Two women shot dead on way back from church by Austalian security company Unity Resources Group

[David Guyatt]

Shot on their way home from church: theatre to shine a light in dark cornersThe deaths of two Iraqi women at the hands of contractors working for an Australian security company is the starting point for a work that strives to be as political as it is personal

What happens when control of war falls into "private hands"? Two Iraqi women, Marou Awanis and Geneva Jalal, were shot dead in their car on Tuesday 9 October 2007 as they were travelling through the streets of Baghdad on their way home from church. Awanis was driving; in the back were two young passengers who, from what we can tell, were students. The people who shot Awanis and Jalal were contractors for Unity Resources Group, an Australian company working in Iraq.
The two contractors say they signalled to the car to stop, from a distance. Awanis did not stop perhaps she did not understand what was happening. Forty bullets hit the car, 19 of which entered her body. Both women were killed but the passengers in the back survived.
The women's deaths were reported in Australia, presumably because the shooters were Australian, but this is the sort of thing that happens in Iraq on a regular basis. An Amnesty International report that mentions the shooting also discusses the issue of privatisation in official war zones. It might give you a sense of why we at version 1.0 the company with which I am a performer thought this was a really important story to tell.
The story of Awanis and Jalal is the point of departure for The Vehicle Failed to Stop, our new work. We strive to make theatre that is as political as it is personal we want people to be active participants in the democratic process. We are very true to our source material and, as verbatim theatre makers, we see our responsibility as being to preserve and protect the facts of a story through our text, in an involving and imaginative way.
Our sources have included transcripts of congressional hearings, articles by reputable investigative journalists, documentaries, images, statistics, public documents, personal stories and facts that we have uncovered ourselves. This kind of factual material provides the textual basis of our work: we aim to shine the light in dark corners and ask difficult questions in a public arena.
It seems incredible that a provision put into place in the early days of the US-led occupation of Iraq means that private "security contractors" have almost complete immunity from prosecution under Iraqi law. The deaths of Awanis and Jalal were investigated by the Iraqi interior ministry but punitive action was not taken, because the company "admitted to and apologised" for what had taken place.
Our key responsibility is to develop a process and a product that asks the hard questions most significantly whether democracy has become a commodity for export; if privatisation has now transgressed into the public policy arena; and what that means.
We want to examine the issue of modern-day mercenaries. The concept of some people profiting from the misfortune of others, with immunity and impunity. And the profound lack of accountability that has been seen in the Iraq war and its aftermath.

.

Guardian.