David Phinney

November 01, 2007

Forced Labor in Iraq and State Department Mutiny

Interesting that State Department employees are up in arms about the prospect of being forced to work in Iraq at the new $740-million embassy, aka, "Fort Apache on Steroids":

At the same time, the the State Department's own inspector general and trafficking in persons division (along with US news editors) have cast an intensely skeptical eye on allegations about human trafficking, worker entrapment and abusive labor practices of lowly-paid Asian laborers by the embassy contractor and US-military contractors in Iraq. Most of those companies are largely based in the Middle East.

So that Means: State Department workers making well into six figures a year (with hardship salary uplifts) don't want to go but contractors have no problem finding tens of thousands of migrant laborers out of Asia to work throughout Iraq in a war zone at wages ranging between $200 to $800 a month in a war zone?

Here's the Associated Press account of a meeting with State Department employees complaining about the mandate of required service in Iraq, portrayed as an "unusually hostile session":

... Several diplomats, backed by the vocal support of their colleagues there, vehemently complained about the prospect of so-called "directed assignments" to Iraq to make up for a lack of volunteers.

"Incoming is coming in every day, rockets are hitting the Green Zone," said Jack Croddy, a senior foreign service officer, referring to the highly fortified area of Baghdad where the embassy is located.

"It's one thing if someone believes in what's going on over there and volunteers, but it's another thing to send someone over there on a forced assignment," Croddy said. "I'm sorry, but basically that's a potential death sentence and you know it.... Who will raise our children if we are dead or seriously wounded?"

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The Mega-Bunker of Baghdad

William Langewiesche takes a look in Vanity Fair.

Of course, the project is not on budget or on time. It was originally scheduled to be finished by June 2007 and cost $592-million. Th project is now being estimated to cost $740 million and remains under construction.

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October 06, 2007

Rumors of First Kuwaiti Airplanes for People Moving

From spring 2006: The general manager for the US Embassy contractor, First Kuwaiti General Trading and Contracting has two airplanes the company can't register and is piloted by a German pilot named Wolfgang .... The general manager also has another plane piloted by Brits flying in and out of Kuwait and a fourth that may be registered.

Another source related around the same time: "Some people have rumoured that First Kuwait use Chapman Freeborn flights every Thursday on their 737 and also Phoenix on their 737 with other people carried by Air Cargo Integrators ACI out of Kuwait. We, of course, could not possibly comment on how accurate these rumours are. I am sure you can get to the bottom of things. Hope this helps."

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October 05, 2007

New US Embassy in Baghdad Delayed

Widespread construction flaws and substandard work have delayed completion of the US State Department’s mammoth new $592-million embassy in Baghdad despite previous official statements that the ambitious fortified compound would be finished in September, numerous sources familiar with the project have been telling me for several weeks.

Those charges now seem to be corroborated by the Associated Press and Reuters. Both news agencies report that the sprawling, Vatican-sized embassy compound has been beset by construction and logistical problems.

"They are substantially behind at this point," and it would be surprising if any offices or living quarters could be occupied before the end of the year, one official told the Associated Press.

Reuters reports that in a letter to U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Caif., said such delays raised concerns over the adequacy of the department's management of overseas building operations.

"These delays and deficiencies undermine the security and the living standards of almost 1,000 foreign service officers and other embassy staff that will be housed at the Baghdad Embassy," wrote the California lawmaker, who chairs the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs.

One uncorroborated source told me that the State Department is considering as much as $100 million in new spending to bring the new embassy compound up to snuff. Touted as the largest embassy in the world with over two dozen fortified buildings, the 104-acre compound spans an area equal to two-thirds the size of the National Mall.

Asked about the completion date, State Department spokeswoman Nicole Thompson stressed recently that the embassy project is nearly finished but that no determined time has been set for ribbon cutting. She said the official handover to the State Department and final inspection -- known as "accreditation" --has yet to be scheduled. Those things, Thompson said, won't take place until the project is deemed complete and State Department officials have combed through the compound "with a white glove."

The State Department spokeswoman also said that no formal requests for additional funding have been made although "the project is in a constant state of evaluation."

In July, the State Departments director for US embassy construction assured Congress in July that the contractor, First Kuwaiti General Trading and Contracting, would be completing the project in September.

"We have received numerous accolades as to the extremely high quality of construction," Charles E. Williams told the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on July 26. "It is among the best.... We are slated to complete the project in September of this year and personnel can begin to move into offices and residences shortly thereafter."

But some say that officials now may be scrambling to adjust the move-in schedule, which could be well into 2008, according to once source who insists that government inspectors have found "widespread and serious flaws" in the project and have refused to allow occupancy of the new compound until the problems are repaired.

Some of alleged troubling issues include poor water filtration, weak blast walls, electrical problems, sinking foundations and substandard water lines in the fire extinguishers. If true, these issues could take six months to address, the source said, who added that if more spending is called for, the sum may be veiled as new additions to the project, but, in fact, also cover up defective and incomplete work that "will be hidden forever."

The Associated Press quotes a State Department official saying there will be no additional funding and that "delays would have no direct cost to taxpayers because contractor First Kuwaiti General Trading & Contracting Co. had agreed to deliver for a set $592 million price."

The project has come under increasing scrutiny of US Congress and an investigation by the US Justice Department into allegations of fraud and labor abuse.

The State Department's own inspector general also entered into the fray just days before being accused of ignoring allegations of waste, fraud, and abuse related to the project. The inspector genera was also singled out for "highly irregular procedures in exonerating the prime contractor, First Kuwaiti Trading Company, of charges of labor trafficking," by House Committee of Government Oversight and Reform chairman Henry Waxman, a California Democrat.

Sources say that Inspector General Howard Krongard opened an investigation of the embassy and First Kuwaiti after ignoring complaints for more than a year. just days before receiving Waxman's September 18 letter. "The investigation opened on a Friday and people were working until 9 pm that night," once source said.

The following week, Krongard then made a personal trip to Afghanistan and then Baghdad, sources said..

In January 2007, the Department of Justice contacted Krongard's office to request assistance investigating allegations of misconduct by First Kuwaiti, according to Waxman, who quoted an internal email stating that "the allegations are basically contract fraud and public ... corruption." According to the email, the public corruption allegations implicated a senior State Department offrcial overseeing the embassy construction project.

State Department project manager in Baghdad, Mary French, and First Kuwaiti have not responded to emails about the clams of faulty work, however some familiar with the project said the allegations may be overblown and reflect simple delays in finishing the details.

"No US embassy has ever been finished on time," said one former project manager of the Baghdad embassy project under contract with the State Department, Juvencio Lopez. "First Kuwaiti is a first rate company" and "had a first-rate team in place."

Lopez said two inspections of blast walls around the perimeter of the compound during construction by State Department inspectors had no "negative observations" although one perimeter fence needed replacement because it "just gave out."

But even Lopez speculated that the project will not be complete until well into next year. He said he recently met with Verizon on installing communications systems but that the company did not anticipate starting work until January 2008.

Another worker for the embassy subcontractor Hardline Installation, which installed security doors and windows, said talk about the delays are not surprising because of the security environment. "I know that the building is behind on the target opening day," he said. "The unsafe work is probably due to the fact that there are thousands of workers there from India, Philippines, etc., and they probably were not watched closely enough."

One former labor foreman claims that First Kuwaiti employed 2,000 to 3,000 migrant low-paid laborers from South Asia and Africa -- many more than were necessary if they had been skilled construction workers, he said. "Some were just goat herders from Pakistan and didn't even know they were going to work in Baghdad."

The new embassy project, located along the dusty banks of the Tigris River inside the US-controlled Green Zone, has lagged behind its projected finish dates in the past. The original target date was set for June 2007, but was first extended to July and then again to September. Some blame routine matters exacerbated by the war-time environment that delay shipments of needed materials and periodic interruptions caused by incoming rockets and mortars.

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August 01, 2007

Philippines Investigates Claims of Workers in Iraq

The Philippine government launched a full-throttle investigation this week into claims of labor trafficking and smuggling made against the Kuwait contractor building the $592-million US embassy project in Baghdad. The move comes in despite of repeated statements by Bush administration officials and the contractor that the allegations are unfounded.

Two Americans who worked at the embassy site in 2006 testified during a July 26 congressional hearing that they had boarded airplanes in Kuwait after they and other passengers were given boarding passes for Dubai before flying directly to Baghdad where they worked at the sprawling 104-acre embassy construction site in the US-controlled International Zone. The passengers were low-wage migrant workers from South Asia and Africa employed by the contractor, First Kuwaiti General Trading and Contracting, witnesses said.

One of the planes carried 51 Filipino workers who believed in March 2006 that they were headed to Dubai for jobs in hotels, according Rory Mayberry, an emergency medical technician under contract to First Kuwaiti. Mayberry said the workers had no idea that they were being flown directly flown to Baghdad until after the plane left Kuwait.

Philippine Department of Foreign affairs spokesman Claro Cristobal said his government is taking the Mayberry testimony "very, very seriously as it cuts to the heart of what we do for our migrant workers," according to the INQUIRER.net in the Philippines.

