Mention the challenges facing troops stationed in Iraq and many things come to mind. Congested airspace probably is not one of them.

But it's becoming a problem. According to the Washington Post, US pilots find themselves sharing the skies with an ever increasing number of other aircraft, to the point where airspace in the Persian Gulf region is now considered the most crowded in US military history.

Bill Sigler, the head of a fighter jet squadron based on the USS Truman, which just finished its deployment in the Gulf, estimates that military jets in the region have access to only one fifth of the airspace they were able to use in 2002, much of it below 15,000 feet. He compares this to driving a car confined to a sidewalk. The reason for all the new traffic: a dramatic increase in commercial airline service.

The International Air Traffic Association says that traffic in the

Middle East has doubled between 2002 and 2007. That's because airlines like Emirates and Etihad, subsidized by governments drunk on oil money, are expanding like crazy – buying sexy new long-haul jets and filling them with passengers connecting in Dubai and Abu Dhabi on their way to

Europe and Asia. Throw helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles into the mix, and the airspace over the Gulf begins to look like a chaotic highway in the sky.

Sigler says it was pilot error that caused a mid-air collision between two military jets in January, but it's worth mentioning that the accident took place in a chunk of airspace used by passenger planes flying in and out of Kuwait.

The military isn't thrilled by the situation, but they're trying to find a bright side. They say the increased traffic is a sign of increased security – if airlines didn't think they could fly through the Persian Gulf safely, they probably wouldn't.

Photo: US Navy