Feral Jundi

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Iraq: The Marshall Fund and the Babylon Fund

Filed under: Iraq — Tags: , , , — Matt @ 11:05 AM

One of the most attractive as-pects of investing in Iraq, according to Mr. Rice, is the fact that investments in local businesses are insured by the Overseas Private Investment Corp., a government agency.

“Political-risk insurance is dirt-cheap and backed by the U.S. government,” he said. “They will repay 90% of your capital investment if there’s any damage, and as the factory appreciates in value, the insurance is adjusted accordingly.” 

    The interesting thing about both of these funds, is that both are managed by former soldiers. Where as I will not recommend one over the other, or even tell you to put money into these funds (if you have a 100,000 dollars to spare-lol), I did think it was interesting to put up the information about such a thing.  I am cheering on Iraq and all of it’s development possibilities, and investment is a key component of that.  Also, with their port and river access, oil profits, and the Overseas Private Investment Corp. covering investments, investing in Iraq becomes more attractive. –Matt

—————————————————————— 

Ex-soldier eyes surge in Iraq’s prospects

Leaves wealth manager for private-equity firm that he co-founded

By Charles Paikert

June 7, 2009

Dan Rice’s decision to leave his job as managing director at Convergent Wealth Advisors last month to work full time as a partner for Marshall Fund Capital Advisors LLC may seem like a conventional enough career move.

That is, until you realize where Marshall Fund, a New York-based private-equity firm, is investing. It takes stakes in “small and middle-market companies in the agriculture, tourism, alternative energy and consumer sectors” of Iraq, according to its prospectus.

(more…)

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Legal News: Five U.S. Contractors Held in Slaying of James Kitterman

Filed under: Crime,Iraq,Legal News — Tags: , , , — Matt @ 3:22 PM

    Wow, this story is getting deeper.  I do not have the inside track on this thing and if any readers have anything pertinent to add, post it in the comments section.  Or you can email me in private through the contact form.-Matt

—————————————————————– 

Five U.S. contractors held in slaying of another in Iraq

June 6, 2009

    * Story Highlights

    * NEW: Weapons confiscated in raid of suspects’ firm, official says

    * Five arrested in death of fellow contractor James Kitterman

    * Kitterman found bound, blindfolded and fatally stabbed

    * Victim owned a construction company that operated in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — Five American security contractors were detained in connection with the killing of another American contractor last month inside Baghdad’s Green Zone, sources with knowledge of the investigation told CNN Saturday.

Iraqi and U.S. personnel took the five into custody in an operation inside the Green Zone before dawn on Friday, according to an Iraqi official involved in the investigation into the killing of James Kitterman. The five, who have not yet been charged, were being held by Iraqi security forces Saturday at a jail inside the heavily protected zone, he said.

The troops also confiscated weapons during the raid on the suspects’ firm at about 4 a.m. (11 a.m. ET), said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

(more…)

Monday, June 1, 2009

Iraq: A Quiet But Undeniable Cultural Legacy

Filed under: Iraq,War Art — Tags: , , , — Matt @ 9:35 AM

    There is a part of this article that is missing.  That part is the cultural legacy of Iraq on all of us that have been deployed there.  I find myself using the Iraqi arabic lexicon all of the time.  Hell, I gave my blog a name that came from that experience (Jundi is Arabic for soldier), complete with a photo of an Iraqi Jundi. I personally know of two contractors that have married Iraqi women.  Even drinking tea is viewed differently after working in Iraq, because tea is such an important drink for business and interactions there. There is much that has worn off on me and the thousands of us that have interacted with the Iraqi population during this war, and I think that would make for a great follow up article to this story. –Matt

——————————————————————

Washington Post

Mark Apram is the most popular tattoo artist in Baghdad, and his room is a potpourri of American influences. “Anything American, I love it,” he said. (Nada Bakri – The Washington Post)  

A Quiet but Undeniable Cultural Legacy

U.S. Occupation of Iraq Will End, but a Host of American Influences May Linger

By Anthony ShadidWashington Post Foreign ServiceSunday, May 31, 2009 

BAGHDAD

Across the street from the tidy rows of tombstones in the British cemetery, mute testimony to the soldiers of an earlier occupation, Mustafa Muwaffaq bears witness to the quieter side of the United States’ six-year-old presence in Iraq.