"This particular issue is so serious because the very lives of our migrant workers -- not just their comfort or their living conditions -- but their very lives are at the core of what this issue is about," he said.

Cristobal said the Philippine investigation would look into every aspect of the employment of Filipino workers in Iraq, where the Philippines has a standing deployment ban.

"The Philippines shall investigate fully the circumstances around the issue, verify each and every element in the situation for the purpose of making sure that our migrant workers don’t fall prey to what may amount to trafficking," he said.

The Philippines imposed a ban on its nationals from working in Iraq in 2004 after Iraqi militants took Filipino truck driver Angelo de la Cruz hostage. Dela Cruz was released after the Philippine government agreed to pull its peacekeeping troops out of Iraq. Since 2005, Philippine passports have been stamped with the mark, "Not Valid for Travel to Iraq." India and Nepal have imposed similar travel restrictions to Iraq for its migrant workers.

First Kuwaiti human resource manager Adel Jabbour dismissed Mayberry's claim this week while meeting with a team of Philippine diplomats in Kuwait. Jabbour is reported to have shown the officials a First Kuwaiti deployment list for workers dated March 22, 2006, with Mayberry's name that includes 11 Filipinos, 24 Pakistanis and four Indians -- not the 51 Filipinos Mayberry claims to have traveled with. Jabbour also said the plane only carried 40 passengers, according to the Philippine news network ABS-CBN.

Ricardo Endaya, Philippine ambassador to Kuwait, told Jabbour that: "We want all those Filipinos who were forcibly taken to be allowed to go home think this is very important."

"We want to know (about) their conditions," he added.

John Owens, an American labor foreman for the embassy project who boarded a different First Kuwaiti flight, related a story similar to Mayberry’s during his own testimony:

When flying from Kuwait to Baghdad, I saw a bunch of workers with tickets to Dubai. Mine was the only one that said Baghdad. When I asked the First Kuwaiti manager, he said -- “Shhh, don’t say anything. If Kuwaiti customs knows they’re going to Iraq, they won’t let them on the plane.” When we landed, these workers were taken away in busses. There was nobody manning the customs station at the airport in Baghdad -- I just walked through on my way back to the Green Zone.

Meanwhile, Philippine labor attache Leopoldo de Jesus ordered an investigation of all manpower recruitment agencies deploying workers to First Kuwaiti. He identified these agencies as Great Provider, GFI, MMS and Yanghwa. He said that these agencies have job orders from Middle East-based contractors. The workers are told that they will be assigned in Kuwait.

The Philippines also has issued a note verbale to the Kuwaiti embassy in Manila reminding it of the standing ban on the deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to Iraq, the INQUIRER.net reported.

Earlier this week in Manila, Sen. Manuel Roxas II said there are an estimated 10,000 Filipino workers in Iraq who should not be there because of the continuing ban on deployment of Filipinos to the war-torn country. He cited information that the workers were reportedly being forced to work in substandard conditions and an unsafe environment.

During the July 26 congressional hearing, the State Department's inspector general, Howard J. Krongard, said he visited the Baghdad embassy site last September after hearing allegations of worker abuse and possibly trafficking.

Krongard told US lawmakers that he gave the First Kuwaiti advance warning. During his September 15 visit, Krongard said he interviewed six workers selected by the contractor to gather information about the allegations but reported that :Nothing came to our attention" to substantiate the claims. He also said he spoke to 50 other workers while touring the embassy construction site where as many as 3,000 workers are employed.

Other former workers at the embassy site told IraqSlogger in May that if Krongard visited earlier than last September and unannounced, he may have witnessed something very different.

"Most of the allegations (from the Americans) were true before he arrived," claimed Juvencio Lopez, a high-level project manager under the US State Department over the course of 2 years. During a telephone interview.... he said the laborers "had their backs to the wall," and had been living 20 to a trailer. Protests over First Kuwaiti’s bad food, abusive treatment from managers and unsafe working conditions were routine among many of the 2,700 workers during much of 2005 and 2006.

"There were strikes and sit-downs every month," Lopez says. He left Iraq in November 2006 and is now home in San Antonio, Texas. "Sometimes there were almost riots."

Lopez vividly recalled a First Kuwaiti security guard unholstering his 9mm handgun and walking among the squatting protestors telling them to get back to work. Had the guard fallen or workers tackled him to the ground, the gun might have gone off. Lopez said he immediately reported the incident to First Kuwaiti. "Someone could gotten killed or injured."

On another occasion, a company manager roughed up a Filipino worker, sources say. All of the other Filipinos nearby began loudly protesting as bewildered workers from other countries watched. "The workers were from 36 different countries and they everyone spoke a different language," Lopez says.

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May 17, 2007

Gulf Catering Wins More Business

Target for Constant Whining: Although repeatedly accused of labor abuse and possible human trafficking of workers, Gulf Catering won another multimillion-dollar contract to feed US troops.

Rest assured: The Pentagon looked into the allegations and found no substance to them. The unfounded badgering and rumors about the Saudi firm are all just malicious attacks -- no doubt.

The Sole Subcontractor: Gulf Catering will be building and operating food services for 11 dining facilities serving US soldiers and sailors throughout Kuwait under a US contract held by Agility Defense & Government Services (formerly PWC Logistics). Agility won the one-year, fixed-price contract from the Defense Logistics Agency with options for two more years. Total Potential Worth: $127 Million, according to an Agility press release.

FALSE ALARM?: A source in Iraq alleged in March that dozens of Indian workers found employment conditions with Gulf Catering so bad that "they are running away at night from their camps here at Stryker and jumping the wire.... I am concerned for them because they are running and no where to go..... The embassy is in the Green zone ten miles away.... and you have to go in the red zone to get to it from here."

Running away? The source said that Americans brought the Indians back to the camp. None of the low-paid workers had identification or passports. The documents were taken away from them by a manager before they ran away, the source was told. The Indian workers said they were quitting their jobs be they were being beaten. One said he had been handcuffed to a post for hours.

One unnamed source does not make this allegation worth a news story: So, I checked into it. I emailed Gulf Catering but received no reply. I phoned. A person took a message. I was told someone would get back to me. No one did.

The Army had no Idea: And referred the inquiry to Halliburton's KBR, which holds the prime contract with the Army for maintenance and dining at Camp Stryker. Gulf Catering is a favored KBR subcontractor there. KBR said:

KBR has determined the information you have to be incorrect and does not involve KBR or its subcontractor. However, we can assure you that KBR does not condone and will not tolerate any practice that unlawfully compels subcontractor employees to deploy, perform work or remain in a place against their will.

I asked the KBR person in Iraq for a Gulf Catering contact. No response.

In the News: Gulf Catering landed on The Washington Post radar for labor abuse and possible labor trafficking as early as July 1, 2004. Deftly written by Ariana Eunjung Cha, Underclass of Workers Created in Iraq tells the story of Dharmapalan Ajayakumar from India:

Ajayakumar, 29, a former carpenter's assistant from this coastal town, was not there by choice.... He said he was tricked into going to Iraq by a recruiting agent who told him the job was in Kuwait. Moreover, he said, the company skimped on expenses by not providing him and other workers with adequate drinking water, food, health care or security for part of their time in the war zone.... "I cursed my fate -- not having a feeling my life was secure, knowing I could not go back, and being treated like a kind of animal," said Ajayakumar, who worked for less than $7 a day.

The Indian recruiter Subhash Vijay had hired Ajayakumar and other workers to work for Gulf Catering of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which was subcontracted to Alargan Group of Kuwait City, which was subcontracted to the Event Source of Salt Lake City, which in turn was subcontracted to KBR of Houston. They were issued ID cards that said ""Brown & Root," a subsidiary to Halliburton.

The New York Times ran a similar story earlier that year about another group of Indians, Indian Contract Workers in Iraq Complain of Exploitation:

Officials from Gulf Catering Company, a Saudi company hired by KBR to provide food services at six American bases in Iraq, confirmed that it employed the four men. But the officials denied that the men had been exploited, underpaid or prevented from leaving Iraq.

"The passports are only kept for safekeeping," said Nico Smith, the company's human resources manager. "When they wanted to resign we never said they can't go."

Taking Away Passports: The Pentagon found last year that the practice of "holding and witholding" passports was "wide spread" among companies working under US-funded contracts in Iraq. It is a red flag for labor trafficking.

In the Pentagon's words: "This practice violates the law under Title 18 U.S. Code." That's a serious violation punishable by fine and prison, but no company or individual has yet been publicly penalized.

More on the subject here.

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May 12, 2007

Migrants Forced to Work in Iraq

The International Herald Tribune discovers that trafficking in Iraq of workers is alive and kicking:

Instead of the conventional jobs that were promised, traffickers are hustling them into hardship conditions with little pay and no mobility, according to groups that work with migrants and small numbers of migrants themselves who have managed to ask for help....It is the latest twist in a migration pattern that is creating extreme circumstances for vulnerable people who go abroad in quest of work.

