03/10/14 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] >> from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> this is our land. our parents and grandparents spilled their blood for this land. we will not give up a single centimeter of ukrainian land. >> the newly installed ukrainian prime minister is heading to washington this week to meet president obama walk crimea plans to hold a referendum on whether to split from ukraine and joining russia.

as tensions mount between ukraine and russia, we go to crimea for the latest. then america's war workers. >> there's no chance of me going back. >> a new investigation by al jazeera looks at the human trafficking system that brings tens of thousands of foreign laborers to work on u.s. military bases in afghanistan. we will speak with anjali kamat and sam black. all of that and more coming up. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. multicountry effort is in its third day searching for commercial airliner that disappeared on route from malaysia. carrying 239s

people on board. suspicion of a hijacking has grown after it emerged at least two passengers were traveling on stolen passports. a team of ships and aircraft has been scaring the waters between malaysia and vietnam were the plane last made contact, as well as the strata moloch on the opposite side of the malaysian peninsula. no debris has been found so far. a large oil slick was spotted south of vietnam, but its source is yet to be confirmed. tens of thousands took art in rival pro-unity and pro-russian rallies in ukraine sunday at of a planned referendum. crimea said to vote sunday on whether to break off from ukraine and joining russia following the ouster of viktor yanukovych last month. in a show of support for the new government, the white house has announced president obama will host newly installed ukrainian prime minister arseniy yatsenyuk at the white house this week. we will have more from ukraine after the headlines. were killedpeople

in iraq on sunday when a suicide bomber hit a checkpoint in the southern city of hilla. people were0 wounded. the attack engulfed several dozen cars into flames, trapping motorists inside. violence continues to rage in iraq this year after more than 8000 deaths in 2013. both candidates have claimed victory in el salvador's presidential election after preliminary count showed the vote is too close to call. the race pitted the governing parties ceren salvador sánchez ceren against norman quijano. ceren was running to replace marking the first time an fmln candidate seceded another after decades of right-wing government. sánchez ceren was seen as the favorite coming in but the latest result of show him ahead unless then 1%. more on the elections later in the broadcast. under report on the syrian conflict warns children are

among the most severely impacted by the virtual collapse of the country's health system. according to save the children, several thousand syrian kids have died because of a drastic healthon in access to services, losing their lives to diseases and conditions including cancer, epilepsy, asthma, diabetes, hypertension, and kidney failure. overall, at least 10,000 children have died in violence. children's roger hearn said the problem is most acute in besieged cities like aleppo. >> we're seeing there's been a complete collapse of much of the health system inside syria. situations in aleppo, for example, where 36 doctors are looking after around 2.5 million patients across the city. , 60%tem that has collapsed of health silicate -- cities have been damaged or destroyed. we're seeing some really

terrible outcomes for children as a result of that. >> later this year will mark three years since the syrian conflict began. around the 750 prisoners have launched a hunger strike. there protesting the obama administration's record deportations as well as poor conditions that include wages of just one dollar a day for prison labor. some areas of the prison have been locked down and around 30 people are reportedly being held in isolation or crowded cells. speaking on friday, two prisoners appealed for public support. so that they give us better food, so that they give us lower prices than what they sell here in the commissary. so they stop the deportations. i'm hoping we can get support from the people listening because don't believe what you here. life and here is not very easy. they have us working for one dollar a day. we work for four hours, five

hours at times for just one dollar. >> the prison is run by the for-profit company the geo group, a contractor for immigrations and customs enforcement. according to the nation magazine, geo recently violated a pledge to refrain from lobbying congress on immigration reform, presumably in favor of for-profit jails. over 100 families are expected to take part in a protest against deportations today on the us-mexico border. the families, including many undocumented members, say they will cross over into mexico and then seek reentry into the u.s. through a humanitarian visa or asylum. the u.s. border patrol has issued fresh restrictions on when agents can open fire. under the new rules, customs and border agents are barred from shooting at vehicles whose occupants are trying to flee. there also prevented from stepping in front of the vehicle or using their body to block it in the case of escape. in cases where migrants are

throwing rocks, agents have been told to first seek cover or move away and only open fire in cases of imminent danger of death or serious injury. a recent report found u.s. border agents have been involved in 20 fatalities since 2010, eight of which involved rock throwing. in at were also involved least 67 shooting incidents at the same period. the new policy reverses a decision last her that ignored an independent panel's recommendation to use restraint with rock throwers. yet another army official involved in sexual assault prevention has been charged with a related crime. sergeant first class gregory mcqueen, who runs the sexual assault and harassment prevention wing at fort hood, is accused of setting up a prostitution ring of cash-strapped female soldiers. mcqueen was charged friday with 21 counts, including pandering, conspiracy, now treatment of a subordinate and abusive sexual contact.

