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October 15, 2003

Foreign Labor Stealing Jobs- In Iraq

Okay, you've bombed their homes; you've destroyed their power systems and can't seem to get the lights back on. You've had to disband their army and leave 750,000 ex-soldiers jobless in the streets.

Now, what more could you do to piss off the Iraqi population?

How about having foreign corporations bring in foreign labor to reconstruct the country, leaving hungry, jobless Iraqis to watch US corporations get rich:

The mass import of migrants to service the American-led armies further fuels resentment. Saudi caterers contracted by Kellogg Brown and Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton, an American oil-services company, have shipped in hundreds of Indian and Bangladeshi cooks to avoid, they say, the risk that Iraqis might poison the food. Filipina maids hired in Jordan do the cleaning. Lorries from the Gulf states bring in thousands of tonnes of provisions every day because Iraqi food does not meet American specifications.

Now, I'm as pro-immigration as it comes, but to wealthy countries, not letting global corporations seek outside labor to avoid the costs of dealing with the locals.

Oh yeah, and while the Iraqis aren't getting the jobs from Iraq's reconstruction (such as it is), "a new investment law lets foreign contractors bring in labour from abroad but export all profits."

The corruption and exploitation of Iraq stinks to whichever high heaven one's faith nods.

Posted by Nathan at October 15, 2003 01:25 AM