Here's the Tribune story.

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April 29, 2007

Forced Labor More Wide Spread than Sex Trafficking?

The global trafficking for forced labor may be a bigger problem than the higher profile problem of sex trafficking: So says Kristiina Kangaspunta, the chief of the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit for the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime ( UNODC ).

"We don't know, but it seems that it might be that forced labor is a bigger part of the human trafficking than human trafficking for sexual exploitation," she explaned at the 16th session of the United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in Vienna, Austria. She added: "It may be that sexual exploitation is simply reported more often."

Why would that be? Because many nations have bans on sex trafficking but not coersion of labor. Therefore, the numbers on labor trafficking are only based on news reports and guesstimates.

More here.

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March 21, 2007

'Human Trafficking is Slavery'
Even by US-Funded Contractors in Iraq

....And US-funded contractors taking away passports from low-paid migrant workers in Iraq is a crime under US law. That's a red flag indication of labor trafficking. The Pentagon found the practice is/was widespread under KBR.....

Why wasn't any subcontractor busted?

This is a very important question.... read on.

Manpower, Inc., sponsored a public service announcement last December calling on 1,000 of the world's largest companies to help end human trafficking. It was the first global corporation to sign the Athens Ethical Principles, an initiative of the "End Human Trafficking Now!" (EHTN!) campaign.

The principles declare "zero tolerance" for working with any entity benefiting in any way from human trafficking, including clients, vendors and business partners.

"Trafficking human beings is now the third largest illegal industry on the planet, following only arms and drug smuggling," said David Arkless, Manpower Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs and Special Envoy for the EHTN! campaign. "It is a modern form of slavery and no matter where companies are operating, their supply chains could be benefiting from trafficking. We cannot ignore this exploitation and we encourage other companies to join us in standing against this industry."

THE PENTAGON recently acknowledged that the practice of taking passports was "widespread" by companies working under US funded contracts in Iraq. It is a red flag for labor trafficking. Subcontractors employing low-wage laborers from impoverished Asian and African nations working under the Halliburton/KBR $16-billion-and-counting military logistics contract (LogCAP) were among the worst offenders.

Why were employers holding passports? To prevent employees from "jumping" to other firms, the Pentagon said. The sentence ended by adding "among other things." What "other things" were found is something the Pentagon declines to share.

In the Pentagon's words: "This practice violates the law under Title 18 U.S. Code." That's a serious violation punishable by fine and prison, but no company or individual has yet been publicly penalized.

Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 states:

....that "to prevent or restrict or to attempt to prevent or restrict, without lawful authority, the person's liberty to move or travel, in order to maintain the labor or services of that person, when the person is or has been a victim of a severe form of trafficking in persons, as defined in section 103 of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for not more than 5 years, or both."

US LAW DEFINES FORCED LABOR:
§ 1589. Forced labor

Whoever knowingly provides or obtains the labor or services of a person --
(1) by threats of serious harm to, or physical restraint against, that person or another person;
(2) by means of any scheme, plan, or pattern intended to cause the person to believe that, if the person did not perform such labor or services, that person or another person would suffer serious harm or physical restraint; or
(3) by means of the abuse or threatened abuse of law or the legal process, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both. If death results from the violation of this section, or if the violation includes kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or the attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, the defendant shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for any term of years or life, or both.

Check it out on YouTube.com: By this time tomorrow 36,000 people will have been trafficked.
------------------------------------------------------
Companies can sign up for the Athens Ethical Principles and learn more about the End Human Trafficking Now by visiting: www.endhumantraffickingnow.com

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January 09, 2007

'Deplorable' Conditions for US Contract Laborers in Iraq

Just cleaning up my notes and found this inspection of a labor camp for the US Army dining facility at Camp Marez. Dated February 2005, most of the people living there were low-wage workers from the Philippines and Turkey.

"Filthy" is the common word summarizing the housing where workers were kept under this multi-billion-dollar US contract held by KBR/Halliburton.

Even now, there are tens of thousands of such workers imported from around the world to work in Iraq for dollars a day in support of the US military. The hiring of local Iraqis has been slow in coming because contractors are terrified of terrorists and insurgents.

"It is of my professional opinion that there are too numerous of health and safety issues to list individually regarding these buildings where these workers currently reside," notes the inspection. "The living conditions of these workers are deplorable and at least one of these buildings should possibly be condemned. In many areas of these buildings a strong smell of urine is overwhelming. It is important to note that these individuals that reside here appear to be clean in appearance and utilizing proper hygiene in spite of these conditions."

Among the highlights:

"Vermin holes in walls"

The person who sent it to me says the workers for the Turkish subcontractor working for KBR were fairly evenly mixed between Turks and Filipinos, but that the Turkish management heavily discriminated against the Filipinos.

The verbatim inspection is after the jump.

01 February 05

Partial Inspection of H-4 DFAC Worker's Living Area

This inspection was conducted by QAQC Inspector, Bobby Lee Johnson and Pamela Tibbs, Safety Coordinator. Also present was Serka Sub-Contractor Representatives, Hasan Kocahan and Murat Arikoglu. It should be noted that this inspection was conducted with the purpose of reviewing the living conditions of these workers.

It is of my professional opinion that there are too numerous of health and safety issues to list individually regarding these buildings where these workers currently reside. The living conditions of these workers are deplorable and at least one of these buildings should possibly be condemned. In many areas of these buildings a strong smell of urine is overwhelming. It is important to note that these individuals that reside here appear to be clean in appearance and utilizing proper hygiene in spite of these conditions.

It appears that the buildings are not grounded at all or not grounded properly in many cases. Between the buildings and lying on the ground are electrical cables and debris which is noticeable in many areas throughout the referenced area. This not only creates safety and health concerns but gives the area an overall unkempt appearance. The interior of these buildings in most cases are in worse conditions. Shower curtains are almost non-existent and the evidence of mold is rampant throughout these buildings. Smoke detectors are few and some that are present do not have batteries. All fire extinguishers have no tags attached however the ones that were located appeared to be properly charged.

Again, this inspection should be considered a partial inspection because many of the interior doors were locked and could not be entered and properly inspected. It is suspected that in many cases the ratio of workers to a bedroom/bathroom is unacceptable.

It is our understanding that these workers are scheduled to be relocated in the next few weeks to a different living area within the confines of H-4 Marez. A strong sence of urgency is recommended to act quickly on the relocation of these workers and/or repairs/ necessary safety issues addressed immediately. It should be obvious that our findings will reveal that in many cases repairs and renovations would not be economically feasible.

The following is a partial listing of discrepancies and non-compliance issues found and documented in our partial inspection of each of these building that are the domicile of these workers.

Dining Facility Lounge

Loose stepping stones at entrance creating a possible trip hazard

Electrical cord at entrance on the floor creating a possible trip hazard

No hot water available to the rear sink

Dining Facility Lounge (cont.)

Circuit board is missing a switch cover on one switch

Vermin crack in walls

All windows need re-caulking and not sealed properly

Hole in wall over door at east entrance

No tag on fire extinguisher

Loose electrical cable(s) on walls not securely mounted throughout facility

Rear/East Door not sealed properly with a large gap at the bottom

Note: There are electrical cable(s) hanging between the Dining Facility Lounge and Dormitory One as well as on the ground. Debris is scattered around the exterior of the building creating possible tripping and safety/vector hazards

Male Dormitory One

Exterior door missing glass window and open to the elements

There is only one exterior door that is not locked. Fire and/or emergency hazard

Overhead light(s) in hallway missing covers and some are broken and not working

Toilets leak as well as the shower heads and sink fixtures

Mold is evident

No light fixture cover at ceiling

New caulking is needed in the bathrooms as well as the bedrooms inspected

Vermin holes in exterior of building at top of exterior doors

Female Dormitory

Exterior door missing glass window and open to the elements

There is only one exterior door that is not locked. Fire and/or emergency hazard

One ceiling hall light not working

Ceiling light fixture is not secured properly

Bathrooms have leaking plumbing fixtures

Mold is evident

Electrical box at ceiling has no cover

Electrical wires are hanging from ceiling

New caulking is needed in the bathrooms as well as the bedrooms inspected

Vermin holes in exterior of building at top of exterior doors

Large Metal Container

(This was locked and we were advised that no persons lived in it and it was only used for storage.)

