Rebecca Sooner worked as a construction engineer for Bechtel in Iraq. Her first week was traumatic as her boss's daughter was kidnapped and a coworker was killed in a car bomb. She realized no training could prepare her for the dangerous situations in Iraq, but she did it for the pay, to make a difference, and for adventure. Months later, the Iraqi government lost control and kidnappings and killings became common, making continued work on projects nearly impossible. Ultimately, Bechtel had to abandon their hospital project due to the increasing death toll of employees from the violence.
1. Bechtel Corporation
Rebecca Sooner describes life in Iraq while working as a construction
engineer for the largest engineering company in the US.
2. 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.”
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. “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.
7. “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.”
8. 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.”
9. 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.
