"Warriors for Hire" Response - The Weekly Standard
WARRIORS' MANTLE
REGARDING Mark Hemingway's "Warriors for Hire" (Dec. 18): First, neither Tim Spicer nor Aegis was involved, in any capacity, with Simon Mann's coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea.
Second, Aegis had and has the resources to fulfill its contract with the Department of Defense to coordinate reconstruction in Iraq. Accordingly, DoD has renewed it three years in a row.
Third, the "audit in 2005" was not "damning." Actually, the audit was in 2004, and its criticisms were largely administrative and often irrelevant. The items listed "not being performed" were excluded from the contract at the outset. The audit's two important substantive criticisms were already addressed by the time the report was published. Since then, the DoD has been entirely complimentary, and Aegis has traveled more than three million miles in Iraq without any of its clients killed or wounded.
Fourth, a U.S. Army investigation of the shootings in the "trophy videos" deemed that they were not "indiscriminate" and cleared Aegis of any wrongdoing. The edited videos were void of context and posted on the web by a disgruntled former Aegis contractor who wanted to damage the company. In reality, Aegis contractors apply tighter rules for the use of force than they are legally required to do.
Fifth, Blackwater may be a highly professional, ethical firm dedicated to providing the best possible service for its clients, but we would be surprised if any of its executives quoted thought the company had a monopoly on those qualities. Yet Hemingway says, "the larger question for Erik Prince and Blackwater has to be [ . . . ] how can they convince the world that they are 'committed to supporting humane democracy' when everyone else in their industry has been eager to sell it out?"
This is unfair to the whole industry, including Blackwater. MPRI built the armed forces of Balkan democracies emerging from civil war. Dyncorp is doing similar work for the newly elected president of Liberia. Global and Control Risks undertook the voter registration that made possible Afghanistan's first ever democratic elections. And Aegis's support for the U.N. made possible the referendum and general election in Iraq. Aegis not only coordinates reconstruction in Iraq on behalf of the U.S. government, but it also identifies and implements low-cost, high- impact community projects throughout Iraq, paid for by donations--including from Blackwater contractors--to the charitable Aegis Foundation.
The reality is that all of these companies--and many others--are just as committed to supporting humane democracy as Blackwater. All strive to be professional, ethical, and legitimate. In fact, Aegis is eager to see the private security industry regulated by government. Blackwater is a good outfit, and so is Aegis. Our mission is simple: to assist governments and legitimate multinational organizations with winning the war on terrorism.
Kristi M. Clemens
Executive Vice President, Aegis
Washington, D.C.
MERCIFUL MERCENARIES
MARK HEMINGWAY's "Warriors for Hire" (Dec. 18) was a refreshing relief from the smears about Blackwater that have been spread by the left over the past year. Erik Prince is a remarkable American patriot, which is why the Nation and its journalistic running-dogs hate him.
With the wise Africa hand Cofer Black now helping to run the company, a Blackwater peacekeeping mission to Sudan's western Darfur region would be the best and least expensive way to mitigate the suffering of thousands of innocent people. The African Union force and the U.N. troops are losers. Blackwater is a winner.
In my view, though, Hemingway was unfair to Tim Spicer, the founder of Aegis Defense Services. I have known Spicer for years through mutual friends, and he is a good man. Also, Simon Mann's efforts to overthrow Equitorial Guinea were laudable, not contemptible. I'm sorry that Hemingway took the mainstream media view of the attempt. Certainly the citizens there would have welcomed Mann's relief. Robert Young Pelton, whose book Licensed to Kill appears to be a source, is not as "thorough" as your author may think. I spoke with Pelton in Chicago a few months ago, and his hatred for Tim Spicer, as he expressed it to me, was odd and highly personal and seemed to affect his judgment.
Richard W. Carlson
Foundation for the
Defense of Democracies Washington, D.C.
Posted: Mar 2008
