Concrete barriers in Iraq save lives, but contractors are paying a high pr

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=20532

In a country where terrorist bombs are a clear and present danger, concrete blast barriers have become a critical landscape feature.

The U.S. military uses the barriers, some up to 10 feet high, to enclose its base camps. Civilian government officials, aid agencies and hotel owners wrap the concrete walls around their buildings like protective blankets. Barriers divide roads and surround parking lots.

Last week’s bombings of Iraqi police and army buildings, which killed 102 people and wounded scores more, proved the barriers’ worth. Those behind the concrete ramparts tended to survive the blasts, senior Army leader Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said at a news conference last week.

But the walls made by construction companies across Iraq come at a potentially lethal price. Many contractors who build and deliver barriers to protect others risk their own lives doing it.

“They come in here with their windows shot out, their side window vents broken and bullet holes in their trucks,” said William Beavers, a Kellogg Brown & Root foreman. Beavers ushers dozens of delivery trucks a day into the Green Zone, home of the Coalition Provisional Authority and several military units.