in queens court martial comes days after the army's top prosecutor for sexual assault cases, lieutenant colonel joseph morse, was suspended for alleged sexual assault. morse and mcqueen bring to at least five in the last number -- in the last year of the number of army officers involved in sexual assault oversight to be accused of some of the same offenses they're tasked with preventing and punishing. last week the senate rejected a measure that would have moved oversight of sexual assault in the military outside the chain of command. the trial of an army general accused of sexual assault continues at fort bragg in north carolina. on friday, the alleged victim in the case, an army captain, testified that brigadier general jeffrey sinclair twice forced her to perform oral sex during their three-year affair in afghanistan. he threatened to murder her and her family she revealed the affair. she said sinclair had forced her head into his lap as she cried. the general's defense is set to

cross-examine her today. the final public comment period has closed for weighing in on the keystone xl oil pipeline. opponents say they gathered more than 2 million voices urging the obama administration to reject the pipeline, which would carry tar sands oil from alberta to the u.s. gulf coast. a group of activists rallied in front of the state department on friday, part of a wave of actions across the country. secretary of state john kerry could issue his recommendation at any point, leading to a final decision by president obama. over 86,000 activists have signed a pledge of resistance to commit civil disobedience if john kerry recommends the pipeline's approval. used his weekly address on saturday to continue backing an increase in the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. he urged republicans to drop their opposition in the face of public support for a wage hike. >> it is good for our bottom line and working americans have

struggled through stagnant wages for far too long. the clear majority of american support raising the minimum wage. we believe that nobody works full-time should have to live in poverty will stop about half of all republican support raising the minimum wage as well. it is just too bad they don't serve in congress because republicans who do serving congress do not want to vote on the minimum wage at all stop >> president obama's comments come as new figures show the economy at 175,000 jobs last month but the official unemployment rate was 6.7%. paul ryan has admitted a story he told to slam government who programs was based on false statements. speaking of the conservative political action conference last week, ryan recounted the testimony of the secretary of the wisconsin department of children and families. interesting claim to have spoken to a child from looking income family who expressed misgivings of receiving preschool lunch ash

free school lunch. >> what they're offering people is a full stomach and an empty soul. the american people want more than that. this reminds me of a story i heard from eloise anderson. she once met a young boy from a poor family and every day at school he would get a free lunch from a government program. he told eloise he did not want a free lunch. he wanted his own lunch. one in a brown paper bag just like the other kids. he wanted one, he said, the guys he knew a kid with a brown paper bag had someone who cared for him. >> that was congressmember paul ryan speaking at cpac. it turns out anderson never spoke to the child in question. the story apparently comes from the 2011 book "the invisible thread" which recounts in exchange from 20 years ago with a homeless child who has since gone on to advocate for the

government food programs the congressman ryan's announce. in a statement, ryan said -- theegret failing to that original source." day wasional women's celebrated on saturday around the world. in new york city, dozens gathered at the site of the triangle shirtwaist factory fire, the deadliest workplace accident in new york city's history. candice sering of the filipina women's group gabriela said migrant women are at the forefront of today's struggles for social justice. >> throughout the course of time, you saw women's movement changing. today i would say migrant workers are at the forefront of what that struggle looks like for the pure bases of migration being a global issue that human beings are becoming capital, women are a commodity. the injustices are coming to the surface. you see how they are affected.

