The curtain rose this week on the eighteenth annual International Confederation of Free Trade Unions conference in Miyazaki, Japan. For the first time ever Iraqi trade unionists are in attendance. Since the fall of Saddam's regime, at least 10 independent trade unions have been set up in Iraq. The ICFTU has set up a training program in Jordan to help rekindle the once strong Iraqi labor movement. The Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions faces many challenges including occupation. US forces arrested eight members of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions last year for staging a peaceful rally against the occupation.