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Counter-terrorism training (International Security Academy)
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| By Associated Press November 5, 2004 |
| Gavin Rabinowitz, AP Writer |
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Firing at attackers through a thick pall of smoke, U.S. Embassy guards from Iraq and German bodyguards for the Saudi royal family safely escorted their charges through an ambush.
The guards were real, but Thursday's attack was a simulated training exercise in a course run by Israelis specializing in security duties in the Middle East.
The participants hope lessons from Israel's conflicts will give them an edge -- both when facing real combat and in securing lucrative security contracts.
But despite Israel's experience in combatting Islamic militants during its 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon and the last four years of Israeli-Palestinian violence, studying here has drawbacks, too.
Many of the 23 participants -- which organizers said included four Americans currently working in Baghdad, three Germans who provide security for the Saudi royal family and Croatian special forces -- would not speak to the media, fearing that if their training in the Jewish state were exposed, it would compromise their ability to work in Arab countries hostile to Israel.
The weeklong course, run by former Israeli special forces and secret service operatives, aims to give the guards tactical combat skills and expose them to Arab culture. This combination enables them to work more effectively in high-risk Mideast combat zones, organizers and participants said.
"We feel we can give some of our experience to our friends all over the world," said Tzafrir Pazi, the chief instructor at the Counter Terrorism Training Center, who described himself as a former senior field agent in Israel's Shin Bet security service.
"Israel is known for its expertise in these areas," said Christopher Purdy, 23, currently working as a bodyguard for the No. 2 man at the U.S. Embassy in Iraq, Ambassador James Jeffrey.
Purdy, a former U.S. Marine from Seattle who is employed by a civilian security company, said the Israeli knowledge was particularly helpful in dealing with suicide bombers.
"Two weeks ago four members of my team were killed when a suicide bomber infiltrated into the Green Zone," he said referring to the heavily fortified Baghdad enclave that houses the embassy.
He hopes his new training will help him avert similar attacks.
On Thursday the group repeatedly practiced repelling convoy ambushes.
As the role-playing terrorists set off explosives, jumped out from behind rocks and fired blanks at the cars from M-16 rifles, the guards burst from the vehicles hitting the attackers with paint balls, knocking them over and kicking away their rifles.
Sirens wailed and smoke grenades blanketed the area as other convoy guards hastily surrounded the "VIP," beating a coordinated retreat to another vehicle that would spirit them out of the danger zone.
"We need this," said Scott Stezelecky, 28, a native of Boston, who is going to Iraq in a month to work for a security firm. "We will be running the gauntlet on the highway of death three or four times a day," he said.
Organizers say the second advantage of the course is a brief immersion into Arab lifestyles, food and culture.
As dawn broke over Rahat, a sprawling Bedouin town in the Negev desert, Stezelecky rose from his guard post to wake the other team members who were clad in Galabiyas, flowing Arab robes, and sleeping on mats in the nearby tent.
To help rouse them, Arabic music blared over a loudspeaker.
The group quickly changed before heading out for morning exercises, followed by a quick breakfast of pita bread, olives, cheese and small glasses of sticky, sweet Bedouin tea poured from a battered metal pot.
While some have already worked in the Middle East, others are hoping that the course will improve their chances of getting a job in the lucrative security field.
Fred Wingo, 46, currently works in corporate security for the international carrier service DHL, but was prepared to pay US$10,000 of his own money to do this course and another in risk management.
Wingo, also from Seattle, said the course would both improve his chance for promotion and open up new possibilities for security work in the Mideast.
"Some of the guys in Iraq are making US$900 a day," he said.
Copyright 2004, The Associated Press
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