Rep. Poe: KBR Gang Rape Was Not ‘An Isolated Case Of Sexual Assault’
Rep. Poe: KBR Gang Rape Was Not ‘An Isolated Case Of Sexual Assault’
Earlier this week, former Halliburton/KBR employee Jamie Leigh Jones revealed that in 2005 she had been “raped by multiple men at a KBR camp” in Baghdad. For the past two years, her congressman, Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX), has been pushing the federal government to investigate the matter, but he “says neither the department of State nor Justice will give him answers” on the status of the investigation.
On CNN’s Lou Dobbs’ Tonight last night, Poe said that he does “not think this is an isolated case” and encouraged “other victims to notify” his office:
DOBBS: Now I know you’ve written a letter to the U.S. attorney general, Michael Mukasey, seeking his intervention in this case. Is there anything the audience of this broadcast can do so assist you?
POE: Yes, exactly. There’s something you can do. We do not think this is an isolated case of sexual assault against American citizens in Baghdad by coworkers. We want the other victims to notify my office immediately.
Watch it:
Frustrated by the government’s inaction, Jones is now taking her case to the civil court system, but KBR is pushing for it to be heard in “private arbitration,” without a “public record or transcript.” Halliburton has “won more than 80 percent of arbitration proceedings brought against it.”
Beyond Poe, Jones’ cause has been taken up by Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), who both wrote to Attorney General Michael Mukasey urging him to investigate her claims. Yesterday, the House Judiciary Committee announced that it will hold a hearing on Jones’ allegations next Wednesday.
Poe’s congressional office can be contacted here.
UPDATE: Sen. Ben Nelson (D-FL) wrote to Mukasey today as well, asking him to look into “the possibility that a number of other similar rapes may have occurred in Iraq that have gone unreported.”
UPDATE II: According to ABC’s Justin Rood, Nelson also sent a letter to Defense Secretary Gates describing “recent reports that at least two women who worked in Iraq under contractors for the Department of Defense were sexually assaulted by male coworkers.”"
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Waiting for the trolls to blast Republican Poe as an opportunistic Stalinist who hates the troops.
December 13th, 2007 at 2:06 pmUm…are we absolutely sure that Rep. Poe is REPUBLICAN…?
He actually seems to have a grip on reality and a bit of compassion to go with it…!
December 13th, 2007 at 2:07 pmHeya, Frosty – GMTA! ;o)
December 13th, 2007 at 2:07 pmI just posted a comment on the previous thread on this topic, but I am going to paste it here just to make sure that sick puke-inducing freak CHL sees it:
Will Congress have public hearings on the rape of Juanita Broaddrick?
Comment by cold_hard_left — December 13, 2007 @ 1:21 pm
Ultra-pathetic attempt, freak. Broderick’s claim went nowhere because it was neither credible nor corroborated. In fact, this story would have never broken except that the WSJ editorial board broke its own editorial standards for reporting news. Managing editor Gerald Sieb killed the story from appearing in the regular news pages of the Journal precisely because the story was neither credible nor corroborated and did not rise to the Journal’s high standards for reporting. The editorial board was infuriated and broke the story in the op-ed pages. Of course then all the other me-too media had to run the ball a few yards down the field before this get-Clinton smear job died out.
As for Congress getting involved in the case at hand here, I suppose you are opposed to her congressman getting involved in the first place, and are opposed to the State Department getting involved at his urging to have her released from her false imprisonment by KBR employees following the brutal rape she suffered. Whatever it takes to protect your guys, eh a**hole?
What a hateful puke you are.
December 13th, 2007 at 2:08 pmHola Leftside Annie!
:)
(What’s “GMTA”?)
December 13th, 2007 at 2:08 pmGood point, Annie. I’ve never wavered in my belief that there ARE some good Republicans out there. I think they all just went to ground when the neocons took over their party.
December 13th, 2007 at 2:09 pmHooray for Poe! Rape anywhere is unconscionable, but when Americans rape other Americans — even overseas — we need to hold those responsible accountable.
Because rape is a crime involving power and domination, it’s not unusual for a rape victim to step forward. Especially when she’s working in an environment with the deck stacked so much against her.
I don’t wish to rush to judgment, and the perpetrators are entitled to a fair trial. However, I would hope this would be investigated with the same fervor as if it happened here in the U.S., and that it doesn’t just get swept under the rug to avoid embarrassing a pet contractor.
December 13th, 2007 at 2:09 pmThere have been many many cases of Iraqi Sunni women being held in Prison to lure their husbands to the local police station
But while being held by American soldiers have been raped and filmed Thus fueling the Sunni – Shiite rift in Iraq
December 13th, 2007 at 2:10 pmheres another case
‘I reported the rape within 30 minutes – then watched my career implode’
Suzanne Goldenberg reports on the scandal of unpunished sexual assault within the US army
The worst thing for Captain Jennifer Machmer was knowing that the US army had actually promoted her rapist.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1335105,00.html
December 13th, 2007 at 2:15 pmYes, this thread must be very confusing to the trolls.
