HADITHA, Iraq — Thousands of civilian jobs at Al Asad Air Base would be filled by local Iraqis under a move being negotiated by members of a U.S. embedded provincial reconstruction team.

John Bauer, liaison officer for the team, said the plan is to have a cooperative of local contractors pick up all the civilian jobs at the base held by third country nationals.

The cooperative, Al Oscar, would serve as a labor broker to KBR Inc., the primary contractor. While the program will begin in Haditha, it will eventually spread to all the major cities in Anbar province.

"They may replace KBR someday," Bauer said.

Bauer couldn’t give a timeline for when the jobs would become available, but was slated to have a meeting at Al Asad with KBR officials Thursday.

The move is still being negotiated with KBR, but Al Oscar hopes to have all 5,000 of KBR’s Al Asad jobs within the year, Bauer said.

"Their goal is to supply all employment within the base," Bauer said. "There’s just a tremendous pent-up demand for employment."

Since the beginning of the war, hundreds of thousands of contractors — both American and foreign — have worked at U.S. bases. They’ve provided everything from security to laundry services to working in dining halls. Now, American officials see the contract positions as a way to help alleviate some of the lingering problems in Iraqi towns that have seen increased security.

Full-time employment is a rarity in Haditha, where State Department officials estimate between 50 percent and 70 percent of the population are looking for work.

The unemployed have become frustrated.

"If we can’t get jobs now, how are we going to survive when we’re old?" asked Abdal Baset Bhiyab Fahad, who said he hasn’t had steady work since 1993. "We have no money. No medical insurance. No jobs. Nothing."

When Bauer recently asked if anyone at a local propane distribution center needed anything to make the place better, it wasn’t the center’s personnel who answered. It was four jobless men standing idly to the side who spoke up.

"Can you get us permanent jobs here?" one asked. They’ve been sitting at the center for hours waiting for work, as they’ve done every day for a long time.

When there’s work to do — filling tanks for loading trucks — they get paid. Otherwise, they just wait. Bauer told them he can’t get them jobs at the propane center, but there are programs in the works that can get them back to work.

"Al Oscar is taking applications," he told them.

Securing jobs at Al Asad isn’t the only thing the PRT is doing to provide jobs in Haditha, Bauer said. Free job training is available at the Haditha Vocational College and the PRT is working to get loans for women who want to start businesses.

Plans are in the works to get private banks in Haditha and Al Asad. Bauer said there are no private banks in either city.

The PRT is also contracting several construction and renovation projects throughout the city that Bauer said will add between 500 and 1,000 temporary jobs to the local economy.

Bauer said creating jobs is key to stabilizing Haditha for good.

"If the counterinsurgency were done, we wouldn’t be wearing armor," he said. "The more people we can get employed and off the street, the closer we’ll be."

Ex-detainees find hunt hard

HADITHA, Iraq — While hopes that 5,000 jobs could open up at Al Asad Air Base seemed like welcome news to some of Haditha’s jobless, at least one found it a reason for frustration.

Hassan Fehsahl Dahker said every place he’s applied for work in the last 10 months has rejected him after learning of his status as a former detainee.

During the heaviest fighting in Haditha, a roadside explosion would lead to coalition forces rounding up and detaining every military-age male in the area, according to 2nd Lt. Chris Parks, I Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment.

Dahker claims he was caught in one of those roundups when a bomb exploded near his house. Since his release from the Bucca detention facility in December, he’s been unable to find a job.

While no one at Combat Operating Post Haditha could give an estimate of how many people share Dahker’s predicament, he said he knows many others.

"Not all of us are bad people," Dahker said. "They took us but we didn’t do anything wrong."

John Bauer, Haditha Embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team liaison officer, said Dahker’s plight is not hopeless.

Bauer said Dahker and others like them should still apply for jobs, including those with Al Oscar, the group that plans to act as a labor broker to KBR at Al Asad. "The first 200 to 300 people hired are going to be the cleanest of the clean," he said. "But with 5,000 potential jobs, they could eventually get to these people."