Contractual Obligations

It strikes me as (gasp) hypocritical that the United States government now insists that federal contractors (in the states) must validate the legality of their workers while federal contractors (in Iraq) utilized slave labor to build the U.S. embassy.

Contractors supporting the U.S. military have reportedly employed thousands of foreign workers who had arrived in Iraq as victims of trafficking. According to CorpWatch, which investigates and exposes corporate human rights violations worldwide, contractors working for Halliburton/KBR, which manages a $12 billion reconstruction contract, and First Kuwaiti Trading & Contracting, which has a $592 million contract to build the new U.S. embassy in Baghdad, use deception and “bait-and-switch” hiring practices, charge exorbitant “recruiting” fees that put poor migrant workers in debt to their employers, hold passports to restrict workers’ movements, and provide inadequate living conditions and emergency medical care. Although the Pentagon prohibits such practices for all contractors receiving U.S. funds, it has no penalty for violating such policy.

Turkish middlemen “illegally” took a group of 400 Georgian nationals into Iraq, charged exorbitant “service” fees, and failed to honor promises of good wages and living conditions.

Related: State Department says rampant abuse and slavery claims unsubstantiated.

Related: Iraqi women and children sold to highest bidder -- Iraqi union leaders murdered.

Related: Accounting errors for more than $15 billion in Pentagon defense contracts for weapons, vehicles, construction equipment, and security services in Iraq.