Tim Spicer - Revision history

Tom Griffin: added category:PMC People

2011-01-11T23:19:13Z

added category:PMC People

Tom Griffin: /* Iraq - The Trophy Video Scandal */

2010-11-12T01:25:09Z

Iraq - The Trophy Video Scandal

Melissa Jones: /* Iraq - The Trophy Video Scandal */ typo, broken link fixed

2010-08-23T22:56:26Z

Iraq - The Trophy Video Scandal: typo, broken link fixed

Melissa Jones: /* Sierra Leone - The Arms to Africa Affair */broken link fixed

2010-08-23T22:55:33Z

Sierra Leone - The Arms to Africa Affair: broken link fixed

Melissa Jones: /* Papua New Guinea - The Sandline Affair */ link updated

2010-08-23T22:53:16Z

Papua New Guinea - The Sandline Affair: link updated

Melissa Jones: /* Papua New Guinea - The Sandline Affair */ link fixed/updated

2010-08-23T22:51:50Z

Papua New Guinea - The Sandline Affair: link fixed/updated

Tom Griffin: /* Papua New Guinea - The Sandline Affair */

2010-08-23T18:06:50Z

Papua New Guinea - The Sandline Affair

Melissa Jones: /* Craig Murray legal threat */

2010-07-01T12:41:17Z

Craig Murray legal threat

Tom Griffin: added categories

2010-06-29T17:44:25Z

added categories

Tom Griffin: /* The Peter McBride case */ typo

2009-01-07T02:13:57Z

The Peter McBride case: typo

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:19, 11 January 2011
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−	[[Category:British Army\|Spicer, Tim]][[Category:Scots Guards\|Spicer, Tim]]	+	[[Category:British Army\|Spicer, Tim]][[Category:Scots Guards\|Spicer, Tim]][[Category:PMC People\|Spicer, Tim]]

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 Also in 2005, an Aegis employee was sacked after a British newspaper revealed he was a key individual in implicated in a bullying scandal at the British Army's Deepcut Barracks.
-In February this year, US Congresswoman [[Marcy Kaptur]] heavily criticised the Aegis contract, at a House Committee hearing. She stated:
+In February 2007, US Congresswoman [[Marcy Kaptur]] heavily criticised the Aegis contract, at a House Committee hearing. She stated:
 ::I will say this, both in closed door meetings and in public, I have yet to find a person other than the auditor, who is able to shed any light on how it was that Aegis, a foreign corporation, was given a contract where now we have the second-largest force in Iraq, larger than the Brits, headed by someone named Tim Spicer.

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 Most significantly, this message board became the source for the so-called trophy videos, which appeared to show Aegis employees firing randomly at Iraqi civilians. A US Department of Defence investigation later concluded there was no evidence of activity outside the rules of engagement by Aegis employees. However, information available to the Pat Finucane Centre suggests that the individual who filmed the video, and who was present during the shootings, was never interviewed by the investigation.
-Also in 2005, An Aegis employee was sacked after a British newspaper revealed he was a key individual in implicated in a bullying scandal at the British Army's Deepcut Barracks.
+Also in 2005, an Aegis employee was sacked after a British newspaper revealed he was a key individual in implicated in a bullying scandal at the British Army's Deepcut Barracks.
 In February this year, US Congresswoman [[Marcy Kaptur]] heavily criticised the Aegis contract, at a House Committee hearing. She stated:
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 ::The last answer I got was, well Congresswoman, you''ll have to go over to [[Central Command]] over in Baghdad. OK, I'll go, but why can't I get answers on that as a member of this committee?<ref>
-[http://www.serve.com/pfc/pmcbride/aegiscon.html Aegis contracts challenged on both sides of the Atlantic] Pat Finucane Centre, accessed 11 April 2006.</ref>
+[http://www.patfinucanecentre.org/cases/pmcbride/aegiscon.html Aegis contracts challenged on both sides of the Atlantic] Pat Finucane Centre, accessed 23 April 2010.</ref>
 ==Craig Murray legal threat==

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 The episode provoked a major political scandal in Britain, where the Government was accused of conniving at the breach of the arms embargo. During hearings in the House of Commons, the Deputy Head of the FCO's Equatorial Africa Department, [[Craig Murray]], said he found Spicer "extremely difficult to pin down and shifty," and had recommended his officials not keep contact with him.<ref>
-[http://www.serve.com/pfc/pmcbride/aegiscon.html Aegis contracts challenged on both sides of the Atlantic] Pat Finucane Centre, accessed 11 April 2006.</ref>
+[http://www.patfinucanecentre.org/cases/pmcbride/aegiscon.html Aegis contracts challenged on both sides of the Atlantic] Pat Finucane Centre, accessed 23 August 2010.</ref>
 ==Iraq - The Trophy Video Scandal==

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 After the departure of Sandline, a peaceful political solution to the Bougainville situation was achieved. Although Sandline never carried out its mission, the new PNG Government eventually paid its contract in full in order to settle a lawsuit.<ref>P.W. Singer, Corporate Warriors, The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry, 2003 p.195.</ref><ref>
-[http://www.patfinucanecentre.org/cases/pmcbride/aegiscon.html Aegis contracts challenged on both sides of the Atlantic] Pat Finucane Centre, accessed 11 April 2006.</ref>
+[http://www.patfinucanecentre.org/cases/pmcbride/aegiscon.html Aegis contracts challenged on both sides of the Atlantic] Pat Finucane Centre, accessed 23 August 2010.</ref>
 ==Sierra Leone - The Arms to Africa Affair==

