Macedonians in Iraq
http://www.balkanalysis.com/modules.php?name=News&file=print&sid=138
(notice: the balkanalysis.com website is run by C. Deliso)
---
Risky business: Brown & Root scoops up Macedonia’s youth
Date: Saturday, September 06 @ 03:05:00 EDT
Topic: Macedonia Articles
When the elderly Kumanovo mother boasted about the special care her son
was receiving from his new employer, one would have thought she was
talking about some bonus or health care plan. Actually, she was
speaking- in glowing terms- of the funeral arrangements that America’s
largest military contractor, Brown & Root, had made for him.
Apparently, if the man was to be killed “in duty” while servicing the
troops in Iraq, he would be cremated (so as not to take up so much
space on the plane) and sent back to Kumanovo in a little urn.
“See? They care about him so much!” pronounced the proud mother.
Over the past few months, hundreds of young people from Kumanovo
(among other places) have been recruited for Brown & Root’s imperial
support missions in the Middle East. The military logistics giant,
formerly run by Vice President Cheney, is in reality the civilian wing
of the Pentagon, thriving off of never-ending government grants for
military missions the world over.
Around the time of the Kosovo bombardment Brown and Root set up shop
near Kumanovo, a small city in northern Macedonia, to back up NATO and
later KFOR missions in Kosovo. Over the past four years, the company
has employed a few thousand local people, pumping a lot of money into
the economy in the process. Macedonians worked 12-14 hours a day for
what Westerners would consider a pittance. Nevertheless, it
represented a big improvement over normal wages. Additional
procurement fraud and other kinds of corruption allowed workers to
milk small fortunes out of the company. Some cases have been reported
in local media, but most are still unpublished.
Since 9/11, however, American interests have been diverted far from
the Balkans. And the Brown & Root operation has been dramatically cut
to basically a skeleton staff. Yet this does not spell the end for our
local indentured servants. Enticed by real Western-style paychecks,
Macedonians are being encouraged to work in countries like
Afghanistan, Djibouti, Kuwait and Iraq.
What does this all mean? First of all, it suggests that there is
little confidence in the local economy. Young people don’t want to
stay and make a better future for themselves and their country; they
would prefer to become the servants of American empire, serving in
extreme heat and very dangerous locales, far from their loved ones,
all in the pursuit of money. When criticized, such people inevitably
say that, “oh, I’ll just earn some money for one year, and then come
back and start a business.” However, they typically return from one
mission only until they get their marching orders for the next. When
asked, “why go to Iraq?” Macedonians are more and more replying, “why
not?”
For the first time, there is the very real possibility for Macedonians
to spend their entire professional lives posted in one American
outpost or the other. One young man who’d previously worked for B & R
in Oman, for example, just shipped out for Iraq. At this rate, we
could end up with a whole generation of Macedonians spending their
entire careers away from home.
The social implications are equally profound. Because Brown & Root
requires its Macedonian employees to send the bulk of their paychecks
home, millions of dollars are being funneled monthly back to Kumanovo.
Women left alone by their hard-working husbands have quit their jobs,
preferring a life of cafés, beauty salons and illicit affairs. “Brown
& Root wives,” as they’re known, are enjoying all the creature
comforts that sudden opulence brings. This is not necessarily either
good or bad, but it is changing the local social dynamic, family
structure and horizon of expectations- the consequences of which will
be long-term. In addition, reliance on foreign generated funds does
little to inspire Macedonians to create new businesses. Thus any
economic gains made by remittances will probably be- as before-
ephemeral and limited largely to the service sectors.
The Macedonian devotion to empire has its bizarre twists, like the
aforementioned mother who was very impressed when Brown & Root
explained how her son would be returned to her if killed.
That said, it is looking increasingly possible that such a fate could
befall the Macedonian and other foreign workers employed by Brown &
Root and other companies in Iraq. On 5 August, one month ago today, it
was reported that an American Brown & Root worker was killed by a bomb
while driving in Iraq. News that civilian workers are now being
deliberately targeted by the Iraqi resistance can scarcely come as a
comfort for the workers’ loved ones back home. Although the first such
targeted killing claimed an American life, it could just as easily have
taken the life of a worker from Macedonia, Poland, Bulgaria or
anywhere else.
