"US investigates contract workforce in Iraq" by Associated Press | July 29, 2010
BAGHDAD — The US military said yesterday that it is clamping down on contracting firms working on American bases using employees whose home countries ban travel to Iraq, raising questions about why the contractors were allowed to work in the country for so long despite the bans....
I think I can $um it up in one $ymbol for you, M$M.
Despite the bans, many citizens from Nepal and the Philippines still make the journey to Iraq, joining the tens of thousands of contractors working in jobs ranging from security to kitchen staff on bases....
This is SO LIKE ROME it is uncanny!
Nepalese media, including the Himalayan Times, reported that the Nepalese government decided yesterday to lift the travel ban to allow its citizens working in Iraq to remain. It had not, however, decided whether to allow travel to Iraq in the future.
US Colonel Richard E. Nolan, of the military’s contracting office in Iraq, said the issue came to light when he received information that at least eight contractors had been left behind by their employers. When the military began trying to repatriate the eight contractors, they discovered that four were from countries that banned travel to Iraq.They truly are in it only for the money, huh?
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Those that were lucky enough to get out (front-page Metro feature, folks):
"At peace in the world far from the war; Iraqi youths visit US, find friends, hope for the future" by June Q. Wu, Globe Correspondent | July 29, 2010
CAMBRIDGE — They were too young to know Iraq before the war. For them, the United States represented military occupation, Lady Gaga, and a chance to acquire the skills they need to rebuild their war-torn country.
Related: Occupation Iraq: The Reconstruction Rip-Off
Oh, that is what contractors have been doing for seven years.
Eight Iraqi high school students are experiencing firsthand what they have seen only in movies, spending this week with American families in the Boston area as part of an initiative sponsored by the US Embassy in Baghdad. They are touring historic sites and volunteering at local schools in their first month away from home — a respite from the violence in their home country....
Yeah, it ALMOST MAKES YOU FEEL like the MILLIONS of DEAD, ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION, and SHATTERING of a NATION over LIES was WORTH IT, huh?
The elephant in the room, however, has been the conflict plaguing the country since the US invasion in 2003. The students were young when the war started, and most struggle to comprehend the instability woven into their daily lives....
Hey, WE CALL IT LIBERATION around here and you will like it!!!
Just what a kid needs, huh?
