David Isenberg – (Isenberg Institute of Strategic Satire) – May 15, 2012 – Continuing on with the topic of worker exploitation let’s turn to a recently published, and unfortunately overlooked, article “Cheap help from Uganda” published in Le Monde diplomatique in France.. The article’s subtitle “Slaves To The Private Military In Iraq” pretty much tells you what the article is about.
The article recounts how private security firms won lucrative contracts to supply support staff and security guards to back up US forces in Iraq. The firms recruited Ugandans and pushed them to the limit, on low pay and no benefits.
Of course, this is hardly the first time this has happened. I noted in my book that in in September 2007, a Nevada-based private security ?rm called SOC-SMG started recruiting in Namibia. People there needed jobs, but when news spread about the risks they’d face in Iraq, there was public outcry, and in October Namibia kicked the company’s offcials out of the country.
Still, that episode is useful to recall because SOC-SMG is also mentioned in the Le Monde article.