Male Dormitory Two

(Believed to be housed by ABC Sub-Contractor Workers)

Insufficient number of workable smoke detectors

Only one shower out of two is functional

Leaking plumbing fixtures at sink, shower and toilet

Filthy

Mold is evident

Strong odor of urine is present

Only one toilet is functional

Duck work in building leads to outside elements with no covers

Poor or very little floor drainage

Broken mirror(s) mounted on the wall(s)

Rain water enters at the floor on the east side of this building

A fire has occurred in this building and smoke damage is present

Caulking is needed throughout the building

HVAC unit is one of the rooms needs replacement

Vermin hole in west wall of one of the rooms at floor level covered with cardboard

Several loose ceiling light fixtures

Electrical wires hanging from the ceiling in several rooms

Male Dormitory Three

Electrical wires exposed at ceiling of west door

Bathroom is filthy

No ceiling light fixture

Shower curtain(s) if present are a health hazard

Mold is evident

Leaky plumbing fixtures

Loose ceiling light fixtures

Caulking is needed to throughout the building

Insufficient number of smoke detectors

Vermin holes in walls

Buildings Numbers Four – Nine

(The following is again only a partial listing of our findings)

Filthy

Mold is evident in bathrooms

Leaky plumbing fixtures

Insufficient number of smoke detectors

Loose Ceiling Fixtures

Caulking is needed throughout these buildings

Poor or little drainage in bathrooms

Loose ceiling light fixtures (many without covers)

Vermin holes in exterior walls

Some cracked or broken windows

Skilled Services Building

We were advised that only six people occupied and/or lived in this building. These individuals are alleged to be electricians, plumbers, generator repairmen, etc.

It is our opinion that there is evidence that more than six people live in this building. Most of the interior doors were locked or unable to be opened.

West side of exterior of this building is cluttered with debris and electrical wires

30 rooms with most locked and unable to enter and inspect

Circuit board does not shut properly and is not locked

One bathroom and is filthy with a strong odor of urine

Shower curtain is moldy and filthy

*Six sinks with one not functioning

*Six showers with only one functioning

*Six toilets with only one functioning

Floor tile is missing and the floor is wet with poor or limited drainage

Broken windows in some bedrooms

Caulking is needed throughout

Large hole in ceiling

Only two hall lights working

Insufficient number of smoke detectors

Missing covers for ceiling light fixtures

Skilled Services Building (Continued)

*It should be noted that these sinks, showers, and toilets are being used and functional but have leaky faucets and shower heads. There is water accumulated on the floor and the area is unsanitary. There does appear to be a strong odor of bleach in the air in a possible effort to sanitize this room.

It is an accurate statement that many of the listed items of concern are rampart throughout the compound. While all the health, safety and non-compliance issues listed in this inspection are accurate they are many still not noted in this report/inspection.

Bobby Lee Johnson

QA Inspector H-4 Marez

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January 05, 2007

Congress Urged to Look at Labor Trafficking

GovExec reiterates POGO's press release today by outlining the group's 13 priorities for Congress in the coming session. Among those priorities, the often celebrated, self-appointed, Washington-based watchdog group, aka, the Project on Government Oversight, singles out labor trafficking under US contracts in Iraq:

Highlighting a little-known issue, the advocacy officials cited a Defense Department investigation into human trafficking by federal contractors operating in Iraq. They noted that no hearings have been held to examine potential abuses of third-country nationals working on U.S.-funded projects, including the illegal confiscation of passports and violations of Iraqi immigration rules.

For more on what is claimed to be the "little known issue" of labor trafficking under US contracts, click here.

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December 17, 2006

'Among Other Things'

The Pentagon announced last spring that contractors in Iraq were taking and holding civilian employee passports.

Why?

To prevent employees from "jumping" to other firms.... "among other things."

Did the "other things" include discouraging laborers from escaping harsh treatment, non-payment of salaries, poor food, lousy housing, and just one too many incoming mortar rounds when an employer failed to issue proper, but expensive body armor? Those conditions have been all to common as I reported in Blood, Sweat and Tears.

The Pentagon won't offer any comment other than note in its announcement that "the right of freedom of movement" is a serious issue.

One would hope so.

Passports are not just a grown-up version of hall passes. In the Pentagon's words about taking away passports: "This practice violates the law under Title 18 U.S. Code."

The Pentagon claimed the practice of taking passports was "widespread." Subcontractors working under the Halliburton/KBR $16-billion-and-counting military logistics contract (LogCAP) were among the worst offenders.

Largely headquartered in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the UAE, these subcontractors are called "body shops." They employ thousands of low-paid laborers recruited from south Asian countries and ship them to Iraq.

This Pentagon's discovery of taking passports led to a on April 21, 2006, order to contractors demanding that all passports be returned by May 1.

I am hearing that at least one company failed to return all the passports it was holding at military camps.

I am also told that First Kuwaiti Trading and Contracting was withholding passports of hundreds, if not thousands of workers, at the US embassy site in Baghdad until late October. One reason, allege more and more former employees, is because First Kuwaiti was busy smuggling workers in from Kuwait. That would be another no no.

What penalties does the Pentagon lay out if contractors are found to be withholding passports?

They include withholding payments, contract termination, negative performance evaluation, suspension, and/or debarment. Contractors also may be prohibited access to any government installation.

What are the penalties to First Kuwaiti, if, in fact, it did not return passports until late October? Maybe none. The $592-million embassy project is a State Department contract -- and not under the Pentagon.

Did anyone get busted?

Oh, by the way, the State Department is the flagship of US foreign policy. Passports are considered government property by the country that issues them, not that of the individual.

Now..... back to "among other things."

Right, now, the Pentagon isn't saying what those "other things" are -- at least as far as my inquiries have found. And if you notice in the following statement, the Pentagon cleaned up its "among other things" but mentions an unidentified "trafficking incident."

Okay, I'm splitting hairs... But here it is:

Mr. Phinney,

This is all we will say about the trafficking incident.

During an inspection by the MNF-I Inspector General (IG) that was completed in late March, evidence indicated a wide spread practice of holding and withholding employee passports to prevent employees "jumping" to other employers. It is the position of Multi-National Forces-Iraq (MNF-I) that this practice violates the law under Title 18 U.S. Code.

An added note: First Kuwaiti competitors tell me that the State Department awarded three new embassy projects in Africa this fall to First Kuwaiti and a renovation in India. Unlike the Baghdad embassy, these projects needed classified clearance so First Kuwaiti teamed up with a US firm, Grunley-Walsh of Rockville, Md.

12/29/06: I just found this Aug. 22, 2005, document in my old emails. The letter lays out the position of five leading Washington, DC, contractor associations about proposed labor trafficking regulations. Apparently, the Pentagon was already concerned about the issue in Iraq as early as June 2005.

01/03/07: I just found this Halliburton email response to inquiry about the Pentagon investigation of labor trafficking.

If KBR became aware of an allegation of unlawful activity, the company would initiate an investigation. If there was evidence to support the allegation, KBR would take appropriate action, up to and including terminating the subcontractor and/or reporting the actions of the subcontractor to KBR's client, the U.S. Army. The Army has the authority to debar contractors.

As a matter of policy, KBR does not disclose to the media the results of the company's investigations into personnel and contractual matters.

Melissa Norcross
Halliburton
04/26/06

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KBR Gives a Pass to Costly Insurance Requirements in Iraq

I have a curious one-page memo, "Blanket Insurance Waiver," which apparently allows Halliburton/KBR to waive insurance requirements -- read cut "costs" -- to potential subcontractors working under Halliburton's sweeping military logistics contract, known as LOGCAP.

Four top-level KRR managers approved this internal memo November 26, 2002, while the Bush administration's Global War on Terror was in full swing in Afghanistan and poised to expand in Iraq.

The memo grants sweeping discretion to KBR contract officers in the field, i.e., Iraq. Among them is the freedom to ignore insurance requirements when subcontractors claim they can't find a suitable insurance carrier. That insurance requirement covers general liability, automobile liability, and the stautory amount for worker's compensation and employer's liability.

One contracting insider believes that KBR's contracting officers routinely used the waiver to help non-US businesses be more competitive when bidding on multi-million-dollar contracts under the logistics deal. (In other words, KBR personnel allegedly lowered the threshold on costs during the bidding process for select firms in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and other countries, says the source.)

"It appears that waivers were routinely handed out, but only to non-US businesses, " he asserts.

This insider claims that because insurance coverage for workers is mandatory on Pentagon contracts, the waiver grants a very liberal license to a contracting officer who waives the requirement.

"In 2004-2005, coverage was running from $27 to $35 per $100 of wages. Essentially, providing a waiver to foreign firms gives them an automatic 27-35% price advantage on Labor Contracts over honest American entities," the insider says.

Halliburton/KBR spokesperson Kathy Mann explains the waiver this way:

"KBR's standard commercial terms and conditions for subcontracts include a requirement to demonstrate that the vendor maintains appropriate commercial insurance. Understandably, most standard insurance policies contain war risk exclusions. Accordingly, due to the war-zone conditions in Iraq at the time, most insurance carriers would not extend coverage under their insurance policies to cover the work of the subcontractors in Iraq. In accordance with our established procurement procedures, KBR needed to waive this requirement to award the subcontracts to support the troops. "(Update 12.20.06)

According to the US Labor Department, which oversees Defense Base Act insurance requirements, there are four major insurance carriers currently providing DBA coverage in Iraq: AIG, ACE-USA,
CNA, and Chubb. And there are others. There's more on DBA requirements in Iraq here. (Update: 12.21.06)

So does this waiver affect DBA requirements by the Labor Department? I am still checking.

