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Some 300 Filipinos employed by Prime Projects International and Kellogg, Brown & Root, went on strike this week to protest poor working conditions.

Philippine diplomats will go to Taji, Iraq, to help settle a labor dispute between Filipino workers and two US companies in Camp Cooke, a US military base, Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo said on Friday.

Around 300 Filipino workers have gone on strike at a US military base in Baghdad, apparently in a protest over their working conditions that they say include long hours and unsatisfactory food and accommodation.

Sparks are flying between the rival sets of investigators looking at the world body's role in the scandal: those running the three probes being pursued for the U.S. Congress and those working for a U.N.-appointed panel led by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker.

In even the most benign environment, PMCs complicate military command and control, communications, intelligence, and operational security. They make combat commanders' duties more difficult and hazardous, and they blur political-military-private sector delineations that have served nation states well for the past four hundred years.

President George W. Bush may have pledged to promote democracy around the world, but most U.S. arms sales to the developing world still go to prop up dictatorial regimes, according to a new report.

Shabby treatment of non-US citizens killed while working for firms contracted by the US government seems to be the norm. The right information is sometimes as rare as desert rain -
especially if one does not know who his or her employer is.

The outgoing U.S. official overseeing rebuilding work in Iraq, said projects were moving ahead despite soaring security costs, which U.S. auditors say can chew up half of the funding. Still, Iraqis complain their electricity grid is more fragile than ever and promises to improve their daily lives have not materialized.

Iraq's insurgents are conducting increasingly sophisticated and lethal attacks on the private security companies that are crucial to the nation's reconstruction and the eventual departure of U.S. troops, contractors and U.S. officials say.

In Kampala, the gates of Askar Security Services in Kamwokya are buzzing with enthusiastic young men and women signing in for deployment in Iraq. They want to take the chance of a lifetime. They cannot wait to test the waters.

Chief Executive Dave Lesar told reporters after the meeting that the company is still evaluating a contract to rebuild southern Iraq's oil industry. As for its larger contract to provide meals, shelter and other support to the troops, he said, "We are committed to see that contract through."

The contract, under the State Department's Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, could extend from an initial base period to 10 years with incentives for strong performance. The annual contract value is $174 million, but could vary depending upon mission changes.

The Chiefs, the Elders, and tribal members met for the first time in hundreds of years back in June of 1988 with one goal in mind. They united in solidarity and in one voice to protect the Porcupine River Caribou Herd calving area in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil development and exploration.

"Triple Canopy stands alone in the industry in the quality of its
hiring and training practices, and we are seriously concerned that
reports from Honduras this week have misstated our standards for
recruiting employees for the services we provide in Iraq," said Joe
Mayo, Director, Public Affairs.

More than 1,000 contracts were issued by U.S. officials in June, about double the usual number. This apparent indifference toward accountability in spending Iraqi money was common among American officials last year as they rushed to sign contracts in the waning days of U.S. control of Iraq, according to interviews and documents obtained by the Los Angeles Times.

Assistant Labor Minister Africo Madrid said the company, Triple
Canopy, had contacted the government, saying it wanted Hondurans with
military training and was willing to pay 10 times the going rate for
similar jobs in Honduras.

Ugandan graduates left the country for Iraq in spite of protests from Members of Parliament. Special Operations Consulting Security Management Group (SOC-SMG), a Nevada-based security firm, engaged Kasango to recruit people for non-combat security jobs in Iraq and other countries.

Ceaseless attacks on contractors and facilities have also increasing security demands, with up to 16 percent of all project costs now being spent on hiring armed guards, improving site protection and providing equipment like hardened vehicles and telecommunications systems.

An April report by the U.S. Government Accounting Office found that monitoring of civilian contractors in Iraq was so poor that there was no way to determine how many contractors are working on U.S.-related security and reconstruction projects in Iraq or how many have been killed.