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After Cam Simpson's investigative report on the trafficking of low-wage foreign workers to U.S. military bases was published in October 2005, the U.S. government promptly responded with base inspections. The inspections found that, indeed, there were deceptive hiring procedures, excessive fees charged by job brokers, substandard living conditions for laborers, violations of Iraqi immigration laws, and a lack of human trafficking "awareness training" on U.S. bases. In April 2006, General George Casey ordered reforms, including a requirement that contractors immediately return passports that had been illegally seized.
But a year later, the same problems have resurfaced. This past July two civilian contractors testified before Congress that foreign workers were brought to Baghdad to work on the new $600 million U.S. embassy there without their consent and that they were abused.
A Kuwaiti firm called First Kuwaiti General Trading & Contracting Co. was awarded the contract to build the embassy after no American company would meet the terms. The Justice Department is investigating First Kuwaiti's labor practices because of trafficking in persons allegations.Rory Mayberry, initially hired by First Kuwaiti as a medical technician, claimed that he had witnessed Filipino workers being “kidnapped” by the company. Mayberry testified before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform that workers put on a plane with him in Kuwait were given boarding passes for Dubai, with no idea they were bound for Iraq, and that passports were confiscated. In addition,First Kuwaiti construction foreman John Owens testified that he found living and working conditions for foreign laborers on the construction site "deplorable," that they were “verbally and physically abused,” and that they worked long hours everyday for very little pay.
The State Department Inspector General Howard Krongard testified he was aware of allegations of trafficking and other abuses but found nothing to support them after two visits himself. Although no one from First Kuwaiti testified before Congress, the company provided a written response and, according to the Post, has called the allegations "ludicrous."
On Tuesday, in response to various documented allegations sent to him after the hearing, Committee Chairman Senator Henry Waxman opened an inquiry into the Inspector General’s actions, noting, among other things, that Krongard had “followed highly irregular procedures in exonerating the prime contractor, First Kuwaiti Trading Company, of charges of labor trafficking.”
>>First Kuwaiti kickbacks, KBR involvement in the news. For more on this developing story, click here.
