Guards in Brothels

Hong Kong
Reader Contribution

Edited by James M. Kelly

photo credit: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

Controversy regarding the security of US embassy in Afghanistan

In a shocking revelation, a former manager of the contractor, which supplies guards to the US embassy in Afghanistan, has reveled that he was removed from his job because he tried to whistle blow about the malicious activities of the security guards over there.

Amour Group North America (AGNA) is a security contractor owned by Wackenhut Services Inc. and has a contract of over $108 million a year to guard the US embassy in Afghanistan. In his lawsuit, James Gordon has claimed that he was forced to leave his job at AGNA when he tried to bring to light the problems of inadequate staffing and the concerning behavior of the guards indulging in sex trafficking and frequently visiting the brothel.

The allegations of James Gordon were further strengthened by the findings of a watchdog organization known as Project On Government Oversight (POGO). Recently, this organization released photograph depicting indecent partying and inappropriate behavior by the embassy guards. A formal report, which was formulated after interviewing numerous guards who worked at the embassy, was sent to the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for Wackenhut said that James Gordon had resigned voluntarily and there was no connection of his resignation to the whistle blowing incidence. They are maintaining their stance that the security of US embassy was never compromised. However, Gordon referred to these assertions as hilarious and commented, “If you hire a guard force that is placing you at risk because of their behavior, and is also inadequate with regard to the fact of language difficulty between elements of the guard force, I don’t see how anyone can say the government is getting what they are paying for and it doesn’t compromise the integrity of the embassy itself”, referring to the fact that some of the guards were non English speaking Gurkhas of Nepal.

There have been no comments yet from the contractor’s side regarding the allegations of sex trafficking and visiting brothels by the security guards. Gordon further commented that he tried to impose a ‘no brothel’ policy when he found out that there was an outbreak of Sexually Transmitted Diseases among the guards. However, the company resorted with hostility to his suggestions and even when he reported the matter to the State Department, there was no definitive action taken.