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July 23, 2010

Peruvian and Ugandan Contractors Killed in Attack on Green Zone
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In news from Iraq, three guards at the US embassy in Baghdad died
Thursday in a rocket attack in the Green Zone. All three worked for the
private security company Triple Canopy. Two of the guards killed were
from Uganda, and one was from Peru. The Washington Post reports the US
has long employed Peruvian guards to protect civilian and military
installations in Iraq. In recent months, it has begun phasing out
Peruvians in favor of Ugandans, who work for less money. The Post
reports guards from third-country nations earn as little as $450 a
month. Meanwhile, the State Department is preparing to field its own
army in Iraq to protect the massive US embassy in Iraq once combat
troops withdraw from the country. The State Department has already
requested Black Hawk helicopters; fifty mine-resistant, ambush-protected
vehicles; fuel trucks; high-tech surveillance systems; and other
military gear. The Mc Clatchy newspapers reports that in a little more
than a year, State Department contractors in Iraq could be driving
armored vehicles, flying aircraft, operating surveillance systems, even
retrieving casualties if there are violent incidents, and disposing of
unexploded ordnance.



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