‘Iraq’ Archives
Baghdad Embassy Bonanza
Kuwait Company’s Secret Contract & Low-Wage Labor by David Phinney February 12th, 2006 Work for what is planned to be the largest, most fortified US embassy in the world was quietly awarded last summer to a controversial Kuwait-based construction firm [...]
Coalition of the Billing
Foreign Policy magazine fingers private security contractors and their enlistment of unemployed mercenaries formerly employed by South American dictators. Under the banner "Top Ten Stories You Missed in 2005," the magazine suggests that the phenomenon is a story that "fell through the cracks but will have a lasting impact for years to [...]
Private Security Companies Confront Civilian Shootings in Iraq
by David Phinney Special to CorpWatch November 29, 2005 -- Wherever Tim Spicer turns up, he carries the kind of baggage that gives the private military business a bad name. An internet video showing private contractors shooting at civilian cars in Iraq, loosely [...]
Growing Numbers: More than 500 Contractor Deaths in Iraq
by David Phinney Nov. 2, 2005 -- The human cost of war in Iraq may be higher than previously thought, although the Pentagon has been slow in producing -- or even counting -- the number of casualties among civilians working for contractors in Iraq. Even while Congress repeatedly asks for definitive numbers, most of us, i.e. journalists and [...]
KBR Sued for Back Wages and Salaries by Iraq Workers
by David Phinney Nov. 1, 2005 -- It's a complaint I hear repeatedly from disgruntled workers returning home from Iraq. Employees working for Halliburton's subsidiary, KBR, frequently tell me they were stiffed on their paychecks and didn't get paid what they were promised. Now there's a class action lawsuit seeking to resolve the complaints [...]
Latin America Tapped for Iraq’s Private Security Contractors
Typos aside, this advertisement offering 1,000 Colombians for private security work in Iraq on the Iraqi Job Center Web site makes one wonder. "These troops have been trained by the US Navy Seals and the US DEA to conduct counter-drug/counter-terror ops in the jungles and rivers of Colombia, and with thier (sic) experiance (sic) I noticed a [...]
Questions Under Investigation
From: dcphinney Sent: Friday, July 29, 2005 9:40 AM To:....'(Army Field Support Command) Subject: LOGCAP subcontractors (......), I am working on a possible story for CorpWatch regarding LOGCAP subcontractors and the employment of third country nationals who are largely recruited from India, the Philippines, Pakistan, Turkey, Sri Lanka and [...]
Filipinos and others Protest Working Conditions in Iraq with Work Stoppage
by David Phinney May 30, 2005 -- The latest sad chapter in the use of cheap labor to support the US military in Iraq: Three hundred Filipino workers waged a labor strike and work stoppage against US military contractors Prime Projects International, a leading subcontractor to Halliburton's subsidiary, KBR. The 300 Filipinos were joined by [...]
Adding Insult to Injury
Injured Halliburton contractors return home to fight battle for medical and disability coverage: CorpWatch (May 2005). This story has legs. It identified early on the unforeseen challenges faced by injured contractors coming home from Iraq. As a result, many producers [...]
Contract Quagmire in Iraq
by David Phinney April 27th, 2005 Rioting and threats of work stoppages at critical transportation hubs needed to rebuild the war-torn Iraq have erupted in recent months following payment disputes between contractors originally hired by the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority and Iraqi officials skeptical of the billings and the CPA's [...]
