Highway to Hell- Civillian truckers in Iraq

[Bhaisahab]

This article appeared as Outlook magazine's (India) cover story this weekend after 3 Indian truckers were abducted. Its a nice read about the perils facing truckers plying the Kuwait-Baghdad highway
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Excerpts:
Sheikh Mahboob of Celedon Transport, a US-based trucking company whose drivers are 90 per cent Indian, had a lucky break late July. The incident happened 20 km off Basra. Driving the 14th truck in a 15-truck convoy, Mahboob, from Hyderabad, came under fire from an individual gunman. The bullets tore through the radiator. With great presence of mind Mahboob steered the truck on neutral for nearly a kilometre. He recalls, "My Iraqi security was hopeless. I shouted at him that if you cannot fire your gun yourself teach me how to do it. I am also a Muslim; we are ferrying goods for the Iraqis. It's for their good." Mahboob's lament against private Iraqi security is almost universal.

While the KBR and PWC convoys and those supplying goods to the Japanese, Italian and Dutch military bases are protected by their respective militaries, civilian convoys depend on private Iraqi security—a bunch of poorly-trained youngsters. Mahboob bemoans, "If the guard had fired the gun, at least the gunman would have known that there is security. But my guard ducked. I also got a poor guard. The better guards sit only in trucks with good air-conditioning and cassette players.
full story: http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20040809&fname=Cover+story+%28F%29&sid=1&pn=1
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another story from the same magazine has these interesting snippets of info:

Employed with Ai Fajii Logistics in Kuwait, Jasbir was asked to drive an oil tanker into Iraq. In April-end, Jasbir's convoy was ambushed—a rocket slammed into his tanker, sending it careening into a berm. With Jasbir unable to extricate himself from the tanker, the frightened American armed escort set his vehicle on fire and fled. The company didn't even inform his father, Gurcharan, who came to know about the incident through Kuwait-based colleagues of his son. "I then contacted the company through the recruiting agent. In May, they sent some burnt pieces of flesh in a bag. They said these were my son's," sobs Gurcharan.

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You can become a nervous wreck driving on the highways of Iraq, says Harjit Singh of Hoshiarpur, who was ostensibly hired by kbr Operations for driving a Pepsi truck. On his drive into Iraq, Harjit found hundreds of men, women and children begging passing convoys for food and water. "They would stone us if we did not give them water. And when we did, the American guards would hit us." One day, Harjit abandoned his truck on the highway and fled away. Agents here estimate that in the last six months, more than 200 men have escaped from Iraq and returned to India.
full article: http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20040809&fname=Cover+story+%28F%29&sid=3&pn=1