how their jobs are insecure. how their wages are stolen. all of these things are continuing and just affecting different classes of women and different communities of women. the fight is still not done. >> in jackson, mississippi, hundreds of people gathered on saturday for the funeral of the cities late mayor chokwe lumumba . a longtime black nationalist organizer and attorney, lumumba died last month of heart failure. his election, less than the year ago, led many to call him america's most revolutionary mayor. at a service that ran nearly five hours with a flood of speakers and musical tributes, lumumba's children honored their father's life. . >> he was a man that loved deeper than we could ever understand the meaning of love and dedicated his life to that love. >> but more importantly he taught us through his actions. he showed to the type of leader you wanted to be.

he showed to the top of father you wanted to be. for many of us, he showed to true friendship. >> over the past four decades, the mumbo was deeply involved in numerous political and legal campaigns. he helped found the national black human rights coalition and the malcolm x grassroots movement, which he continued to ink with after taking office advocating participatory democracy and the creation of new worker run cooperatives in jackson. you can go to democracynow.org for our interview with chokwe lumumba the morning after he was elected last june. as well as our coverage of his life and legacy. and the whistleblower edward snowden is said to deliver his first real-time address in the u.s. today with a speech by video feed. a crowd of hundreds of people is expected in austin, texas the here snowden's marks -- remarks. mike pompeo of kansas called on organizers to cancel his speech.

snowden is expected to discuss how people can protect themselves on government surveillance. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. as tensions remain high in ukraine, the white house has announced president obama will meet with newly installed ukrainian prime minister arseniy onsenyuk at the white house wednesday, just days before a referendum on secession by crimea. arseniy yatsenyuk became prime minister after ukrainian president viktor yanukovych was ousted from power. the u.s. and members of the european union have rejected the proposed referendum in crimea saying it is a violation of ukraine's constitution. on sunday, tens of thousands of people in ukraine took part in rival pro-unity and pro-russian rallies. speaking at a rally in kiev, the prime minister arseniy yatsenyuk pledged not to give a single centimeter of ukrainian land to the kremlin. them and weefeat

will win against ukraine, against our people, against our families, against our european future. our neighboring country has launched the military aggression. our answer to the russian federation is the only one. unity, confidence, dedication, and the believe that we are going in the right direction. this is our land. our parents and grandparents spilled their blood for this land. we will not give up a single centimeter of ukrainian land. and the russian president know this. >> russian president vladimir putin has defended the vote in crimea saying it is based on international law and aimed at guaranteeing the legitimate interests of the peninsula's population. crummy as a former russian territory. the vote comes as the russian military has tightened its control of the crimean peninsula .

according to ukraine's border service, russian forces now control 13 border bases as well as a key ferry connecting crimea to russia. gunmen also reportedly fired warning shots on saturday at observers from the organization for security and cooperation in europe, blocking them from entering crimea. we go now to crimea to the city where we're joined by freelance journalist nicholas clayton. he recently wrote a piece for global post called "crimea's referendum plans are dividing the population." he has covered the south caucasus since 2009. why don't you start off by describing to us crimea today. i think most people in the u.s. hardly know it exists. -- it was a part of russia and the russian empire since the 18th century. to be the site of the russian black sea feet.

that is always been a part of crimea's history. possibly the highest density of russians in ukraine, and the military history is tied in with their identity. however, crimea has long been the home of another group, a turk group. they were all forcibly removed -- from theet union soviet union. since it was gifted to ukraine in 1954 in both ukraine and russia were soviet republics by -- since then, the population is mixed quite a bit more and there is about a temper sent to 15% of the population that is ukrainian. >> talk about the significance of this vote next weekend.

the vote is clearly what everybody is waiting for. there are been rising tensions but in many ways, everyone is waiting until the referendum to see what will happen. the fact is, the referendum leaves basically no possibility for crimea to remain a part of ukraine. the two questions are, one, do you support crimea becoming a part of the russian federation? two, do support the restoration of they crimea constitution. the last form of the constitution, which was later abandoned after negotiations with kiev -- in the last form, it describes crimea as an independent country. therefore, if the constitution were to be restored, it is likely the crimean government would interpret that as meaning crimea can be an independent country, one that might the later be absorbed by russia or could become some sort of semi-independent protectorate similar to what has occurred with georgia's breakaway

territories that continue on russia'sd by independent. >> on saturday, ukraine's acting for minister in the upcoming referendum said the upcoming referendum in crimea is illegitimate. >> this referendum and the decision illegal. there is no other way how to protest but to say to the international community that the result will be by ballot. it is a part of the democratic principles, the elections, or referendum at this moment is not fair -- free and fair, then not only ukraine, but the international community will not recognize it. >> nicholas, if you could describe the views of the people in crimea around this referendum, and also the presence of this soviet or the russian bases.

