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WASHINGTON (AP) An embattled U.S. contractor, accused of failing to promptly disclose sex trafficking, alcohol smuggling and security violations on a nearly $700 million contract to secure an Iraqi air base, is denying many of the charges. An attorney for investigators, who were fired by the company, says the explanations don't stand up.

Revelations of the allegations, published Wednesday by The Associated Press, were based on documents and interviews with the investigators, whom the company dismissed in March, and multiple other former employees.

The company, Sallyport Global, is responsible for securing the F-16 fighter jets at Balad Air Base that are used by the Iraqi air force in efforts to uproot the Islamic State group.

The company first called allegations that managers had shut down sex trafficking investigations "absurd" but later acknowledged that senior management had opened a second probe months later.

They say the late push to determine whether employees were involved in prostitution, was the initiative of new managers, including a new corporate ethics and compliance officer.

"The new company management would never shut down an internal investigation into serious allegations like prostitution," Chief Operating Officer Matt Stuckart wrote in a statement.

The company contends the second probe found all the allegations of prostitution on the base were unfounded. But the fired investigators and an attorney representing them, Debra Katz, said their attempts to interview key suspects involved in the first case were again blocked by managers.

According to the investigators' original report in February 2016, four Ethiopian women who were suspected of working at a hotel in Baghdad as prostitutes moved to the base after customers at the hotel complained about contracting sexually transmitted diseases. Those customers included Sallyport employees, the investigators said The original report also listed the first names of the women and the going price for four hours of sex: $200 for the women and $300 for their pimp.

The company also denies allegations by the investigators that its lawyers ordered them to keep two sets of files in order to hide some of the investigators' information from the U.S. government, which was footing the bill for the company's contract.

"The investigators were specifically told to continue keeping a log, available to the U.S. government, of every investigation but not to include any attorney-client privilege information on that log - a standard practice," Stuckert said.

But attorney Katz disagreed.

"They were explicitly told to keep double books," she said. "There is no argument of attorney-client privilege that could justify the orders." Based in Reston, Virginia, Sallyport was founded in 2003 to work in Iraq on reconstruction, and has since expanded its operations globally. Some of Sallyport's top managers joined the company after stints with other military contractors active in Iraq.

Sallyport president and CEO Victor Esposito previously worked at Blackwater Worldwide, a private military company. He then became the chief operating officer of Xe, as Blackwater renamed itself after its employees shot scores of unarmed Iraq civilians in 2007 at a Baghdad traffic circle. Jeff Morin, who worked as a Sallyport director until this week, also previously worked for Blackwater.

Twice in 2013 the company was sued by former employees. In 2013, a U.S. Air Force veteran sued the company for negligence in federal court in Virginia, alleging he was severely beaten by his supervisor during a drunken card game at an air base in Iraq. Sallyport's lawyers successfully argued that the veteran had no standing in U.S. court for events that occurred in Iraq. The lawsuit was dismissed.

Also that year, another ex-Sallyport employee sued the company alleging she was racially discriminated against and wrongfully terminated over drinking alcohol at a base in Qatar. While she denied she drank on the job, in her lawsuit Eboney Mayfield alleged that other Sallyport employees routinely drank on duty and weren't punished.

After a judge denied the company's request to dismiss the case, Mayfield's lawyers agreed to voluntarily drop it prior to trial, indicating the parties likely reached a settlement.

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US company denies security risks, prostitution at Iraq base - WDBJ7

From the first panel of the exhibit, anyone who cares about the origins of civilization or the fate of modern Mideastern people will find rough going in "Cultures in the Crossfire," on view through next year at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia.

Up front, organizers screen a video of two ISIS members demolishing a wall of the 2,700-year-old palace at Nimrud, not far from Mosul in Iraq, in 2015.

One swings a sledgehammer against the stone, reducing delicate relief sculpture to shards and dust. Another dislodges the slab and the block, carved and fitted so carefully and proudly standing for millennia, smashes to the ground, obliterated.

This performance, captured by skillful videography, is part of ISIS's war on ancient culture in the cradle of civilization. Besides killing and dislocating millions, "They want to destroy things precisely because they are world heritage sites. It gets everybody's attention," said curator Lauren Ristvet.

