Why 10000 ugandans are eagerly serving in Iraq
Why 10,000 Ugandans are eagerly serving in Iraq
Thousands of men and women from poverty-stricken Uganda risk their lives
for $600 a month
By Max Delany
The Christian Science Monitor
Kampala, Uganda – Under a relentless equatorial sun and the gaze of her
Zimbabwean instructor, Juliet Kituye quickly reassembles her AK-47. Next
to her, a young man in a ripped red T-shirt discharges imaginary rounds
at an invisible target.
On a disused soccer pitch in the suburbs of the Ugandan capital,
Kampala, 300 hopefuls are being put through rudimentary firearms
training. Many of the recruits are raw and their drills occasionally
lurch towards slapstick. One trainee lets the magazine slip out of his
automatic rifle and onto the red earth, someone else about turns right
instead of left. All of them share the same dream, however: going to
Iraq.
As President Barack Obama announces plans to withdraw US troops from
Iraq, thousands of young Ugandans are increasingly desperate to be sent
to the war-torn country. Already, the Ugandan government says there are
more than 10,000 men and women from this poverty-stricken East African
nation working as private security guards in Iraq. Hired out to
multibillion-dollar companies for hundreds of dollars a month, they risk
their lives seeking fortunes protecting US Army bases, airports, and oil
firms.
