‘They will send you to Iraq under job guarantee scheme’ (strange rumor)

[Bhaisahab]

Saw this in the papers this morning in New Delhi

‘They will send you to Iraq under job guarantee scheme’

LUCKNOW, MAY 8
At least 5000 villagers in Lalitpur district in UP withdrew their applications for work under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme after bizarre rumours that they will be sent to “Iraq and Iran” for work because the Centre is “backing the Bush government.”

So strong is the panic the district administration had to issue an unusual order saying no one will be sent out of their blocks.

Officials said while no one knows who spread the rumour, one possible source could be the local stone-quarry owners who fear they may lose labour to the job scheme. On an average, the quarries pay Rs 35 a day while the scheme guarantees Rs 58. Lalitpur is one of the 22 UP districts where the scheme is on.

“I had 10 filled-out forms at my home which I had to return to the villagers. Such things are happening even in other blocks in the district,” gram pradhan Shanti Devi told The Indian Express. In fact, even a suicide is being attributed to the rumour.

Shanti Devi said local resident Kalawati, about 27, killed herself on April 17 because her husband didn’t give in to her demand of withdrawing his registration. “Her husband Ram Sewak told me she won’t listen to his argument that even if he went to Iran or Iraq, he would earn more money and send it home,” Shanti Devi said. She added some villagers think the Centre wants to “identify unemployed people to recruit them for Iran and Iraq to help George Bush Government.”

continued: http://www.indianexpress.com/printerFriendly/4067.html

[leftchick]

1. It sounds true enough to me

it is not like the US hasn't done this before.

[Kutjara]

2. While it's very likely to be just a rumor...

...spread to create fear and uncertainty, it's impossible to be sure in this world of secrets and lies. Who knows what Bush agreed with the Indian government while he was trading nuclear technology for 'mangos?' It's a situation that at least merits continued observation.

[Junkdrawer]

3. Noam Chomsky on DemocracyNow:

NOAM CHOMSKY:

I think it's extremely unlikely. I should tell you this as a word of personal background. I was very much involved in the resistance movement in the 1960's. In fact, I was just barely -- the only reason I missed a long jail sentence is because the Tet Offensive came along and the trials were called off. So I was very much involved in the resistance, but I was never against the draft. I disagreed with a lot of my friends and associates on that, for a very good reason, I think at least as nobody seems to agree. In my view, if there's going to be an army, I think it ought to be a citizen's army. Now, here I do agree with some people, the top brass, they don't want a citizen's army. They want a mercenary army, what we call a volunteer army. A mercenary army of the disadvantaged. And in fact, in the Vietnam war, the U.S. military realized, they had made a very bad mistake. I mean, for the first time I think ever in the history of European imperialism, including us, they had used a citizen's army to fight a vicious, brutal, colonial war, and civilians just cannot do that kind of a thing. For that, you need the French foreign legion, the Gurkhas or something like that. Every predecessor has used mercenaries, often drawn from the country that they're attacking like England ran India with Indian mercenaries. You take them from one place and send them to kill people in the other place. That's the standard way to run imperial wars. They're just too brutal and violent and murderous. Civilians are not going to be able to do it for very long. What happened was, the army started falling apart. One of the reasons that the army was withdrawn was because the top military wanted it out of there. They were afraid they were not going to have an army anymore. Soldiers were fragging officer. The whole thing was falling apart. They were on drugs. And that’s why I think that they're not going to have a draft. That's why I’m in favor of it. If there's going to be an army that will fight brutal, colonial wars, and that's the only likely kind of war, I’m not talking about the militarization of space and that kind of thing, I mean ground wars, it ought to be a citizen's army so that the attitudes of the society are reflected in the military.

[AndyTiedye]

6. If There Were A Draft, Our Troops Would be in Iran and Syria Already

The ONLY thing holding them back at this point is a lack of cannon fodder.

There is no such thing as a fair draft. Never has been. Never will be. Never.
The rich and powerful will always protect their offspring from being sent to war (unless they volunteer, as Kerry did).

There WAS a draft during the Vietnam War. Did George W. Bush fight in that war? I rest my case.

the army started falling apart. One of the reasons that the army was withdrawn was because the top military wanted it out of there. They were afraid they were not going to have an army anymore. Soldiers were fragging officer. The whole thing was falling apart.

Seems like we're having that now, without a draft.

A draft would make it easier for them, because they wouldn't have to recruit.

Want 10,000,000 troops to try to take over the whole Middle East? Just raise the draft call a bunch.

The authority to conscript people to fight his wars is just about the only power Bush** doesn't have.
Don't give it to him!

[rodeodance]

4. scary for the people.

[Ian David]

5. Halliburton Accused of Torture & Rights Abuses of Indian Workers in Iraq

Halliburton's KBR Accused of Torture and Human Rights Abuses of Indian Workers in Iraq
George Iype

Rediff.com News (India)
Jun 27, 2004


Indians carry horror tales from US camps


More Indian workers are returning from Iraq with distressing tales of torture and human rights violations in the military camps of the United States.

"It is slavery there in the American camp. We are being treated worse than animals," Peter Thomas, a native of Mavelikkara in Kerala, who did odd jobs such as cleaning and laundry works in an American army camp, told rediff.com

Thomas along with two of his friends Anil Kumar and Justin C Antony reached Kerala this week, after the Indian government intervened to rescue them in the wake of escalating tension and violence in Iraq.

Thomas said that he was recruited for a cook's job in Jordan through a Kochi-Mumbai-based manpower agency. "But as soon I reached Jordan, I was taken to Iraq by road. I was not alone. There were at least 60 Indians who were with me. We were taken to different American camps," he said.

Thomas said he was not 'worried working in Iraq' initially as his only motive was to work hard and earn some money. "I was not against working in an American army camp. But when my first salary came, I was shattered. It was just $165," Thomas said.

More:
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/print.cfm?ID=1774