Raymond Moore

US Army contract employee from Northern Ireland dies in Iraq bombing
International Herald Tribune, September 10, 2007

Raymond Moore, 40, was killed Friday [September 7, 2007] when the vehicle he was riding in was struck by a bomb. Moore was working for the Coalition Munitions Clearance Program, under a U.S. Army center based in Huntsville. He was the 40th employee of the program to die in Iraq since 2003.

News reports indicate Moore was working as Security Adviser for Armor Group of Iraq and that another contractor was injured during the incident. Just one week earlier, Moore was honored by the Royal Humane Society for his role in rescuing US soldiers wounded by a suicide bomber. He left behind a daughter and son. (ref , ref , ref   & ref)

Two weeks ago, another contractor from Ulster, Ian Chalmers was fatally injured by a roadside bomb.  Ulsterman dies after Iraq blast

Unknown Security Contractor

A second death was reported by the People's Daily Online of China though details are somewhat unclear.

Bomb attack hits convoy of foreign contractors in Baghdad
Xinhua, September 12, 2007

A roadside bomb struck a convoy of sport utility vehicles (SUVs), used by foreign security contractors, in eastern Baghdad on Wednesday [September 12, 2007], burning a vehicle and killing a civilian, a well-informed police source said.

Unknown TCN Civilian Contractor

Associated Press includes a short reference to another death from a rocket attack at Camp Victory but no further details are known.

Bergner: Rocket Associated With Iran
By David Rising, Associated Press, September 13, 2007

Bergner said the victims of Tuesday's [September 11, 2007] rocket attack were a mix of American military personnel, other coalition troops and civilian contractors. The fatality was a civilian contractor from a third country, meaning neither American nor Iraqi, he said.

Perhaps the most chilling aspect of the AP news report is where the blame is being placed:

[Maj. Gen. Kevin ] Bergner insisted the U.S. was certain that such rockets were of Iranian origin based on their color and markings on fragments.

It has long been my own view that contractors are America's canaries in the coal mine of Iraq.

Timeline Project: Contractors in Afghanistan & Iraq

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