UK firm hired African former child soldiers to fight in Iraq

UK firm hired African former child soldiers to fight in Iraq | Middle East Eye: 

James Ellery, who was a director of Aegis Defence Services between 2005 and 2015, said contractors recruited from countries such as Sierra Leone to reduce costs for the US presence in Iraq. Speaking to the Guardian, the former brigadier in the British army said none of the estimated 2,500 men recruited from Sierra Leone were checked to see if they were former child soldiers who had been forced to fight in the country's civil war.
They were cheaper options and fulfilled contracts to defend US bases in Iraq, he said.