MOSUL, Iraq - It’s a dirty, numbing, dangerous job in Iraq’s deadliest city, and pays a modest $500 a month. But when the police department recently advertised for college graduates to fill 200 positions as traffic policemen, it was deluged with 2,000 applications.

"Half of the terrorists would be defeated if we defeat unemployment," says police Gen. Khalid Soltan, citing an example of how desperately Mosul citizens scour for jobs.