third-country nationals in Iraq
From corpwatch, an excellent piece on the (mis)treatment of foreign workers employed by US contractors. The usual nastiness - people working 12 hours a day, 7 days a week for $1.56 per hour, workers left without protection or even protective clothing, recruiters lying about which country people would be taken to.
But unlike with, say, mistretment in sweatshops, here the Filipino workers are working next to highly-paid US contractors. I wonder what impact this has on the Americans - I’d imagine it being pretty hard to avoid at least some uneasiness at being treated so much better than your colleagues.
Also, these Third Country Nationals are presumably being brought in because Americans don’t trust Iraqis. That is, any Iraqis working on a base are suspected suicide bombers in the making. So you give jobs to outsiders who won’t be trying to get the USA out of Iraq, and you leave Iraqis unemployed.
Sorry, this is such a late comment, but I’m just being turned on to this fact. I’m currently stationed in Mosul and have befriended some men from Sri Lanka. Their medical providers are reluctant to provide care. The toilet facilities are unkept and unsanitary. Most importantly, their dining facility provide rice and fish heads, that is if the food shipment arrives. All left over waste from the american DFAC is trashed. Many people know about this including the public affairs officers here.
Comment by Chris — July 12, 2007 @ 5:50 pm
Chris, that’s fascinating to read. Thanks for dropping by!
Comment by Dan — July 12, 2007 @ 5:53 pm