the breadth of opinion is much wider than i think has and discussed of most media. although crimea is majority ethnic russian, that is not necessarily a 100% indicator of where their loyalties lie. although the pro-russian crowd has made its voice the loudest in crimea and there have been several rallies supporting the unity with russia, i've also spoken with several ethnic russians that feel either their a part of ukraine and they just speak russian and not ukraine doesn't invalidate their ukrainian identity and others have said the root causes of the discontent overall with kiev come from the fact they have largely been dictated from kiev, from a faraway government that operates in a different language from them, and they said basically our problems are we are small territory in a part of a bigger country.

range oflly is a opinions. about 25% of the population of crimea have been very worried. they have organized their own self-defense groups and there'll thomas parliament is called on crimean residents to boycott the referendum -- their autonomous parliament has called on crimean residents to boycott the referendum's. they're suspicious of moscow's motives and fearful of what might happen to their rights russianrimea become a territory onin. >> on saturday, the russian foreign affairs minister spoke. represent us as a conflicted side, which we are not. this conflict is of and inside ukrainian nature, and not from our side. [indiscernible]

unfortunately it depends on radical nationalists. nicholas clayton, if you could respond to lavrov and also talked about the presence of the russian bases? well, that has been a line that has come out of the russian media for a long time. it has had its desired effects. many people here believe there is a new fascist government with kiev that is coming to exterminate ethnic russians in crimea and very much has been -- what we can here in crimea as to why the referendum, why they need russian support, why they want to separate from kiev. troops in these standoffs, there's been an ongoing war of nerves area much between these unmarked military units and there is building evidence that they are russian -- there is little doubt their russian forces. and ukrainian troops continued to be surrounded in various

bases around the country. for the most part, after initial standoffs, there were agreements that were made between the ukrainian and russian sides and that russians sometimes take to teach it parts while ukrainians would remain in their parts of the bases. there were ultimatums made trying to get ukrainians to surrender and so far none have -- at least not significant numbers. however, there was an attack on friday when a mix of russian regular soldiers appeared and these volunteer self-defense forces attacked the ukrainian-base and try to force them to surrender and they did not do so. the pro-russian forces eventually withdrew. i spoke with some ukrainian soldiers over the weekend and said basically since that particular events, they believe the russians could come storming in at any moment.

the situation remains very tense. >> can you talk about nato and the russians attitude toward nato? example, for for the independence of kosovo, but been saying crimea is unconstitutional according to the ukraine constitution. episode has very much revived the debate between self-determination versus state sovereignty. and very much as you mentioned there are links in terms of russia's view of this going back to 1999. in the 1990's, there was a bit the groups.n however, that opinion has changed, particularly during the 1990's, as what they interpreted as increasingly aggressive behavior on nato's's side. nato agreed not to expand into eastern europe and continued moving.

around the kosovo incident in particular, russia felt like it table ina seat at the negotiations over with the international response was going to be and how there would be reconciliation in the end. it felt like it was promises were not respected there. and since then, there's been a lot of analysts saying they feel these moves by the kremlin are irrational and somehow that putin has gone crazy. in fact, putin has always been a very calculated and opportunistic person. i'm not vouching for his policies, but in crimea, he has acted in a way that really represents the way he sees the world order. each many russians feel the actual -- the international organizations and institutions that in order to build these processes by which

these types of disputes can be resolved, all of them are slanted toward western interest. putin, therefore, sees not only is it unlikely to get a favorable result by going through the official numeral international channels, but also putin believes the west is being hypocritical itself. that when the west wants to attack a country forget militarily involved in the affairs of countries, they oftentimes do the action without consulting the u.n. are going through those processes as well. it very much is a part of putin 's worldview that going through the normal processes and international community insisting russia go through the normal processes is a website letting it, a with keeping russia from getting what it wants. -- a way of sidelining it, keeping russia from getting what it wants. >> and the significance of the

