Thursday,
21 April, 2005
McBride family to meet Mayor of London - Article 7
Campaign launched
By Pat Finucane Centre, Derry, Ireland
McBride family to meet Mayor of London & Labour candidate
Kelly McBride, whose 18 year old brother Peter was murdered by Scots Guards in
1992 in Belfast, is set to meet the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, today
(Thursday) at 5pm.
Immediately afterwards the Mayor will join Kelly at a joint
meeting with the Labour party candidate for Brent East, Yasmin Qureshi at which
plans will be announced to seek a change in the law during the term of the next
parliament. The changes sought would lead to the automatic dismissal of any
member of the armed forces found guilty of a serious human rights violation,
murder, rape and/or torture.
This initiative of the Pat Finucane Centre, which it is hoped
will also garner widespread support from human rights and anti-war groups, will
be called the
ARTICLE 7 CAMPAIGN.*
In the recent Brent East by-election Kelly stood as a
candidate in this North London constituency in order to highlight the ongoing
campaign to have the convicted murderers of her brother dismissed from the
British Army. (Brent East, which includes Kilburn, has the highest Irish vote of
any British electoral constituency and Ms Qureshi, a barrister and human advisor
to the mayor of London, hopes to win the seat back from the Liberal Democrats)
It is understood that Ms Qureshi, if elected, will seek to
introduce a Private Members Bill requiring the MoD to dismiss anyone convicted
in a court of law of a serious human rights violation. After the election the McBride
family and the Pat Finucane Centre will be seeking support for the ongoing
ARTICLE 7 CAMPAIGN from newly elected MPs, campaign groups, church and trade
union leaders and other sectors of civil society.
Yasmin Qureshi said:
‘I am pleased to have this opportunity to meet Kelly
McBride whose campaign for justice for her brother deserves much wider support.
If we want to retain full confidence in the armed services then it is common
sense that where a member of the armed services has been found guilty of a
serious crime such as murder, rape or torture then they should not be able to
retain their position in the military.. I fully support the campaign of the
McBride family for justice, including a change to the law to stop people
convicted of serious crimes serving in the armed forces. I will press for a
change in the law in the House of Commons if elected.’
Editors note
Peter McBride was shot dead by Guardsmen Wright and Fisher on
September 4 1992 in the New Lodge area of Belfast. Though both soldiers were
convicted of murder they were released early from a life sentence and allowed to
rejoin the British Army by an internal Board which included Northern Ireland
Office Minister John Spellar MP. Internal Queens Regulations specify that
soldiers must be dismissed if they receive a custodial sentence unless there are
‘exceptional circumstances’. The ‘exceptional circumstances’ outlined in
this case by the Army Board have twice been rejected by the High Court in
Belfast as not constituting an exception. Despite this the two guardsmen remain
serving soldiers-one has recently been promoted. No other European army allows
soldiers convicted of murder while on duty to remain.
See www.serve.com/pfc/pmcbride/mcbindex.html
for detailed background.
*Article 7 of the UN Convention states; “All are equal
before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection
of the law.”
The McBride family have long argued that the decision to
release the two guardsmen convicted of Peter’s murder and allow them to rejoin
the British Army constituted a blatant act of discrimination against their
family and in favour of the soldiers. In effect the UK Government failed to
provide the McBride family with the equal protection required under Article 7 of
the convention.
Friday, 22
April, 2005
Qureshi slams US stance on Spicer
By Tom Griffin, Irish World, London
A Labour general election candidate has condemned the US
Government’s decision to stand by its award of a £293 million Iraq security
contract to Tim Spicer, the British mercenary who was commanding officer of the
Scots Guards in 1992 when two of his soldiers murdered Belfast teenager Peter
McBride.
As the Irish World reported last week, the US Army Contracting
Agency has concluded that Spicer and his company Aegis Defence Services “both
possessed satisfactory records of integrity and business ethics and were
responsible.”
An official from the agency has informed Irish human rights
group the Pat Finucane Centre “I now consider this matter closed.”
Labour Brent East candidate Yasmin Qureshi said: “I am
astonished that a multi-million dollar security contract could be awarded by the
US government to such an individual. It is quite wrong that the doubts raised
about his suitability were dismissed so easily by the US authorities. Spicer
cannot seriously be regarded as a suitable person to run a security contract
given his role in the McBride case. Putting him in charge of what amounts to a
private army in Iraq is simply outrageous.”
Ms Qureshi, who is currently human rights advisor to London
Mayor Ken Livingstone added: “The importance of the Irish-American lobby has
meant that the United States has long played an important role in creating a
framework for justice and peace in Ireland. Regrettably however on this occasion
the US government has not listened either to the McBride family or to Irish
Americans.”
“I think we need further co-ordination between political
leaders here, in the USA and Ireland in order to maximise the impact of the
McBride family's case. I will be taking the issue up with British government
ministers, and I will take the earliest opportunity available to talk to the
McBride family and their supporters to see how best we can take this issue
forward.”
The US stance was also criticised this week by the sitting Lib
Dem MP for Brent East, Sarah Teather, who pledged to continue raising the case.
A spokesman for the Pat Finucane Centre also attacked the US
response. “They claimed our allegations were investigated by the General
Accounting Office. Yet that same office said they were not.”
“When we put this to them, they simply went back to their
holding position.”
