Wow, does this administration just look at a world map every week and go after countries it hasn't alienated? I first heard this story on KPFK and followed up back on Google. Unbelievable.
India Hunts for Iraq Job AgentTerry Friel • Reuters
VELICHIKKALA, India, 10 May 2004 —
Police are hunting a job agent who duped poor and illiterate workers into going to US Army camps in Iraq where they say they ended up trapped for months working as virtual slaves.
Allegations of abuse by US troops told by the first group of returnees sparked outrage in India last week, drawing comparisons with the treatment of Iraqi prisoners.
At the request of the Indian government, US officials have launched an investigation into the claims. But the workers, while insisting US troops intimidated and harassed them and that they were not allowed to leave, say they were never abused physically.
Interviews with those at the heart of the complaints indicate the main problems were with the contractor employing them — on behalf of a unit of US firm Halliburton — and Iraq’s harsh wartime environment and desert climate.
Police say the agent, who recruited the workers for another company in Bombay, which then sent them overseas, has fled.