ministera ukrainian prime arseniy yatsenyuk coming to meet with president obama? >> it will be very important -- two things will be very important. i think many have forgotten much of what spurred this crisis going back before the protest even in kiev is that ukraine is very much on the verge of bankruptcy. it's economic situation has only worsened after the protest. ukraine seriously significant financial support in order to stay afloat. not only that, if russia either cuts gas to ukraine or increases its prices, it will have a serious effect on the ukrainian economy and the ability of this new government to remain stable throughout this crisis. i think also similarly important is the guidance the western to ukraine. give

another part of the trigger of all of this in this political crisis that has erupted between east and west is very much continuing political crisis that has existed within ukraine for basically since independence. if you look at political maps of how the national elections have is historical divides between the east and west. no government basically since independence has been able to .eally roll through consensus in 20,004, yet orange revolution which brought about pro-western ukrainian speaking government that push the country toward nato even though the majority of the country was not enthusiastic about joining nato. also imposed ukrainian as the national language for all intense purposes. it has taconite the east. something else that came up recently with yanukovych to

power in 2010, he then made russia and official in which alongside ukrainian. the parliament voted to an all that law, giving russia the official status shortly after the new government took place were to power. that is something that many russians talk about here in the east as the new very provocative measure, although, the new ukrainian president vetoed the law, it was still a sign that the new government really needs to be encouraged to take steps to build a policy that does build consensus with both sides, the east to the governments of they feel they are adequately represented in the government and there is no longer the sense of one side takes power in strips from the other side and vice versa. quick nicholas clayton, thank you for being with us, freelance journalist speaking to us from

crimea. we will have a link to your piece on democracynow.org. when we come back, "america's war workers." stay with us. ♪ [music break]

>> this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. "america's war workers." that is the name of a new investigation by al jazeera's fault lines in examining an underreported aspect of america's longest war. the system that brings foreign laborers to work on u.s. military bases in afghanistan. today there are approximately 40,000 foreign contract workers on bases in the u.s. military central command. these workers leave their homes in countries such as india and nepal to enter a war zone --

serving u.s. troops as cooks, working, doing laundry, as construction workers. however, fault lines discovered these laborers regularly end up deceived and indebted, victims of local recruiters who charge thousands of dollars and offer false promises of high-paying jobs. they're easy prey for labor fromickers who profit military contracts. in this clip from the new investigation, al jazeera correspondent anjali kamat speaks to a worker who goes by the name ravi. >> he told us he was tricked into working in afghanistan for a salary less than half of what he was promised. it started when a friend back home introduced ravi to recruiting agent who told him for a hefty fee you to get a job in afghanistan working for dyncorp. he would fly to dubai we will connect with dyncorp and then travel to the base. >> but there was a catch.

the job did not exist. instead, he was housed in a work camp in dubai. after three weeks, the agent told him that for an additional fee, you could get ravi a job the subcontractor. >> so your promised a job at dyncorp -- >> >> yes. >> then you got a job at colog. >> >> how much money did you pay the agent?

>> ravi had been recruited under fraudulent terms that compelled him to work for a year, simply to pay off his debt. according to the u.s. state department and the united nations, this is human trafficking. >> that was a clip from the new al jazeera investigation, "america's war workers." onis about migrant laborers u.s. military bases. for more we're joined by the two journalists to do the investigation, samuel black is a producer at al jazeera and anjali kamat is a correspondent. they also cowrote an article that accompanies the film called "after 12 years of war, labor abuses still rampant on u.s. bases in afghanistan." welcome. rate to be with you again, anjali kamat, former democracy now! producer. talk about this investigation you did. >> it was a five-month investigation. .his isn't new

for over the past 10 years, the west military has been systematically privatizing more and more of its functions, particularly logistics. we saw this in iraq and afghanistan. there hasteresting is been a realization, a recognition at the highest levels that workers are being trafficked. the lowest wage jobs on these been filled by so-called third world workers. inre was a recognition september 2012 president obama signed an executive order banning the use of these on military contracts. law as well.ed a we wanted to look into this issue and see if this was continuing. my colleague sam another colleagues at al jazeera, we basically contacted a lot of workers, current and former workers, in afghanistan to see what their expenses were. then we traveled to the bases in

