My Uncle is being paid $2K per day as a Contractor in IRAQ!

[Pachamama]

:WTF:?

I spoke to my father last night who informed me that my Uncle is in Iraq at the Baghdad Airport making $2K per day as a private contractor training Iraqi Police and soldiers...

While I wish my Uncle nothing but the best and want him to be safe, this is just plain WRONG....

Any of you wondering where our tax $$$ are going, it isn't going to the Iraqi reconstruction or people...its going to the Private contractors and benefactors of this administration. My uncle made $60K per year, now he gets to go to Iraq and make that in one month! This made me sick....and he gets to be amid high security when our soldiers are not even properly armored and paid absolute crap....

:grr:

[AngryAmish]

1. Tax free, too baby

[Pachamama]

6. Really?

I thought that anybody making foreign income over $70K had to report it...

Or did they get rid of that tax requirement too?

[AngryAmish]

10. Special rules for Iraq and Afghanistan

I beleive the limit was raised to 200k, I think.

[MADem]

29. Is the old 180 day rule still in effect?

Where you had to stay OUT of the US for a set period of time to get the benefit? That was the case many decades ago...

[TR Fan]

32. For US citizens, it's 330/365

for citizens of the UK and Australia, its 180/365, I believe.

[TR Fan]

33. Got a link for that?

Because normally, it's (now) approximately 87K, a number that's linked to COLA.

[madison2000]

2. Well, there probably should be some hazard pay

but thats so far above and beyond what the military people get its ridiculous.

[K-W]

34. He isnt in the military, so there is no hazard pay.

He said he was an independent contractor, hes paid by a company that has a contract with the US.

[LisaM]

3. And he probably doesn't pay taxes on it either, does he?

I was shocked when I heard that some of these contractors earn this money tax free.

[Kelvin Mace]

4. Hard for a lot of people

to say "no" to that kind of money. After all, if your job has been sent to China or you can't get on a police force because the money promised by Bush never materialized, that leaves Iraq.

Terribly convenient if you ask me.

[Warpy]

5. Consider that most companies here in the US

charge at least triple for contract labor than the worker actually gets paid. Then multiply that number by half again as much, and you'll begin to see what kind of profit these corporations are making on each contract worker they have over there.

The stupidest thing they did in this war after they invaded was not hiring Iraqi contractors to do the work in their own country, putting the Iraqis back to work, putting money in their pockets, and giving them some hope, along with pride in their own country. Not only are we being ripped off on hiring overpriced contract workers to go there and be targets, we're keeping the Iraqi unemployment rate around 70%.

Anybody who wonders why there's a growing resistance to US occupation is beyond stupid.

[KharmaTrain]

21. Amen...

We even encouraged the pillaging and destruction of the infrastructure...knowing the contractors were licking their chops at building new GE Power plants and Nextel Phone systems at U.S. taxpayer expense. Remember, this invasion was going to be short & sweet...the oil would be flowing and we'd be making lots of money and winning hearts & minds.

What a pile of horseshit then, and now it's a mountain.

The war profiteering ranks up there with the best of the third reich.

Riversbend really gives a great insight about what's happening inside Iraq.

[Pachamama]

25. It is sickening....the profiteering that is going on

:grr:

PS: What is Riversbend?

[KharmaTrain]

26. I Wish You Peace

I know I'd have trouble balancing my feelings on the subject. I despise this invasion and have contempt for anyone who supports it. But then, I realize the financial side...this also includes those sucked into the military as the only way to get out of a dead-end life.

Here's hoping he's safe and comes home soon...and takes some of that money and helps to heal the wounds inside this country.

Here's Riversbend...

http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/2005_01_01_riverbendblog_archive.html

She's incredible...I've been reading her since before the invasion. These are the stories our media doesn't have the stones to show.

Cheers!

[Pachamama]

27. Namaste & Thanks

Yes, Peace...something I wish for our planet and humanity and try to seek for myself everyday in this crazy time we find ourselves in...

I hope he returns safely too...I had a dream though last night that if he went back that he died....I hope he doesn't return and that he uses the $360K that he just earned and takes care of his wife and kid and does some good for his community....

Thanks for the tip on Riversbend...I'm always looking for good places to find info and perspectives...

[bryant69]

7. Who's paying him?

Just out of curiousity.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[Pachamama]

18. Don't know, but I'm going to find out..I think its a "security" contractor

I just think that its so wrong that so many "private" contractors are getting to go over to Iraq and make big $$$ and meanwhile our own military personnel is paid so little and their families given so little. I also think of how here in the US that Fire and Police are having budgets cut and not getting the funding they were promised by Bush (and need) and here is all that money pouring (tax free) into the pockets of private contractors....Yeah, he's my Uncle, but that doesn't mean I agree with it.

[bryant69]

30. It sucks but I don't think it's wrong

I mean if the government is paying him that much, well, we should be aware of that. But otherwise this is kind of like saying "Why does basketball player X make so much money while teacher Y makes so little money?" IT's the way the system works.

Bryant

[Qanisqineq]

8. My husband made only $2k per MONTH in Iraq

and I'm sure he was getting shot at a lot more.

