ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author owes a debt of gratitude to a number of people, without whose assistance this book would not exist. First and foremost are his editor, Mark Tavani, and his agent, Laurie Fox, who provided guidance and support throughout several drafts of the manuscript. The author’s profoundest thanks are also due to: Paul Hartford, M.D., and D. P. Lyle, M.D., for their assistance with medical details; Jay Pirouznia, Tempe P.D. (Ret.), for his guidance on executive protection matters and the details of sniper tactics, with additional assistance from the Tempe SWAT Unit sniper detail; Joaquin Aragon of Punta Mango (www.puntamango.com) and Dionisio Mejia of Guacamaya Eco Tours (www.guacamayaecotours.com.sv) for serving as the author’s guides in El Salvador, patiently explaining its culture, flora, and fauna; Ana and Mark Ramirez for aiding the author with Salvadoran slang; Eileen Beall for assistance with Spanish phrasing; Katherine Baylor, P.G., Jon Fenske, P.E., and CPT Michael J. Fuller, USAR, hydrogeologist, for their help on groundwater issues, with CPT Fuller especially helpful with information specific to El Salvador; Carlos Vasquez for educating the author on gang matters (and a word of thanks to Claire Marshall, BBC, for steering me to Carlos); Special Agent George Fong, FBI, for details concerning Mara Salvatrucha and FBI procedure outside the United States; and Michelle and Chelsea Gonsalves for their help in understanding hypothyroidism. These informed and generous individuals are in no way responsible for the thematic material of this book, nor can they be held accountable for its content. The author is solely to blame for any errors or misstatements in the text.

The author also relied on numerous written sources, specifically: From Madness to Hope: The 12-year War in El Salvador: Report of the Commission on the Truth in El Salvador, by the UN Commission on the Truth in El Salvador, Belisario Betancur, chairman (1993); Our Own Backyard: The United States in Central America, 1977–1992, by William M. LeoGrande (University of North Carolina Press, 1998); “Window on the Past: A Declassified History of Death Squads in El Salvador,” by Cynthia J. Arnson, from Death Squads in Global Perspective: Murder with Deniability, edited by Bruce B. Campbell and Arthur D. Brenner (St. Martin’s Press, 2000); El Salvador, A Country Study, edited by Richard A. Haggerty (Federal Research Division, Library of Congress, 1990); Culture and Customs of El Salvador, by Roy C. Boland (Greenwood Press, 2001); Empire’s Workshop: Latin America, the United States, and the Rise of the New Imperialism, by Greg Grandin (Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt, 2006); Understanding Central America (third edition), by John A. Booth and Thomas W. Walker (Boulder: Westview Press, 1999); Inside El Salvador: The Essential Guide to Its Politics, Economy, Society and Environment, by Kevin Murray and Tom Barry (Albuquerque: Resource Center Press, 1995); Inevitable Revolutions: The United States in Central America, by Walter LaFeber (W. W. Norton & Company, 1983); On Your Own in El Salvador, by Hank and Bea Weiss (On Your Own Publications, 2001); The Art of Executive Protection, by Robert L. Oatman (Noble House, 2000); Indian Crafts of Guatemala and El Salvador, by Lilly de Jongh Osborne (University of Oklahoma Press, 1995); The Blood Bankers: Tales from the Global Underground Economy, by James S. Henry (Four Walls Eight Windows, 2003); Water Wars: Drought, Flood, Folly, and the Politics of Thirst, by Diane Raines Ward (Riverhead Books, 2002); Water: The Fate of Our Most Precious Resource, by Marq de Villiers (Houghton Mifflin, 2000); Field Hydrology in Tropical Countries, A Practical Introduction, by Henry Gunston (Intermediate Technology Publications, 1998); “Water Resources Assessment of El Salvador,” October 1998, US Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile District and Topographic Engineering Center; Basic Ground-Water Hydrology, by Ralph C. Heath, United States Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 2220 (prepared in cooperation with the North Carolina Department of Natural Resources and Community Development, Eighth Printing, 1995); “The Way of the Commandos,” by Peter Maass, The New York Times Magazine, May 1, 2005; “The Girls Next Door,” by Peter Landsman, The New York Times Magazine, January 25, 2004; “Gangs in the US: A Multipart Report,” by Ann Scott Tyson, The Christian Science Monitor, February 27, 1996, through May 12, 1997; Gangs and Their Tattoos, by Bill Valentine (Paladin Press, 2000); Street Gang Awareness, by Steven L. Sachs (Fairview Press, 1997).