‘Kidnapped’ Filipinos build US embassy

[cal04]

An American civilian contractor has described scenes of panic and hysteria last year as Filipino construction workers were told that they were on a plane bound for Baghdad rather than Dubai.

Passengers jumped out of their seats screaming in protest until a gun-toting air steward ordered them to sit down, claimed Rory Mayberry, an emergency medical technician travelling on the same flight.

Mayberry said the men were “kidnapped” to build America’s luxurious new embassy in Baghdad’s green zone. He gave his account to a congressional committee investigating allegations of fraud at what will be America’s largest diplomatic mission.

The £300m fortified embassy - a cluster of 21 high-rise towers occupying 104 acres on the west bank of the River Tigris - will house 3,000 staff. It is regarded as one of the most dangerous building projects in the world.

(snip)
Congressman Henry Wax-man, Democratic chairman of the House oversight committee investigating the claims, said: “The project has been beset by allegations that the prime contractor, First Kuwaiti, has used forced labour to build the embassy, violating the laws against human trafficking and sending exactly the wrong message to Iraq and the rest of the world about US respect for human rights.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article2199263.ece

[thunder rising]

1. This was soundly disproved by First Kuwaiti

(paraphrasing) "No they aren't" ended the discussion. Move along. We DO have a king here.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Obviously there's been a misunderstanding. These people seem completely above board, don't they?

From the article:

First Kuwaiti denied any wrongdoing. A spokesman said: “As demonstrated in the hearing, these claims have been investigated by the inspector-general of the US Department of State and the multinational Force-Iraq, both of whom had verified that First Kuwaiti is not involved in labour trafficking.”

Howard Krongard, the State Department inspector general who visited the site in September, said he found no evidence to back the contractors’ allegations, but admitted his investigation was “limited in scope” and acknowledged the company had three months’ notice of his visit.
(snip)

Case closed! No one in the administration had anything to do with any kind of underhanded slave labor practises. That's just not the Republican way.