This is what Labor has to say about DBA, which is related to the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act (LHWCA):

"The insurance requirements under the DBA are identical to those found in the LHWCA (Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act). The Longshore Act requires every employer (including contractors and subcontractors) either to secure insurance for the payment of workers' compensation benefits provided under the Act or to be permissibly self-insured. If a subcontractor fails to secure the payment of compensation, the contractor will be liable and will be required to secure the payment of such benefits."

The real question, though, is whether LogCAP requires subcontractor insurance, not whether KBR's "standard commercial terms" do.

A prominent attorney working on Iraq contract fraud tells me that this memorandum may be cause for crying foul on perhaps hundreds of contracts.

"There is a potential False Claims Act claim here. It's would be a little difficult to pin down the Government's damages, but clearly, if KBR must require subcontractors to obtain insurance, and it's not doing so, then every invoice certifying contract compliance is a false claim." (See qualifying analysis below.)

Another prominent government attorney tells me he's not so sure, but regardless of the blanket legal interpretations, allowing a private contract officer the personal discretion to waive insurance requirements opens the door for some handy favoritism that could potentially be rewarded with generous kickbacks.

That's one reason why the special inspector general charged with investigating Iraq contracting is looking hard at the hidden layers of subcontractors working underneath Halliburton/KBR, according to a number of sources talking to me.

Halliburton/KBR has now billed $16 billion since the war on terror began largely from its business in coordinating camp construction and maintenance, food services and supply convoys in Iraq and Afghanistan. (That's my rough estimate on the Pentagon's tab.)

Much of that work has been handed out to subcontractors, while KBR tacks on a percentage surcharge for awarding and coordinating the contracts. (Imagine a pyramid of contractors with Houston-based KBR sitting at the top.)

The four KBR managers who signed the memo are:
-- Tod E. Nickels, senior procurement and materials manager
-- John Downey, project general manager (LOGCAP) project
-- Bob Herndon, vice president, operations maintenance and logistics
-- Tom Crum, chief operating officer.

As far as the waiver is concerned, read on:

Here's what the attorney says about the insurance memo:

"This raises several legal issues. The main ones are: (1) what one has to do to waive a requirement like this, and (2) who has to do it.

The insurance requirements for federal subcontractors are rather heavily regulated. This is particularly in the area of construction (which is supposed to be KBR's specialty). It's not simply a function of what the LogCAP contract says, but also a function of regulations and statutes. Some of these requirements simply cannot be waived. Others can be waived only by a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) in the Federal Register. Still others require approval at a level higher than the contracting officer, e.g., the head of the contracting activity. I sincerely doubt that the only insurance requirement is whatever requirement that KBR chooses to impose in its form subcontract.

As to the first issue, i.e., how to waive a requirement like this, I don't have enough information to know in which category the LogCAP subcontractor insurance requirement falls, but it's very, very unlikely that a one-paragraph memorandum is sufficient. The minimum conceivable requirement is a formal contract modification, and this memorandum just isn't one. As I said, it's quite possible that even a formal contract modification wouldn't suffice. For instance, a modification can't waive a mandatory statutory requirement.

Then there is the issue of who has the authority to do something like this. Again, the minimum conceivable requirement is something signed by the administrative contracting officer for the contracting activity in question. (In the case of LogCAP, that's an Army Command at Rock Island, IL.) I don't see anyone signing this memorandum who fits the description. Conveniently for KBR, it's not on any stationery, and the signatories' employer is not identified. It looks to me, however, that all of the signatories might be KBR employees. The idea that KBR itself would have the authority to waive its own insurance requirements under the LogCAP prime contract is almost laughable, but with KBR, anything is possible.

If one wanted to know exactly what provisions were being violated here, one would have to review the LogCAP Request for Proposals, and possibly (but not necessarily) the task orders and formal contract mods. As you know, the task orders are notoriously difficult to obtain through FOIA.

There is a potential False Claims Act claim here. It's would be a little difficult to pin down the Government's damages, but clearly, if KBR must require subcontractors to obtain insurance, and it's not doing so, then every invoice certifying contract compliance is a false claim."

Update 12/29/06: One informed observer notes in an email,

bastards ...
take my word for it, they are required to carry DBA, are criminally liable if they don't AND KBR's responsibility for it flows -- even criminally -- down to the lowest sub of a sub of a sub. They can get a waiver from the Labor Dept., but they did not get any waivers for Iraq. Don't have those files anymore, but I believe the guy you want is Jack Martone of the Labor Department (he was about to retire 1.5+ years ago, but was pretty helpful). You can also look at GAOs attempt to look at the DBA question, which was really, really lame. Their interest, of course, was not in whether benefits were being illegally denied to workers, but how much DBA was costing taxpayers given the extensive use of contractors in Iraq. My recollection is they basically threw up their hands and said, "We have no fucking clue, since no one even knows how many contractors there."

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November 29, 2006

Greetings from Bangkok

Lots of new things to report from my travels to Manila. I met with government officials and former workers with First Kuwaiti Trading and Contracting.

I am told that First Kuwaiti is on a Philippine agency "watch list" for numerous complaints from workers about alleged labor trafficking into Iraq and horrid working and living conditions there. The company, which is now building the US embassy in Baghdad, has been on that list since mid-2005.

Apparently, the US State Department was unaware of these allegations, dismissed them, or just didn't deem them substantial enough when it awarded the $592-million contract to First Kuwaiti. And why did First Kuwaiti get the contract when it was $60 million or more over the lowest bidder for the work? Some say First Kuwaiti was the only company that could deploy quickly enough. Others say First Kuwaiti had the inside track because it was awarded sole-source contract to first clean up the embassy site.

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November 13, 2006

Labor Trafficking

Quoted by BBC.

"Pakistanis becoming fodder for Iraq war machine"

I don't have a clue to how this was picked up from a story I wrote more than a year ago, but the pickup is on the jump.

Pakistani migrants said "fodder" for US in Iraq BBC Monitoring South Asia - PoliticalSupplied by BBC Worldwide Monitoring November 13, 2006 Monday

Copyright 2006 British Broadcasting Corporation
All Rights Reserved
BBC Monitoring South Asia - Political
Supplied by BBC Worldwide Monitoring

November 13, 2006 Monday

LENGTH: 747 words

HEADLINE: Pakistani migrants said "fodder" for US in Iraq

BODY:

Excerpt from report by Pakistani newspaper The News website on 13 November, by Shahid Husain, headlined "Pakistanis becoming fodder for Iraq war machine"

Karachi: A group of 600 Pakistanis deported from Oman arrived aboard a ship here on Thursday [9 November], with their dreams of a better life shattered. Packed like sardines aboard the vessel, they were the victims of a massive network that lures young men with promises of easy money in foreign lands. Their story is no different from that of thousands of others.

Human trafficking from Pakistan to other countries, especially in the Middle East, is rampant through legal as well as illegal channels, a well placed official of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) told The News. The confirmation comes in the wake of reports published abroad that a large number of migrant workers from impoverished South Asian countries such as the Philippines, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal are becoming fodder for the US war machine in Iraq.

"About 9,000 to 10,000 immigrants from Pakistan are deported from Muscat alone every year as a result of human trafficking," says Muhammad Malik, additional director, FIA Passport Circle. "About 60-70 per cent of the deportees hail from the Punjab, 15 per cent from the North West Frontier Province, 10 per cent from Sindh and 5 per cent from Baluchistan," he adds.

The process of human trafficking begins by either travelling, on legal documents, to Dubai, where a well-organized ring of unscrupulous agents provides forged documents for the onward journey to Europe, the United States and the Middle Eastern countries, or, without any documents, through Mand Biloo in Baluchistan along the border with Iran.

"The person vying to go abroad bears an expense ranging from 25,000 to 2.5m rupees [approx 400-40,000 US dollars] on an average, depending whether the destination is Muscat or the United States," Malik said.

The intending immigrants are booked for Muscat (Sultanate of Oman) and Dubai (the UAE) in different parts of the Punjab, Sindh, the NWFP, FATA/PATA [tribal areas] as well as from Karachi, and their boarding is usually arranged in small hotels in the slum areas of Karachi, namely Lyari and Lea Market. From there, they are transported to Mand Biloo through coaches and buses in the early hours of the day up until noon. They reach Mand Billo, a small Baluchistan town bordering Iran, in about 24 hours. The fare per person is 600 rupees.

On arrival at Mand Biloo, the local agents hand over the immigrants to Iranian human traffickers who then transport these persons through the night using pick-ups. After forming groups of 150 to 300 immigrants, the traffickers dispatch them to the coastal areas of the Sultanate of Oman through antiquated launches. Not surprisingly, many immigrants from Pakistan are apprehended by Omani marines and deported.

According to the data compiled by the FIA, the number of Pakistani deportees from Muscat in 2003 was 6,018. The number was 10,294 in 2004, 10,004 in 2005 and 6,438 between January-October 2006. [passage omitted]

"Dubai is a transit point where the forged documents used by immigrants for onward journey are processed," said Malik. Though Malik pleaded ignorance in regards to the trafficking of cheap labour from Pakistan to Iraq for use in the so-called reconstruction efforts being carried out over there by American multinationals, a story aired by CorpWatch, an American organization that monitors the activities of multinational companies across the world, has made startling disclosures.