She is one of many field archaeologists who can no longer dig in Syria because of ongoing violence, and who have had to watch with the rest of the world while ISIS bulldozes sites of global significance dating back to the Bronze Age. Artwork and artifacts from several millennia have been torn out of their settings and sold on the black market for antiquities.

Ebla, southwest of Aleppo in Syria and "one of the most important archaeological discoveries of the past 75 years," has been heavily looted of its treasures.

"These are not just war-torn places. These are places that have contributed an enormous amount to the world," said Ristvet. "What's going on now is just one part of that story."

The museum drew from its holdings to demonstrate the sweep of history in Iraq and Syria, a region where agriculture, writing and cities first arose and where learning blossomed while the rest of the world endured the Dark Ages. Numerous cultures jostled each other in the region over millennia.

The exhibit offers a look at this garden of diversity through objects such as a tombstone with a Hebrew inscription, believed to be from the ancient center of Babylonian Jewry in modern Anbar, Iraq; an illuminated page containing the first surah, or chapter, of the Quran; small, delicately carved ivory pieces depicting the Egyptian god Horus, which were found in Iraq; and a small ceramic lamp from the region decorated with the Christian cross.

Despite their theological differences, all faiths in the area agreed that burying a small bowl inscribed with protective incantations outside the house was a good idea to keep one's home and family safe. Several examples of these personalized objects are on view.

Conditions in Syria are such that refugees are living in an archaeological site in northwest Syria known as the Dead Cities, a region deserted for around a thousand years. Archaeologists, native and foreign, have been reduced to minimizing damage to sites from the inevitable bombing.

Should anyone not get the point, video is presented showing ISIS destroying ancient buildings in Palmyra, a desert city whose heritage dates from the Stone Age through the Romans and beyond. Among previously excavated artifacts on view are funerary portrait sculptures of ancient Palmyrans.

"We wanted to leave people with a sense of hope, and a sense of depth," said Ristvet. "We tried to get a sense of the people who have lived in this area, in Syria and Iraq, over a period of a long time, and have them like people you might find here."

In a parallel to modern obituary photos that show the deceased at his or her best, Palmyran sculptors rendered their subjects in their best clothes, one lady sporting an elaborate jeweled headdress.

Syrian curators asked the Penn Museum for help protecting ancient mosaics from the Dead Cities in a museum in Ma'arra, who feared their facility would be bombed. Experts from Penn and the Smithsonian Institution trained local curators in low-tech preservation involving water-soluble glue, plastic cloth and sandbags heaped in front of the most important images.

Later, the museum was bombed but "Amazingly, the mosaics survived," said Ristvet.

The Syrian curators moved on to preparing for the day the museum can be rebuilt. Similarly, Penn archaeologists helped a fellow professional in Iraqi Kurdistan who is documenting the city of Dohuk. She wants a record of the town in case historic structures are destroyed through war or other means, said Ristvet.

"We were able to help in sort of a nice, small way, getting her some computers, some software, some cameras," she said.

Artifacts from the Penn collection demonstrate not only what can be learned about ancient cultures, but also the value of scientific excavation, ever more endangered by bombs, looting and development.

Over decades, archaeologists have found everything that relates to the human experience, from toys to medieval books on subjects such as hydraulics, music theory and geometry, to 6,000-year-old gold jewelry. They excavated magnificent wall tiles from 16th-century Damascus and cylinder seals that date from the dawn of writing.

As a counterpoint to the glories of the past, the curators also included elements you won't usually see in the archaeological museum. Works by contemporary Syrian artist Issam Kourbaj reflect his outrage at the victimization of his compatriots and their culture.

These are difficult to view, especially "Lost," sculptures made from the clothes of Syrian and Iraqi refugee children who died trying to cross the Aegean Sea. "Book of the Dead, Dismembered" uses X-ray images that are more than usually grueling to view.

"Cultures in the Crossfire" is on view through Nov. 25, 2018.

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Penn Museum weighs destruction of antiquities in Syria and Iraq with "Cultures in the Crossfire" - The Intelligencer

**Baghdad, 06 May 2017 ** The virtues of Iraqs diversity as a source of strength for the country were invoked at the Iraq: Youth and Coexistence, which convened in Baghdad today its seventh and last meeting before an overarching national conference that will recommend ideas from the youth to Iraqs leaders on how to promote and advance national reconciliation.

