not have been convicted showed a blatant disregard for British and International law? Do the CPA and the U.S. Military consider it important for the head of a private security company conducting military operations in Iraq to be able to demonstrate that he understands under what circumstances those under his command could use lethal force ?
  6. Was the CPA aware that Spicer, as the head of his previous company, Sandline International, had been investigated for Sandline's activities in Sierra Leone and in Papua New Guinea?
  7. Was the CPA aware that Sandline's activities in Papua New Guinea led to Spicer's arrest and a coup against the government ?
  8. Was the allegation investigated that Spicer requested and received blank end user certificates for small arms ?
  9. Did the Pentagon investigation into the March 2006 Aegis shoot-to-kill "trophy video" include evidence from all of those present in the SUV from where the shootings occurred?
  10. Did those who conducted the Pentagon investigation take evidence from any of those fired upon or indeed from any Iraqi civilians?

 

Contact Details

To find your Senator visit: http://www.senate.gov
Telephone numbers for Senators can be found at: http://www.senate.gov/general/resources/pdf/senators_phone_list.pdf
List of mailing addresses for all Senators: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
To find your Members of Congress visit: http://www.house.gov
Telephone Numbers of all offices: http://clerk.house.gov/members/ttd_109.pdf
Mailing labels/list of addresses to send letters to each Member of Congress in MicroSoft Word format: http://clerk.house.gov/members/wordmemberlabels.doc
Websites of U.S. Embassies, Consulates, and Diplomatic Missions: http://usembassy.state.gov/

 

Aegis

Peter McBride