Copyright © 2005 Irish World
Friday,
22 April, 2005
U.S. investigators criticize Aegis Defence Services
WASHINGTON – U.S. investigators have criticized Aegis
Defence Services Ltd. for its work providing security in Iraq for contractors
and U.S. government staff, saying the British firm had failed to verify that
employees were properly qualified for the job.
The Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq
Reconstruction said Aegis had not complied with several areas of its $293
million contract, according to an audit report made available Friday to Reuters.
Among problems cited in the audit were that Aegis could not
provide the correct documents to show its employees were qualified to use
weapons and many Iraqi employees were not properly vetted to ensure they were
not a security threat.
"As a result there is no assurance that Aegis is
providing the best possible safety and security for government and
reconstruction contractor personnel and facilities," said the audit.
The auditors recommended that the U.S. Project and Contracting
Office (PCO) in Iraq, which oversees billions of dollars in U.S.-funded
rebuilding work, ensure Aegis comply with the terms of its contract.
A representative of Aegis had no immediate comment on the
audit.
Aegis won a U.S. contract last May to help coordinate security
for contractors in Iraq and provide, among other tasks, anti-terrorism support,
escort security and close personal protection.
SURPRISE AWARD
The award came as a surprise to some, partly because Aegis had
little prior experience in the Middle East and because its main shareholder,
former British army officer Tim Spicer, was at the center of several
controversies, including an arms deal to Sierra Leone that broke a U.N. embargo
in 1998 and questions raised by Irish Americans over his military record in
Northern Ireland.
Spicer was also involved in a coup attempt in Papua New Guinea
in 1997.
American security services firm DynCorp International LLC
unsuccessfully protested the award of the Iraq contract last year.
More than 270 contractors have been killed in Iraq while
working on U.S. funded reconstruction work. The U.S. government hoped better
coordination would make contractors more secure and enable more reconstruction
work to be done.
Auditors sampled records for 20 contractor staff issued 30
weapons. Aegis records did not indicate employees were trained for more than
half of these weapons, the audit said.
In a sample of 20 records of 125 Iraqis employed by Aegis, six
had not been interviewed, 18 had not had police checks and no records existed at
all for two of them.
"According to Aegis managers, police checks are difficult
to obtain and largely irrelevant to the vetting process because of the current
dysfunctional state of the Iraqi government," the audit said.
In addition, Aegis did not perform responsibilities required
by the contract for personal security detail, security escorts and movement
control, the audit said. Other problems involved government monitoring of the
deal.
Moreover, "personal security detail" teams did not
have all the qualifications and experience needed for hostage rescue incidents,
a task the company told auditors was beyond the scope of their work.
Sunday,
24 April, 2005
Ken Livingstone backs McBrides
By William Scholes, Irish News
A campaign to have the soldiers convicted of murdering Belfast
teenager Peter McBride dismissed from the British army has won the backing of
London mayor Ken Livingstone.
Mr McBride was 18 years old when he was killed by two Scots
Guards in the New Lodge area of north Belfast in September 1992.
His sister Kelly met Mr Livingstone and Labour Party
Westminster election candidate Yasmin Qureshi in London yesterday (Thursday).
Ms Qureshi has pledged, if she wins the Brent East seat in
north London, to push for a change in the law which would see the automatic
dismissal of any member of the armed forces found guilty of a serious human
rights violation, including murder, rape and torture.
The campaign to change the law is being organised by
Derry-based human rights group The Pat Finucane Centre.
Brent East has the highest Irish vote of any British electoral
constituency.
Ms Qureshi, a human rights barrister, said the McBride
family's campaign "deserves much wider support".
"If we want to retain full confidence in the armed
services then it is common sense that where a member of the armed services has
been found guilty of a serious crime such as murder, rape or torture, then they
should not be able to retain their position in the military," she said.
Although Mr McBride's killers were convicted of murder, they
were released early from a life sentence and allowed to rejoin the British army
by an internal board which included NIO minister John Spellar.
Paul O'Connor of The Pat Finucane Centre said the meeting with
Mr Livingstone and Ms Qureshi had been "very productive".
"This has dragged on for too long. The McBrides should
not be in London campaigning for this."
Copyright © 2005 Irish News
Monday, 25 April, 2005
McBrides win support - Spicer earns criticism
By Pat Finucane Centre, Derry, Ireland
See recent articles (above) from the Irish World, San Diego
Union Tribune and Irish News in relation to the Peter McBride case and links to
former Scots Guard officer Tim Spicer.
Recent correspondence from the US army to the PFC justified
the Iraq contract to Spicer's company, Aegis Defence Services, despite ample
evidence that Spicer has a highly questionable business record. Now US
investigators have discovered that Aegis has been unable to provide
documentation to prove that employees were qualified to use weapons or that they
had undergone proper security checks. "As a result there is no assurance
that Aegis is providing the best possible safety and security for government and
reconstruction contractor personnel and facilities," said the audit.
From the beginning we have argued that Spicer, who has
justified the murder of Peter McBride on a number of occasions, should not be
allowed to assume command of armed individuals in any situation.
We would again invite subscribers to email the Competition
Advocate at the US Army Contracting Agency and demand that the contract to Aegis
be reviewed as a matter of urgency. Email Melissa Ryder at the US Army
Contracting Agency melissa.rider@hqda.army.mil
US subscribers should copy correspondence to members of the Senate and Congress.