The cross-country forum in the Iraqi capital brought together 120 youth 85 men and 35 women - from the Governorates of Anbar, Salah al-Din and Wassit, in addition to the Baghdad Governorate. The opening session was attended by Sheikh Khalid al-Yawer, representing the National Reconciliation Commission, Mr. Suhaib al-Rawi, Governor of Anbar, Mr. Malek Khalaf Wadi, Governor of Wassit, and Ms. Hana Edwar, head of the Al-Amal Association. After the opening speech of the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General (DSRSG) for Iraq for Political and Electoral Affairs, Mr. Gyrgy Busztin, Mr. al-Rawi, Mr. Wadi and Ms. Edwar delivered speeches.

Mr. Busztin stressed the importance of youth participating in the political process of reconciliation.

DSRSG Busztin reiterated the calls he made in previous meetings, that the youth ensure that their voice is heard and reinforced the United Nations stand that without the opinion of the youth any reconciliation initiative would be incomplete. Then he went on to explain how Iraqs diversity is a source of strength, not weakness, with Baghdad, Wassit, Salaheddin and Anbar acting as living examples.

These governorates have maintained this ethnic and sectarian diversity no matter what the terrorists and Takfiris tried to make it one color, Mr. Busztin said.

He further said that people of diverse backgrounds have coexisted throughout time despite all the crises and conflicts. Strength is in diversity, not in uniformity. Uniformity is isolationism, while diversity is openness to all. Take Baghdad, for example, it is the ideal model for this diversity where all the ethnic groups, religions and sects of Iraq live.

Hundreds of youth in the age group of 18-35 have already participated in a series of similar forums across the country, which the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) organized in cooperation with the Iraqi Al-Amal Association. The meeting in Baghdad is the seventh of the Iraq: Youth and Coexistence forums which are intended to give a voice to youth for their crucial role in charting the road to peaceful co-existence in a future Iraq. With these kind of fora, the young generation of Iraqis across different ethnic and sectarian backgrounds has the opportunity to deliberate post-conflict issues, engage on national reconciliation and voice their opinion.

The cross-country forums were first launched in Basra on 28 January 2017, and brought together about 120 participants from the four southern governorates of Basra, Missan, Dhi Qar and Muthanna. The second followed in Erbil on 19 February with 135 participants from Ninewa Governorate. The third was held in Najaf on 18 March, with 115 participants from the Najaf, Karbala, Babel and Qadissiyah Governorates taking part, the fourth was on 25 March in Diyala Governorate where 68 youth participated, the fifth in Sulaymaniyah on 08 April in which 80 youth from Sulaymaniyah, Erbil and Halabja Governorates participated, and the sixth in Kirkuk on 22 April in which 109 youth attended. The national conference in Baghdad will convene later in May and is to be attended by representatives of the youth to incorporate recommendations from these seven forums in the decisions that support the process of reconciliation and coexistence.

As with the format for all the conferences, the participants in the Baghdad forum broke up into working groups to deliberate and respond to questions about what they would like to see in a future Iraq and how they can contribute. At the end of the meeting, the participants debated their responses and adopted a set of recommendations.

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Iraq's Strength is in its Diversity, UN Says as Iraq: Youth and Coexistence Makes Last Stop in Baghdad Before ... - ReliefWeb

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is in talks with the Trump administration to keep American troops in Iraq after the fight against the Islamic State group in the country is concluded, according to a U.S. official and an official from the Iraqi government.

Both officials underlined that the discussions are ongoing and that nothing is finalized. But the talks point to a consensus by both governments that, in contrast to the U.S. withdrawal in 2011, a longer-term presence of American troops in Iraq is needed to ensure that an insurgency does not bubble up again once the militants are driven out.

"There is a general understanding on both sides that it would be in the long-term interests of each to have that continued presence. So as for agreement, yes, we both understand it would be mutually beneficial. That we agree on," the U.S. official said.

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

The talks involve U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and Iraqi officials over "what the long-term U.S. presence would look like," the American official said, adding that discussions were in early stages and "nothing has been finalized."

U.S. forces in Iraq would be stationed inside existing Iraqi bases in at least five locations in the Mosul area and along Iraq's border with Syria, the Iraqi government official said. They would continue to be designated as advisers to dodge the need for parliamentary approval for their presence, he said.

