Kabul U.S. Embassy Guard: Sexual Deviancy Required for Promotion:
By BRIAN ROSS, RHONDA SCHWARTZ and KIRIT RADIA
Sept. 2, 2009—
Private security guards at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul were pressured to participate in naked pool parties and perform sex acts to gain promotions or assignment to preferable shifts, according to one of 12 guards who have gone public with their complaints.
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In an interview with ABC News for broadcast tonight on the "World News with Charles Gibson," the guard, a U.S. military veteran, said top supervisors of the ArmorGroup were not only aware of the "deviant sexual acts" but helped to organize them.
Watch Brian Ross' full report tonight on "World News with Charles Gibson" at 6:30pm.
"It was mostly the young guys fresh from the military who were told they had to participate," said the guard, who talked on a phone hook-up arranged by the Project on Government Oversight, which first revealed photographs of the parties.
"They were not gay but they knew what it took to get promoted," said the guard, spoke on condition that ABC News not publish his name.
The State Department said it was investigating the allegations and the circumstances surrounding the photographs which show naked and barely clothed men fondling one another. The guard who spoke with ABC News said the drunken parties had been held regularly for at least a year and a half.
The State Department renewed its contract with ArmorGroup to provide security at the Kabul embassy last month even though there have been a series of complaints about its performance.
In June 2007, the State Department warned "the security of the US embassy in Kabul is in jeopardy" because of "deficiencies" on the part of ArmorGroup.
Similar complaints were raised at a Senate hearing in June 2009 by Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO).
Sam Brinkley, vice-president of the ArmorGroup's corporate parent Wackenhut Services, defended the company's performance in Kabul.
"We are a guard company that prides itself in doing missions well," Brinkley testified.
Wackenhut did not immediately return requests for comment.
Naked Photos at U.S. Embassy in Kabul
The photographs of the naked parties all involve one of four shifts assigned to the embassy, Charlie Shift, according to the guard who spoke with ABC News.
He said other shifts tried to complain about the activities but were ignored by officials from corporate headquarters who visited Kabul.
"It was demeaning, it was humiliating and that was the whole point of it all," the guard said.
Asa Eslocker and Anna Schecter contributed to this report.
Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2009 10:55 pm