"Largely hailing from impoverished South Asian countries such as the Philippines, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal, these labourers earn monthly salaries between 200 and 1,000 dollars. They work as truck drivers, construction workers, carpenters, warehousemen, laundry workers, cooks, accountants, beauticians and similar blue-collar jobs for the US military," disclosed David Phinney, an American journalist, in a piece for CorpWatch. [passage omitted]

Called "third country nationals" (TCNs) in contractor's parlance, this "invisible" and "indispensable" army of low-paid workers forms an "untraceable trail of contract labour," according to Phinney. TCNs are employed through complex layers of companies working in Iraq. At the top of the pyramid-shaped system is the US government, which has assigned over 24bn dollars in contracts over the last two years. [passage omitted]

Source: The News website, Islamabad, in English 13 Nov 06

LOAD-DATE: November 13, 2006

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October 22, 2006

Babylon Rising in the Jet Age

Things began looking more sketchier than ever to John Owens as he boarded a nondescript white jet on his way back to Iraq in March 2005 following some R&R in Kuwait city.

Working as a general construction foreman for First Kuwaiti Trading & Contracting, the lead builder for the new $592-million US embassy in Baghdad, Owen remembers being surrounded by about 50 company laborers freshly hired from the Philippines and India. Everyone was holding boarding passes to Dubai -- not to Baghdad.

"I thought there was some sort of mix up and I was getting on the wrong plane," says the 48-year-old Floridian who once worked as a fisherman with his father before moving into the construction business.

He buttonholed a First Kuwaiti manager standing near by and asked what was going on. The manager waved his hand, looked around the terminal and whispered to keep quiet.

"'If anyone hears we are going to Baghdad, they won't let us on the plane,'" Owens recalls the manager saying.

The secrecy struck him as a little odd, but he grabbed his luggage and moved on. Everyone filed out to the private jet and flew directly to Baghdad. "I figured that they had visas for Kuwait and not Iraq," Owens offers.

The deception had all the appearances of smuggling workers into Iraq, but Owens didn't know at the time that the Philippines, India, and other countries had banned or restricted their citizens from working in Iraq because of safety concerns and growing opposition to the war. After 2004, many passports were stamped "Not valid for Iraq."

Nor did Owens know that both the US State Department and the Pentagon were quietly investigating contractors such as First Kuwaiti for labor trafficking and worker abuse. In fact, the international news media had accused First Kuwaiti repeatedly of coercing workers to take jobs in battle-torn Iraq once they had been lured to Kuwait with safer offers.

A FORTRESS RISES IN BAGHDAD

The Kuwait-headquartered, Lebanese-run company has billed several billion dollars on US contracts since the war began in March 2003. Much of its work is performed by cheap labor largely hired from South Asia and the company has an estimated 7,500 foreign laborers in the theater of war. Now, with a highly secretive contract awarded by the US State Department, First Kuwait is in the midst of building the most expensive and heavily fortified US embassy in the world. Scheduled to open in 2007, the sprawling complex near the Tigris River will equal Vatican City in size.

But Owens says that working on the project proved to be one of the worst jobs he has ever had in his 27 years of construction work.

Not one of the five different US embassy sites Owens had worked on around the world previously compared to the mess he describes. Armenia, Bulgaria, Angola, Cameroon and Cambodia all had their share of dictators, violence and economic disruption, but the companies building the embassies were always fair and professional, he says. First Kuwaiti is the exception. Brutal and inhumane, he says "I've never seen a project more fucked up. Every US labor law was broken."

Seven months after signing on with First Kuwaiti in November 2005, he quit.

In the resignation letter last June, Owens told First Kuwaiti and US State Department officials that his managers physically assaulted and beat the construction workers, demonstrated little regard for worker safety, and routinely breached security.

And it was all happening smack in the middle of the US-controlled Green Zone -- right under the nose of the State Department that had quietly awarded the controversial embassy contract in July 2005.

He also complained of poor sanitation, squalid living conditions and medical malpractice in the labor camps where several thousand low-paid migrant workers lived. Those workers, recruited on the global labor market from the Philippines, India, Pakistan and other poor south Asian countries, earned as little as $10 to $30 a day. As with many US-funded contractors, First Kuwaiti prefers importing labor because it views Iraqi workers as a security headache not worth the trouble.

Despite numerous emails and phone calls about such allegations, neither First Kuwaiti general manager Wadih Al Absi nor his lawyer Angela Styles, the former top White House contract policy advisor, have responded. After a year of requests, State Department officials involved with the project also have ignored or rejected opportunities for comment.

YOUR PASSPORTS PLEASE
That same March Owens returned to work in Baghdad, Rory Mayberry would witness similar events after he flew to Kuwait from his home in Myrtle Creek, Oregon.

The gravely voiced, easy-going Army veteran had previously worked in Iraq for Halliburton and the private security company, Danubia. Missing the action and the big paychecks US contractors draw Iraq, he snagged a $10,000 a month job with MSDS consulting Company.

MSDS is a two-person minority-owned consulting company that assists US State Department managers in Washington with procurement programming. Never before had the firm offered medical services or worked in Iraq, but First Kuwaiti hired MSDS on the recommendation of Jim Golden, the State Department contract official overseeing the embassy project. Within days, an agreement worth hundreds of thousands of dollars for medical care was signed.

The 45-year-old Mayberry, a former emergency medical technician in the Army who worked as a funeral director in Oregon, responded to a help wanted ad placed by MSDS. The plan was that he would work as a medic attending to the construction crews on the work site in Baghdad.

Mayberry sensed things weren't right when he boarded a First Kuwaiti flight on March 15 to Baghdad -- a different flight from Owen's.

At the airport in Kuwait City, Mayberry said, he saw a person behind a counter hand First Kuwaiti managers a passenger manifest, an envelope of money and a stack of boarding passes to Dubai. The managers then handed out the boarding passes to Mayberry and 50 or so new First Kuwaiti laborers, mostly Filipinos.

"Everyone was told to tell customs and security that they were flying to Dubai," Mayberry explains. Once the group passed the guards, they went upstairs and waited by the McDonald's for First Kuwaiti staff to unlock a door -- Gate 26 -- that led to an unmarked, white 52-seat jet. It was "an antique piece of shit" Mayberry offers in a casual, blunt manner.

"All the workers had their passports taken away by First Kuwaiti," Mayberry claims, and while he knew the plane was bound for Baghdad, he's not so sure the others were aware of their destination. The Asian laborers began asking questions about why they were flying north and the jet wasn't flying east over the ocean, he says. "I think they thought they were going to work in Dubai."

One former First Kuwaiti supervisor acknowledges that the company holds passports of many workers in Iraq -- a violation of US contracting.

"All of the passports are kept in the offices," said one company insider who requested anonymity in fear of financial and personal retribution. As for distributing Dubai boarding passes for Baghdad flights, "It's because of the travel bans," he explained.

Mayberry believes that migrant workers from the Philippines, India and Nepal are especially vulnerable to employers like First Kuwaiti because their countries have little or no diplomatic presence in Iraq.

"If you don't have your passport or an embassy to go to, what you do to get out of a bad situation?" he asks. "How can they go to the US State Department for help if First Kuwaiti is building their embassy?"

DEADLY 'CANDY STORE' MEDICINE

Owens had already been working at the embassy site since late November when Mayberry arrived. The two never crossed paths, but both share similar complaints about management of the project and brutal treatment of the laborers that, at times, numbered as many as 2,500. Most are from the Philippines, India, and Pakistan. Others are from Egypt and Turkey.

The number of workers with injuries and ailments stunned Mayberry. He went to work immediately after and stayed busy around the clock for days.

Four days later, First Kuwaiti pulled him off the job after he requested an investigation of two patients who had died before he arrived from what he suspected was medical malpractice. Mayberry also recommended that the health clinics be shut down because of unsanitary conditions and mismanagement.

"There hadn't been any follow up on medical care. People were walking around intoxicated on pain relievers with unwrapped wounds and there were a lot of infections," he recalls. "The idea that there was any hygiene seemed ridiculous. I'm not sure they were even bathing."

In reports made available to the US State Department, the US Army and First Kuwaiti, Mayberry listed dozens of concerns about the clinics, which he found lacking in hot water, disinfectant, hand washing stations, properly supplied ambulances, and communication equipment. Mayberry also complained that workers' medical records were in total disarray or nonexistent, the beds were dirty, and the support staff hired by First Kuwaiti was poorly trained.

The handling of prescription drugs especially bothered him. Many of the drugs that originated from Iraq and Kuwait were unsecured, disorganized and unintelligibly labeled, he said in one memo. He found that the medical staff frequently misdiagnosed patients. Prescription pain killers were being handed out "like a candy store ... and then people were sent back to work."