He said al-Abadi is looking to install a "modest" Iraqi military presence in Mosul after the fight against the Islamic State group is concluded along with a small number of U.S. forces. The forces would help control security in the city and oversee the transition to a political administration of Mosul, he said.

The U.S. official emphasized that there were no discussions of creating independent American bases in Iraq, as such a move would require thousands more personnel. He said the troops levels would be "several thousand ... similar to what we have now, maybe a little more."

Currently, the Pentagon has close to 7,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, many not publicly acknowledged because they are on temporary duty or under specific personnel rules. The forces include troops training Iraqi forces, coordinating airstrikes and ground operations, and special forces operating on the front lines.

The news comes as Iraqi forces are struggling to push IS fighters out of a cluster of neighborhoods in western Mosul that mark the last patch of significant urban terrain the group holds in Iraq, nearly three years after the militants overran nearly a third of the country.

Such an agreement would underscore how the fight against IS has drawn the U.S. into a deepening role in Iraq.

At the height of the surge of U.S. forces in 2007 to combat sectarian violence that nearly tore Iraq apart, there were about 170,000 American troops in the country. The numbers were wound down eventually to 40,000 before the complete withdrawal in 2011.

The U.S. intervention against the Islamic State group, launched in 2014, was originally cast as an operation that would largely be fought from the skies with a minimal footprint on Iraqi soil. Nevertheless, that footprint has since grown given Iraqi forces' need for support.

During a visit to Iraq in February, Mattis and Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, described an enduring partnership between the U.S. and Iraq.

"I imagine we'll be in this fight for a while and we'll stand by each other," Mattis said.

Townsend, who was standing by Mattis, declined to say how long the United States will stay in Iraq. But, he said, "I don't anticipate that we'll be asked to leave by the government of Iraq immediately after Mosul." He added, "I think that the government of Iraq realizes their very complex fight, and they're going to need the assistance of the coalition even beyond Mosul."

The talks over a longer-term U.S. presence has greatly concerned Iran, which in turn is increasing support to some of Iraq's Shiite militia forces, said Jafar al-Husseini, a representative from Kataib Hezbollah, an Iraqi Shiite militia group with close ties to Iran.

"Iraq's security forces and the Popular Mobilization Forces (mostly Shiite militia groups) have the ability to protect (Iraq's) internal roads and borders, so why is al-Abadi using American security partners?" al-Hussein asked.

Al-Abadi has long struggled to balance Iraq's dependence on both the U.S. and Iran. Both countries are key security and economic partners for Iraq, yet are often at odds with each other when it comes to regional politics and security in the greater Middle East.

Over the nearly three-year-long fight against IS, Iraqi forces closely backed by the U.S.-led coalition have retaken some 65 percent of the territory the extremists once held in the country, according to the U.S.-led coalition. But Iraq's military is still in the process of rebuilding and reorganizing after it was largely gutted by widespread corruption under former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Klapper reported from Washington. Associated Press Writer Lolita C. Baldor in Washington contributed to this report.

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Iraq, US in talks to keep American troop presence after IS - ABC News

WASHINGTON -- An American company that was paid nearly $700 million to secure an Iraqi base for F-16 fighter jets turned a blind eye to alcohol smuggling, theft, security violations, and allegations of sex trafficking -- then terminated investigators who uncovered wrongdoing, an Associated Press investigation has found.

Documents and interviews with two former internal investigators and a half-dozen former or current Sallyport Global staff describe schemes at Iraq's Balad Air Base that were major contract violations at best and, if proven, illegal.

The fired investigators, Robert Cole and Kristie King, said they uncovered evidence that Sallyport employees were involved in human trafficking for prostitution. Staff on base routinely flew smuggled alcohol onto the base in such high volumes that a plane once seesawed on the tarmac under the weight. Rogue militia stole enormous generators using flatbed trucks and a 60-foot crane, driving right past Sallyport security guards.

The trouble stretches to headquarters in Reston, Virginia, say the investigators and other ex-employees interviewed by AP. They say what they uncovered was not revealed to the U.S. government, which was footing the $686 million contracting bill, until early this year -- after an auditor started asking questions.

The investigators were fired abruptly on March 12 -- just two months ago -- and immediately flown out of Iraq. They say they had been looking into timesheet fraud allegations and were set to interview company managers, whom they considered suspects.

