Those of us who work in Iraq and were there when this all took place (and knew Andi and Michael) know that the real people to blame are the operations folks who allowed Andi's PSD mission to go into Yarmouk that day. It was 'common knowledge' that Yarmouk, at that time, was an incredibly dangerous neighborhood. They should have, too. Shame on them -- the security company NDI hired to protect their principals, that is. I wouldn't blame the Hungarian guy in the car: he was acting upon instinct in the midst of an incredibly hostile situation . . . who knows what any of us would have done. Michael is venting his anger, and considering his loss, I am sympathetic to that. I am also sympathetic to the PSDs who put their lives on the line to protect us ??? they keep us diplomats safe every day. Blackwater, DyCorp, etc. ??? they do a much better job than the media allows the world to see. (And no, they are not shooting Iraqis left-and-right like Sept. 16th incident would lead you to believe!) The people to rightfully blame in Andi???s case? The guys behind a desk, collecting facts, determining grid coordinates, etc. They should have known better than to make a move into Yarmouk --- Those of us in the Embassy did. NDI???s security company should be investigated.
‘I’m Sorry We Couldn’t Do More’
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He tells me a second team of NDI guards arrived maybe 20 minutes after the ambush started.
"Twenty minutes is an eternity," says X.
Jacob repeats his points.
"I am lucky to be alive," he says. "He was a brother. I am sorry we couldn't do more."
I nod, yes, lucky.
I take down his email address and I thank him for his time.
I go back to the bureau, and think about what he told me, and I come to the harsh conclusion that he failed, he froze, he did not return fire. He hid in the backseat. He told me that he was fortunate to have survived. I agree, he might not have been that fortunate had he been doing the job he is paid to do, which is to protect his client, even if it costs him his life. That is why he gets paid. I am sympathetic to his own shock, his own trauma, and I am probably being unfair, but I don't really give a s––t that he lost a friend, another mercenary. I don't give a s––t that he is usually in the client's car, and it was only the fate of switching with his friend that saved him. I care only that Andi is dead, murdered, and that she was not protected.
From I Lost My Love In Baghdad: A Modern War Story by Michael Hastings. © 2008 by Michael Hastings. Reprinted by permission of Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
© 2008
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