Expanding Periphery

According to reports from Baghdad, three Germans and 4 British were abducted on May 29 from within the government compound. The Ministry of Finances was the scene of the crime. That ministry had been badly damaged in a bombing attack two months ago, meaning that important parts of the technical infrastructure had to be renewed - expensive for Iraq, but profitable for western companies. The employees of the ministry were to be instructed, May 29, in how to use the new computer system, when a column of dozens of police vehicles arrived. Several uniformed men stormed the building and took at least seven western foreigners hostage: three German computer experts, commissioned by a German company to make the initiation of the new computer system, and four British employees of a so-called security firm, charged with their protection.

No Sign of Life

If these reports prove true, German citizens will have already five times been victims of warfare in Iraq. Just one year after the US-led invasion, two officers of the special GSG9 anti-terror unit of the federal police were gunned down. They were apparently serving as bodyguards for the German Embassy in Baghdad.[1] Susanne Osthoff was abducted in November 2005. She had worked for the foreign ministry and, after her liberation, admitted to having received a salary from the BND, the German espionage service.[2] Only two months thereafter, two employees of the German Cryotec plant engineering and construction company, were kidnapped while working on the largest Iraqi oil refinery. They also were freed three months later. The fate of the German employee in the Iraqi Foreign Ministry and his mother remain unknown. They were abducted at the beginning of February. The German government allowed 2 deadlines to pass. There has been no sign of life since.[3]

Ecological

German enterprises are prepared to shrug off the mortal sacrifices and kidnapping, also for their non-German employees, occurring in the course of their profitable business in the Iraqi war zones. Employees of the Ecolog company from Duesseldorf (in North Rhein Westphalia) working in Iraq, and in Afghanistan, have been repeatedly abducted. Sometimes they are released when ransoms were paid. At others they were killed.[4] Ecolog supports the Bundeswehr deployment in various regions and, since February 2002, is the enterprise for wholesale services for the Bundeswehr in Afghanistan. Ecolog even performs the "ecological sewage disposal" for the US' Bagram base, using the specially built sewage purification works. It was at the Bagram Base that the German, Khaled el-Masri, was held prisoner and tortured for months.[5]

Like Every Other Day

Their assistance rendered to the occupation forces has repeatedly made Ecolog and its employees - who often come from low-wage East European countries - targets of the insurgents. In one report concerning the three German soldiers, killed in the attack in Kunduz, one reads: "Like almost every other day, three soldiers from the defense detachment, in reality civilians, drive the couple of kilometers into Kunduz, with the protection force. As always, they parked their vehicle in front of the ‘Ecolog' cleaning company. They continued on foot, weighed down with bullet-proof vests and helmets. They wanted to buy refrigerators and discuss."[6] A few minutes later they were dead. In spite of the numerous fatalities, according to its own assessments, Ecolog, would like to develop the company's activities further to become "the market leader in this expanding periphery."[7] The company intends to be on hand at the "Security Policy and Defense Industry" Convention to be held in Berlin at the beginning of July. On the program are prominent specialists from leadership levels of military, political and arms economics.

Client Services

Prominent arms enterprises are among the private companies that are regularly making contracts for the Bundeswehr's theatres of deployment. In October 2003, a representative of the military enterprise Rheinmetall Landsysteme (RLS) in Duesseldorf bragged that "wherever the Bundeswehr or allied armed forces are engaged, one finds - at least periodically - the client services of RLS." This firm, together with another armaments emissary, handles the maintenance and instructional tasks for the paratroopers stationed in Kabul and participates on patrols into Afghan war zones. According to a Rheinmetall representative's adventure report, "we were approximately 600 meters from the scene" at the time of the bombing attack on a Bundeswehr bus June 7, 2003. Concerning its business perspectives, this arms company is optimistic: "the Bundeswehr is concentrating, to a growing extent, on its purely military missions, as well as its foreign interventions (...). Therefore the maintenance and repair work will continue to grow."[8]

Billions in Profits

Current studies have confirmed that, to a growing extent, the Bundeswehr is commissioning private enterprises - not only at home,[9] but also in the field on foreign expeditions. The "significant growth in the private security industry" is, according to these reports, "not solely a reflection of US-American missions and contract policies." "In the period 2003/2004," respective European enterprises "made a profit of approximately 20 billion Euros" and currently have "more than one million employees."[10] Behind British firms, German enterprises have made the second highest amount of profits (2003: 4.1 Billion Euros.) Among them, there are services declared as "personal security." But according to reports, in Iraq, they are under US command and directly involved in warfare. Warriors of enterprises such as the Luebecker Bodyguard Academy are being hired.

Top-Notch Training

The Bodyguard Academy was "founded in 1998 as a vocational school for the business of security,"[11] and since April 23, is designated as a "licensed sponsor for the promotion of advanced professional training in accordance with the right of employment promotion." The training in Luebeck is "no sham, no whitewash" according to a satisfied participant (a first sergeant in the Bundeswehr): "clear words" that "present, unfiltered, the situation and mission in a zone of deployment." He explains that an "essential part of the course" was "the close combat:" "that's my favorite, because in the Bundeswehr, military operations in urban terrain (MOUT) and house-to-house combat were the most fun. (...) I finally got a picture of the tactics used by the Americans in their combat missions. (...) It was a top-notch training."[12]

[1] Bundesregierung geht vom Tod der GSG9-Beamten in Irak aus; Financial Times Deutschland 11.04.2007
[2] see also No Case for Berlin, Rückzugsgebiet, Zum Verbleib ermutigt and Lügen
[3] see also Indispensable Human Sacrifice
[4] see also Hundert Prozent
[5] see also Wer ist "Sam", der deutsche Foltergesandte?, In Accordance With the Law and Transatlantische Verbrechensausbeute
[6] No risk, no help; Spiegel Online 22.05.2007
[7] Aussteller; www.defence-conference.de
[8] Wiesel aus Afghanistan "in Schuss" gebracht; www.rheinmetall-detec.de, Oktober 2003
[9] see also Deutsche Post: Militärausrüstung in alle Welt, Munition und Waffen and Todesdrohung per Handy
[10] Söldner mit neuer Mission; Internationale Politik, Mai 2007
[11] Die Bodyguard Akademie; www.bodyguard-academy.com
[12] Bericht eines Lehrgangsteilnehmers; www.bodyguard-academy.com