Bechtel CorporationRebecca Sooner describes life in Iraq while working as a construction engineer for the largest engineering company in the US.

Rebecca Sooner made a spontaneous decision to work as a construction engineer for

Bechtel in Iraq.“My first week was traumatic;

my boss resigned after his daughter was kidnapped, and a Bechtel employee was killed

by a car bomb,” stated Sooner, 32. “But I figured it

was better to live my life with some danger than to not live

at all.”

She soon realized that no training session exists to

prepare a human being for these situations. Being an

American construction engineer in the foreign city of

Al Basrah is dangerous. So why does she do it? First, it

pays well. Second, it is a chance to make a difference.

Third, it is a chance for adventure.

Sooner is a small town girl from the South. Her work

with Bechtel is dangerous, but fulfilling.

Months after Sooner arrived in Al Basrah, the Iraqi government increasingly lost authority as kidnappings and beheadings of Iraqis and foreigners became a frequent occurrence. All routes to the hospital were no longer safe for travel. With insurgents running the city, it almost impossible for the project to continue.

Bechtel employees are not just concerned about mere mishaps; their lives are in constant danger. Eighty-eight percent of the violence occurs away from the workplace and the violence usually results in the victim’s death. On one occasion the senior Bechtel Iraqi engineer resigned due to the kidnapping of his daughter.

“Though our employees persevered through 99 out of the 102 projects on the Iraq to-do list, Bechtel Corporations could no longer work securely as the death toll of our honored employees increased,” stated Riley P. Bechtel, the CEO of Bechtel Corporations. “We had no choice but to abandon the hospital project.”

Death claims for civilians working on U.S. government contracts in Iraq had reached 276, and 52 for Bechtel Corporations alone.

“When I first came to Iraq I was too naive to notice our primary mission: to help a country in need,” stated Ralph Wessels, a co-worker of Sooners. “But after I settled in I began to realize that the Iraqi civilians needed us the most—they couldn’t even trust their own police officers.”

Sooner says that one thing that helps numb her fear, are the times when she sees the lit up faces of Iraqi children repeating Arabic words like “ma-laak”, which means “angel.”

Wessels was the contract manager of the Al Basrah Children’s Hospital project and also the liaison between the Ministry of Health and the CEO of Bechtel. He would help to drive construction supported by digital photos, email, daily phone calls and web cameras, but the increasing levels of intimidations, kidnappings and murders had a pronounced impact on staff and subcontractors.

Though Bechtel evacuated construction, Wesselsnoted the many conversations he had with civilians and the level of appreciation they have for American soldiers and the American people.