Armed men affiliated with political parties or tribes that are geographically close to the companies’ locations might target these companies to get jobs or might attempt to impose royalties on them. This has happened before with oil companies operating in Iraq.
Iraq’s Hezbollah Brigades said in a statement released March 31, “The road connecting Iraq and Jordan is a strategic gateway allowing the US and forces seeking to control it to tighten their grip on Anbar and the potential Sunni region as per a US-Gulf plan.”
In the same vein, Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq said, “The US security companies are spies for the US intelligence, according to a March 30 statement by the group's military spokesman Jawad al-Tibawi. The movement headed by Qais al-Khazali called for resorting to alternative companies from Russia and Europe.
On April 9, Khazali said during a speech at Al-Qasim Green University in Babil, “When the Iraqi government commissions the security of the road connecting Baghdad, Anbar and the Jordanian borders to a US security company, this must not be taken lightly.”
He added, threateningly, “Iraq has a replenished army of 300,000 soldiers, a Ministry of Interior with 600,000 employees and two mobilization units — a popular and a tribal one. Does it really need a US security company to secure the road connecting its center to its west side?”
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