I am looking at a photograph that I cannot reconcile with my memory. A row of bright blue water tanks and shiny pipes sits hopefully on the red earth of a tree-ringed clearing: a water treatment plant under construction outside Conakry in the fragile West African state of Guinea.
The photograph, taken in January 2010, was sent to me by Major-General David Tsur, former commander of the Israeli border police. Tsur now works for Global-CST, perhaps Israel’s most active private military company. The company has provided counter-terrorism advice in Colombia and military instructors in Georgia. Incongruously, Global-CST’s logo is also emblazoned on Conakry’s gleaming water tanks.
