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Fri 21 Oct, 2005 04:02 pm
By Dave Zweifel
The Madison Capital Times
Monday 17 October 2005
The Chicago Tribune produced an incredible story last week detailing how unsuspecting young men from poor countries are tricked into working in dangerous jobs for a Halliburton subsidiary in Iraq.
The two-part series retraced the journey of a group of Nepalese men who were lured to the Mideast with fraudulent paperwork that promised them jobs at a luxury hotel in Amman, Jordan, but instead wound up in Iraq working for the Halliburton subsidiary KBR, America's biggest private contractor there.
What was even more startling was the stories' revelation that the operation is financed with US taxpayer money.
According to the Tribune, American tax dollars and the wartime needs of the US military are fueling an illicit pipeline of cheap foreign labor into Iraq. Most of those falling for the fraudulent job offers are impoverished Asians who, the newspaper said, "often are deceived, exploited and put in harm's way with little protection."
The Tribune got on the story after 12 young civilians from Nepal were kidnapped by terrorists in Iraq and a few days later publicly slaughtered. The newspaper sent a reporter and photographer to Nepal, where they interviewed families and friends and soon discovered that thousands of men are routinely recruited for "good" Mideast jobs, but wind up in the most treacherous stretches of Iraq territory working in private jobs for the US military.
A brother of one of the kidnapped men told Cam Simpson, the Trib reporter, that the last time he heard from his brother was when he called from his supposed job in Jordan. He was being sent against his will to Iraq, the brother said, and then blurted out, "I am done for." The phone then went dead. The next time the young Nepalese was seen was on a TV screen two weeks later, his hands tied behind his back and a gun pointed at his head.
Simpson reported that the trail of those dozen men from Nepal revealed a chain of brokers, middlemen and subcontractors along the way, all of whom stood to profit from the trade.
To maintain the flow of cheap labor that is key to the military support and reconstruction in Iraq, the US military has allowed KBR to partner with subcontractors that hire workers from Nepal and other countries that prohibit their citizens from being deployed in Iraq, the story said. That means that the brokers operate illicitly and falsify documents that describe far different jobs near Iraq, which eventually turn out to be smack dab in the middle of the country.
"Even after foreign workers discover they have been lured to the Middle East under false pretenses, many say they have little choice but to continue into Iraq or stay longer than planned," the story continued. "They feel trapped because they must repay huge fees demanded by brokers."
KBR, which has a multibillion-dollar contract with the US Defense Department, pays the subcontractors for finding it employees to do the cleanup and rebuilding work in Iraq.
The tentacles of this war keep getting this country deeper and deeper into places we shouldn't be, including this atrocious practice that the Chicago Tribune has uncovered.
Does the paper have any hard facts to back up their story? They mentioned that there were job offers in Jordan and ended up in Iraq. Do they have any proof of these offers on paper? Have they sent someone in undercover to check this out or are they just talking to people who have known people who knew people? There is so much crap thrown around that it takes some hard proof to prove anything and nothing else would do.
One more question. The article talks about countries that won't deploy their people to these countries but did they say anything about it being illegal for these people to work there? If nothing is said about it being illegal then I wonder how this ties into the story?
If you go by the odds of everything said about Halliburton that was questionable that ended up true. Then the odds say this is probably true too. Like every other f**ked up thing this administration does to f**k this country up for there own profit. And you defend them all the way. There not even Americans. There traitors. There multi-billionaire multi-Nationals. Open your eyes. Your not winning anything.
Amigo wrote:If you go by the odds of everything said about Halliburton that was questionable that ended up true. Then the odds say this is probably true too. Like every other f**ked up thing this administration does to f**k this country up for there own profit. And you defend them all the way. There not even Americans. There traitors. There multi-billionaire multi-Nationals. Open your eyes. Your not winning anything.
You have to slow your roll there pal. Looking for clarification is far different then defending someone. I was looking for clarification on the story as to its truth. I can't help it that you say guilty before they have even gotten to court. You are the one showing a bias in this not me. I don't know where the winning came from. That is you talking about winning something not me.
Do you have a comment on the article or just some lame rant? Do you have more info that wasn't posted or just an attempted ass chewing?
you want to bet if its true or not? (hypothetically)
I just want to know the full facts and not just some story. Have you ever heard of investigative jourlism? That is what is done in a case like this not just talking to some people like they saw a car wreck.
I knew this guy who knew this guy who sisters cousin said it was real. That is what this "report sounds like."
Baldimo you STILL haven't shipped out with your unit? What are you a girl scout?
blueveinedthrobber wrote:Baldimo you STILL haven't shipped out with your unit? What are you a girl scout?
He's probably sitting in a foxhole with a wireless laptop, ducking bullets as he types.
Baldimo wrote:I just want to know the full facts and not just some story. Have you ever heard of investigative jourlism? That is what is done in a case like this not just talking to some people like they saw a car wreck.
I knew this guy who knew this guy who sisters cousin said it was real. That is what this "report sounds like."
Investigative journalism does not always entail undercover work.
If you talk to several people, and their stories match up in most impoirtant details, with the accent firmly on details, then you have what is called "corroboration".
This is consdiered good journalism-undercover work is not the only way to do things.
blueveinedthrobber wrote:Baldimo you STILL haven't shipped out with your unit? What are you a girl scout?
If you had been paying attention you would know that Ive been in Afghanistan for over a week now on my way to Pakistan to help with the earth quake.