afghanistan and india to get a sense of what their expenses were. we spoke to 75 workers. of the 75 we spoke to, 90% of them had paid fees. to $5,000.ng $1000 these are workers in the case of afghanistan today, primarily coming from india and nepal. they're coming from jobs previously that paid something like $100 or $200 a month maximum. they have had to take out enormous loans to pay these fees. predatory loans at interest rates of 35% to 40% sometimes. what you see in the film is a story of how they move through multiple layers of being deceived. >> sam, let's say they go from southern india where you also went -- they're taken to dubai? explain what happens next. >> in india, these are mostly

men who often have no income or very low income, so they're forerately looking work overseas. there is a history of men from india and nepal and the philippines going to work on u.s. military bases. father orses, their uncle or brother has done this. the reason why they end up going through dubai is because that is a stopping off point where the recruiters send them, say where they're supposed to meet representatives from the subcontractor, who is really their employer. the key thing to remember here is that it is a supply chain. it starts with the department of defense, which is the entity is operating these bases in afghanistan and iraq for the last 10 years. and elsewhere in central command. the department of defense has privateed or has asked

companies in afghanistan to manage the bases in afghanistan. but those companies in turn then turn around and subcontract typically 75% of the labor on those bases to subcontractors which are mostly based in the persian gulf and the united arab emirates am my dubai. >> in this clip, anjali kamat speaks with sam mcmahon -- semi-can, former army judge advocate general officer who is pushing for reforming the military contracting system. >> they could hire workers directly for less. the way the system is set up, they actually have an incentive to use subcontractors they overcharge. that is because the government has agreed to reimburse them for all other costs and then pay them a percentage of that total

as a fixed profit. >> of the economic span is to encourage many costs as you can legitimate do so. they make millions of dollars in additional profits by subcontracting it out. >> sued the u.s. government is subsidizing human trafficking? >> know, we're paying for directly. this is the only form of human trafficking where the taxpayer directly pays the human trafficker. >> talk about what he is saying. he is a former jag officer. he has been looking at this issue, tracking it by carefully for the past six or seven years. how thisalks about is is the only form of human trafficking that a strictly subsidized by u.s. taxpayers. we're talking $53.6 billion. that is how much taxpayer money has been going on -- into the system. we don't know how much has been wasted or gone into different places. sam black was just explaining the way the supply chain works. when you look at it, you see every single person in the

supply chain expanded because of the worker. what we saw in the film is workers pay this huge fee to their recruiting agents which are a key part of the system. it is not something that u.s. military invented, but they bought into a system, an existing system that is prevalent in the persian gulf countries, to bring labor from south asia -- cheap labor. >> you have one of these workers that pays $5,000 and told, well, you will make it back quickly because you will have a very high paying job. but then he gets to afghanistan and told $500 he will get a month. in order to raise that, he will have to work for a year because he has to pay back this interest rate of like 25% or 30%. >> and that is if he gets to afghanistan. we met so many workers who were warehoused in dubai for months. while they are being warehoused,

they're just waiting in these very squalid labor camps. .e visited one in dubai ofai is known as the city 300,000 south asian workers were building the economies. and that is where these workers are also warehoused. there cap there, sometimes for months on end to the waiting to be sent to work much afghanistan or grievously, iraq. they're not getting paid. they're staying in small rooms with very little food. while they're not getting paid, they're not able to send money back home. so the interest on that loan is just getting higher and higher. the pressure to take a job, even if it is much lower pay than they were originally promised come is that much higher. >> i want to turn to another clip from your peas, "america's war workers." this is an agent who recruits workers for ecolog and supreme group, two contractors in afghanistan. >> i asked him about his

contract and he told me something incredible. pay him anynot money directly. the men he makes comes entirely from the fees paid by job candidates and explained subcontractors take a cut from those fees. >> this age it even offered to pay me money if we hired workers from his camp. $100 to $200 for each worker we could find a job for in afghanistan. withplain where you met him. yet the shaky camera work because you secretly recorded this conversation.

