Mohamad Khalil Khudair
November 10, 2007
Baghdad, Iraq
The New York Times
November 12, 2007
Security Guard Fires, Killing Iraqi Driver
By JAMES GLANZ
BAGHDAD, Nov. 11 — An Iraqi taxi driver was shot and killed on Saturday by a guard with DynCorp International, a private security company hired to protect American diplomats here, when a DynCorp convoy rolled past a knot of traffic on an exit ramp in Baghdad, the Iraqi Interior Ministry said Sunday.
Three witnesses said the taxi had posed no threat to the convoy, and one of them, an Iraqi Army sergeant who inspected the car afterward, said it contained no weapons or explosive devices.
“They just killed a man and drove away,’ Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf, an Interior Ministry spokesman, said in his office on Sunday afternoon. He added later, “We have opened an investigation, and we have contacted the company and told them about our accusations, and we are still waiting for their response.’
It was the latest in what the Iraqi government has said are unprovoked shootings on the streets of Baghdad by security companies hired by the State Department or contractors affiliated with it. On Sept. 16, guards with another of those concerns, Blackwater, opened fire a few miles south of Saturday´s shooting, killing 17 Iraqi civilians and wounding at least 24, according to Iraqi investigators.
The Iraqi government has accused Blackwater of involvement in at least six questionable shootings in Baghdad since September 2006. DynCorp has not drawn the same scrutiny, though it is unclear whether it has been involved in any other episodes in which Iraqis have been killed.
The shootings have stoked outrage among Iraqis, driven efforts to hold private security companies legally accountable for their actions in both the United States and Iraq, and created new challenges for American officials who were already forced to do much of their business within Baghdad´s protected Green Zone.
The latest episode came as senior officials from the Pentagon and the State Department were due to arrive in Baghdad on Sunday to arrange new measures to tighten control over security firms and coordinate their movements more closely with the United States military.
Mirembe Nantongo, a spokeswoman for the United States Embassy in Baghdad, said the officials expected in Baghdad were Gregory Starr, acting assistant secretary of state for diplomatic security, and P. Jackson Bell, deputy under secretary of defense for logistics and matériel readiness.
“They will meet with U.S. Embassy and military officials concerning private security company operations in Iraq,’ Ms. Nantongo said in an e-mail message, adding that Mr. Starr also planned to meet with senior Iraqi officials, including the interior minister, Jawad al-Bolani.
As in several previous shootings involving security companies affiliated with the State Department, witnesses to Saturday´s shooting said they saw no reason for the guards to open fire on the car, a white Hyundai with a taxi sign on the roof, driven by Mohamad Khalil Khudair, 40. It was unclear where the convoy was headed, or whether it carried any American officials.
“The poor cabdriver was stopped here,’ said one witness, Raafat Jassim, 36, who said he was standing outside a barbershop near the exit ramp at the time. “He had his hazard lights flashing, and the convoy was a long way away from him,’ Mr. Jassim said, pointing to a spot about 50 yards down the ramp, which comes off a bridge over the Tigris River in a neighborhood called Utafiya.
An official at the local police headquarters said that the victim´s brother had insisted on pressing charges against the company and that as a result, the case had been referred to an Iraqi judge. But legal loopholes and immunities in Iraqi and American law have raised questions about whether private security companies operating in this country can be called to account in any court.
Both the State Department and DynCorp confirmed that there had been a shooting involving one of the company´s convoys on Saturday. Possibly because the convoy sped away after the shooting, neither the company nor the State Department could immediately confirm that Mr. Khudair had been killed.
But Gregory Lagana, a DynCorp spokesman, said the details of the encounter in which Mr. Khudair died appeared to match the one in which DynCorp guards reported discharging a weapon on Saturday. “We´re assuming it´s the same incident,’ he said.
“We´ve stood down that particular team,’ Mr. Lagana said, pending an investigation. “We take this kind of thing very seriously.’
He added: “We run a very disciplined, very restrained security operation. We´re trying to ascertain the facts. We´ll work with the Ministry of Interior and the State Department every step of the way.’
Mr. Lagana said the DynCorp guards reported that they were unaware that they had wounded or killed anyone.
“We knew that we had fired at the front of the vehicle,’ he said. “We were kind of surprised that there was a death.’
One witness, Sgt. Ahmad Hussein, 32, who was stationed near the spot where the shooting took place, said the convoy consisted of six vehicles, including three white trucks or sport utility vehicles with tinted glass, and three sedans, which he believed were Peugeots.
The convoy came barreling down the exit ramp from the bridge around midday, Sergeant Hussein said. “We saw them coming, so we ordered the traffic to stop,’ he said.
The crowded traffic on the ramp came to a stop, but as Mr. Khudair tried to pull closer to the side of the road, a gun in the rear truck of the convoy fired several shots into his car, Sergeant Hussein said. At least one bullet went through the windshield and struck Mr. Khudair on the right side of his chest, the sergeant said.