It’s about a Republican. Complaining about KBR. Demanding an investigation. And two Democrats have taken up this Republican’s cause.
Yes, they must be vary confused n the talking points.
December 13th, 2007 at 2:16 pmVery confused in the talking points. ‘Scuse the typos.
December 13th, 2007 at 2:17 pmhas everyone heard Dennis Kucinich has been booted from the debate? Fox News is being more fair then the so called liberal media. How pathetic is that? Really makes me sick. Dennis should have spoke up when Mike Gravel got censored. He had his chance. He had to have known that this was coming.
December 13th, 2007 at 2:21 pmHola Leftside Annie!
:)
(What’s “GMTA�)
Comment by Frosty Cupcake — December 13, 2007 @ 2:08 pm
Great Minds Think Alike. ;o)
December 13th, 2007 at 2:23 pmThey’ll probably argue that the ‘alleged incident’ didn’t take place on US soil and therefore US law doesn’t apply and no US gov’t entity has jurisdiction.
December 13th, 2007 at 2:23 pmAnnie:
:p
December 13th, 2007 at 2:25 pmComment by Billy Hill — December 13, 2007 @ 2:22 pm
Nothing to see HERE. Move along, move along.
December 13th, 2007 at 2:26 pmWhat a great record this company has…
Comment by Billy Hill — December 13, 2007 @ 2:22 pm
You left out “providing unclean water to our troops” which the last Congress refused to investigate.
December 13th, 2007 at 2:28 pmHere’s another ugly facet to this problem. One that is covered up by bush, et al, as well.
http://majikthise.typepad.com/majikthise_/2006/01/military_concea.html
December 13th, 2007 at 2:28 pmRanjiv Chandrasekaran needs to part of this. Imperial Life in the Emerald City made several indications that sexual assaults were occurring in Baghdad, or at least they were very likely given the environment.
Sorry I don’t have the page reference, but he definitely wrote about the lack of local hookers and other circumstances that led to a sexually charged and aggressive atmosphere in the green zone whenever a single woman was about.
December 13th, 2007 at 2:30 pmGreat Minds Think Alike. ;o)
Comment by Leftside Annie — December 13, 2007 @ 2:23 pm
S.M.A.R.T. = Small Minds Actively Resist Thought (see post 13)
December 13th, 2007 at 2:30 pmThis is going to result in a new legal discipline: Rape arbitration.
December 13th, 2007 at 2:31 pmIf there is no judicial process due to the ’special’ status of Hallilburton/KBR(KBG) overseas, these asswipes may wind up getting some non-judicial punishment when (if) they ever get back on US soil.
Not that they shouldn’t have their day in court, of course, but in the absence of judicial proceedings, they might get a more informal kind of justice served their sorry dicks.
December 13th, 2007 at 2:31 pmSorry, no story here, nothing to see here move along, move along.
Comment by Billy Hill
Yeah, except for the crime, the victim, and the cover up there is nothing to see here. I hope your sister doesn’t work at Halliburton.
December 13th, 2007 at 2:34 pm.
Why is a private company doing the work of our military?
Why are private companies exempt from the laws that bind our military to the rule of law?
CORPRATISM = PERPETUAL WAR WITHOUT LEGAL JUSTIFICATIONS = FASCISM the likes of Hitler’s Nazi Party.
.
December 13th, 2007 at 2:35 pmThe scandal at Abu Ghraib prison was first exposed not by a digital photograph but by a letter. In December 2003, a woman prisoner inside the jail west of Baghdad managed to smuggle out a note. Its contents were so shocking that, at first, Amal Kadham Swadi and the other Iraqi women lawyers who had been trying to gain access to the US jail found them hard to believe.
The note claimed that US guards had been raping women detainees, who were, and are, in a small minority at Abu Ghraib. Several of the women were now pregnant, it added. The women had been forced to strip naked in front of men, it said. The note urged the Iraqi resistance to bomb the jail to spare the women further shame.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1220509,00.html
December 13th, 2007 at 2:38 pmWhat a great record this company has, super health insurance for its employees, 401K matching plan, retirement fund and great wages not to mention that it employees 100,000 plus. Statistically in the US the average is 65 rapes per 100,000. Halliburton has some of the best if not the best behaved employees in the entire world. Sorry, no story here, nothing to see here move along, move along.
Halliburton also has a great record of war profiteering, fraud, incompetence, trading with Iran against U.S. law, overbilling, and now apparently covering up rape and threatening rape victims. Halliburton’s employees may be mostly well-behaved, but its managers are clearly sociopaths.