"I feel like they got us out so quickly because they feel like we knew too much," King said in an interview. "When we finally got the idea that they were hiding all of the stuff from the U.S. government, it was mind-blowing."

In a statement to the AP, Sallyport said it follows all contracting rules at the base, home to a squadron of F-16s that are indispensable to the operations of the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

A July 2015 file photo shows a new U.S.- made F-16 fighter jet outside a hardened hangar upon its arrival at Balad Air Base, north of Baghdad, Iraq.

AP

"Sallyport has a strong record of providing security and life support services in challenging war zones like Iraq and plays a major but unheralded role in the war against ISIS," Chief Operating Officer Matt Stuckart wrote. "The company takes any suggestion of wrongdoing at Balad very seriously."

In one allegation, informants told the investigators that "flight line" staff, who directed airplanes on the runways and handled cargo, were showing up drunk. At one point they passed around a bowl of gummy bears soaked in vodka.

Alcohol on base was restricted, but the booze was everywhere, smuggled in by plane, several former employees told The AP. According to investigative documents and witnesses, empty suitcases were loaded onto Baghdad-bound roundtrip flights. The bags returned packed with alcohol-filled plastic water bottles that skirted security -- a significant risk in a war zone.

Stuckart said Sallyport stood by its security procedures and got "high marks" from the U.S. Air Force.

But Steve Anderson, who worked on flight logistics, says he was told by managers to sign off on manifests he knew had been falsified to hide alcohol and guns. The planes were so heavy that one tipped over nose-first while parked, "like a seesaw," he recalled.

When he raised concerns, it was suggested he find a new job, said Anderson, whose position was soon eliminated.

Balad is controlled by the Iraqi government. Americans have been there off and on since 2003. The base was evacuated in June 2014, when ISIS began overrunning Iraqi territory.

When the Americans returned, Sallyport's job was to keep Balad safe for the F-16s -- and their Iraqi pilots. The contract required investigations into potential crimes and contract violations. That was the job of Cole and King.

On July 13, 2015, four F-16s landed at the base, the first of a planned 36 from the U.S. Trouble came within 24 hours, when a long skid mark appeared on the tarmac, stopping about 45 yards from a jet in the "no-go area."

A truck driver had lost control of his vehicle, but never reported it.

Robert Cole, a former Sallyport Global investigator, speaks in Columbus, Ga., on March 23, 2017, during an interview with The Associated Press.

AP

Three months later, Cole reported the theft of an armored Toyota SUV assigned to VIPs. His chief suspect was a Sallyport bodyguard. The Toyota was recovered within days; Cole was called off the case.

A former senior manager defended that order, telling the AP that negotiations with the militias were sensitive and needed Iraqi cooperation. He said the chief suspect was banned from the base, but Cole later saw the man walking around freely.

Security breaches continued. On Nov. 15, 2016, just before 2 a.m., militia drove three flatbeds onto the base, one equipped with a crane. After lifting three enormous generators onto the trucks, the militia drove away unchallenged.

A photo obtained by The Associated Press shows security camera footage of a crane leaving Balad Air Base unchallenged by Sallyport Global security guards on Nov. 14, 2016, after it was involved in stealing generators.

AP

Cole's reports noted lax protection for the F-16s. Despite requirements to report major security breaches, the U.S. government was not informed until early this year of the truck skidding near a jet or the armored-SUV theft, according to Cole and two other former Sallyport employees. Both spoke only on condition of anonymity because they did not want to jeopardize current jobs.

As Cole and King sought to get to the bottom of the alcohol smuggling, they stumbled across a prostitution ring in Baghdad whose customers included Sallyport employees, informants said. They learned that four Ethiopians who had previously worked as prostitutes at the hotel had moved to Balad and were doing the same while moonlighting as Sallyport housekeepers.

Before either investigation was completed, a Sallyport executive in Virginia shut them down, they say. Stuckart said the prostitution allegations were not substantiated.

"It is absurd to suggest that the company would shut down an inquiry into a matter of such gravity," he said.

By then, Cole and King had begun their investigation into complaints that Sallyport managers were falsifying timesheets and people were getting paid without working.

The investigators say company lawyers ordered them to keep two sets of books, which they interpreted as an attempt to deceive auditors.

"One for the government to see and one for the government not to see," King said.

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AP: US contractor ignored security violations at Iraq base - CBS News