Worried contractors fleeing jobs in Iraq [View All]

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Worried contractors fleeing jobs in Iraq
By Ariana Eunjung Cha and Jackie Spinner
Washington Post

WASHINGTON - With new violence erupting in many parts of Iraq, it is increasingly challenging for U.S. contractors to continue working on thousands of reconstruction projects.

More than a few have fled their jobs without notice. At the urging of their governments, many citizens of Russia, France, and South Korea are preparing to leave. Some contractors and aid organizations have packed up and moved workers to neighboring countries.

Some who remain say it has been difficult to do their jobs as movement around the country has come to a virtual standstill. For most of the past two weeks, the U.S.-led occupation government has been on "lockdown," meaning that personnel were prohibited from leaving the Green Zone, the fortified area in central Baghdad that is the headquarters of Coalition Provisional Authority.

"We can't work. We can't go outside. We live like in a jail," said Luma Mousawi, director of Nurses-Doctors Care Organization, which is working on the rehabilitation of Iraq's health care system.

Occupation officials and contractors working in the Green Zone this week said there has been no mass evacuation. A dozen U.S. companies providing workers for the reconstruction contacted Wednesday said they were trying to do their best to work around the security problems.

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