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Michael also has an article about this
on CNN.com
WOLF
BLITZER: A violent day in Iraq today. At least 22
people killed, including two U.S. soldiers. They're
dead after a string of bombings. Nearly 200 others
were wounded.
The deadliest strikes happened in the city of
Fallujah, where two suicide bombers rammed oil
tankers into Iraqi police posts, damaging a nearby
school in the process. Many people are believed to be
trapped in the rubble.
Meanwhile, CNN's Michael Ware is digging into the
story about a Defense Department subcontractor
confining laborers in rather terrible conditions for
months on end. He's joining us now -- Michael, what's
going on here, because this is pretty shocking stuff?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf. This is
an appalling story. And it's unfolding still, even as
I stand here, in the middle of the Iraqi night. What
we have is about a thousand Asian contract laborers
who are being all but confined here in the midst of a
war zone by a Kuwaiti company subcontracted to the
American KBR conglomerate. Here's their story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WARE (voice-over): They say they feel like prisoners
-- locked in a derelict warehouse for months on end,
no salaries, poor food, and armed security guards
prowling the fences. It's an obscenity -- abuse of
contract workers in Iraq.
From India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Uganda,
more than 1,000 men are penned here, lured to Baghdad
with promises of jobs that did not exist. Even
crueler, most paid for the privilege to come, selling
farms or anything of value, told they had jobs
waiting with American giant KBR.
All through Najlaa Catering Services, a Kuwaiti
company whose officials in Iraq refused to comment,
the Kuwaiti office saying only that the situation was
under control and being dealt with. KBR says it
abhors unethical behavior, insisting its contractors
abide by its code of conduct and it alerts
authorities when contractors do not.
But the Kuwaiti company who received these men from
the recruiters shoved them in here -- a compound
within Baghdad's airport, with showers without water
and taps that are useless. Six hundred men who had
hoped to send money to their families piled in one
room -- as many as four to a bed -- and apparently
all forgotten, a nuisance no one wanted to address.
Unable to stay without visas, they're unable to go
without money.
(on camera): Is your government helping you? Is
anybody helping you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nothing. Nothing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We didn't get anything.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nothing.
WARE (voice-over): And when they protested, the
guards fired above to silence them. These Ugandans
say Iraqi police handcuffed and beat them, though the
police refused to comment.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They said, okay, if you say you
are here because of USA influence, we are going to
show the difference between the Iraqi government and
the U.S. government. We're going to -- let's see if
the U.S. is going to help you.
WARE: And as they spoke to me, the manager who
interns them locked them out for talking.
(on camera): Will you let these men back in?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
WARE: You will not let these men back in?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. No. I give them -- I give them
two minutes. If not come back inside, that's it.
WARE: But if they talk to us, you won't let them in?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
WARE: That's not -- that's not right.
(voice-over): Other workers, duped by different
agents, don't have a camp at all. These men shelter
by this airport road in a wasteland -- living off
food donated by Iraqi workers. The men who brought
them here have disappeared. Their immigration status
is in disarray -- passports taken or pages with visas
torn out. They're stranded, forsaken.
The U.N. has visited and it says it's trying to help.
But all are in limbo. The U.S. military says it takes
human rights abuses seriously and is looking into the
matter. The Iraqi government has just confiscated one
of the company's official's passport until a solution
is found. Until then, the world needs to be watching
so they're not forgotten again.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WARE: And, Wolf, what we've just learned is that this
scrutiny that the company is now under has provoked
some action. What we hear from one of the workers in
the camp tonight is that as many as four buses have
appeared at the compound. And workers are being told
to get on the buses to get out of the country.
Indeed, this worker who we spoke to said that they've
even been told that Iraqi police may be standing by
with tear gas.
Now, these men are some of the poorest of the poor.
They gave out money to come here and now, after
months and months of internment, they may be forced
out even poorer than when they arrived. We'll have to
see if any of these companies can right any of the
wrongs inflicted on these Asian workers -- Wolf.
BLITZER: We'll keep a spotlight on this story. It is
shocking, indeed. And thank you, Michael, for doing
that story for us. Michael Ware is our reporter in
Baghdad.
Let's go to Jack Cafferty in New York. He's a great
reporter and he's doing -- he's doing important work,
showing the world what's going on.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: That's very, very sad. I
-- you know, we've got some tough economic conditions
in this country, but we are so, so well-off by
comparison to almost every place else in the world.
What a shame.