U.S. taxpayers financed human trafficking, report says
BY CAM SIMPSON
Chicago Tribune, June 5, 2006
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/
14747951.htm?template
=contentModules/printstory.jsp
WASHINGTON - For the first time since Congress mandated its annual
publication, a State Department report cataloging human trafficking
across the globe
includes allegations that American taxpayers financed such abuses.
This year's Trafficking in Persons Report, released Monday, also
ranks Iran
among the 12 nations in the world with the worst records for
limiting human
trafficking within and across its borders, just as the Bush
administration is
attempting to bring pressure on Tehran because of its developing
nuclear program.
Other familiar Bush administration targets, such as Syria, North
Korea, Cuba
and Venezuela, also made this year's list of the worst dozen, while
White
House allies and other strategically important nations - including
India, Mexico,
Russia and China - escaped the roll call despite evidence in the
report of
growing problems.
People can be trafficked across or within borders for prostitution
or forced
labor, a practice officials describe as a modern form of slavery.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice unveiled this year's report by
telling
reporters that the United States and its allies "will stop at
nothing to end the
debasement of our fellow men and women."
Yet this year's report includes a special section on reforms the
Defense
Department instituted after an investigation prompted by "Pipeline
to Peril," a
series published by the Chicago Tribune in October that detailed human
trafficking into Iraq for privatized U.S. military support operations.
Human brokers and subcontractors from Asia to the Middle East have
worked in
concert to import thousands of laborers into Iraq from impoverished
countries,
often employing fraud or coercion along the way, seizing workers'
passports
and charging recruitment "fees" that make it difficult for workers
to escape
employment in the war zone.
U.S. military leaders in Iraq have acknowledged confirming
widespread abuses
against such workers, who are brought to Iraq to do menial labor on
U.S. bases
for contractors and subcontractors. Those businesses ultimately
receive their
checks from the U.S. government. The abuses corroborated by military
investigators included violations of U.S. human-trafficking laws.
In a section of the 2006 report titled "Department of Defense
Responds to
Labor Trafficking in Iraq," the State Department notes that Gen.
George Casey,
the top U.S. commander in Iraq, ordered sweeping changes in April
for privatized
military support operations.
The report also says the Defense Department "has responded swiftly
with a
number of measures to closely monitor the hiring and employment of
foreign
laborers."
John Miller, who heads the State Department's trafficking office
and is
responsible for the annual report, said it was the first time in
the report's
six-year history that it contained allegations that U.S. taxpayers
had financed
such abuses.
In an interview, Miller also suggested the Defense Department moved
too
slowly, saying, "All of this should have happened faster, ideally."
But he praised
the measures and pledged to press the State Department itself to
adopt reforms
similar to those instituted by the military.
While the Tribune series, and subsequent Defense Department
investigations,
detailed abuses of workers contracted for American military bases,
thousands of
other such workers have been imported into Iraq for contractors
paid by the
State Department or other agencies.
One of the State Department's largest contractors in Iraq, a Kuwaiti
construction firm, is building the new U.S. Embassy on a nearly
$600 million contract.
The company was implicated by the Tribune last year for allegedly
trying to
force unwilling Nepalese workers into Iraq from Kuwait, allegations
denied by
the firm but corroborated by a Nepalese Foreign Ministry official
who rescued
nearly 200 of his countrymen from Kuwait.
Miller said he would work to make sure the Defense Department's
standards
become the minimum rules for everyone in Iraq.
"I expect that this department, the State Department and other
departments,
will do no less than the Defense Department has done to try to stop
any
trafficking anywhere," he said.
The four nations that are strategically important to the Bush
administration
but were not included on the State Department's list of the worst
dozen
offenders are all making repeat appearances on the report's so-
called "Watch List."
That special list, specifically created by Congress for the 2004
report and
the two issued since, is meant only as a temporary refuge for
governments with
questionable records, according to Miller and officials in his office.
Without what Miller called "significant efforts in the coming
year," such
nations are supposed to be included among the worst of the worst.
But China has
stayed on the special watch list for two straight years, while
India, Mexico
and Russia made their third straight appearance on the watch list.
This year's report marks the first time since 2002 that Iran was
included
among the worst offenders. The report alleges there are
"persistent, credible
reports of Iranian authorities punishing victims of trafficking
with beatings,
imprisonment and execution."
-------------------
Throw out those recruiters of mercenaries
Editorial
Malaya (published in the Phillippines), June 8, 2006
http://www.malaya.com.ph/jun08/edit.htm
‘We may be beggars but we do have a choice. Let’s throw out those
recruiters.
’
With Filipinos serving as laborers, nurses and caregivers in all
corners of
the world, deploying them as mercenaries is probably an idea whose
time has
come. A US outfit, Blackwater, has set up shop at the Subic
Freeport and is now
recruiting active and retired soldiers, preferably combat veterans,
to help
fight America’s war against Iraq.
