From Iraq to Zim - perils of a SA security firm

seemslikeadream

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Sun Aug-08-04 08:41 AM
Original message

From Iraq to Zim - perils of a SA security firm

Carole Landry
Posted Sun, 08 Aug 2004

A year ago, Festus van Rooyen was a man with the Midas touch. His security firm was winning contract after contract in Iraq to provide bodyguards to diplomats, ministers and oil engineers, and to train Iraqi police.

Van Rooyen's firm, Meteoric Tactical Solutions, is now fighting for its survival, caught in the grey zone between private security contracts and mercenary work that South Africa is trying to stamp out.

The Zimbabwe affair has cost Van Rooyen's firm contracts in Iraq and now the South African government has decided that Meteoric Tactical Solutions should go out of business under the terms of its 1998 Foreign Military Assistance Act barring mercenary work.

Meteoric Tactical Solutions won its first contract in Iraq in March 2003, when Van Rooyen assembled a team of eight men including a sniper, a paramedic and an explosives expert to protect a high-level US military official.

Van Rooyen's "men" were earning $10 000 dollars a month at the outset but he says demand for private security has pushed wages up to as much as $30 000 dollars a month.

more
http://iafrica.com/news/features/339984.htm

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

saigon68

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Sun Aug-08-04 08:44 AM
Response to Original message

1. NICE---THANKS TO THE US TAXPAYER

Who bends over--

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

salin

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Sun Aug-08-04 08:50 AM
Response to Original message

2. gee, the 'zimbabwe affair' - at least in the excerpt - sounds

so .... quaint. Let's see - wasn't that "affair" when they were part of a plot to overthrow the govt of a central african country? And wasn't there funky indications of ties to the US intel community (the plane carrying the men originated in the US - perhaps at a military base? I don't recall the details)...

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

salin

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Sun Aug-08-04 08:52 AM
Response to Reply #2

3. ah- a factor of excerpt not the story

and no offense to the excerpter (when one can only do a handful of paragraphs- this happens). In fairness to the article they mention the coup business in the second paragraph.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

seemslikeadream

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Sun Aug-08-04 09:01 AM
Response to Reply #3

5. Background

Edited on Sun Aug-08-04 09:09 AM by seemslikeadream

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

salin

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Sun Aug-08-04 09:21 AM
Response to Reply #5

6. thanks for the compilation

ugliness on all sides in this little story.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

whistle

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Sun Aug-08-04 08:53 AM
Response to Original message

4. 8 men were needed to protect one American official for...

...$80,000.00 per month? That is $960,000.00 per year! How many more such officials do we have to protect at this level of cost? Now, a year later, this guy's company is charging three times that rate for protection. I'm sorry, but like the British decided back in 1784, the war with the thirteen colonies was no longer worth the cost, we need to get the hell out of these places for the very same reason.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

DU AdBot (1000+ posts)

Thu May 02nd 2024, 08:14 AM
Response to Original message

Advertisements [?]

Top

Powered by DCForum+ Version 1.1 Copyright 1997-2002 DCScripts.com
Software has been extensively modified by the DU administrators

Important Notices: By participating on this discussion board, visitors agree to abide by the rules outlined on our Rules page. Messages posted on the Democratic Underground Discussion Forums are the opinions of the individuals who post them, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Democratic Underground, LLC.