Another witness, who gave his name only as Ahmad, said that as the convoy sped away, he and several other people rushed to the car and found Mr. Khudair with his chest smeared in blood.
“We got him out of the car and put him in another car to take him to a hospital,’ Ahmad said. He added that Mr. Khudair´s gearshift was in neutral when they pulled him out.
Sergeant Hussein said that Mr. Khudair was alive when he began the journey to the hospital but that he died along the way. “He didn´t make it to the hospital,’ he said.
Two witnesses said that while Westerners appeared to be wielding the guns in the white trucks, at least some of the passengers in the sedans appeared to be Iraqis.
A United States official said that DynCorp was under contract to the State Department´s International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Bureau, to protect both embassy personnel and affiliated contractors. The official, who requested anonymity, did not specify who was in the convoy.
Ms. Nantongo, the embassy spokeswoman, said that according to DynCorp´s own report to the State Department on the episode, the DynCorp guards first used “nonlethal means to warn the driver of the vehicle to stop.’
In Iraq, the term “nonlethal means’ often indicates that guards threw water bottles, waved or fired a small flare to get the attention of a driver.
But DynCorp told the State Department that the vehicle continued forward, and that a guard “discharged his weapon to disable the vehicle,’ Ms. Nantongo said. “There are conflicting accounts as to whether anyone was injured or killed,’ she said.
Mudhafer al-Husaini and Ahmad Fadam contributed reporting.
Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/12/world/middleeast/12contractor.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
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Mohamad Khalil Khudair's taxicab
Associated Press
November 12, 2007
Guard Kills Unarmed Iraqi Taxi Driver
By SAMEER N. YACOUB – 17 hours ago
BAGHDAD (AP) — A private security guard fatally shot an Iraqi taxi driver, Iraqi officials said Monday, in the latest incident involving what Iraqis believe are unprovoked killings by contractors hired to protect Americans.
A spokesman for DynCorp International, a Falls Church, Va.-based company, said one of its security teams opened fire Saturday to disable a vehicle in Baghdad after it approached a convoy in a threatening manner.
"Our team had reported that they believed no one was injured. So although there were conflicting reports, we are trying to determine if the incidents are one and the same," said Gregory Lagana, DynCorp's senior vice president for communications.
Lagana said the standard procedure in such cases is to fire a single shot into the engine block to disable the vehicle. "There may have been more than one shot taken, but I don't think it was several," he said.
DynCorp International is among three firms — along with Blackwater Worldwide and Triple Canopy — under contract to protect American diplomats and other officials in Iraq.
Iraqi officials said the shooting took place Saturday at 12:45 p.m. across from a children's playground in Baghdad's Atafiyah neighborhood, when a taxi driver pulled up close to a convoy of seven U.S. vehicles driving through the area.
Security personnel signaled for the taxi to pull away, and then one of the guards opened fire on the car, they said.
The driver was shot in the chest and head, but was still alive when local shopkeepers and police rushed to help him, witnesses and police said. He died in a police car on the way to the hospital, said Ahmed Adel, a barber who watched the events unfold outside his shop.
"The convoy stopped at an intersection where there was little traffic jam. ... Suddenly, guards from the last SUV opened fire on the taxi while it was totally motionless and no threat whatsoever to the convoy," Adel said. "We rushed to the car and helped the police pull him out."
He added that the taxi's gearshift was in neutral when they pulled the driver out, suggesting that his car was not moving when he was shot.
Afterward, police searched the taxi and found no weapons or other signs of threatening activity, police and the Interior Ministry said. The convoy did not stop for the investigation, an officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release information.
Another witness said that after the shooting, a guard stepped out of the last vehicle in the convoy — from which the shots were fired — and walked over to the taxi to see what had happened, but then turned back quickly.
"They simply did not care about the shot taxi driver, and the convoy sped away," the man said, refusing to give his name because of the situation's sensitivity.
U.S. Embassy spokesman Philip T. Reeker said DynCorp reported a "security incident" Saturday involving one of its teams and that the embassy's regional security office was "following this closely."
But Reeker could not confirm any details of the incident, including whether anyone was killed or wounded.
"These are very upsetting incidents for everyone involved," Reeker told reporters.
The shooting occurred on an exit ramp next to a bridge spanning the Tigris River. Atafiyah is a mixed Sunni-Shiite neighborhood that has not seen as much violence as other Baghdad enclaves. Piles of soft drink cans and other groceries line sidewalks outside dozens of retail shops.
It was the latest shooting by private security contractors perceived by many here as operating above the law. The U.S. government has offered some guards limited immunity under deals that have slowed prosecution of other shooting cases and angered Iraqis.
In September, another shooting left 17 Iraqis dead and prompted the Iraqi government to call for the expulsion of the firm involved, Blackwater Worldwide. The company has said its convoy was under attack before it opened fire, but initial investigations by Iraqi and U.S. authorities have concluded otherwise.
