Germany:For unemployed Berliner Mohamad Kabouli, the classified advertisement in his morning paper seemed like an answer to his prayers. "Arab-speaking extras sought! You want to earn €90 a day, speak Arabic and a bit of German or English? Then we have got the job for YOU!"
The 27-year-old Palestinian called immediately and was invited along with dozens of others to a Berlin casting agency.
Once gathered in a room, the casting agent asked: "Does anyone here have a problem working with Americans?" Several people did, and left, but most stayed, including Kabouli.
"I would take any job I can get," he said, telling Spiegel Onlinehe had a family to feed.
Those who stayed in the room then heard how they would be earning their €90 a day: working as Arab-speaking extras in war games with the US military.
For 21 days starting on March 20th, the "extras" will play Iraqi civilians in 10 artificial Iraqi villages built in the US army's 40,000-acre Combat Maneuver Training Center near Nuremberg. The war games to train soldiers for Iraq began in 2003.
During the games, soldiers are set tasks, such as to bring a city under control or to deal with mass protests. The extras, assigned roles such as "town mayor" and "pregnant woman", are not supposed to understand the soldiers.