Many of Iraq's reconstruction projects are being put on hold after a spate of foreign kidnappings and attacks on convoys in Baghdad grounded foreign and Iraqi contractors."We'll give it another week. If it doesn't improve, we'll have to leave," says Trevor Holborn of the Amman-based Shaheen Group, one of hundreds of foreign workers who have suspended their operations and headed for shelter inside the walls of the Green Zone, the heavily fortified enclave where the occupation has its headquarters.
"We still have people in Iraq, but we may not able to work on a day to day basis," said a contractor with a big US energy company. "Right now Iraq is not a safe place to work, and the safety of our staff comes first."
The kidnapping of at least 10 foreigners, and according to some reports as many as 30, has shaken the already fragile confidence of contractors. The hostages included an employee of the Houston-based company, Kellogg, Brown & Root, which handles supplies and logistics for US forces and the occupation administration and is reputed to be one of the best defended companies in the country. Thomas Hamill, 43, of Macon, Mississippi, was captured on Friday during a convoy ambush.
Coalition officials say they have contingency plans for an evacuation of civilians, but remain fully staffed. One said it was a "miracle" that none of the scores of mortars and rockets which have so rocked the enclave have hit their targets.
