IPOD
RADIO
Idiot Slaves Fuck Up Our Embassy
FRIDAY JULY 27 2007 9:00 AM
Submitted by FearTheReaper. Edited By erin_broadley.
TAGS: Iraq, US Embassy, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
Bringing Democracy to Iraq has been a difficult task. As much as we want the country to follow in our footsteps, it seems it may never happen. At the very least, we can lead by example and show the Iraqis what made America so successful during our early years: Slavery. And what better time and place to introduce the glory of slavery than during the construction of the US Embassy in Baghdad?
Yesterday, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held hearings on the waste, fraud and abuse that occurred during construction of our new, $600 million, kick-ass Embassy.
Two American civilian contractors who worked on a massive U.S. Embassy construction project in Baghdad told Congress yesterday that foreign laborers were deceptively recruited and trafficked to Iraq to toil at the site, where they experienced physical abuse and substandard working conditions.
It just warms the heart to hear that human beings were...
"Kidnapped by First Kuwaiti to work on the U.S. Embassy." Their passports had been confiscated, and they were driven away on buses after landing in Baghdad, then were "smuggled into the Green Zone.”
First Kuwaiti is a contracting firm that was handed the job because no American company “could meet the terms.” We can only assume the “terms” meant they needed to kidnap slaves. Most of the slaves were from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Sierra Leone, which means they could have easily called mom or dad and asked for money for a ticket home. But they didn’t because they were lazy – and First Kuwaiti had taken their passports.
At least they were treated well when they got there.
Foreign workers lived in tightly packed trailers and had "insufficient equipment and basic needs -- stuff like shoes and gloves," Owens said.
Only the weak need shoes. I think Jesus said that.
The right-wing excuse machine will surely say that it is not the United States' fault because it was a contracted, foreign company that built our Embassy with slaves. I think the appropriate response to that is, “Eat my balls.” It was the State Department’s job to oversee the construction of the US Embassy – because it’s a fucking US Embassy. They actually have a division that oversees the construction of Embassies, called the State Department's Overseas Buildings Operations. If you don’t think we watch the construction of an Embassy closely, you are an idiot.
The best thing about slaves is that they do quality work. We only know about one building on the compound – and it’s a useless pile of shit.
In May, the new $22 million dollar Embassy guard base opened. Workers quickly realized the kitchen was a disaster. Appliances did not work, staff were receiving electrical shocks and then the wiring actually began to melt. It was estimated that the electrical problems would take two weeks to fix, but in that time it became apparent the base was a disaster.
The wiring in the dining hall was in such bad shape that officials decided to send all the guards back to their old base. They were concerned that the same wiring was prevalent throughout the guard base and they didn’t want the guards to die in a fire.
Every generator on the base developed leaks.
The fuel tanks were installed without corrosion protection or leak detectors, and fuel had begun to saturate the soil around the tanks. Teflon tape designed for water pipes had been used on the fuel tanks, and that such tape "will dissolve on contact with diesel fuel."
The residential trailers filled with formaldehyde fumes. Thankfully, there was a simple solution.
The trailer manufacturer, a Saudi company called Red Sea Housing Services Co., confirmed to the embassy it had used the toxic chemical in preparing the housing. Red Sea told the embassy to keep the windows open and use charcoal in the rooms to absorb the odor.
Strangely, the open the windows/charcoal fix did not work and the trailers continued to reek of toxic fumes. Since this is the only building on the $600 million dollar Embassy that we know about, the assumption is that the problems exist throughout the compound.
The State Department's Overseas Buildings Operations has kept a "close hold" on the project, making it difficult for anyone else in the government to gauge progress. "We are suspecting we will find the same issues in the new embassy," resulting in months of delays, the official said.
No shit. Who would have thought that no bid contracts and slave labor would lead to poor quality?
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November 2003
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