How bad is it-the only real job you can get is driving a truck in Iraq?

[underpants]

a KBR truck at that.

I have the utmost concern for Mr.Hill and hope that he returns safely. It just struck me that he couldn't make a living as a dairy farmer here so he put his life at risk to pay off his debts.

And here I thought W was SOoooo concerned about farmers what with the "death tax" (which rarely applies to farmers in the first place) and all.

http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=5432A260-DA36-4BF9-BC6EC2AC4CE65C76

PS-ssssssshhh I have a wift of a scent that Mr.Hill wasn't a truck driver after all. Either way good luck to him.

[fishnfla]

1. He was working 2 jobs according to the NYT

sounds like the * economic plan alright.

[underpants]

2. Welcome to Dick Cheney's America

Would you like to work for our friends?

EEeeet is NOT a government.......job?

Hoooooooogan!!!!!!!

[NNN0LHI]

3. Bet one needs to be adept with guns to be driving these trucks n/t

[uncertainty1999]

4. why have a draft ....

.... when all of the military duties can be outsourced and unemployed civilians can be coerced into taking these positions by economic desperation?

Question: could someone could be denied unemployment benefits if he/she were to turn down a job offer from halliburton etc for a position in Iraq ........ ? I don't understand how unemployment works (though I might have more info soon since one of my relatives just lost her job).

[KoKo]

5. His story was all over the cables today. It sounded believable to me..

but reading another thread about this here, and some suspicions about him on this thread, I'm not sure what to think.

On the gun issue. He comes from a state where folks would be familiar with guns, expecially since he owned a farm, so I don't see him as a "Blackwater" type mercenary. They said he had no military history, his wife had just had open heart surgery and he had to sell his dairy farm.

I thought it was an honest report about the guy. And, shows what a horrible state America is in. Who paid for his wife's recent surgery? As a failed dairy farmer did he have any insurance? He has two kids. It was a family farm. How do we know the "Agribusinesses" didn't just drive him out of business. If so that's a story we Dems should understand.

I will give the guy a break. It sounds tragic that he had to go to Iraq to make money. What else does a bankrupt dairy farmer with huge medical bills and two kids do in Mississippi? He wasn't trained for Computer Tech and if he was his job just went to India.

This is the kind of person we Dems should be supporting, not tearing down.

But, being suspicious of the media myself and a bigtime DU "tinfoilhatter" ...I still believe his story until I find out otherwise.

I hope he's released. He could just have been in the wrong place at the wrong time and not some gun toting ex Army/Navy Seal "Blackwater" type looking to be a "soldier of fortune. How do we know how many desperate folks with no military training have been forced to go over there and fight Bush/PNAC's war? Their stories should be told. :shrug:

[fishnfla]

7. I'm so glad you said that KoKo

The guy is 41, the farm had been in his family for 30 years.Do the math. What else is he gonna know? Milking cows twice a day at 4:30 am/pm. Hunting, fishing, volunteer fireman, small, rural town. Caught up in geo-political conflict, hell aint we all? He's just more desperate than us, and even more so now. I'm gonna pull for the guy.

I saw that other thread, not the best of DU. (no sympathy for the guy because "he looks like he might be a freeper" cant argue with logic like that, out)

[QC]

14. Yeah, that's a pretty disgusting thread, isn't it?

I'm glad we're not all like the "He looks like a freeper" posters over there.

[Rowdyboy]

9. Thank you, Koko...I don't know this man but I know his brothers

and sisters by the hundreds in Mississippi. I tried to help them find work during my 25 year career at the state employment service. Limited education, very limited skills, spouse with cancer, huge debts on farm; sickness, bills and debt will make a man feel desperate and drive him to take stupid chances.

Some asshole comes along and offers $80,000 a year (his Iraqi salary). Totally safe-armed guard 24/7. Sleep in our barracks, eat our food, drive our trucks where we say, and collect big, fat paychecks! What could be better.

You're unemployed, undereducated, with a shitload of debt and a couple of teenagers. What do you do? Do you take a chance? Way too many will.

I pray this man is not tortured; that shouldn't be the price of poverty and ignorance.

[Hekate]

10. My heart goes out to him and his family

I believe his story, actually, because I can see how poverty and lack of opportunity at home are driving the "volunteer" army, and now the so-called big opportunities with KBR will be attracting people who otherwise wouldn't dream of going that far from home.

The disgusting thing about it is not the little guys but the corporations and politicians who have engineered it: it's like a card trick where the magician says "Pick a card, any card" and there's something called a "forced choice" so you end up choosing the card the trickster wants you to choose.

Regarding his wife's medical bills: did you know that the hospital can (and will) send your unpaid bills to a collection agency, and you can lose your HOUSE? I didn't know this until recently -- it's obscene, and it's happening all over.

DUers should have pity on this guy.

Hekate

[anarchy1999]

11. I agree completely. What a tragic state of circumstances.

It also speaks to the tragedy befalling ordinary Americans, middle class, just trying to make ends meet. This 3rd generation dairy farmer was forced to sell out and take a job where his life would be in daily jeopardy, just to make ends meet and take care of his family. THIS SUCKS! IT IS WRONG! AND IT IS TREASON AND HIGH CRIMES BY THIS ADMINISTRATION. LYING TO CONGRESS AND THE UNITED NATIONS TO JUSTIFY AN ILLEGAL WAR IS AN INTERNATIONAL WAR CRIME. THE US IS GUILTY!

THIS IS CRIMINAL IN EVERY DIRECTION!!!!

[underpants]

12. Okay Koko it's just that I heard that sort of implied in one report

No I don't have anything against him and of course I wish he the best, as my original thread stated.

[brokensymmetry]

6. The reports I've seen all suggest he's just a truck driver.

To be a merc. would require training with automatic weapons, and the tactical use of same...quite a lot different than one would get down on the typical farm.

[leftofthedial]

8. that is EXACTLY how the bushgang want it

they are counting on that kind of desperation among Americans.

[noyoda]

13. Why not Hire Iraq's

Yes I agree that this is a sad situation but for $80,000 "Halibitum"
Could hire those out of work Iraqies and get 20 truck drivers for that price. What are the roadblocks to hiring them?

[Nihil]

16. Delivery addresses?

> What are the roadblocks to hiring them (Iraqis)?

Probably the rules for the supply and delivery points ... I can't see
US troops allowing Iraqi contractors onto a base to deliver pizzas or
whatever they're carrying ...

[0007]

15. Me too!

...but then again, what do I know?