December 13th, 2007 at 2:38 pm.
Comment by Billy Hill — December 13, 2007 @ 2:22 pm
So, 64 rapes per 100,000 is good? One rape in 100,000 is good?
Rape is good?
Just how can you be defending the ability to rape as if it is acceptable?
Just what morals do you have?
.
December 13th, 2007 at 2:39 pmUS soldiers accused of raping 100 colleagues
The Pentagon has ordered an urgent inquiry into reports that more than 100 American women deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan have been raped or sexually assaulted by fellow soldiers, it emerged yesterday. There have been 112 cases of sexual assault on women soldiers in units under central command, which oversees operations in the Middle East and central Asia, during the past months. Meanwhile more than 20 women at an air force training base in Texas have told a local crisis centre they were assaulted in 2002.
December 13th, 2007 at 2:40 pmhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,,1157345,00.html
The people who want KBR/Halliburton to get away with rape (mostly the Republiscums) point to the agreement that their employees sign saying that “disputes” must be handled in arbitration.
I’m sorry, but rape is not a “dispute”, it is a crime and should be treated as such. If the Justice Department does not go after these thugs, then it will be proof positive that Mulkasey lied during his confirmation hearings and has no intention of doing the business of the people.
December 13th, 2007 at 2:41 pmThere have been 112 cases of sexual assault on women soldiers in units under central command, which oversees operations in the Middle East and central Asia, during the past 18 months. Meanwhile more than 20 women at an air force training base in Texas have told a local crisis centre they were assaulted in 2002.
If only half of the cases are confirmed it will be the worst rape scandal the US military has faced in nearly a decade.
The reports provoked outrage in the Senate yesterday.
“What does it say about us as a people, as the nation, as the foremost military in the world, when our women soldiers sometimes have more to fear from their fellow soldiers than from the enemy?” asked Susan Collins, a Republican senator.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,,1157345,00.html
December 13th, 2007 at 2:42 pmUS soldiers accused of raping 100 colleagues
HOW MANY IRAQI WOMEN HAVE BEEN RAPED
December 13th, 2007 at 2:44 pmGood for Poe. And I wish more GOPs have some sense like Poe. And it is shame that DOJ and State Dept. turn their backs on this issue. I suspect that there will be rape victims that will come forward which will be a sadden to this country that our officials turned a blind eye. And how many Iraqi women were rape victims also?
December 13th, 2007 at 2:52 pmFirst Lieutenant Elizabeth Whiteside tried to commit suicide after suffering a mental breakdown in Iraq. So what did the Army try to do? It tried to court-martial her. Prosecutors wanted to send her to jail and give her an other-than-honorable discharge for being mentally ill.
December 13th, 2007 at 2:54 pmhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/01/AR2007120101782.html
Since KBR participates in such lawlessness, the young lady should aquire a shotgun and blow the nuts off all those who participated in the rape and the coverup – up the chain of command – and up yours KBR/Haliburton/Dickless Cheney.
Would someone please make public the names and photos of all those who participated in this awful crime so that each will be ridiculed and hounded the rest of their lives?
December 13th, 2007 at 3:24 pmthose ‘roided up mercenaries were confused. kbr’s operating principle is ‘rape the u.s. taxpayer’ not ‘rape the young female colleague’.
December 13th, 2007 at 3:27 pmwow
December 13th, 2007 at 3:40 pmAccessories after-the-fact?
December 13th, 2007 at 3:55 pmIf KBR’s employees are exempt from justice, then I presume that it would have been just fine if she got a gun and blew the heads off her assailants.
I guess that would also have been alright in the small mind of Billy Hill the vile, scum sucking, dirt bag that he is.
Bush/Cheney/Billy Hill
Hague Trials ‘09
Buck Fush
December 13th, 2007 at 4:00 pmbilly? no one’s moving along. there still here talking about it.
December 13th, 2007 at 4:08 pmeh?
TYPO: In your update you have Senator Ben Nelson (D-FL) – that should read Senator Bill Nelson.
December 13th, 2007 at 4:24 pmTP fix this please. It’s Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) not Ben Nelson who is Neb.
December 13th, 2007 at 4:48 pmI must have missd the trial! When did you say it was??
Comment by John Kerry — December 13, 2007 @ 4:26 pm
Hallibuton is trying to avoid a trial, jk, becasue, like you, they hate the American system of justice, as they hate the troops. There likely will be no trial, because the USA is done with democracy and the rule of law, under your chimp deserter-in-chief. You must be proud to be a supporter of treason.
December 13th, 2007 at 5:01 pmI must have missd the trial! When did you say it was??