Mayberry warned that the practice could cause addiction and safety hazards. "Some were on the construction site climbing scaffolding 30 feet off the ground. I told First Kuwaiti that you don't give painkillers to people who are running machinery and working on heavy construction and they said 'that's how we do it.'"

The sloppy handling of drugs may have led to the two deaths, Mayberry speculates. One worker, age 25, died in his room. The second, in his mid-30s, died at the clinic because of heart failure. Both deaths may be "medical homicide," Mayberry says -- because the patients may have been negligently prescribed improper drug treatment.

If the State Department investigated, Mayberry knows nothing of the outcome. Two State Department officials with project oversight responsibilities did not return phone calls or emails inquiring about Mayberry's allegations. The reports may have been ignored, not because of his complaints, but because Mayberry is a terrible speller, a problem compounded by an Arabic translation program loaded on his computer, he says.

ACCIDENTS HAPPEN
Owens' account of his seven months on the job paints a similar picture to Mayberry's. Health and safety measures were essentially non-existent, he says. Not once did he witness a safety meeting. Once an Egyptian worker fell and broke his back and was sent home. No one ever heard from him again. "The accident might not have happened if there was a safety program and he had known how to use a safety harness."

Owens also says that managers regularly beat workers and that laborers were issued only one work uniform, making it difficult to go to the laundry. "You could never have it washed. Clothing got really bad -- full of sweat and dirt."

And while he often smuggled water to the work crews, medical care was a different issue. When he urged laborers to get medical treatment for rashes and sores, First Kuwaiti managers accused him of spoiling the laborers and allowing them simply to avoid work, he says.

State Department officials supervising the project are aware of many such events, but apparently do nothing, he said. Once when 17 workers climbed the wall of the construction site to escape, a State Department official helped round them up and put them in "virtual lockdown," Owens said.

Just before he resigned, hundreds of Pakistani workers went on strike in June and beat up a Lebanese manager who they accused of harassing them. Owens estimates that 375 laborers were then sent home.

'TREATED LIKE ANIMALS'
Recent First Kuwaiti employees agree that the accounts shared by Owens and Mayberry are accurate. One longtime supervisor claims that 50 to 60 percent of the laborers regularly protest that First Kuwaiti "treats them like animals," and routinely reduces their promised pay with confusing and unexplained deductions.

Another former First Kuwaiti manager, who declines to be named because of possible adverse consequences, says that Owens' and Mayberry's complaints only begin "to scratch the surface."

But scratching the surface is the only view yet available of what may be the most lasting monument to the US liberation and occupation of Iraq. As of now only a handful of authorized State Department managers and contractors, along with First Kuwaiti workers and contractors, are officially allowed inside the project's walls. No journalist has ever been allowed access to the sprawling 104-acre site with towering construction cranes raising their necks along the skyline.

Even this tight security is a charade, says on former high-level First Kuwaiti manager. First Kuwaiti managers living at the construction site regularly smuggle prostitutes in from the streets of Baghdad outside the Green Zone, he says.

Prostitutes, he explains are viewed as possible spies. "They are a big security risk."

But the exposure that the US occupation forces and First Kuwaiti may fear most could begin with the contractor itself and the conditions workers are forced to endure at this most obvious symbol of the American democracy project in Iraq.

David Phinney is a journalist and broadcaster based in Washington, DC, whose work has appeared in The Los Angeles Times, New York Times and on ABC and PBS. He can be contacted at: phinneydavid@yahoo.com.

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October 21, 2006

Press Release

The news from the $592-million embassy project rising up along the Tigris is not pretty. Low wage workers from South Asia are being smuggled in from Kuwait to help push up the profit margins of the contractor, First Kuwaiti Trading and Contracting.

Once there, First Kuwaiti managers are said to physically assault their workers, and provide paltry medical care. Safety precautions on the construction site are said to be non-existent.

What do we hear from the US State Department on this? Stone dead silence -- along with hostility to any questions.

ALLEGATIONS:

* Witnesses say First Kuwaiti has smuggled low-paid Asian workers on planes toBaghdad after taking away their passports and issuing airplane boarding passes for Dubai. Taking passports is a violation of US trafficking laws and contracting.

* First Kuwaiti has coerced low-paid workers to take jobs in Iraq against their wishes after recruiters lured them to Kuwait for different jobs. (Interviews with Filipino workers who escaped Iraq available.)

* Although no journalist is allowed on embassy site, prostitutes are smuggled in by First Kuwaiti managers, according to former employees. Prostitutes are a "breach of security," says one former manager for the company.

* An American medic recommended that health clinics serving thousands of embassy construction workers be shut down for unsanitary conditions and then was fired. He also requested the investigation of two workers who may have died from mistreatment. Prescription pain killers were handed out like "candy" and workers were sent back to work on project, he says.

* There have been numerous beatings of workers by First Kuwaiti managers and labor strikes, say former employees. This reflects complaints of others who witnessed mistreatment on other projects.


For the full, and developing story, check it out at CorpWatch.org.

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July 14, 2006

Welcome to My Quandary

I have been pitching a story on labor trafficking under US contractors in Iraq since April.

How about interviews with Filipino laborers who escaped Iraq and claimed they were forced to work there against there will?

No, the network producer wants something fresher.

How about Jesus Christ being nailed to the cross in the Green Zone?

"That would be fabulous!"

I got that.

"Can he speak English?"

Maybe.

"Ask him to stay there until September...."

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May 23, 2006

US Mum on Huge Embassy in Baghdad

That's the headline of a story by Knight Ridder's Leila Fadel on the new Baghdad embassy.

She notes the contractor, First Kuwaiti General Trading and Contracting, "is a relative novice in embassy building and has been criticized for its treatment of Asian workers, who, critics say, are imported because they can be paid low wages, and because they work under hard conditions."

Actually, the company has been repeatedly accused of trafficking in labor, forcing low paid workers into Iraq against their wishes and providing poor labor and living conditions. I guess the Filipinos and others who endured such treatment could be classified as "critics."

It's a good story of the many that have been appearing over recent weeks. Here's the link:: 104-acre secret is tough to keep.

Posted by davidphinney at 10:38 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 02, 2006

Reporting on Fort Apache, Baghdad

The news stories about the new US embassy sprouting up in Baghdad's Green Zone are now in full bloom. The Associated Press headlines New U.S. Embassy in Iraq cloaked in mystery. USA Today chimes in with Giant U.S. embassy rising in Baghdad.

What's missing? The fact that the Kuwaiti-based contractor building the embasy wasn't the lowest bidder, along with the US State Department's feeble attempts to keep the contract a secret since last August. And reporters fail to pick up on the allegations that First Kuwaiti Trading and Contracting has been repeatedly accused of coercing unwilling South Asian laborers to work in Iraq.

I reported on the embassy project February 12 with all the shiny details of it being Fort Apache on steroids -- along with the allegations of labor exploitation last October. I also reported that First Kuwaiti was not the lowest bidder by up to $70 million and that competing contractors believe the deal "was political."

Don't believe me about the allegations of trafficking? Try The Chicago Tribune or the Kathmandu Post.

Posted by davidphinney at 06:30 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 25, 2006

Law Violated, But Pentagon Offers No Names

From: DAVID PHINNEY [mailto:david.phinney@verizon.net]
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2006 12:41 AM
To: Mace Brian A LtCol MNF-I Deputy IG
Subject:

Brian,

I am a reporter for CorpWatch and contributor to BBC. As you may recall, I began researching labor conditions and allegations of trafficking last July. I was then told the issues I raised were under investigation. (SEE BELOW)

I need background on the new FRAG order for trafficking in persons MNF-1 FRAGO 06-188. (FILE ATTACHED)

It states that an inspection of contracting activities supporting DOD in Iraq revealed evidence of illegal confiscation of worker passports, deceptive hiring practices and excessive recruiting fees. Additionally, it found substandard worker living conditions at some sites and circumvention of Iraqi immigration procedures.

What contractors were found to be involved in these activities, under what contracts and what, if any, corrective and punitive measure were taken against these companies?

Additionally, where can I get a report on the findings of the mentioned inspection?

Thanks,

DAVID PHINNEY

-----------------------------

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED

Mr. Phinney,

SGT Anderson is now working a different shift. I searched our database and found his original response to you (pasted below).

TSgt. Diamond

CPIC Press Desk

-------------------------------------------------------

Mr. Phinney,

This is all we will say about the trafficking incident.

During an inspection by the MNF-I Inspector General (IG) that was completed in late March, evidence indicated a wide spread practice of holding and withholding employee passports to prevent employees “jumping” to other employers. It is the position of Multi-National Forces-Iraq (MNF-I) that this practice violates the law under Title 18 U.S. Code.

The rights to freedom of movement and quality living standards are serious issues; MNF-I takes a zero tolerance approach to any violation and incorporates contract language that prohibits contractors and subcontractors at all tiers from utilizing unlicensed recruiting firms, or firms that charge illegal recruiting fees, and includes appropriate penalties for non-compliance.

All Department of Defense military and civilian personnel and Department of Defense contractors must receive the mandatory Trafficking in Persons (TIP) awareness training prior to deployment or after arrival in the Command. Our leaders understand the dynamics and indicators of trafficking and are vigilant in correcting or reporting suspected violations or activities.

