Iraq

The war in Iraq is killing nine civilian contractors a week on average, roughly three times the rate of last year, and U.S. government statistics show that non-Americans do most of the dying. The contractors – mostly Iraqis and nationals from more than 30 developing nations – perform jobs from guarding senior U.S. officials to translating, cooking meals, driving trucks, cleaning toilets and servicing weapons systems and computers. For every American civilian killed in Iraq from January through March, according to the statistics, four foreign contract workers died. (Reuters)