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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.

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.

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

Some 300 Filipino workers in the sprawling American military base in Camp Cooke in Taji, Iraq went on strike because of alleged violations in their employment contracts, an e-mail message to INQ7.net disclosed.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Many Halliburton contractors leave Iraq with debilitating injuries and deep psychological scars. Then they return home only to find that the insurance they need to rebuild their lives is out of reach.