Six in Ten Iraqis Unemployed, but U. S. Subcontractors Hire Cheap
Migrant Laborers
http://www.misleader.com/daily_mislead/Read.asp?fn=df10162003.html
October 16, 2003
Daily Mislead
Even though seven million Iraqis are unemployed1, U.S. sub-contractors
are rebuilding the Iraqi infrastructure with cheap migrant labor from
South Asia.2 The use of Asian laborers is at odds with President Bush’s
emphasis on the importance of Iraqis taking on the job themselves.
Bush has said the key to "rebuilding a democratic and prosperous Iraq
is the Iraqi people themselves."3 Paul Bremer, the Bush appointee
overseeing post-war Iraq, likewise has talked of the need to turn
around the country’s 60 percent unemployment rate and "to fix a very
sick economy."4
However, the head of the Iraqi Jobless Association, Kasem Hadi, is
critical of the Bush Administration’s lack of progress. "Following four
rounds of talks with [Bremer’s] representatives, we made no progress
regarding the unemployment crisis,"5 Hadi says.
Meanwhile, U.S. Brigadier General Janis Karpinski, one of Bremer’s
colleagues, has raised questions about the reliability of foreign
workers. “You find [them] in out-of-the-way corners taking 15 minute
naps,” she notes.6
At the same time, officials of the Iraqi Governing Council are
concerned that large American contractors, including Halliburton and
Bechtel, may be inflating the cost of the reconstruction projects. The
Iraqi governors told members of the U.S. Congress that Iraqi companies
could be doing the work at 10 percent of the cost.7
Sources:
- “Iraq: 7 Million Jobless Persons,” Asia Africa Intelligence Wire,
InfoProd, 8/27/03. - “Contractors in Iraq Accused of Importing Labour and Exporting
Profit,” Financial Times/UK, 10/14/03. - Presidential Radio Address, 7/23/03.
- Interview of Paul Bremer by Tom Brokaw, NBC Nightly News, 7/14/03.
- “Iraq: 7 Million Jobless Persons,” Asia Africa Intelligence Wire,
InfoProd, 8/27/03. - “Contractors in Iraq Accused of Importing Labour and Exporting
Profit,” Financial Times/UK, 10/14/03. - Letter to OMB Director Joshua Bolten from Rep. Henry Waxman,
9/30/03.
Comment
The Americans are continuing with their colonisation of Iraq by inflating costs and enriching their declining economy. At the same time they are keeping Iraq poor and its people hungry, so much for re-construction and other cheap and nasty slogans. Once they have milked iraq of its natural resources they will look at other muslim countries e.g Syria or Iran. Muslims take note the time for silence is over you are either with Islam or with Pharoah’s army