Iraq's Interior Ministry immediately opened an investigation into Saturday's shooting, said spokesman Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf.
The incident came just two days before the arrival of two top U.S. officials sent from Washington to investigate the role of private security companies in Iraq.
Last month, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice ordered new measures to improve government oversight of bodyguards, including tighter rules of engagement and a board to investigate any future killings.
The steps would also require contractors to undergo training intended to make them more sensitive to Iraqi culture and language.
The changes to rules of engagement would bring the State Department closer to military rules, although the moves will not have much visible effect on the way private guards operate in Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq.
Gregory Starr, acting assistant secretary of state for diplomatic security, and P. Jackson Bell, deputy under secretary of defense for logistics and materiel readiness, arrived in Baghdad on Monday to help implement the new rules, Reeker said.
Meanwhile, violence continued Monday, but at drastically reduced levels from several months ago. At least 13 people were killed or found dead across Iraq, including five bodies found in Baghdad, police and morgue officials said.
The U.S. military issued tallies of mortar and rocket attacks across the country, saying October's total marked a 21-month low.
Last month saw 369 "indirect fire" attacks — the lowest number since February 2006. October's total was half of what it was in the same month a year ago. And it marked the third month in a row of sharply reduced insurgent activity, the military said.
As a result of the improved security, Iraqi officials said Monday they plan to reopen 10 streets in the capital this month and remove some of the protective blast walls to improve quality of life.
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Associated Press editorial assistant Carley Petesch contributed to this report from New York
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Al Jazeera
November 13, 2007
US contractor kills Iraq cab driver
A private security guard has shot dead a taxi driver in Iraq in the latest in a string of what Iraqis believe are unprovoked killings by US contractors hired to protect Americans.
A spokesman for US-based DynCorp International said one of its teams opened fire at a vehicle in Baghdad after it approached a convoy in a "threatening manner".
"Our team had reported that they believed no one was injured. So although there were conflicting reports, we are trying to determine if the incidents are one and the same," Gregory Lagana, DynCorp's senior vice-president for communications said.
Not standard procedure
Lagana said the standard procedure in such cases was to fire a single shot into the engine block to disable the vehicle.
"There may have been more than one shot taken, but I don't think it was several," he said.
DynCorp is among three firms - along with Blackwater and Triple Canopy - under contract to protect American diplomats and other officials in Iraq.
Iraqi officials said the shooting took place at 12:45pm across from a children's playground in Baghdad's Atafiyah neighbourhood, when a taxi driver pulled up close to a convoy of seven US vehicles driving through the area.
Guards signalled for the taxi to pull away, and then one of them opened fire on the car, they said.
The driver was shot in the chest and head, but was still alive when shopkeepers and police rushed to help him, witnesses and police said.
He died in a police car on the way to the hospital, said Ahmed Adel, a barber who watched the events unfold outside his shop.
'No threat'
"The convoy stopped at an intersection where there was a little traffic jam... Suddenly, guards from the last SUV opened fire on the taxi while it was totally motionless and no threat whatsoever to the convoy," Adel said.
"We rushed to the car and helped the police pull him out."
He added that the taxi's gearshift was in neutral when they pulled the driver out, suggesting that his car was not moving when he was shot.
Police searched the taxi and found no weapons or other signs of threatening activity, police and the interior ministry said.
The convoy did not stop for the investigation, an officer said on condition of anonymity.
Another witness said that after the shooting, a guard stepped out of the vehicle from which the shots were fired and walked over to the taxi to see what had happened, but then turned back quickly.
"They simply did not care about the shot taxi driver, and the convoy sped away," the man said, refusing to give his name.
The US embassy said DynCorp reported a "security incident" on Saturday involving one of its teams and that the embassy's regional security office was "following this closely".
Above the law
It was the latest shooting by private security contractors perceived by many Iraqis as operating above the law.
The US government has offered some guards limited immunity under deals that have slowed prosecution of other shooting cases and angered Iraqis.
In September, another shooting left 17 Iraqis dead and prompted the Iraqi government to call for the expulsion of the firm involved, Blackwater.
The company has said its convoy was under attack before it opened fire, but initial investigations by Iraqi and US authorities have concluded otherwise.
Iraq's interior ministry said it had opened an investigation into Saturday's shooting which came just two days before the arrival of two senior US officials to investigate the role of private security companies in Iraq.
Last month, Washington ordered new measures to improve government oversight of bodyguards, including tighter rules of engagement and a board to investigate any future killings, but so far the moves have not seemed to have had much visible effect on the way the guards operate.
Gregory Starr, the acting assistant US secretary of state for diplomatic security, and P Jackson Bell, deputy undersecretary of defence for logistics and materiel readiness, arrived in Baghdad on Monday to help implement the new rules, the US embassy said.
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