Thanks for keeping us up to speed with this. I think this issue may be at the point where we need new busineses to step in. That is, there clearly is a demand for labor and a supply of labor that does not mind taking 13 months to pay off their debt (or that is being deceived). So there is a profitable middle ground for recruiters.

Thus - there seems to be an opportunity here for someone to create an ethical emplyment/recruiting company that charges the minimum to the workers. If done as a non-profit social enterprise I think it would be possible to get startup funding from US foundataions, and would be able to use the moral high ground to get companies like KBR to use their services.

Nothing yuo describe is illegal, and even if we all scream about this instance it will keep happening elsewhere, but there is an opportunity to exploit the profiability of this practice to create a more ethical and less greedy recruiting system.

For anyone who may not be up to speed on this issue (and I need to catch up) Mike did some important work in 2006 helping to tip off and publicise the problem of traffickers providing support workers for the US Military and US contractors in Iraq.

The issue was raised in a discussion thread in The Other Place that was taken up by a number of activists and the media but I would really be interested to know how the situation has changed since it was first raised by Mike and what other people think/know about this.

John Berger - You are right on the mark, in my opinion. There are some smaller companies here that treat their men better and pay them more. PPI is the jugernaut with far and away the largest work force, lowest pay and poorest living conditions. They seem to be very cozy with KBR and it wouldn't surprise me to find out KBR execs own shares of PPI.

John Firth - Since Cam Simpson's article, Pipeline to Peril, was published in the Chicago Tribune in October of 2005, little has changed. The military, pressured by the State Department, (which I'm told was the result of Cam's article. Though it didn't "grow legs", and was summarily ignored by the nation's other papers, it did catch the attention of State Dept officials) issued a "FRAGO" (don't ask me what that acronym stands for), which established new rules including, passports to be returned to TCNs, a copy of the contract they signed in India be in their possession, living space increased to a minimum of 52 square feet per person (I'm told military K-9s get 65). It is also against the new rules for a TCN to be in Iraq if it is illegal in his home country. This has been ignored, as India, Nepal and the Philippines all have such laws. And the issue of unscrupulous agencies and exhorbitant fees was addressed in the FRAGO, but there were no objective yardsticks to determine what is unscrupulous or what is an unreasonable fee, so nothing was changed. The State department was appeased and everyone went back to sleep.

Incidentally, when it was brought to KBR's attention that the contracts signed in India stated the employee would receive a day off each month, they replied that it was between PPI and the Indians - KBR could not interfere. Of course that's the reason for the arm's length relationship between KBR and PPI in the first place. No days off have been granted. Just being allowed to have possession of their contracts means nothing without the means to enforce them. But it makes the military feel like they've done something.

The camps have been improved somewhat over the past two years but some issues still exist - monotonous diet of mostly rice, and poor medical and no dental care.

It's also hard to see these guys confined to their crowded camp like prisoners. They are denied access to the very facilities they built, maintain and clean. And their mobility is being reduced. Some of my guys who've been here three years now - and once had an orange badge that at least permitted them to take a walk outside their camp - have been issued red badges. That means they can not be without an expat escort.

Ah this really sucks. I thought the indentured labour in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha and the rest of the GCC had it bad. I also thought that the treatment the guys receive here is because of the "structured" society in the Gulf (ie the pecking order goes Locals, GCC nationals, white slaves, non-Gulf arabs, then brown/black/yellow slaves).

What annoys me about the topic you raise is that the US military, and KBR, have the power to enforce a different status quo with their workforce. If they really wanted to, they could change things. If the US electorate knew about these issues, which to me are only a hair's-bredth away from straight-out human rights abuses, then they would be forced to change.

I guess CNN ain't too interested in it though.

Good luck Mike. Keep sticking it to the bastards. Even if they fire you, who cares, you'll know you've been playing for the right team in your efforts to highlight this problem.

"These guys drive the trucks that haul potable water, suck the waste, pick up trash, clean the showers and latrines, and pick up the trash. They are the carpenters, electricians, plumbers, and HVAC techs who construct and then maintain the infrastructure. More and more they are employed in administrative positions, compiling the mountain of reports required by the minutia minded bureaucracy."

Are there any plans for these positions to be eventually filled by Iraqis?

The problem is one of security. Three years ago, when I first began as a labor foreman, I was placed in charge of a crew of 10 Indians who were replacing a similar number of Iraqis who had been cleaning the toilets and showers at Log Base Seitz. They were losing jobs they sorely needed (one Iraqi boy aged 16 was the sole support of his family - a mother and two sisters).

Although there are Iraqi work crews working on small construction projects on the base, like fence building or road paving, the majority of the supportive manual labor is provided by thousands of Indians, Sri Lankans, and Filipinos, with no indication this is likely to change.

That's a shame... I think if more Iraqis could have those jobs, the security situation might be very different. That's certainly what we experienced in Afghanistan.