Tempted by the lure of a career in Iraq?
By Duncan Walker
BBC News Online Magazine
Chefs, builders, security guards, translators, missionaries - just some of the jobs being done by foreign civilians in Iraq. Before Briton Gary Teeley was kidnapped, he was setting up a laundry. Is it more than money that attracts workers to the former war zone?
As job opportunities go, the offer of a posting to Iraq may not sound especially tempting.
But the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime has led to thousands of people flocking to the country for work which often comes with a big salary and a sense of adventure to match.
While many are former soldiers working as hired muscle for private companies, others come from the ordinarily mundane worlds of catering, translating and business management.
Few would have expected their new jobs to be straightforward. But the very real dangers involved have become increasingly apparent - with a number of foreign workers killed and civilians from at least nine countries kidnapped in recent days.
So just who are the people who want to work in such a dangerous place and what responsibility do the coalition forces have towards them?
Tentative steps
One of the most striking things about the flow of foreign workers to Iraq is that nobody is sure exactly how many people are there, who they are, or what they are doing.
It's the usual thing, that if people chose to go into a country and they don't register with us, that's a matter for them
Foreign Office
The UK Foreign Office says there are more than 1,000 British civilians now in the country - in addition to at least 10,000 troops. Of these about 150 are employed by the Ministry of Defence - working as secretaries, kitchen staff, translators, advisers and so on.
It will not say how much they are being paid, beyond the fact it is their basic salary, plus an operational allowance and various other payments.
The ruling Coalition Provisional Authority has people in similar posts, although the temporary governing body is not quite sure how many civilians - British or otherwise - it employs. It says there are at least 1,500.
Yet more foreign civilians are leading an unknown number of private firms' tentative steps towards setting up shop in Iraq. There are also aid workers and missionaries.
It's all work which creates posts for private bodyguards.
'Widespread' violence
Keeping track of all these people is proving difficult. "It's the usual thing, that if people chose to go into a country and they don't register with us, that's a matter for them," says the Foreign Office.
Nevertheless, it points out that its advice on travel to Iraq - usually via a neighbouring country like Kuwait - could not make the extent of the dangers facing visitors much clearer.
Apart from advising against all non-essential travel to the country and talking of "widespread outbreaks of violence", it lists attacks against foreign civilians, terrorism, kidnapping, car-jackings and robberies as potential pitfalls.
Newborn son
Despite the stark warnings people still think the risks are worth taking. For Gary Teeley, a 37-year-old father-of-five from Woolwich in south-east London, it was a favour that saw him return to the country.
Mr Teeley, who works for a Qatar based firm, says his best friend wanted a week off to see his newborn son and so he offered to step in.
His mother, Patricia, says she would like to think he was getting paid well, but that a sense of adventure also played a part.
"Perhaps, like a lot of young men, he does not think he's indispensable, but that he will be okay," she says. "I think he saw it as an experience."
'Extremely worried'
Travel guide writer Catherine Arnold has recently returned from Iraq to complete her book on the country. Her partner Ralph Hassall is still in the country - clearing mines near Baghdad.
Ms Arnold says the shift towards kidnapping was naturally going to make anyone with loved ones in Iraq extremely worried, but says: "[Ralph] is doing an exceptionally good job and a very important one so from that perspective I'm glad he's out there."
Mr Hassall says that thanks to the security that surrounds their work, there was a level of apprehension about safety but it had not yet reached fear.
"We've always maintained a very low profile - in the past few weeks a lot of our clearance operations in the community have had to cease because it exposed workers... to a much increased risk of kidnapping and injury," he says.
'Adventurous' person
The parents of 21-year-old Exeter University student Laura Culley, on a 'gap year' in Iraq as a military translator, have also been alarmed by recent events in Iraq.
Her mother, Annette, says: "Laura is an adventurous type of person and she will always do something a little different to her peer group."
Mrs Culley says Laura always has bodyguards with her and is "exceedingly safe".
After two-and-a-half years as a student Ms Culley also has the lure of a salary of about £200 a day to help her pay off her debts and save for the future as an incentive.
£300 a day
While civilians are earning more than they do at home, some of the top salaries are going to those who are charged with making the work of others possible - the security guards.
Civilian kidnappings
12 April: Five Ukrainian, three Russian energy workers freed
12 April: Seven Chinese men released
11 April: British laundry worker Gary Teeley released
11 April: Two Czech TV crew members go missing
9 April: US lorry-driver Thomas Hamill captured
8 April: Three Japanese civilians abducted
8 April: Seven South Korean missionaries freed
8 April: Pictures of abducted Israeli Arab aid worker released
7 April: Canadian aid worker Fadi Ihsan Fadel abducted
They are paid an average daily wage of £300, but are perhaps in more danger than any other group.
On Sunday a Romanian security worker was killed and another injured in an ambush near Baghdad. Last week British security worker Mike Bloss, from Bridgend, south Wales, was killed protecting three electrical workers from a Western firm.
'Diverse' targets
There are around 15,000 security guards, including 6,000 who are armed, working in Iraq according to Dr Michael Donovan, of the Centre for Defence Information, based in Washington DC.
Despite the large numbers of guards and he fears it will be impossible to protect all foreign workers in Iraq - even with the help of coalition soldiers.
He warns there is a "large and diverse group of targets that's probably large enough that the coalition forces couldn't hope to provide protection for even if they had intended to do so".
The British Foreign Office warns it has "limited responsibilities" towards civilians and UK Trade and Investment, a government body advising firms, offers little more comfort for those determined go to Iraq.
It says companies should only go there if they have "strong commercial reasons" for doing so and that while the government will try to help if anything goes wrong, there is no guarantee it will be able to.
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Published: 2004/04/13 10:47:28 GMT
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