The feds have hired an NGO to help train Iraqi journalists at a facility in Lebanon.

More from the CP story carried by the Winnipeg Sun:

The federal government has hired a Vancouver-based agency to train people for one of the most dangerous jobs in Iraq - journalism.

It's part of Canada's contribution to building democracy in the volatile country. The Institute for Media, Policy and Civil Society will begin training Iraqi journalists next month in Lebanon, where it says the security situation is much less volatile.

The institute has earned a reputation for training journalists and establishing media outlets in some of the world's most volatile locations. It currently operates a number of women's radio stations and a newspaper in Afghanistan.

The agency will start virtually from scratch in Iraq, suggests Karim Alrawi, the organization's director of international media programs.

"It's a huge issue," says Alrawi.

"When the Americans dismantled the state in Iraq, there was nothing else left. So we're left with a situation where there's been the deconstruction, but there hasn't been the reconstruction."