Apartheid assassins meet match in Iraq
By Gavin du Venage in Cape Town
The Australian 27 April 2004
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,9400583%5E2703,00.html
SOME of the worst human rights violators of the apartheid era, including a man who helped kill 14 civilians while they slept, have been employed as security contractors in Iraq.
A South African killed in Iraq two weeks ago once worked for a secret apartheid death squad known as the Civil Co-operation Bureau. The CCB specialised in assassinating civilians who sympathised with black liberation movements.
[...]
According to the United Nations, South Africa is a favoured recruiting ground, after the US and Britain, for the private security firms. At least 1500 of the estimated 10,000 private contractors operating in Iraq are South African.
"Most of these guys have spent 15 to 20 years fighting and know nothing else," Stiff says. "After apartheid ended, the former soldiers found themselves unemployed after their units were disbanded. Many became mercenaries.
"When the war in Iraq broke out, and private security companies began to seek recruits, they rushed to join what seemed to be a safe well-paid venture. Instead, they found civilians who shot back."