Custer Battles - Allegations of Unrestrained Force

Allegations of Unrestrained Force

In February 2005, Lisa Myers of MSNBC News reported a story concerning allegations of unrestrained force on the part of Custer Battles security operators in Iraq. In the story, four former Custer Battles employees are quoted as witnessing an incident where a Custer Battles vehicle rolled over a civilian vehicle and injured the occupants inside. The employees also detail an incident where Kurdish guards shot indiscriminately towards Iraqi civilians. According to one of the employees, Bill Craun, "what we saw the American public wouldn't stand for."

In response to the allegations, Ms. Myers interviewed the country director and convoy leader for Custer Battles. The convoy leader, Shawn Greene, adamantly denied that any of these incidents occurred, and detailed the exact incident in which he ordered the Custer Battles truck to hit and forcibly move a civilian vehicle. According to Greene, while his vehicle did damage the civilian car, there were no injuries. Paul Christopher, the Custer Battles country director, provided NBC News access to the company's mission logs, which detailed the event of hitting a civilian vehicle, the subsequent investigation with photos, and the documentation from the driver and witnesses that no one was injured. Both Greene and Christopher did detail accounts of actual combat situation of Custer Battles personnel where their vehicles were attacked by insurgents and Custer Battles personnel were forced to defend themselves through the use of deadly force.