>> sam and i post as representatives of a fictitious subcontracting company based in the u.s., and we said we wanted to expand our business in military contracting overseas. so we set up a meeting with him. we got his contact from one of the workers we met in afghanistan. he had been recruited by him. we just ask tim what this business -- we just asked him what this business model was like and ask simple questions. if you provide workers to ecolog and supreme, where'd you house them? he said in a labor camp outside dubai. he said, -- we said, how much will it cost? if are going to hire you to bring workers for us, how must we pay you? >> he basically said nothing. on paper i say you pay me $300, but really, i will pay you. because the way it works is that each recruiting agent once the subcontractor to hire workers

from his pool of workers. they want those workers to be hired because they have gotten all of their money -- they get all of the money from the recruitment fees. they don't need additional money from the subcontractors. tofact, they give rise others to heather workers. >> and sounds like a lot of deniability on the part of the pentagon. but they have to know these workers come from somewhere. pentagon -- not just the pentagon, the prime contractors are insulated from this behavior. the u.s. department of defense depends on an over the last 10 years has depended on hundreds of thousands of these low-paying workers, but with the system they set up, there insulated. is the important here

money that is going opposite way you would expect, it is going up the supply chain. people are paying to work in the people recruiting are paying to recruit. it is kind of bizarre. the people making the most profit are essentially rent seeking on the fact they have the opportunity to offer the job. it is because they're essentially hooked up to the hose of government money. >> explain that. explain what president obama said would change. ofthe executive order september 2012, president obama basically bans outright recruitment fees. on military contracts. >> because? >> there is an understanding this fits into the definition of human trafficking, which is illegal under u.s. law and international law. there's been a lot of journalistic work and investigations within the military that have looked into this since 2006, and there has been acknowledgment this is happening.

it is not something new. what is astounding is even though this executive order happened, congress also passed a law banning or acknowledging this is happening, they did not been recruitment fees out right and what they called unreasonable recruitment fees. and that is open to interpretation. what we heard from many workers is increasingly, they're being asked by military personnel on the basis of they paid a recruitment fee. but they're just being asked by someone. remember, these workers have paid so much money taking out enormous loads, they're terrified if they tell them, yes, i paid a recruitment fee -- the finally have chance to make money, they're terrified it will be sent back home. we met a young man. we went to two villages in southern india. verynt to an area that is rich agriculturally but farming

incomes have dropped. it has dr. manically in the past decade. which is why a lot of people who've come there have sought to leave that area looking for work. these two villages we went to -- people claim that sent large numbers of people to iraq and afghanistan. it was a young boy and grew up hearing stories from his uncle and friends and everyone in the village of how they had all gone and work at the u.s. military. her teenage boy, this sounded exciting. when he was 20, he was offered a by recruiting agent who said if you pay us a little money, we with supreme job in afghanistan. he took out a loan of $2500. he paid the agent 2500 dollars. this was in south india. he was told to travel to the

capital in northern india, delhi, and cap there for several weeks. he was told, yes, he would be sent to dubai for sent to afghanistan soon, just wait. he was kept in an apartment with about 15 other men in the same position. -- he isy, he figured told there is no doubt, go back. he did not get his money back. you still trying to pay his debt back all stop the recruitment agent gave him a receipt. within india, there are laws about using only registered agents. there's only about less than 2000 agents that are registered whereas when you look at the actual number of agents and subagents across the country it runs into the tens of thousands. most of them are unlicensed. she got a receipt, but only for very small portion of what he paid. >> and another man? he was interesting because he

had actually -- he ended up going to afghanistan and had come back. he worked also for supreme with dyncorp. dyncorp is the primary contractor in this case. he was shuttled through five different agents. he was sent to three different cities in india and then to dubai. in dubai was made to wait for three months in a small room with 40 other people, given very little food. they kept saying, we're going to get your job, just wait. and nothing happened. finally, he went to his agent. he heard the agents were sending people back to india saying it wasn't working out. he could not afford to do that. .e had put his house up he had taken out a loan. he was on the verge of losing everything. so he threatened his agent. he said, i'm going to commit suicide or call the police. you have to send me. finally, they sent him to

