The murdered Nepalese hostages.

It was reported on the news last night that these Nepalese hostages were "cleaners and clerks". What the hell is going on in Iraq that workers are brought in from Nepal to, among other things,clean. Don't tell me that no Iraqis want these jobs. I know that a lot of Iraqis are afraid to do anything that might make them appear to be working for the Americans but I find it hard to believe that the labor pool is so small that they had to import workers from Nepal to clean. Am I missing something?

Our military, when not contracting with Haliburton to rip us off, also contracts menial labor from 3rd world countries. That's mainly cooking, cleaning and other broom pushing duties. Clerking, also considered beneath the highly trained US soldier is staffed out sometimes too.

-snip-

A video on a website linked to an Iraqi militant group shows one masked man slitting the throat of one of the workers.

Another man is shown firing an assault rifle into the back of the heads of 11 other captives.

"America today has used all its force, as well as the help of others, to fight Islam under the so-called war on terror, which is nothing but a vicious crusade against Muslims," a statement said on the website.

http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2004/08/31/nepal_captive040831.html

If those men were Americans or Brits it would be on all Networks.
With a 70% Iraqi Unemployment rate the US brings in workers from other countries. Why? Maybe they don't trust Iraqis?

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for which Halliburton charges at least triple what they're being paid in Iraq. In the meantime, the Iraqi unemployment rate is 70% that we know about, and quite possibly higher. Educated and experienced Iraqi workers have been interviewed selling cups of tea on the street for enough to keep their families fed.

This is why the whole occupation has been so badly bungled. Had they gone in and hired Iraqi contractors to hire Iraqi workers to rebuild their own country using materials brought in by the US and UK, they might have been able to salvage this idiotic misadventure. They didn't, and all that remains now is for some charismatic figure to unite enough to the Iraqi people to kick our sorry butts out of there.

This has been nothing but a feeding frenzy for US and UK companies from the day victory was declared. It's sickening that the military is being caught in the middle of what will inevitably happen there.

I also find it a little odd that the military would "hire out" for menial labor-- but so what? Nepalese don't need jobs too?

My question is how many of these menial hires are foreign? What percentage? Anybody have numbers?

That's your response? Yes, I'm sure the Nepalese do need jobs but it's not exactly a secret that foreigners going into Iraq these days are likely to end up on an Islamic web site counting down the minutes of their lives. An Iraqi native is probably less likely to have this happen and an Iraq native needs the job as much as someone from Nepal. And it IS the Iraqis' country. And it's not just the menial labor. Iraqis seem to be getting passed over for all kinds of jobs in their own country.

because Iraqis pose a security risk and people from other countries don't. There are a lot of Iraqi's that may pose as well-meaning friends, only to cause sabotage or death when given an opportunity.

When you have native Iraqis they can collect intellegence on you and the place where you are at. Nepalese have no ties of kin or religion to Iraqis, thus making security easier.

Raj used Muslim sepoys in Hindu areas for that same reason. And the Raj "discovered" the ghurkas and used them because they had no ties to locals.

It seems to me that whatever jobs are becoming available in Iraq are being parceled out to foreigners. Police and security jobs seem to be a notable exception seeing as Iraqis most likely aren't going to countenance being policed by the Americans AND other foreigners.

However, if I was there my personal security would be really high on my list.

and clerks - but most of the 17,000 Nepalis in Iraq are hired out as security guards and truck drivers.

Foreign companies probably hire outside of Iraq for security reasons, as AngryAmish says above. Also, some Iraqi firms and individuals have been threatened with death for "collaborating", so the situation is complex. (it probably matters where you are in Iraq, also)

It's really a mess.