One High-Pressure Phone Room

[Robbien]

Source: By Walter Pincus, Washington Post

For weeks, U.S. military leaders in Iraq have been saying that security is improving in Baghdad. But the military's Joint Contracting Command is still urging precautions for U.S. contractors working at the Interior Ministry headquarters.

The command is seeking bids on a contract to train and mentor Iraqis running a crime, insurgency and terrorism hotline, and much of the prospectus issued last month addresses the need for security.

The contract calls for six people to work on the hotline but says they'll need four armed guards, even when working in a facility within the ministry's complex. In addition, the contractor will have to supply an armored sport-utility vehicle and four armed guards for the trainers when they travel between the ministry and U.S. Forward Operating Base Shield, where they will live -- a distance of less than a mile. The requirement could be dropped to two armed guards in each case under improved conditions.

Those aren't the only security steps the new contractor must meet. The contractor will have to provide each of the trainers with a handgun "and/or" a rifle, a protective vest and gas mask. In addition, each of the trainers must "meet coalition standards for weapon proficiency." The proposal helpfully points out that "a shooting range is available for proficiency training."

These security steps are needed although the Interior Ministry complex has "24/7 security and controlled entry points," the proposal says.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/06/AR2007090602298.html?hpid=topnews

[Kagemusha]

1. And they would be utter fools to bring any less security than that.

Utter fools.