Actually, Filipinos have a long history of involvement in foreign
wars. They
served as auxiliaries in Spanish misadventures in neighboring
countries. Even
before that, they had been drawn into wars among native rulers in
what is now
the Indonesian archipelago and Malaysian Borneo with which they had
kinship
ties.
In the more recent past, Filipino soldiers were recruited into the
"secret
war" waged by the United States in Indochina. This was on top of the
not-so-secret role played by Pinoys in providing construction and
logistical support to
the Americans during the Vietnam War. The recruiters were nominally
private
corporations, but were in fact CIA fronts.
This time around, thanks to privatization and globalization, the
recruitment
and deployment of mercenaries has truly become a business, albeit
with the
encouragement of the US government which finds such arrangements
cheaper and more
palatable to American voters who have grown angry, as in Vietnam, over
burying their sons (and daughters under a now gender-equal US
military) for some
dubious cause in some place they could not find on the map.
That said, it should be remembered that globalization is not
limited to
business. The US claims it is fighting a loose global network of
terrorist
organizations driven by an implacable hatred toward the West.
In our people’s search for jobs across the seas in the absence of
local
opportunities, we might find ourselves in the forward trenches of
that war. And we’
re not talking of the Abu Sayyaf and its links to the Southeast Asian
terrorist group Jemaah Islamiya alone.
A few of our countrymen have already been kidnapped in Iraq for
having been
identified as drivers, waiters and laundrymen of what are seen as
foreign
occupying forces. If we take a more high-profile role as armed
security guards at
US installations and as shotgun riders on convoys – which appear to
be the jobs
reserved for Filipino mercenaries – we will be seen as hostiles and
be open
to attacks both inside and outside Iraq.
We may be beggars but we do have a choice. Let’s throw out those
recruiters.
But we’re not holding our breath. With jobs so scarce, many will be
desperate
enough to lay their lives on the line.
-------------------------------1149734445
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<DIV class=body-head><BR><B><SPAN class=kicker></SPAN></B><BR><SPAN
class=headline><STRONG><EM><FONT size=4>U.S. taxpayers financed
human trafficking, report says</FONT></EM></STRONG></
SPAN><BR><B><SPAN class=deck></SPAN></B><BR><B><SPAN
class=byline>BY CAM SIMPSON</SPAN></B><BR><B><SPAN
class=creditline>Chicago Tribune, June 5, 2006</SPAN></B></DIV>
<DIV class=body-head><B><SPAN class=creditline></SPAN></
B><BR><STRONG><A href="http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/
news/politics/14747951.htm?template=contentModules/
printstory.jsp"><FONT size=2>http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/
mercurynews/news/politics/14747951.htm?template=contentModules/
printstory.jsp</FONT></A></STRONG></DIV><!-- begin body-content -->
<P><B><SPAN class=dateline>WASHINGTON</SPAN><SPAN class=dateline-
separator> - </SPAN></B>For the first time since Congress mandated
its annual publication, a State Department report cataloging human
trafficking across the globe includes allegations that American
taxpayers financed such abuses.</P>
<P>This year's Trafficking in Persons Report, released Monday, also
ranks Iran among the 12 nations in the world with the worst records
for limiting human trafficking within and across its borders, just
as the Bush administration is attempting to bring pressure on
Tehran because of its developing nuclear program.</P>
<P>Other familiar Bush administration targets, such as Syria, North
Korea, Cuba and Venezuela, also made this year's list of the worst
dozen, while White House allies and other strategically important
nations - including India, Mexico, Russia and China - escaped the
roll call despite evidence in the report of growing problems.</P>
<P>People can be trafficked across or within borders for
prostitution or forced labor, a practice officials describe as a
modern form of slavery.</P>
<P>Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice unveiled this year's report
by telling reporters that the United States and its allies "will
stop at nothing to end the debasement of our fellow men and
women."</P>
<P>Yet this year's report includes a special section on reforms the
Defense Department instituted after an investigation prompted by
"Pipeline to Peril," a series published by the Chicago Tribune in
October that detailed human trafficking into Iraq for privatized
U.S. military support operations.</P>
<P>Human brokers and subcontractors from Asia to the Middle East
have worked in concert to import thousands of laborers into Iraq
from impoverished countries, often employing fraud or coercion
along the way, seizing workers' passports and charging recruitment
"fees" that make it difficult for workers to escape employment in
the war zone.</P>
<P>U.S. military leaders in Iraq have acknowledged confirming
widespread abuses against such workers, who are brought to Iraq to
do menial labor on U.S. bases for contractors and subcontractors.
