‘*Backpages’ Archives
Escape from Iraq: Filipino Migrant Worker Recounts Nightmare Flight
He Didn't Want to Go: Ramil Autencio thought he was traveling to Kuwait for a job in a luxury hotel. The employer, a major Kuwait contractor working for the US government, instead pressured him to work on US military camps in Iraq. The father of two recounts his escape with more than 40 others during interview in Manila. He says he never wanted [...]
Blood, Sweat and Tears at New U.S. Embassy
by David Phinney WASHINGTON, Jun 8, 2007 - The U.S. Justice Department is actively investigating allegations of forced labour and other abuses by the Kuwaiti contractor now rushing to complete the sprawling 592-million-dollar U.S. embassy project in Baghdad, numerous sources have revealed. Justice Department trial attorneys Andrew Kline [...]
Baghdad Embassy Investigated for Labor Trafficking and Abuse
Baghdad Embassy Investigated for Labor Trafficking and Abuse By David Phinney, IraqSlogger Posted on June 1, 2007 Editor's note: Rumors of labor trafficking and abuse have plagued the building contractor now completing the $592 million Baghdad embassy building project, but a State Department inspector general investigation reported finding [...]
Asian Workers Smuggled to Build World’s Largest Embassy
Oct. 17, 2006. CorpWatch, Alternet, Inter Press Service, Asia Times, Counterpunch and others (October 2006). Recipient of Project Censored award and Online News Association fiinalist for investigative journalism. Helped trigger investigations by US Justice [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Spending Billions of Iraqi Money
by David Phinney Jan. 14, 2005 -- International skepticism over a secret $7 billion Iraq contract awarded to Halliburton subsidiary KBR was already grabbing headlines when another news storm slammed the Texas-based in November 2003: Pentagon auditors said the company appeared to be overcharging on one task order by as much as $61 million for [...]
Iraq Contractor Accused of Offshore Shell Game
by David Phinney October 14th, 2004 Oct. 14, 2004 -- Former managers working with Custer Battles, a high-profile private security company in Iraq, are accusing the firm of using affiliated "shell" companies in the Cayman Islands and other "tax haven" countries to fraudulently overcharge on government contracts by tens of millions of [...]