Come by the Crown Plaza Hotel near National Airport just outside of Washington D.C. on March 3rd and 4th, because that’s when the Iraq Homeland and Border Control Conference will kick off. Sponsored by a business-expo firm called New Fields, which has hosted Iraqi defense officials for similar conferences, the event bills itself as a rare chance to “brief key Iraqi homeland and border control officials and decision maker [sic] about your equipments and services,” according to a typo-prone brochure for the event passed on to Danger Room.

The invited guests are practically a parade of Iraqi brass. Meet Gen. Jassem Jawad Ali, the interior ministry’s director of contracts; Gen. Anwar Ahmed, the Air Force commander; Brig. Gen. Salah Noori al-Bayaty, the “Oil Police deputy director”; Gen. ?Kareem Mohammed Saloom, the Ministry of Defense’s logistics adviser; and many more. They’ll be on the lookout to “acquire advance [sic] technology and surveillance systems to track and stop foreign militants,” the brochure advertises. Ready to pass out some business cards?

“Those from the homeland-security industries and also from aviation, from those firms, will be able to speak with Iraqi officials, have one-on-one meetings with them,” says Veronica Fuentes, one of the project coordinators for the conference. Curious — or cautious — firms can “gain insights” on “the situation in Iraq right now” that might compel them to invest. Fuentes says she expects “around 200 delegates” from different homeland-security companies to attend.

It’s not so surprising that the Iraqi Interior Ministry is looking for a few good American contractors. The remaining 50,000 U.S. troops may be on the way out, but Iraq still doesn’t have a developed air force — or control of its own air space. Even after combat operations ended for U.S. forces this July, close air support and surveillance efforts from U.S. planes rose dramatically. It’s expected that the U.S. will leave behind some undetermined-but-small some troops behind to continue with training, maintenance and logistical help to the Iraqi border-control effort.

But maybe that’s not going to be enough. And contractors are a tried-and-true supplement to border assistance or law-enforcement efforts, especially when there’s money to be made. Putting defense firms together with Iraqi big shots is something that New Fields has experience doing. In July, it hosted an “aviation and defense summit” in Washington that featured the Iraqi military’s chief of staff — someone who’s made no bones about wanting to keep the U.S. in Iraq for years, even if the White House hasn’t liked that message.

Oh, and this won’t come cheap. New Fields instructs that full conference registration will cost $2,895. They’re hoping that defense firms will consider that a rounding error compared to the amount of money they can could make when the interior ministry sees all the surveillance gear they’re offering to Iraqi border cops and pilots.

Photo: U.S. Army

See Also:

• U.S. Air War Soars in ‘Post-Combat’ Iraq
• White House: Iraq Troops Are Coming Home In 2011. Period.
• Iraq Withdrawal, Logistical Nightmare?
• In Iraq, Troops Down, Contractors Up

Authors: Spencer Ackerman

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