Fear and luxury lure foreign legions

[babylonsister]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2093750,00.html

Fear and luxury lure foreign legions

In the week five British expatriate workers were seized in Baghdad, a look at a shadowy world where risk and reward can be equally high

Steven Morris and Audrey Gillan
Saturday June 2, 2007
The Guardian

snip//

Reverberation

The abduction of the private security guards, working for Canadian company GardaWorld, has reverberated across the whole industry. "I think there is a reduction in the number of companies expressing an interest in going into Iraq. It costs between $10,000 and $15,000 a day for an eight-man security team."

But not everyone doing the same job is on the same money. "They have got a rate for South Africans, a rate for Filipinos, a rate for Gurkhas and a rate for Colombians. Third-country nationals don't get paid as much as expats."

Some workers find it difficult to get home. In March, the International Organisation of Migration rescued five Sri Lankans who said they had been taken to Iraq to work as cleaners against their will. They told of 16-hour days, seven days a week, labouring away for as little as $100 a month. IOM rescued 17 other Sri Lankans in February.

"Although IOM has evacuated close to 7,000 migrants from Iraq over the past four years with financial support from the US government, recent developments indicate we are witnessing new patterns of exploitation emerging," said spokesman Vincent Houver.

Of those who come of their own free will, many discover the price is too high. Gordon Dreher is one of the many blue collar workers who have been servicing coalition troops. The 43-year-old from Brick, New Jersey, spent two and half years as a field truck driver based in Nasiriyah, south-east of Baghdad, helping to supply US troops. He signed up to earn money but also to serve his country in the aftermath of September 11. On Monday, he will undergo an operation for an injured back, hurt while driving a fuel truck too quickly along Iraqi roads. "I got used to being shot at. I had an improvised explosive device go off a few feet from me," he said.

Stephen Biddle, a senior fellow at the Washington thinktank the Council on Foreign Relations, found Baghdad surreal. "Everyone was carrying weapons, even in the international zone. It was a weird combination of Club Med and Mad Max. There's a big pool with tables around it. So people are in swimsuits but carrying submachine guns."

[dave_p]

1. "a weird combination of Club Med and Mad Max"

Now that's memorable. I'll be using that somewhere.