‘Pentagon’ Archives
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 [...]
Law Violated, But Pentagon Offers No Names on Contractor Human Trafficking
From: DAVID PHINNEY 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 [...]
Noted by UPi
Documents obtained by David Phinney. 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 [...]
Pentagon Attacks Labor Trafficking by US Contractors
by David Phinney April 24, 2006 -- 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 [...]
Labor Trafficking in Iraq…..
This is an interesting development according to a KBR worker who complained about working conditions of low-paid Asian laborers working under US contracts. The development follows my series on the working conditions and trafficking of south Asians Blood, Sweat & Tears along with Cam Simpson's series that followed in The Chicago Tribune: I have [...]
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 [...]
Pentagon’s Insurance Problem
The Pentagon is shocked, just shocked, to discover that it is paying ten times the going rate for insurance on Iraq contracts. Once it gets over the taxpayer outrage, maybe the powers-that-be will get around to pressuring the same insurers -- especially AIG, the mother-of-all underwriters for contractors in Iraq, including Halliburton's KBR -- to [...]
‘Contract Meals Disaster’ for Abu Ghraib Prisoners
Is this how the situation began deteriorating at Abu Ghraib? CorpWatch Dec. 9, 2004 'Contract Meals Disaster' for Iraqi Prisoners by David Phinney Rotten food crawling with bugs, traces of rats and dirt. Rancid meats and spoiled food resulting in diarrhea and food poisoning. This is what detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad [...]
US: Diminished Oversight Leads to Overpricing
by David Phinney April 5th, 2004 Ken Pedeleose’s eyes popped in awe as he plowed through a bill for airplane parts in 1999: $2,522 for a 4½-inch metal sleeve, $744 for a washer, $714 for a rivet, and $5,217 for a 1-inch metal bracket. [...]
US: C-130’s Costs Soar Despite Reforms
The Pentagon had high hopes it could keep costs low on a new model of the C-130 transport by treating it like any other commercial purchase, but despite the publicly intended purpose, the airlifter’s price nearly doubled. by David Phinney, Defense News April 12th, 2004 The Pentagon had high hopes it could keep costs low on a new [...]
