Iraq rewards trump risks for job seekers

[Lone_Star_Dem]

BAGHDAD - Help wanted: possibly life-threatening risks, little freedom outside work, long hours but competitive pay. Must be willing to relocate to Iraq.

For many around the world, that is the sound of opportunity knocking.

The war in Iraq — nearing the fifth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion — has focused attention on some modern twists to life in the field, from soldier-bloggers to base coffee shops serving up lattes.

But few are as profound as the rise in military outsourcing.

While the spotlight shines brightest on the private security contractors and the fallout after the Blackwater Worldwide shootings last year, the true face of the war-as-work world is the legions of Iraqis and economic migrants from even poorer nations chasing a chance at a juicier payday.

The Associated Press toured the shops and eateries in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone for a closer look at Iraq's little documented international force: the workers drawn to the war for a chance at profit.

For instance, Pramod Benjamin, a 30-year-old from a family of farmers in the south Indian state of Kerala. He's been in the Green Zone for more than three years making sandwiches at a Subway restaurant.

"I'm happy and I want to stay. I need the money," he said recently as he piled meat on a foot-long bun for an American soldier.

Before he arrived, he made about $270 a month working in Kuwait for Subway. In Baghdad, he makes $900 — and, like most outside workers at U.S. facilities in Iraq, he pays nothing for living quarters and meals.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080228/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_working_the_war