you know iraq is goin welll when....

[Ant]

New Business Blooms in Iraq: Terror Insurance
By ROBERT F. WORTH

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Twice in the past year, Muhammad Said has survived assassination attempts that left his car riddled with bullets. He works part time as a bodyguard for his father, a Baghdad city councilman, and helps a friend who has contracts with the American military. Both are very dangerous jobs.

So last month, Mr. Said, a slim, baby-faced 23-year-old, did what a small but growing number of Iraqis are doing: He walked into the offices of the Iraq Insurance Company and bought a terrorism insurance policy. It looked like an ordinary life insurance policy, but with a one-page rider adding coverage for "the following dangers: 1) explosions caused by weapons of war and car bombs; 2) assassinations; 3) terrorist attacks."

It cost him 125,000 dinars, about $90. Mr. Said paid more than most people because of his risky occupation. The payout, if he dies, is five million dinars, around $3,500, or about what an Iraqi policeman earns in a year.

That guarantee appears to be the first off-the-shelf terrorism policy in the world, insurance experts say.


http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/21/international/middleeast/21insurance.html?ei=5094&en=a341f56f99d24074&hp=&ex=1143003600&adxnnl=1&partner=homepage&adxnnlx=1142919402-o3uaXi2juk/rJ508wHA6NQ