Latin American hired guns shrug off Iraq war risks for payday

[G_j]

http://www.newspress.com/Top/Article/article.jsp?Section=WORLD&ID=565063940889247832

Latin American hired guns shrug off Iraq war risks for payday
Tyler Bridges

August 5, 2007 3:11 AM

MCT NEWSFEATURES

McClatchy Newspapers

(MCT)

LIMA, Peru - Tired of subsisting by selling cigarettes on the street, Gregorio Calixto jumped at the chance last fall to earn $1,000 a month working for a U.S.-based security company in Iraq.

The former Peruvian army sergeant is only one of many Latin Americans who have gone to work for security firms in Iraq - most of them U.S. based - that now employ 6,000 to 10,000 men from around the world, according to news accounts.

The Latin Americans typically served in the military back home - many fought leftist guerrillas in places like El Salvador and Colombia - and were taught by U.S. instructors, making it easier for them to use U.S. weapons and work under American security procedures.

But after leaving their armed forces, these soldiers found themselves in low-paying jobs. So they agreed to risk injury or death in Iraq for $1,000 to $1,500 a month - $5 to $7 per hour - a good wage for them but far below the $10,000 to $15,000 monthly pay for American contract employees.

Peruvians guard the outer perimeter of a U.S. installation in Basra. Chileans protect the Green Zone in Baghdad. Hondurans have provided security within the terminal at Baghdad International Airport. Salvadorans once protected the Green Zone in Baghdad, but they and some Ecuadoreans reportedly have left the jobs after media in their home countries labeled them ''mercenaries.''

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[Vincardog]

1. Mercenaries are the second largest component in the illegal occupation of Iraq.

[treestar]

2. Why don't they hire Americans?

Funny how this question is not asked in this context. It's bad to outsource, and it's bad to hire foreigners to work here, so some people say, so you'd think an American employer operating abroad would get flack for it, too.