- An employee of Halliburton, the Houston-based oilfield
service company, became the first US government contractor to be killed
in Iraq on Tuesday when the truck he was riding in struck an anti-tank
mine north of Tikrit.
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- The death highlighted the continued instability of Iraq
and the dangers it poses for the civilian contractors the US military is
relying on to rebuild the country and support its own operations.
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- Kellogg Brown & Root, a Halliburton division, said
the employee was on a routine mail run between central and northern Iraq
when the truck was attacked.
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- The employee, whose name was withheld, was treated at
the scene by army medics then transported to a nearby hospital, where he
was pronounced dead. Two other employees in the convoy were not injured,
KBR said.
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- It was unclear on Tuesday whether the assailants intentionally
targeted private contractors, or if the attack was random.
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- "It confirms what we have thought for a long time
- even though the guerrilla resistance has primarily targeted US military
convoys, it also poses a significant risk for civilian contractors,"
said Josh Mandel, a senior Middle East analyst at Control Risks Group,
a business risk consultancy that recently opened an office in Baghdad.
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- Companies around the world looked to the reconstruction
of Iraq as an historic business opportunity potentially worth tens of billions
of dollars.
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- But the excitement has faded amid concerns about the
security situation on the ground. More than 50 US soldiers have been killed
since President George W. Bush declared the end of major combat operations
in May.
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- Control Risks Group and other security consultancies
have warned companies about a range of potential dangers - from the country's
lawless roads to criminal gangs and guerrilla insurgents.
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- A Sri Lankan man working for the Red Cross was killed
in Iraq last month when his car was fired on by attackers near Hilla.
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- Halliburton, which was headed from 1995 to 2000 by US
vice-president Dick Cheney, is one of the largest private contractors in
Iraq.
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- The company does everything from erecting forward bases
to delivering soldiers' mail under an open-ended support contract known
as Logcap III, awarded by the army. Halliburton also won a separate Pentagon
contract to perform emergency repairs to the country's oil infrastructure.
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- The Defense Department has increasingly relied on the
private sector for such tasks because it believes it can complete them
at lower cost while allowing the military to focus on core operations.
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- Halliburton said on Tuesday the safety of employees was
a top priority, but declined to discuss specific security arrangements
in Iraq.
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