MNF-I employs a three-pronged approach to deter and combat human trafficking by DoD personnel or contractors in Iraq -- education and awareness; policy and enforcement; and inspection.

-- Education and Awareness. All DoD personnel and DoD contractors must receive mandatory TIP awareness training prior to deployment or after arrival in the Command.

--Policy and Enforcement. All contracts incorporate appropriate language to compel the protection of individual rights (at both contract and subcontract levels); to promote rule of law in Iraq and in the labor recruiting process, and to provide a mechanism to enforce contract compliance.

-- Inspection. Leaders must be vigilant in correcting or reporting suspected violations or activities.

Contractors and subcontractors at all tiers are required to comply with international laws regarding transit/exit/entry procedures, and the requirements for work visas, and incorporate contractual provisions for addressing non-compliance. Contractors will follow all host Country entry and exit requirements.

Our contracts will have measurable, enforceable standards for living conditions (e.g., sanitation, health, safety, etc.), and establish 50 feet as the minimum acceptable square footage of personal living space per worker.

MNF-I will incorporate contract language that requires contractors and sub-contractors at all tiers to provide workers with a signed copy of their employment contract that defines the terms of their employment / compensation (e.g., salary, currency, work hours, overtime, vacation, etc.).

Our contracts will have measurable, enforceable standards for living conditions (e.g., sanitation, health, safety, etc.), and establish 50 feet as the minimum acceptable square footage of personal living space per worker. Language should include a provision to allow contracting officers to grant a waiver in cases where the existing square footage is within 20% of the minimum and the overall conditions are determined to be acceptable.

We have directed contractors and subcontractors at all tiers to return worker passports in compliance with reference (b) no later than 01 May 2006, and incorporate specific contract language to restrict the duration of time that travel documents may be controlled by employers for administrative processing, to preserve the intent of Title 18 USC.

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
If this e-mail is marked FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY it may be exempt from mandatory disclosure under FOIA. DoD 5400.7R, "DoD Freedom of Information Act Program", DoD Directive 5230.9, "Clearance of DoD Information for Public Release", and DoD Instruction 5230.29, "Security and Policy Review of DoD Information for Public Release" apply.

Posted by davidphinney at 05:20 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Noted by UPi

Documents obtained by David Phinney.

U.S.: Return passports to Iraq workers UPI April 24, 2006 Monday 12:00 PM EST

Copyright 2006 U.P.I.
All Rights Reserved
http://www.upi.com
UPI

April 24, 2006 Monday 12:00 PM EST

LENGTH: 675 words

HEADLINE: U.S.: Return passports to Iraq workers

DATELINE: WASHINGTON, April 24

BODY:

The U.S. military in Iraq has demanded that the passports of all employees of contractors and subcontractors serving the military in Iraq be returned to them by May 1.

It is also insisting that the thousands of civilian workers in Iraq and Afghanistan are given at least 50 square feet of personal living space per person.

"The right of freedom of movement and quality living standards are serious issues; [Multi-National Force Iraq] takes a zero tolerance approach to any violation," states an April 19 memo from the Joint Contracting Command in Baghdad.

An inspection by the Multi-National Forces Iraq inspector general revealed a widespread practice of confiscating employee passports by contractors and subcontractors for the term of employment. It was meant to prevent employees -- most of them "third-country nationals" from low-paying and poorly policed labor markets in Africa and Asia -- from "jumping" to other employers in Iraq and Afghanistan for better pay or living conditions.

Most of the workers are employed under the $13 billion LOGCAP contract awarded to Halliburton subsidiary KBR, which in turn subcontracts out much of the work to other companies.

Because of the size of the LOGCAP contract, KBR has been under pressure to reduce the cost of services to the military, according to industry officials.

"Increasing expenditures in theater ... jeopardize our ability to maintain public support as the costs associated with our operations continue to rise," wrote Gen. George Casey, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, in a memo issued last summer and exclusively reported by UPI.

One of the few areas with flexibility in cost is the labor. Companies competing for KBR subcontracts routinely shop the world for the lowest-paid workers to fill positions at U.S. facilities -- cooking, cleaning and maintaining the physical infrastructure of the bases for 140,000 U.S. service members.

In some cases, workers are paid a pittance by Western standards. UPI reported in December that some food service employees from Sierra Leone were paid less than 50 cents an hour for their year-long contract. The workers were contractually prohibited from discussing the terms of their contract and their pay with outsiders but UPI obtained a copy of the employment contract.

The MNF-I inspection also revealed "deceptive hiring practices and excessive recruiting fees, substandard worker living conditions at some sites; circumvention of Iraqi immigration procedures by contractors/subcontractors, lack of mandatory trafficking in persons awareness training," according to an April "FRAGO" order to the military. Both documents were obtained by David Phinney, a journalist with Corpwatch.

A Sierra Leone worker told UPI he had been promised an American visa by the recruiter if he accepted the job in Iraq. No such arrangements were made.

"All contractors engaging in this practice who have contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan are directed to cease and desist in this practice immediately. All passports are to be returned to employees by May 1," states the April 19 memo.

The MNF-I inspector general will conduct a second round of inspections in the next three months to ensure compliance with the order.

If passports are not returned to employees and adequate living space provided, the U.S. military may terminate or suspend contracts, bar contractors from competing for future work, or give a negative past performance evaluation, which is supposed to diminish the chances of future contracts. The U.S. military can also bar and contractor in violation of the orders from setting foot on a military installation.

The memos state that future contracts with the U.S. military will include provisions allowing the U.S. government to terminate the contract without penalty if there is a violation of these laws. It will also require that all workers be furnished a signed copy of their contracts, and will prohibit unlicensed recruiting firms or recruiting firms that charge an unreasonable recruiting fee to workers from working with the U.S. military in Iraq.

LOAD-DATE: April 25, 2006

Posted by davidphinney at 03:07 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 24, 2006

Pentagon Attacks Labor Trafficking by US Contractors

It has been long in coming. The Pentagon is now demanding that contractors fight labor trafficking and lousy working conditions in Iraq endured by tens of thousands of low-paid south Asians working under US-funded contracts in Iraq.

In an April 19 memorandum to all Pentagon contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Joint Contracting Command demands that the widespread practice of taking away workers passports come to end. Contractors engaging in the practice, states the memo, must immediately "cease and deist."

"All passports will be returned to employees by 1 May 06. This requirement will be flowed down to each of your subcontractors performing work in this theater."

Contractors and subcontractors routinely hold workers passports -- in direct violation of US labor trafficking laws -- to prevent them from changing employers or leave wartorn Iraq.

As many as 35,000 low-paid workers are employed under Halliburton's sweeping, multibillion logistics contract serving the US military. Many of these workers are brought to Iraq by subcontractors from neighboring Arab countries -- countries that have been frequently cited by the US State Department for the exploitation of foreign workers.

A new April 4 contracting directive (I know the PDF is upside down!) also officially confirms the dirty little secret that reporters, military people and contractors have been complaining about ever since the March 2003 invasion of Iraq: Many of the tens of thousands of south Asian workers working under US contracts have been repeatedly exploited by their employers.

The directive notes that inspections of Defense contractors in Iraq has revealed deceptive hiring practices, excessive recruiting fees that indebt workers for months if not years, substandard living conditions that include crammed sleeping quarters and poor food, and the circumventing of Iraqi immigration procedures.

These conditions, endured by south Asian workers sometimes making only dollars a day, are all chronicled in my October story, Blood, Sweat & Tears: Asia's Poor Build U.S. Bases in Iraq.

I originally brought the allegations of trafficking and labor abuse to the Army last July. Those allegations helped set up the chain of investigations that eventually brought on this new order.

Here's the Army's Aug. 5, 2005 email:

David,

In response to your correspondence of 29 July 2005 addressing a number of issues involving the use of third country nationals (TCNs) in sub-contracts under our LOGCAP contract. These are serious issues and we are presently investigating the specific incidents you've addressed.

We are concerned about employment conditions for all employees. There are a number of contract clauses outlining health, security, and other life support requirements for sub-contracted entities. You can access the contract at: http://www.afsc.army.mil/gc/files/contract%20san.pdf.

What I find interesting is that the prime contractor is responsible for the oversight, including Halliburton's KBR, which is now well over $15 billion in billings for military support work in Iraq:

The U.S. Government has privity of contract with the prime contractor, in this case KBRS. The specifics of sub-contractor oversight are usually within the purview of the parties involved; the prime and sub-contracted entities.

One Kuwaiti subcontractor under KBR that has been accused of coercing employees to work in Iraq against their will is now the prime contractor tasked with building new $592-million US embassy project in Baghdad.

The April military directive announces that contractors will be required to take part in new education and awareness programs, policy enforcement and inspections by Joint Contracting Command's Inspector General in the coming months for compliance.

Posted by davidphinney at 08:16 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 22, 2006

Labor Trafficking in Iraq.....

This