afghanistan for much, much lower pair than he had asked for. >> i wanted to turn a one line script where we meet a former cook with u.s. military. -- i want to turn to another clip where we meet a former cook with u.s. military. after he arrived, he was told in dubai he would be going to an american base in djibouti for much lower salary. the film ends with his final thoughts on his ordeal. >> samuel black for the pentagon's response? >> we have received no response from the pentagon as of yet. is remarkable is over the last 10 years, there hasn't been a single contractor or subcontractor that is been suspended from one of these

contracts, been terminated, there is been no prosecutions or even civil actions against one of these companies. in 2006, this has been reported since 2006. resources.ted we were able to communicate with people in india and it wasn't that hard pressed to find 90% of the people we talked to had paid fees. how much to the operations get? >> because of the type of contact they have, they get whatever the subcontractors are charging them -- >> but they have been paid billions. >> overall, over $56 billion. >> kbr is the time contractor -- they are the biggest player. >> thank you. a remarkable piece. samuel black and anjali kamat from al jazeera. they have worked on this for five months for faultlines

called, "america's war workers." onis about migrant laborers u.s. military bases. when we come back, the latest from elections and all salvador, still too close to call. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

>> this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. as we ended today show in el salvador with both candidates claiming victory in sunday's presidential election after preliminary count showed the vote was too close to call. the race pitted the governing parties tell the door sanchez ceren against the right-wing candidate norman quijano. sanchez ceren was running to replace mauricio funes, marking the first time an fmln candidate succeeds another after decades of right-wing governments. sanchez ceren was seen as a favor coming up at the latest results show him at less than one thing percent. we go to el salvador were reared joined by the program director

of cispes. laura embree-lowry, what is the latest news on this election? >> thank you and good morning. as you mentioned, it is a very, very close race. limoneira results are showing 15.11% for the fmln and 49 189% for the right-wing party. 99.9% of theover tables reporting at this point. though the electoral authority has said because of the closeness of the race, they won't be declaring an official render until they actually have done the final count of the original results from each table. but what we're seeing right now is in the preliminary results, the fmln party is ahead by over 6300 votes. what is really concerning is the right-wing party having declared

victory extremely early less than 70% of the voting tables were reporting. it seems to go along with the trend of what we saw before the elections come of them setting up the stage to discredit the election results after they have been announced. last night when norman quijano was declaring victory, he was already calling fraud and saying the refusal to give a definitive result right now is a sign of fraud. she was also calling on the armed forces -- he was also calling on the armed forces to protect democracy and defend el salvador's democracy against the fraud that was being committed. it is concerning because especially all of the observer missions have noted the transparency of the were tranquility with which it developed. the organization of american states has said el salvador's electrical world is cutting-edge for the region. normanhe candidate

quijano said his party was ready for war. >> he is the mayor of san salvador? >> i'm sorry? yes, and the candidate for the right-wing party. >> talk about the significance of sanchez ceren, also from the fmln, as the current president funes is. >> well, sanchez ceren is a former guerrilla commander from when the fmln was a rebel group. it was incorporated into the electoral system after the peace accords were signed in 1992. sanchez ceren has served as vice president in mauricio funes administration as well as minister of education which he amazing some really social programs, including free

uniforms, free school lunches for school children, a literacy program to eradicate illiteracy in the country. so he is a very popular candidate because of how the programs have touched so many lives. >> we will continue to cover these results. again, they have not been announced yet. the election for president in el salvador. laura embree-lowry speaking to us from san salvador, program director at cispes. that does it for our broadcast. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]

[captioning made possible by california farm bureau federation] >> coming up on "california

country"...meet the face of andy boy produce. yes, there really is an andy boy. >> who is this? >> yep. it's me. >> oh. >> then she's getting her goat, but that's a good thing for this talented farmer. >> you see how comfortable the baby is? you can't carry the big one. >> then as the weather heats up, it's time to get gardening and our expert has the tips to get you started. >> think of the best salsa you've ever had. it was the fresh cilantro, wasn't it? >> it's all ahead and it starts now. take a walk through your average produce aisle these days and there are more choices than ever, but one fa has very eye-catching marketing strategy to entice you. and it all has to do with the bright picture of a little boy named andy.