Those businesses ultimately receive their checks from the U.S.
government. The abuses corroborated by military investigators
included violations of U.S. human-trafficking laws.</P>
<P>In a section of the 2006 report titled "Department of Defense
Responds to Labor Trafficking in Iraq," the State Department notes
that Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, ordered
sweeping changes in April for privatized military support
operations.</P>
<P>The report also says the Defense Department "has responded
swiftly with a number of measures to closely monitor the hiring and
employment of foreign laborers."</P>
<P>John Miller, who heads the State Department's trafficking office
and is responsible for the annual report, said it was the first
time in the report's six-year history that it contained allegations
that U.S. taxpayers had financed such abuses.</P>
<P>In an interview, Miller also suggested the Defense Department
moved too slowly, saying, "All of this should have happened faster,
ideally." But he praised the measures and pledged to press the
State Department itself to adopt reforms similar to those
instituted by the military.</P>
<P>While the Tribune series, and subsequent Defense Department
investigations, detailed abuses of workers contracted for American
military bases, thousands of other such workers have been imported
into Iraq for contractors paid by the State Department or other
agencies.</P>
<P>One of the State Department's largest contractors in Iraq, a
Kuwaiti construction firm, is building the new U.S. Embassy on a
nearly $600 million contract. The company was implicated by the
Tribune last year for allegedly trying to force unwilling Nepalese
workers into Iraq from Kuwait, allegations denied by the firm but
corroborated by a Nepalese Foreign Ministry official who rescued
nearly 200 of his countrymen from Kuwait.</P>
<P>Miller said he would work to make sure the Defense Department's
standards become the minimum rules for everyone in Iraq.</P>
<P>"I expect that this department, the State Department and other
departments, will do no less than the Defense Department has done
to try to stop any trafficking anywhere," he said.</P>
<P>The four nations that are strategically important to the Bush
administration but were not included on the State Department's list
of the worst dozen offenders are all making repeat appearances on
the report's so-called "Watch List." That special list,
specifically created by Congress for the 2004 report and the two
issued since, is meant only as a temporary refuge for governments
with questionable records, according to Miller and officials in his
office.</P>
<P>Without what Miller called "significant efforts in the coming
year," such nations are supposed to be included among the worst of
the worst. But China has stayed on the special watch list for two
straight years, while India, Mexico and Russia made their third
straight appearance on the watch list.</P>
<P>This year's report marks the first time since 2002 that Iran was
included among the worst offenders. The report alleges there are
"persistent, credible reports of Iranian authorities punishing
victims of trafficking with beatings, imprisonment and execution."</P>
<P>-------------------</P>
<P> </P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=5>Throw out those recruiters of
mercenaries</FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Editorial </DIV>
<DIV>Malaya (published in the Phillippines), June 8, 2006<BR><A
href="http://www.malaya.com.ph/jun08/edit.htm";>http://
www.malaya.com.ph/jun08/edit.htm</A> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>‘We may be beggars but we do have a choice. Let’s throw out
those recruiters.’</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>With Filipinos serving as laborers, nurses and caregivers in
all corners of the world, deploying them as mercenaries is probably
an idea whose time has come. <STRONG>A US outfit, Blackwater, has
set up shop at the Subic Freeport and is now recruiting active and
retired soldiers, preferably combat veterans, to help fight
America’s war against Iraq.</STRONG></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Actually, Filipinos have a long history of involvement in
foreign wars. They served as auxiliaries in Spanish misadventures
in neighboring countries. Even before that, they had been drawn
into wars among native rulers in what is now the Indonesian
archipelago and Malaysian Borneo with which they had kinship ties.</
DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>In the more recent past, Filipino soldiers were recruited into
the "secret war" waged by the United States in Indochina. This was
on top of the not-so-secret role played by Pinoys in providing
construction and logistical support to the Americans during the
Vietnam War. The recruiters were nominally private corporations,
but were in fact CIA fronts.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>This time around, thanks to privatization and globalization,
<STRONG>the recruitment and deployment of mercenaries has truly
become a business, albeit with the encouragement of the US
government which finds such arrangements cheaper and more palatable
to American voters</STRONG> who have grown angry, as in Vietnam,
over burying their sons (and daughters under a now gender-equal US
military) for some dubious cause in some place they could not find
on the map.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>That said, it should be remembered that globalization is not
limited to business. The US claims it is fighting a loose global
network of terrorist organizations driven by an implacable hatred
toward the West. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>In our people’s search for jobs across the seas in the absence
of local opportunities, we might find ourselves in the forward
trenches of that war. And we’re not talking of the Abu Sayyaf and
its links to the Southeast Asian terrorist group Jemaah Islamiya
alone.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>A few of our countrymen have already been kidnapped in Iraq
for having been identified as drivers, waiters and laundrymen of
what are seen as foreign occupying forces. If we take a more high-
profile role as <STRONG>armed security guards at US installations
and as shotgun riders on convoys – which appear to be the jobs
reserved for Filipino mercenaries</STRONG> – we will be seen as
hostiles and be open to attacks both inside and outside Iraq.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>We may be beggars but we do have a choice. Let’s throw out
those recruiters. But we’re not holding our breath. With jobs so
scarce, many will be desperate enough to lay their lives on the
line.<BR></DIV></BODY></HTML>
-------------------------------1149734445--
