Iraqis detain US mercenary outfit founder, employees in Baghdad

June 8, 12:29 PMPittsburgh Grassroots ExaminerMike Boda

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RadicalGraphics.org

The privatization of war hands an incentive to American corporations, many with tremendous political clout, to keep us mired down in Iraq. But even more disturbing is the steady rise of this modern Praetorian Guard. The Praetorian Guard in ancient Rome was a paramilitary force that defied legal constraints, made violence part of the political discourse, and eventually plunged the Roman Republic into tyranny and despotism.
-Chris Hedges

 

At least three employees and the founder of US mercenary outfit, Corporate Training Unlimited(CTU), have been detained, but not charged, by Iraqi authorities in Baghdad, possibly for their role in the brutal execution-style of US construction company owner, Jim Kitterman.

Kitterman was found bound, blindfolded, and stabbed to death inside a car parked in the heavily-fortified International Zone (commonly referred to as the "Green Zone") in Baghdad. The Washington Post reports that US and Iraqi authorities are (not surprisingly) giving different accounts of the reasons behind for the detentions:

[James] Fennell [US Embassy Spokesman] said the men were not arrested on suspicion of involvement in the murder of Jim Kitterman, a 60-year-old contractor from Houston. During a search of the men's house, authorities found "possible evidence on an unrelated matter," he said, without disclosing details.

Khalaf and Alaa al-Ta'i, an adviser to the interior minister, said that although the men had not been charged, they were indeed being held as suspects in Kitterman's death. Two other Iraqi officials said that only two men were being held in regard to the killing.

A US Navy veteran and former Director of Marketing Middle East Regional for former Halliburton subsidiary, Kellogg, Brown, and Root (KBR), known for their ties to human-trafficking and other forms of fraud and abuse, Kitterman, of Houston, was also employed by Peregrine, a similar outfit, that seems to do a better job of staying out of the news. Posters on SOCNET, a website that bills itself as, "the Special Operations Community Network", including his alleged, former CTU bodyguard, are engaging in speculation about Mr. Kitterman's death, and from the sound of it, there is more bad craziness happening in the Green zone, than we'll ever know:

Poster bmsqd writes Yesterday, 11:36:

I knew Jim very well. When I worked for CTU I had the privilege of doing PSD for him. At one point Jim lived on one of the upper floors of the Sheraton and one of my last duties for CTU was to be his 24/hr shadow just before Jim and CTU made the move to the IZ from the Baghdad Sheraton. I stayed in the room adjoining his at night as personal security on him. I really enjoyed the lo-pro detail we operated for him in the armored Mercedes.

Jim was a hard man. He was fearless and would go any where he needed to go to get the job done. Several times it was hairy taking him downtown to do furniture shopping (business, not personal) or to the banks, etc.

Last time I saw Jim was at the IZ in Sept/Oct 2007. He was staying at the CTU compound and as usual, was always on the go, just passing through, with a sinlge expat guard doing lo-pro for him.

RIP Jim

A CTU employee was also killed by an apparent mortar attack in the nominally Iraqi-controlled International Zone the same weekend, but there is no reports of any connection between the two deaths. The use of mercenaries in Iraq and Afghanistan has led to some bizarre situations, like the 2005 firefight between US Marines and mercenaries employed by Zapata Engineering and the 2004 siege of Fallujah that seemed to be retaliation for the desecration of 4 mercenaries employed by Xe, the company formerly known as Blackwater. At one point, mercenaries outnumbered US troops in Iraq.

Critics of the use of mercenaries to enforce US foreign policy objectives and the enlistees themselves, often neglect the reality that members of a volunteer, paid military are for all intents and purposes, mercenaries. Vague symbolic language about "national interests" and "freedom" and "democracy" are used both for recruiting and for justifying the conflicts themselves, which are also only ever about cash and prizes. PMCs don't seem that much different than other US corporations; the bottom line is the bottom line. Both the "mercs" and the "regulars" both run into red tape when they are disabled while carrying out their assignments and they both wage war for a price,  the PMCs pay much more. The combatants who are only in it for the money seem far more sensible than the ones who are fighting for flags, computer generated eagles, and the order of Nashville "songwriters".