Iraq detains international contractors

BAGHDAD -- The Iraqi government has temporarily detained more than 100 international workers in recent weeks over visas and paperwork, prompting some of their employers to ask U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to intervene, according to a trade group that represents contractors doing business here.

Most, if not all, of those detained have been released. But the detentions, which last from hours to days, are hampering the work of Iraq-based American diplomats, who rely on contractors, the International Stability Operations Association said.

The letter's author and the group's president, Doug Brooks, said companies are having trouble driving in Iraq, and employees have been held at the airport in Baghdad over visas.

"The Government of Iraq has neither renewed 2011 visas nor issued new 2012 visas," the group wrote to Clinton, adding, "Approved movements have been subject to stops, detentions, and confiscation of equipment without justification."

"It's completely hamstrung right now," Brooks said yesterday. "This is basically collateral damage from the infighting in the Iraqi government. The main reason seems to be bureaucratic incapacity."

Brooks said three Iraqi ministries -- defense, internal security and transportation -- are apparently arguing among themselves over who should control the movement of foreign contractors.

An Iraqi businessman who works with international companies expressed his frustration with the government: "We are, on one side, trying to promote Iraq to get foreign investors, but from the other side, the government is creating all kinds of difficulties."