If such foreign indentured servants start dying- not to mention allied
soldiers- then these nations may start wondering whether serving
American empire was really worth it after all. Especially considering
that the Iraqi resistance has begun attack civil installations and
institutions like the UN, the chances of such fatalities can only
increase. Sadly, Macedonian mothers may get their urn burials after
all.
http://www.balkanalysis.com/modules.php?name=News&file=print&sid=138
(notice: the balkanalysis.com website is run by C. Deliso)
---
Risky business: Brown & Root scoops up Macedonia’s youth
Date: Saturday, September 06 @ 03:05:00 EDT
Topic: Macedonia Articles
When the elderly Kumanovo mother boasted about the special care her son
was receiving from his new employer, one would have thought she was
talking about some bonus or health care plan. Actually, she was
speaking- in glowing terms- of the funeral arrangements that America’s
largest military contractor, Brown & Root, had made for him.
Apparently, if the man was to be killed “in duty” while servicing the
troops in Iraq, he would be cremated (so as not to take up so much
space on the plane) and sent back to Kumanovo in a little urn.
“See? They care about him so much!” pronounced the proud mother.
Over the past few months, hundreds of young people from Kumanovo
(among other places) have been recruited for Brown & Root’s imperial
support missions in the Middle East. The military logistics giant,
formerly run by Vice President Cheney, is in reality the civilian wing
of the Pentagon, thriving off of never-ending government grants for
military missions the world over.
Around the time of the Kosovo bombardment Brown and Root set up shop
near Kumanovo, a small city in northern Macedonia, to back up NATO and
later KFOR missions in Kosovo. Over the past four years, the company
has employed a few thousand local people, pumping a lot of money into
the economy in the process. Macedonians worked 12-14 hours a day for
what Westerners would consider a pittance. Nevertheless, it
represented a big improvement over normal wages. Additional
procurement fraud and other kinds of corruption allowed workers to
milk small fortunes out of the company. Some cases have been reported
in local media, but most are still unpublished.
Since 9/11, however, American interests have been diverted far from
the Balkans. And the Brown & Root operation has been dramatically cut
to basically a skeleton staff. Yet this does not spell the end for our
local indentured servants. Enticed by real Western-style paychecks,
Macedonians are being encouraged to work in countries like
Afghanistan, Djibouti, Kuwait and Iraq.
What does this all mean? First of all, it suggests that there is
little confidence in the local economy. Young people don’t want to
stay and make a better future for themselves and their country; they
would prefer to become the servants of American empire, serving in
extreme heat and very dangerous locales, far from their loved ones,
all in the pursuit of money. When criticized, such people inevitably
say that, “oh, I’ll just earn some money for one year, and then come
back and start a business.” However, they typically return from one
mission only until they get their marching orders for the next. When
asked, “why go to Iraq?” Macedonians are more and more replying, “why
not?”
For the first time, there is the very real possibility for Macedonians
to spend their entire professional lives posted in one American
outpost or the other. One young man who’d previously worked for B & R
in Oman, for example, just shipped out for Iraq. At this rate, we
could end up with a whole generation of Macedonians spending their
entire careers away from home.
The social implications are equally profound. Because Brown & Root
requires its Macedonian employees to send the bulk of their paychecks
home, millions of dollars are being funneled monthly back to Kumanovo.
Women left alone by their hard-working husbands have quit their jobs,
preferring a life of cafés, beauty salons and illicit affairs. “Brown
& Root wives,” as they’re known, are enjoying all the creature
comforts that sudden opulence brings. This is not necessarily either
good or bad, but it is changing the local social dynamic, family
structure and horizon of expectations- the consequences of which will
be long-term. In addition, reliance on foreign generated funds does
little to inspire Macedonians to create new businesses. Thus any
economic gains made by remittances will probably be- as before-
ephemeral and limited largely to the service sectors.
The Macedonian devotion to empire has its bizarre twists, like the
aforementioned mother who was very impressed when Brown & Root
explained how her son would be returned to her if killed.
That said, it is looking increasingly possible that such a fate could
befall the Macedonian and other foreign workers employed by Brown &
Root and other companies in Iraq. On 5 August, one month ago today, it
was reported that an American Brown & Root worker was killed by a bomb
while driving in Iraq. News that civilian workers are now being
deliberately targeted by the Iraqi resistance can scarcely come as a
comfort for the workers’ loved ones back home. Although the first such
targeted killing claimed an American life, it could just as easily have
taken the life of a worker from Macedonia, Poland, Bulgaria or
anywhere else.
If such foreign indentured servants start dying- not to mention allied
soldiers- then these nations may start wondering whether serving
American empire was really worth it after all. Especially considering
that the Iraqi resistance has begun attack civil installations and
institutions like the UN, the chances of such fatalities can only
increase. Sadly, Macedonian mothers may get their urn burials after
all.