[ultraist]

9. That really sucks

It's outrageous that these big corps that our gov contracts out are making huge profits while the soldiers get paid peanuts.

Sure some contractors like this uncle benefit, but most of that money lines the pockets of fat cat CEOs that stay safe at home in their vacation beach houses.

[Pachamama]

19. My Uncle gets to be under protected security at Baghdad Airport

He's surrounded with protection and safe....

I'm sorry for these kind of inequities...its not okay...our soldiers shouldn't be in the situation that they are in and endangered the way they are without proper armor, weapons and numbers of troops. I think of what our soldiers are doing and the situations they find themselves in and they are supposed to be fighting for our freedom and putting their lives on the line and dieing everyday. My Uncle is not their for the same reasons....he's there for the $$$....

[elehhhhna]

11. His Annual Maximum Soc Sec contribution (on 90K) is paid in 45 DAYS?

[genieroze]

12. Even at 2k a day I wouldn't go there. eom

[leetrisck]

13. Know a lot of people there

training Iraq police and none of them are making that kind of money.

[Pachamama]

20. He's not a Police Officer...he's training them in "Defensive Driving"

Not that that justifies him making more money....I do wonder "who" determines whom makes what and why....

[drummer55]

14. DAMMIT THEY'RE NOT CONTRACTORS THEY'RE MERCENARIES!!!!!!!

quit using the bush speak of contractors.

they are mercenaries!

Soldiers for hire.
www.stanford.edu/group/arts/nicaragua/discovery_eng/Glossary.html

[mitchum]

36. Absolutely! MERCENARIES!

[starroute]

15. Aussies too

My son was just over in Europe. He said the youth hostel in London was full of Aussies who are working in England because there are more jobs there. One of them was expecting to leave imminently to go work in Iraq -- I think he said for Halliburton -- for $2000 a day. I guess that's the going rate.

This is profoundly wrong.

[gratuitous]

16. Tell me again?

The news came through today that four more Halliburton "contractors" had bought it, and I guess I'm supposed to feel sorry for them. I'm not sure why, though, since the four dead guys were making a pile of money tax-free, and Halliburton was billing the government (that's you and me, friend) for three or four times what they were paying their contractors.

I'm not feeling very sorry for them, and I can't quite put my finger on why that is.

[Pachamama]

22. I love my Uncle, but I don't think this is right...When I 1st found out he

was going to Iraq, I was very upset and concerned....I was told by my Dad that he needed the money and I remembered thinking that there was no amount of money that could be worth going to that area and endangering ones life for it. I was very worried about him and his safety.

Now when I hear that he is making that kind of money (the equivalent of $720K annually - tax free) and that he is coming back soon after having been there 6 months and plans to go back after a month break, then I confess I think to myself that should he die, then as much as I would be sad for losing my Uncle, I also wouldn't feel as if something unjust happened to him....

Unjust is this war to the civilians of Iraq who have died and their families that have suffered...Unjust is the deaths of our brave soldiers there....Unjust is the inequities of the monies and how they are being distributed....Unjust is the inequity of our tax dollars being spent in the Billions and Billions when they are needed here at home....

[Pachamama]

24. I love my Uncle, but I don't think this is right...When I 1st found out he

was going to Iraq, I was very upset and concerned....I was told by my Dad that he needed the money and I remembered thinking that there was no amount of money that could be worth going to that area and endangering ones life for it. I was very worried about him and his safety.

Now when I hear that he is making that kind of money (the equivalent of $720K annually - tax free) and that he is coming back soon after having been there 6 months and plans to go back after a month break, then I confess I think to myself that should he die, then as much as I would be sad for losing my Uncle, I also wouldn't feel as if something unjust happened to him....

Unjust is this war to the civilians of Iraq who have died and their families that have suffered...Unjust is the deaths of our brave soldiers there....Unjust is the inequities of the monies and how they are being distributed....Unjust is the inequity of our tax dollars being spent in the Billions and Billions when they are needed here at home....

[Cleita]

17. Now I know why they need to rob the SS fund. n/t

[Negatron]

23. The rich get richer, the poor get boot camp. (n/t)

[MileHiStealth]

28. I'm a commercial and industrial electrician ....

laid off since about 3 months after dickhead
took office, doing odd jobs to pay the bills
after unemployment ran out. Was offered $160k
to go to Iraq but had to pass on it as I have
this theory that asswipe is purposely fucking
up the US economy as to force people like me
to accept these jobs. If the work doesn't
get done, KBR can't keep the money. I'll
take a job at McDonald's before I fall for
this shit ...

[indepat]

31. The comparitive pay of soldiers shows their relative worth in the eyes of

the Administration. Wanna bet your uncle's employer is not getting at least that much as an overide: i.e., a $730M pure profit annually?

[mitchum]

35. Tell him that I want MY money back!

It is time for a tax protest in order to prevent these bloodsucking hogs from feeding at the public trough.

[killbotfactory]

37. It's a corrupt gravy train

For Bushco and friends. Makes me sick.

[Fescue4u]

38. sounds quite reasonable

$2k a day isnt enough to pay me to be a live target.