I was invited to consider becoming the CEO of a tomato processing company in Erbil Iraq, near the Iranian border. The salary and expatriate benefits were quite attractive.  Harir was a fairly modern factory.  The tomatoes were not processing types of tomatoes.  The factory manufactured cans and tomato paste.  I would have lived in a compound.  The employees received a full meal for lunch, which we ate and was delicious. Because of the refined fuel situation in Iraq, there were several trucks on the Iran/Iraq border waiting to haul in refined fuel.  There was a club for the expatriates to enjoy. There was modern retail.  To fly out of Iraq, we had to journey to another airport, and during the trip we stopped to look at the fish caught in the river.  The project I learned was CIA backed and former CIA officials were investors.  The plan was to develop food processing in the north and south of Iraq.  BUT, funding fell through and needless to say, I didn’t get the job.