Al-Arab Blog - مدونة العرب

Fearful Iraqis Weigh Working With U.S. (washingtonpost.com): "With about 150,000 Iraqis already employed in security jobs, occupation officials are scrambling to hire another 70,000 to meet their goal of giving Iraqis greater responsibility for their own safety. But recruiting and training have been plagued by mass defections in the army and corruption in the police force, the Border Patrol and the agency that oversees protection of government and other facilities. And now, insurgent attacks on those institutions have shaken many would-be recruits.
'I thought being in the army would be an honorable job . . . but now I have no interest anymore and I will stop all my family and friends from joining. It is not worth this danger,' said Hussein Raad Zayeed, 20, who was wounded in Wednesday's attack. Zayeed said he would go back to selling cigarettes on the street, even though he will only earn one-fourth as much as army trainees, who are paid $120 a month.
'I came here to protect my country. I haven't done anything wrong to deserve this,' said Saad Shalal, 27, whose feet were cut in the same attack. 'If there will be any other job, I will go to it and never think about the army again.' "