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 ==Papua New Guinea - The Sandline Affair==
-In January 1997, the Government of Papua New Guinea (PNG) hired [[Sandline International]], a mercenary firm run by [[Tim Spicer]], to put down a secessionist movement on the copper-rich island of Bougainville. The Sandline plan, Operation Contravene, envisaged the use of two Soviet-made Mi-24 attack helicopters and two Mi-17assault helicopters as part of a strike force to retake the island in a massive escalation of the conflict.
+In January 1997, the Government of Papua New Guinea (PNG) hired [[Sandline International]], a mercenary firm run by [[Tim Spicer]], to put down a secessionist movement on the copper-rich island of Bougainville. The Sandline plan, Operation Contravene, envisaged the use of two Soviet-made Mi-24 attack helicopters and two Mi-17 assault helicopters as part of a strike force to retake the island in a massive escalation of the conflict.<ref>P.W. Singer, Corporate Warriors, The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry, 2003 p.193.</ref>
-Many of the troops brought to PNG turned out to be employees of [[Executive Outcomes]], a South African mercenary firm founded by veterans of the Apartheid-era army. A mining firm linked to Executive Outcomes was reportedly represented at the initial meeting between Sandline and the PNG Government.
+Many of the troops brought to PNG turned out to be employees of [[Executive Outcomes]], a South African mercenary firm founded by veterans of the Apartheid-era army.<ref>P.W. Singer, Corporate Warriors, The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry, 2003 p.194.</ref> [[Branch Energy]], A mining firm linked to Executive Outcomes was reportedly represented at the initial meeting between Sandline and the PNG Government.<ref>P.W. Singer, Corporate Warriors, The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry, 2003 p.192.</ref>
-The Sandline contract was never approved by the PNG Parliament, and military opposition to the deal provoked a political crisis. Following the resignation of the Prime Minister, Spicer was briefly detained for illiegal possession of a firearm and illegal importation of cash.
+The Sandline contract was never approved by the PNG Parliament, and military opposition to the deal provoked a political crisis.<ref>P.W. Singer, Corporate Warriors, The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry, 2003 pp.193-194.</ref>Spicer was arrested, and detained for  possessing an unlicensed firearm. The charges were dropped after he agreed to be questioned by an official enquiry. He was freed on 27 March 1997.<ref>Duncan Campbell, [http://projects.publicintegrity.org/bow/report.aspx?aid=149 Marketing the New 'Dogs of War'], The Centre for Public Integrity, 30 October 2002.</ref>
-After the departure of Sandline, a peaceful political solution to the Bougainville situation was achieved. Although Sandline never carried out its mission, it nevertheless succeeded in suing the new PNG Government for full payment on its contract. <ref>
+After the departure of Sandline, a peaceful political solution to the Bougainville situation was achieved. Although Sandline never carried out its mission, the new PNG Government eventually paid its contract in full in order to settle a lawsuit.<ref>P.W. Singer, Corporate Warriors, The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry, 2003 p.195.</ref><ref>
 [http://www.serve.com/pfc/pmcbride/aegiscon.html Aegis contracts challenged on both sides of the Atlantic] Pat Finucane Centre, accessed 11 April 2006.</ref>

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 ==Craig Murray legal threat==
-In July 2008, law firm [[Schillings]] wrote to [[Craig Murray]]'s publishers threatening legal action over his forthcoming book, at the time provisionally titled The Road to Samarkand.<ref>[http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2008/07/iraq_mercenary.html]], Craig Murray, 10 July 2008.</ref>
+In July 2008, law firm [[Schillings]] wrote to [[Craig Murray]]'s publishers threatening legal action over his forthcoming book, at the time provisionally titled The Road to Samarkand.<ref>[http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2008/07/iraq_mercenary.html Iraq Mercenary Boss Hires Schillings To Block My New Book]], Craig Murray, 10 July 2008.</ref>
 ==Affiliations==

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:44, 29 June 2010
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	==References==		==References==
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		+
		+	[[Category:British Army\|Spicer, Tim]][[Category:Scots Guards\|Spicer, Tim]]

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 Lt Col Spicer has since maintained the same version of events as Wright and Fisher, that the two soldiers believed McBride was about to throw a coffee jar bomb contained in a plastic bag he was carrying.<ref>An Unorthodox Soldier, by Tim Spicer, Mainstream Publishing, 1999, p.121.</ref> This in spite of the fact that McBride had been searched moments earlier by members of the same patrol. The bag was subsequently found to contain a t-shirt.<ref>[http://patfinucanecentre.org/cases/pmcbride/mcbride.html The murder of Peter Mc Bride], Pat Finucane Centre, accessed 7 January 2009.</ref>
-At the subsequent trial, the judge said: "I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that there was no reasonable possibility that Guardsman Fisher held or may have held an honest belief that the deceased carried or may have carried a coffee jar bomb".<ref>[http://patfinucanecentre.org/cases/pmcbride/mcbride.html The murder of Peter Mc Bride], Pat Finucane Centre, accessed 7 January 2009.
+At the subsequent trial, the judge said: "I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that there was no reasonable possibility that Guardsman Fisher held or may have held an honest belief that the deceased carried or may have carried a coffee jar bomb".<ref>[http://patfinucanecentre.org/cases/pmcbride/mcbride.html The murder of Peter Mc Bride], Pat Finucane Centre, accessed 7 January 2009.</ref>
 Wright and Fisher were convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. An appeal was dismissed in 1995, and the pair were denied leave to appeal to the House of Lords a year later.<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2003/sep/10/northernireland.northernireland Remember Peter McBride?], by Roy Greenslade, Guardian.co.uk, 10 September 2003.</ref>