Pentagon's New Slavery System Triggers Riots in Occupied States

[Donnachaidh]

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Pentagon-s-New-Slavery-Sys-by-Sherwood-Ross-110901-307.html

Many of the 70,000 "third country national"(TCN) service workers employed in Afghanistan and Iraq "recount having been robbed of wages, injured without compensation, subjected to sexual assault, and held in conditions resembling indentured servitude by their subcontractor bosses," reports Sarah Stillman in a June 6th article in The New Yorker magazine titled "The Invisible Army." The arrangement, in fact, is very near to what one might describe as slavery.

"These workers, primarily from South Asia and Africa, often live in barbed-wire compounds on U.S. bases, (and) eat at meagre chow halls..." Stillman reports. "A large number are employed by fly-by-night subcontractors who are financed by the American taxpayer but who often operate outside the law."

Since the U.S. invasions, more than 2,000 contractor fatalities and 51,000 contractor injuries have been reported in Iraq and Afghanistan as the soaring casualty rates "are now on a par with those of U.S. troops in both war zones," Stillman writes.

Although President Obama said in 2009 he would make good on his campaign pledge to do better by these contractors, the number of TCN's in Afghanistan had increased by nearly 50 percent reaching 17,500----with no apparent improvement in their lot. Indeed, the deplorable conditions on the bases where contractors are employed have triggered widespread rioting.


More at the link --

[CreekDog]

1. I didn't even realize we did this

:wtf:

:banghead:

[dixiegrrrrl]

7. An interesting, shocking article on it is here, also.

Numbers and details are overwhelming, and it is horrible that the USA supports this.
A milder version ( for now) is happening right here in the USA, right now, due to loss of wages and benefits in the few jobs that are left.

I have put together the relevant paragraphs, recommend reading the whole ariticle.

Modern Slavery: The Loss of Innocence

The life of a child is often equated to that of mere dollars… overall people are comparatively cheaper than they were in the 1600-1800s, when slaves were purchased for life. Prices for these modern day slaves are at an all time low, while profits remain high, leading some to believe the problem is worse now than during the days of legalized slavery.
Now ownership tends to last only a few months to a few years, making slaves cheaper to purchase and more easily disposable. In 1850 the purchase price of a slave in the southern US averaged the equivalent of $40,000 today. According to Free the Slaves, a slave today costs an average of $90.
People have become a disposable commodity, cheap and easy labor one can just toss out when no longer needed.
Globalization and the post-World War II population boom have increased access to, and lowered the cost of, transportation, which has in turn contributed to the increased levels of global slavery. Victims are often driven into slavery by severe poverty or acute need for economic gain. Additionally, the ethnicity of today’s slave is rarely important, however age and gender all too often are and thus women and children make up the majority of modern slavery victims.

Estimates vary as to the number of modern-day slaves. According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), there are 12.3 million adults and children who are trafficked around the globe for the purpose of forced prostitution, bonded labor and forced labor. Of these victims, the ILO estimates that at least 1.39 million are victims of commercial sexual servitude, both transnationally and within countries. The average age of entry into commercial sexual exploitation in the United States is 11-14 years-old.

Those most victimized by human trafficking are women and children, with 56 percent of all forced labor victims women and girls.
Kevin Bales, modern slavery expert and president of Free the Slaves, estimates the number to be 27 million, a figure widely accepted by NGOs. UNICEF estimates there are some 250,000 child soldiers globally, while Human Rights Watch puts the number at 300,000, with the majority, some 200,000, in Africa. Child soldiers are actively fighting in at least 30 countries around the world, according to both Amnesty International and UNICEF, and PW Singer estimates in his book, Children at War, that 43 percent of all armed organizations in the world use child soldiers, 90 percent of whom see combat.

More:
http://foreignpolicyblogs.com/2011/08/28/modern-slavery-the-loss-of-innocence/

[MedicalAdmin]

2. Americans - behold your future and bow to your masters... n/t

[joeybee12]

3. I hoped this was The Onion...sadly it is not...is it Fascism yet?

The obvious answer is yes.

[InkAddict]

4. Looks to be TPTB supported by the POTUS are going to

bring it on - to a community near YOU!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=1863174&mesg_id=1863174

Georgia Works. The program, begun in 2003, pays people on unemployment insurance a small ONE-TIME additional stipend, currently $240, if they agree to work 24 hours a week, FOR NO WAGES, for a private employer while unemployed, in exchange for some form of training by the employer.

OK - Just what do they plan to teach us closer-to-retirement workers. Something along these lines? A few days ago, some charming? admin admitted that the person to whom she might have directed my call was not in his office on a visual check, but that his office really SMELLED BAD?????? :shrug:

One had to wonder if someone had died, farted, removed his shoes, or ate and re-breathed his garlic sandwich for lunch...What a fine impression that admin had created in my mind. I'm quite sure that admin had no idea if I was a CEO or just a worthless job-hunter trying to reach my recruiter.

Who needs the re-training?

[haele]

5. US contractor hires a subcontractor, who hires a "local subcontractor" who knows a guy -

with ties to a desperate third world country, who is willing to ship desperate people to a far away country and just drop them off there for a price. Of course, the local contractor will treat the foreign workforce with all the indifference that can be found in the local culture to people from outside the community who do nickle/dime service work.

After two/three layers of subcontractors that have been hired remotely, it's hard to monitor violations.

Haele

[Blue_Tires]

6. and no one is responsible for anything...just constant buck passing

[Trillo]

15. Each buck passed gets skimmed. nt

[RaleighNCDUer]

8. It's a sign of the failure of our efforts -

In Vietnam, construction was done by military personnel - SeaBees mostly - not contractors. Locals were hired to work on the bases in support capacities. But you never knew if the guy who was giving you a haircut during the day would be coming back with a grenade after dark.

Our lack of trust of the locals is so high in these war zones we bring in outside contract employees, hired by contract employers rather than the military, which I imagine really pisses off the locals who are dealing with high unemployment and ruined infrastructure - the outsiders gives them just one more reason to hate us.

It is an irredeemable situation with only one solution - leave.

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. Been an issue since 2003 or so

[Fumesucker]

10. No.One.Could.Have.Predicted...

So stop saying that.

[sinkingfeeling]

11. But when you 'privatize' military contracts somebody makes lots of dollars!!

[indepat]

12. Defining our nation's moral character, one slimy sub-contractor at a time and each time

TCN service worker is treated as sub-human, something the world had hoped had ended with the fall of the Third Reich. :patriot:

[dgibby]

13. One of these days the blow back from this will make

9/11 look like a romp in the park.

[bvar22]

14. And THAT is the NeoLiberal Plan for Libya too.

"UP the Rebels" ass!
Shhh! They don't know "the plan" yet.
They thing they WON. LOL.
Freedom Bombs aren't FREE.





If you're not FOR the New WAR in Libya,
you're WITH The Communists AlQaeda The Terrorists Saddam Qaddafi!!!