Private Security Workers Living On Edge in Iraq
Cruising toward Baghdad in the belly of a Spanish turboprop plane with a dozen other private security contractors from Blackwater USA, Rich, a 43-year-old former Navy commando, squinted out the window at the Euphrates River. The Casa 212 dove 12,000 feet toward Baghdad airport in a drunken, corkscrew landing. A short while later, Rich was riding shotgun in the back of one of Blackwater’s South African-made armored Mamba vehicles along the main highway to the capital, one of the most dangerous roads in Iraq. Full Story