Balkans Soldiers Find Fortune in Baghdad

Balkans Soldiers Find Fortune in Baghdad

Vesna Peric Zimonjic


BELGRADE, May 12 (IPS) - Fighting gets into your veins, said men who fought in former Yugoslavia. And so now that peace has come to their homeland, many have moved to Iraq.

"There is no doubt that there is a growing demand for mercenaries or soldiers of fortune in Iraq," military analyst Slobodan Kljakic told IPS. "Within the community close to those circles, a number of between 500 and 1,000 Serbs is mentioned. They have already obtained contracts to work as security staff or bodyguards in Iraq."

"It's up to them (security companies) to try to find and subcontract the workforce for Iraq," Kljakic said. "After that it's easy for people from here to enter Iraq." Under decades-old regulation, Serbs do not need visas for Iraq.


"One cannot establish the exact number of Croats who have been contracted to work as security personnel in Iraq," she told IPS. "But the bottom line is that they all used to be professional soldiers. They are aged between 30-45. Depending on their experience they do different jobs -- simple protection, logistics, training."
Serb youth seems to have found a new hero. The Belgrade press has carried interviews with Misha Misic, a security specialist who earns 500 dollars a day in Baghdad protecting oilfields. He claims to have gone to Iraq as an adventurer to earn money.

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http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=23706

Clark supporters, steer clear of this one.

BODYGUARDS WANTED

When pro-Western prime minister Zoran Djindjic was gunned down last March in an assassination blamed on a powerful crime group led by an ex-special police commander, demand for bodyguards -- not only from those in government but from worried top businessmen -- jumped a notch.

Now their shiny suits and flashy SUVs are a common sight in downtown Belgrade, and not to everyone’s liking.

"Not even Milosevic had so many bodyguards," said Nevena, a 42-year-old construction engineer. "When these reformers drive around the town, I feel they want all of us just to disappear."

Jelena, a law student, said: "It’s not pleasant to enter a coffee bar and see bodyguards with pistols there."

The hunt for Djindjic’s killers cut crime sharply for a while, but security officials say it is resurfacing and will remain widespread.



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In an earlier thread, I suggested contacting the Serbs, since they know so much about the new military tactics employed by US troops. Wow, I had no idea that they were listening.

Bodyguard boom in post-war Serbia
21/09/2003 05:15


By Gordana Kukic

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Phones ring constantly in the small office of a Belgrade security firm offering bodyguards for the rich and famous in volatile Serbia.

The Balkan wars of the 1990s have come to an end, making the region generally a much safer place. But security firms here say demand for private protection has never been stronger.

Whether the sector is sufficiently regulated is in question.

The nature of the bodyguard business has changed since a reform movement ousted Slobodan Milosevic three years ago. Clients are now looking for more than just a hired gun to cope with threats in the new environment.

"A good bodyguard today is much more than just a bag of muscles ready to take a bullet," said a greying 52-year-old Protecta employee nicknamed Matori.

"You have to know the people, the laws, do risk assessment, blend in and be invisible. You must do everything to pre-empt possible incidents," he added.
http://www.gamesnetwork.com/cgi-bin/news/newswire.cgi/news/reuters/2003/09/21/topnews/bodyguardboominpost-warserbia.html&template=/news/templates/newswire/news_story_reuters.html

link for about post also

The hypocrisy is really disguisting, both in Iraq and Afganistan where there are about 2000 Serb special forces (the same ones accused of war crimes for the most part) operating under US command. And this bastard Goldstone has the gall, the fucking gall, to go on about how 'such people are working for the Americans'. Yes, yes they are Goldstone. The US-of-A has supported murderers and butchers whenever its been convinient throughout the post-WWII period. Come to think of it, it was retired US generals acting as mercenaries who oversaw the ethnic cleansing of 100-250,000 Serbs from Croatia in the mid-90s. So bite me, Goldstone, you self-righteous piece of shit.

It's noteworthy that no such analysis is undertaken and that there's a tacit presumption that they're all "good guys" working on behalf of some benevolent interest. Nevermind that the mere need for 'security' indicates some malevolence towards some other interests. Nevermind that we're constantly hearing a demonization of "foreign people" in Fallujah as though the mere fact that someone is from outside Iraq means they're "evil-doers" ... except for the foreign "coalition" of course.

(sheesh) Goldstein lives! :eyes:

for all we know.

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