Hundreds of Iraqis gain vocational skills, but future of program is uncertain

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An Iraqi trainee learns to weld during a job training program at Contingency Base Speicher near Tikrit. The program has employed about 200 Iraqis on the base in an area with few jobs, but the Iraqis worry about whether they will be able to find work after the Americans leave.


Hundreds of Iraqis gain vocational skills, but future of program is uncertain
By Heath Druzin, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Saturday, January 17, 2009

TIKRIT, Iraq — The whir of buzzsaws and whoosh of welders fills a collection of metal sheds and wooden workshops on the edge of Contingency Base Speicher, a U.S. military base near Tikrit.

Checkered red scarves poked out of the face masks of the Iraqis welding together large metal boxes.

The Iraqi-Based Industrial Zone trade school here, built almost entirely by its students, represents one of the few paths to employment in the Tikrit area.

Like much of Iraq, the Tikrit area suffers from massive unemployment. With U.S. forces pulling back from cities by the end of June and set to leave Iraq entirely by the end of 2011, it remains to be seen whether the Iraqis’ newly acquired skills will translate to jobs when there are no more bases to maintain.

The students work here as apprentices and earn a wage as they learn trades such as carpentry, welding and small engine repair from employees of Kellogg, Brown and Root, a major military contractor. Upon graduation from the six-month program, the Iraqis are offered on-base jobs in their fields of study.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=60063