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October 7, 2003
   
American military units along Iraq's borders have hired and trained members of local tribes to act as a border patrol. The tribes have "guarded" these borders for centuries, but often made deals with smugglers to take bribes and allow illegal crossings. The coalition troops have demanded that the smuggling stop, as the smugglers have been caught bringing in weapons foreigners eager to kill Americans. Because the border guards are getting paid more (over a hundred dollars a month) than Saddam ever did, and the coalition troops and their night vision equipment enable double checking of the patrols, the tribal border guards are giving the smugglers a hard time.