"I said, `Hector, you're playing with fire,'" she recalled. - With age comes wisdom

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http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/16769046.htm

Nearly 800 contractors killed in Iraq

MICHELLE ROBERTS
Associated Press

In a largely invisible cost of the war in Iraq, nearly 800 civilians working under contract to the Pentagon have been killed and more than 3,300 hurt doing jobs normally handled by the U.S. military, according to figures gathered by The Associated Press.

Exactly how many of these employees doing the Pentagon's work are Americans is uncertain. But the casualty figures make it clear that the Defense Department's count of more than 3,100 U.S. military dead does not tell the whole story. snip

Houle's brother-in-law, Hector C. Patino, was driving a truck for a Halliburton subsidiary in the Green Zone when he was killed by friendly fire at an Australian checkpoint.

Patino, who served two tours in Vietnam, thought he was safe, said his mother, 82-year-old Flora Patino.

"I said, `Hector, you're playing with fire,'" she recalled.