The Pat Finucane Centre has received a new reply to its protest over the contract awarded to British mercenary Tim Spicer.
From the Irish World:
The US Government has defended its decision to award a £293 million Iraq Security contract to British mercenary Tim Spicer, in reponse to concerns raised by the family of Belfast man Peter McBride, who was shot dead by Scots Guards soldiers under Spicer’s command in 1992.
In a letter to the Pat Finucane Centre last month, Melissa Rider of the US Army Contracting Agency said the US had determined that Spicer and his company Aegis Defence Services “both possessed satisfactory records of integrity and business ethics and were responsible. The issue you have raised, though surrounded in political controversy, does not support any grounds for overturning the responsibility determination by our contracting officer. The actions you attribute to Mr Spicer do not appear to have resulted in any conviction for any illegal activity bearing on his integrity and business ethics. The fact that others could have reached a different conclusion does not mean that this determination was unreasonable.”
Rider said that there was no legal basis to deny the contract to Aegis, adding “I now consider this matter closed.”
Perhaps the Americans should have had a chat with British Foreign Office officials who described Spicer as "extremely difficult to pin down and shifty," over his role in the Arms to Africa Affair.
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