Rising Violence Threatens to Delay Iraqi Rebuilding Effort

In the latest sign of escalating trouble in the effort to rebuild Iraq, thousands of Iraqi workers are refusing to show up for construction jobs due to spreading anti-Americanism and ongoing security problems, industry and occupation officials said Tuesday.

At the same time, a growing number of American and foreign contractors working in Iraq have suspended their activities, relocating staff to more stable areas or in some cases pulling out of the country entirely.

The two trends have led occupation and industry officials to worry that the delays may postpone the rebuilding effort that is crucial to providing jobs and basic services to help calm the restive Iraqi populace.

“Everybody accepts the fact that we have to move forward on the construction,” Navy Capt. Bruce Cole, a spokesman in Baghdad for the coalition office that oversees construction contracts, said by telephone. “A lot of Iraqis are looking for jobs and a livelihood. A lot of the folks involved in the unrest wouldn’t be there if they were giving up their jobs to go do it.”

As many as one-third of about 5,300 Iraqis working at various construction sites throughout Baghdad failed to show up last week, threatening to delay the opening of new military bases designed for Iraqi army forces being trained by the U.S.-led coalition.

At some sites in particularly dangerous areas, nearly half of the workers abandoned their jobs. Iraqis have told supervisors that they are afraid to travel to work because of attacks on roads, or that they don’t want to be seen working with Americans. In the south, many workers cited a recent Shiite Muslim religious holiday period as a reason to stay home.

The delays have had the biggest effect at five military bases that are being refurbished to house Iraqi soldiers. The troops are scheduled to finish their training shortly before June 30, when the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority is scheduled to return sovereignty to the Iraqi people.

Earth Tech Inc. saw its Iraqi work force drop from about 2,000 to about 1,200 this week at a military base construction site called Numaniya, near Kut, a southern Iraqi city that was overrun last week by militia fighters loyal to Shiite leader Muqtada Sadr.

“The bottom line is we are working with our client to deal with these issues that are beyond anybody’s control,” said Frank Pollare, a spokesman for the Long Beach-based company. “We’ve already been experiencing some delays. Whether we’ll be able to catch up is a function of the work environment.”

Pasadena-based Parsons Corp. is about 90% finished with a $31-million project to clean up and upgrade a site at the Taji military base outside Baghdad, installing everything from cafeteria facilities to sleeping quarters.

Although fewer workers were needed in the final stages, project managers reported that some employees had refused to work because of concerns for their safety, said Erin Kuhlman, a company spokeswoman.

“It’s too early to tell how this will impact the schedule,” Kuhlman said.

Cole, the Navy captain, said the coalition believed that the slowdown was temporary and would improve once U.S.-led forces managed to gain control of several towns that had seen uprisings.

In addition to absenteeism among Iraqis, American and foreign contractors have scaled back their operations throughout the country in reaction to the violence and the kidnappings of scores of foreign civilians in recent days.

Though counts differed, as many as 40 people from a dozen countries were being held captive Tuesday, said Dan Senor, a coalition spokesman.

The U.S. Agency for International Development, which oversees more than $3 billion in contract work in Iraq, said the latest violence had led to the “widest series of problems” to date in its rebuilding projects, according to Luke Zahner, an agency spokesman. He warned that continued violence could impede progress.

“This is not an acceptable situation,” Zahner said. “We want to see our work continue at full pace as soon as possible.”

On Tuesday, several countries including Russia, Portugal, Poland and France urged their citizens to evacuate amid the wave of attacks on civilians, according to news service accounts.

Russia’s main contractor in Iraq, state-owned Tekhpromexport, told reporters Tuesday that it had decided to evacuate its 370 Russian staff members because of the rising violence. Eight employees from the Russian firm Interenergoservis were freed Tuesday after being abducted a day earlier.

Security has become so critical that the U.S. military is planning to provide “sanitized intelligence” to private security firms protecting coalition employees at work on rebuilding projects. The private security is necessary because the U.S. military is stretched so thin.

Cole noted, however, that it was impossible to provide security to individual Iraqi workers, who live in towns and villages near the work sites and must brave dangerous roads and neighbors angry that they work for Americans.

“We’re not surprised that we have fewer workers showing up. They’re concerned for their safety,” Cole said. “It may have some impact on schedule. It may have some impact on cost. But it won’t stop us.”