Vanity Fair on Tim Spicer

The April issue of Vanity Fair carries an article on Tim Spicer by former CIA agent Robert Baer:

I couldn’t help wondering how Spicer had ascended so quickly from
notorious mercenary to corporate titan. What had he done to wangle that
fat Iraq contract from the Pentagon? Serving 20 years with the British
military in the toughest parts of the world was certainly one
qualification. So was being smart, connected, and personable. But how
had he overcome the taint of Sierra Leone and Papua New Guinea, two
scandals indelibly attached to his name? Apparently the Pentagon had
decided that an Africa hand could do in Iraq what the American military
couldn’t: subdue the most xenophobic and violent people in the Middle
East. But that was the problem. Iraq isn’t Africa. Iraqis shoot back. (Vanity Fair)