In wraparound sunglasses, shorts and shoes without socks, the burly 20-year-old student waxes eloquent about his love for heavy metal of all kinds: death, thrash, black. But none of it compares, he says, to the honky-tonk of Alan Jackson, whose tunes he strums on his acoustic guitar at night, pining for a life as far away as a passport will take him.

(more…)

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Industry Talk: Contractor Census- More Security Contractors, Less Overall Contractors in the USCENTCOM AOR

   There is a lot of juice in this report(s), and I recommend reading through it to get a feel for where things stand right now.  The stuff that jumped out at me, is the increase in security contractors in both Iraq(23%) and Afghanistan(29%) from the last quarter census.  You would think with all the negative press out there, that the US would be cutting down on the use of armed contractors.  It looks to me like someone at least appreciates what we do, enough so to contract even more of us.  

   To me this is significant.  With Iraq, troop withdrawals will be creating security vacuums in some areas, and security contractors will be filling those gaps. And with the RUF being that we are only limited to defensive operations, you will see us taking over many defensive operations in Iraq and more Coalition troops being freed up for offensive operations.  The numbers don’t lie.

   With Afghanistan, this makes sense as well.  With an increase of troops, there will be an increase in support in the form of contractors.  But someone has to protect those contractors while they build stuff, and those security contractors will be used to defend FOBs to free up the troops so they can go on the offense.

   I highly recommend checking out the report, because it showed the graphs that went along with the report, as well as the break down in contractor types.  It is broken down under US Citizens, Third Country Nationals, and Local Nationals.  In Iraq, Third Country Nationals outnumbered everyone- lots of Ugandan security contractors is one example.  In Afghanistan, it is the Local Nationals that outnumber everyone, and there is no surprise there.   

   The trend line is there and security contractors are stepping up to fill these defensive security needs in the war. My hope is that the reforms needed to manage and account for these contractors is able to catch up.  And this report below showed some promising new developments in that area as well.  It sounds like the SPOT database is starting to work it’s magic, and I am glad they were able to get a better handle on the accountability area.  The decrease in overall contractor numbers from last quarter was somewhat contributed to this new database tracking system.  There is a description of the SPOT in the link I provided below, and I recommend reading that report as well.    

   In other areas, we will see how the SOFA and UCMJ issues turn out, because that is an area that definitely needs leadership and enforcement.  I still think that we need to be moving faster on the issue of contractor management and accountability, and for it to take this long to get just this far is disheartening.  We have a war to fight and this is all stuff that should have been hashed out years ago. –Matt

—————————————————————— 

CONTRACTOR SUPPORT OF U.S. OPERATIONS

IN USCENTCOM AOR, IRAQ, AND AFGHANISTAN

BACKGROUND:  This update reports DoD contractor personnel numbers in theater and outlines DoD efforts to improve management of contractors accompanying U.S. forces.  It covers DoD contractor personnel deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) area of responsibility (AOR) as of March 31, 2009.

KEY POINTS:

Ending 2nd quarter FY 2009, USCENTCOM reported approximately 242,657 contractor personnel working for the DoD in the USCENTCOM AOR.     

(more…)

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Iraq: Roadside Blast Kills 3 Americans in Western Iraq

Filed under: Iraq — Tags: , , , , — Matt @ 3:31 PM

    Not good, and the last couple of days have been a bad one for contractor deaths. RIP. –Matt

—————————————————————– 

Roadside blast kills 3 Americans in western Iraq

By ROBERT H. REID

May 126, 2009

BAGHDAD (AP) — A roadside bomb blasted a U.S. convoy west of Baghdad, killing three Americans, including a top reconstruction official who once headed the Illinois Commerce Commission, U.S. authorities said Tuesday.

The attack occurred Monday on the eastern outskirts of Fallujah, which used to be the main stronghold of Sunni insurgents until U.S. troops overran the city in November 2004 in the bitterest urban fighting of the Iraq war.

Since then, Fallujah, 40 miles (70 kilometers) west of Baghdad in Anbar province, has been among the most heavily guarded cities in Iraq. A fatal attack in such an area illustrates the resilience of the insurgents despite major setbacks on the battlefield during the past two years.

(more…)

« Newer PostsOlder Posts »

Powered by WordPress