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BAGHDAD has become more dangerous but Filipinos keep pouring in to find jobs there, charge d'affaires Eric Endaya of the Philippine embassy in Iraq said Friday.

Unlike old soldiers who once just faded away, today's old soldiers are increasingly finding new wealth and celebrity as executives and on the boards of companies that do business with the Pentagon and other parts of the government.

The web of connections between Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham and a defense contractor continued to grow Friday, as did questions about the relationship between the contractor and the congressman.

"Offer citizenship to anyone, anywhere on the planet, willing to serve a set term in the U.S. military. We could model a Freedom Legion after the French Foreign."

The Pentagon's Special Operations Command last week launched a five-year, $300 million media campaign to promote its message overseas - notably in "higher-threat areas such as Iraq and Lebanon" - to be coordinated by the Joint Psychological Operations Support Element. SAIC was one of the companies picked to lead the campaign

The FBI has opened an inquiry into Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham's 2003 sale of his Del Mar house to a defense contractor, who later sold it at a $700,000 loss, a Justice Department official said.

A federal grand jury is investigating the relationship between Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham and a defense contractor, focusing particular attention on the sale of the congressman's Del Mar home to the company's owner, sources said.

Seven corporations, including several of the world's largest multinational companies, have joined with an environmental group in seeking ways to trade emission permits to reduce their production of heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions. But critics say the partnership is just more of the same hot air from the world's fossil fuel industry.

The Naval Facilities Engineering Command has assigned Halliburton subsidiary KBR to construct a two-story facility capable of handling 220 prisoners, along with a security fence.

Senate Armed Services Chairman John Warner and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld met behind closed doors this week to work out questions of pension plans for Gordon England, who is up for the Pentagon's No. 2 civilian official. England is a former executive at two of the largest U.S. defense contractors. His pensions are valued at $280,000 a year.

After almost 20 years of sporadic flying and finally being grounded, the first Iraqi Airways flight landed at Basrah International Airport June 4 with the help of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Gulf Region South. The next project, the second largest at the airport, involves the installation of Navigational and Visual Aids, according to Drew. The Navigational Aids contract, $28 million, was awarded to Raytheon and negotiations are continuing. The airport's radar equipment falls under this contract and the airport cannot receive International Civil Aviation Organization certification without it.

A controversy surrounding the detention of private contractors by US marines has exposed the sharp tensions being produced by the activities of thousands of mercenaries employed by the Bush administration to help enforce the occupation of Iraq.

Triple Canopy, founded just two years ago, got its first contract providing security for the Coalition Provisional Authority. At its peak, the company had 1,300 security personnel in Iraq. "We were a start-up and now we're in the leagues of companies who have been doing this for years," said the initial announcement.

Fijians returning home after a stint from security jobs in Kuwait say their government must thoroughly scrutinise all contracts. "I wouldn't want our local men to face the kind of life we experienced in Kuwait as it only brings tears when we think of our family back home," Mikaele Jiuta told a press conference last night

Iraqi unionists said their attempts to mobilize workers were being thwarted by all sides -- from foreign companies working in Iraq to insurgents and the U.S. and Iraqi military.

'In the 1980s, there were about 20 prime contractors; now there are only 4 or 5. There must be some recognition of the effect that this decline has on the supplier base and its ramifications for innovation and profitability. Furthermore, the Department of Defense apparently believes that the future of innovation resides with small companies, but this is counter to the ongoing trend-primarily mergers and acquisitions.'

The families of three Army soldiers who died in a plane crash in Afghanistan filed a civil suit Monday against Blackwater Lodge and Training Center, a company that contracts with the military to provide staff and equipment in war zones, and several aviation companies that Blackwater owns. At least one of the companies was operating the flight that crashed into a mountainside in November, the lawsuit claims.

The Pnetagon wants to overhaul a controversial $5.5 billion workers' compensation insurance program for overseas civilian contractors after discovering that it is paying up to 10 times more for insurance than other government agencies.

Environmental groups hailed a federal court's dismissal of a major lawsuit filed by the coal industry that had sought to silence debate on global warming and impose massive damages for the groups' global warming publicity.

The families of three soldiers killed in an Afghanistan plane crash on Monday sued the contractor that supplied the plane and crew, Blackwater USA, saying it was negligent and didn't make safety a priority.