Comment by John Kerry
You are quite right, there has been no trial. So, because you say you must have missed it, we assume you are all for having a trial. Is that the case? If not, why?
December 13th, 2007 at 5:42 pmJK – representin’ for his gang-rapin’ homies!!! Solid.
or are you one of those ACLU, soft on crime types.
Only 2 choices, huh babe?
December 13th, 2007 at 6:40 pmI must have missd the trial! When did you say it was??
Comment by John Kerry — December 13, 2007 @ 4:26 pm
Sorry, no story here, nothing to see here move along, move along.
Comment by Billy Hill — December 13, 2007 @ 2:22 pm
trolls gotta get it together, don’t they?
December 13th, 2007 at 7:11 pmBilbo,
Since when do you car about rape? Must be politically expedient . .
Nonetheless, you are right, rape does not fall within the confines of a job description, therefore, any clause in an employment contract requiring that issues of job disgruntalment be directed to arbitration do not apply. Employers are legally obligated not to rape their employees. No contractual clause can abrograte an employee, raped by his or her employer (or its surrogates) from seeking civil or criminal recourse.
Nice try Halliburton, but you can’t use a contract to insulate yourself from criminal charges.
If you disagree, consider a hypo:
Halliburton in Iraq was dissatisfied with the performance of two dozen of its Blackwater mercenaries, lured them into a shipping container and blew them up with an IED . . . All twenty-four died.
Would their wives, husbands, children, parents or country have any recourse? What if the two dozen were waterboarded to death? Would the American justice system have any active role?
If your answer is “no”, the words “America” and “Justice” are oxymorons . . . or perhaps, if you can’t understand that, you are an oxy that unknowingly elected a moron.
December 14th, 2007 at 5:33 amIn case you missed it, in a prior frame of mind, Bilbo burped . . . women who were raped, asked for it.
Absolutely lovely.
December 14th, 2007 at 5:40 amWhen was the trial?
Get a clue . . . you are either so clueless that you don’t know or so determined to hide the truth that you would like to smear the victim and prevent a trial from ever taking place.
No trial has taken place. Generally, an indictment would preceed a trial, which would require an investigation. One of the biggest issues here is that there was NO INVESTIGATION by anyone, not by Halliburton, KBR, the State Department, the Justice Department or any other entity that one would expect would be “on the case.”
Halliburton insists that NO TRIAL is required . . . it has an HR person on site who provided toiletries . . . and an iron-clad contract that insulates itself from criminal and civil proceedings on the record and in person . . . at best, the alleged rape victim deserves a hearing before an arbitrator of Halliburton’s choosing . . . Halliburton has won 80% of its arbitrated cases.
Halliburton claims that its accusor/rape victim is lying . . . put it on the record for all to see. Halliburton, exhonorate yourself . . . do it in court . . . do it on the record . . . if she’s a flake, so be it . . . no one doubts that you do not have her best interests at heart . . . the damage to your reputation has been done . . . if you genuinely don’t believe that your employees drugged and gang-raped this beautiful young woman . . . (ooh) put your money where your mouth is.
December 14th, 2007 at 5:52 amOf course Halliburton wants closed arbitration. Since they know that their people did, in fact, commit the crime, they want to keep as much out of the public spotlight as possible. What does it mean that they won 80% of the arbitrations? If the results are closed, who is to know. Winning probably means that they kept the results quiet. If they throw that percentage out there, it is probably intended to intimidate the one trying to sue.
December 14th, 2007 at 8:59 amThe report I heard was a Rape Kit was taken but now has become “lost”. Surely Halliburton would have kept such a conclusive piece of evidence to protect it’s case.
December 14th, 2007 at 11:44 amFor a woman to come forward like this takes courage especially against Halliburton with its political powers. She deserves to have a fair arbitration if that is possible, which I doubt.
What difference could it possibly make which party this woman’s congressman is from? Or is it now the case that people who supported Bush’s war are not only avidly devoted to supporting the corrupt practices of KBR and Halliburton, but they now also favor gang rape and hate victims of this crime?
We need to try to be a bit level-headed and remember that:
1) war is not a game we play and not meant to be a partisan ‘hot-button’; it is an effort to create mass destruction and mass death, and must be used only when no other option is available to prevent these same tragedies;
2) if you favored the invasion or did not, you cannot possibly justify gang rape by a bunch of thugs as somehow part of the process of war-fighting, nor can you say that someone who wants to ensure that rapists are brought to justice ‘hates the troops’.
3) let’s get a grip on reality and remember that the US Constitution gives Congress the right and responsibility to oversee what happens in the Executive branch of government, as well as to investigate and to prosecute wrongdoing, there’s nothing even remotely ‘Stalinist’ about exercising Constitutional oversight responsibilities, quite the contrary: it’s the overzealous Executive that’s been trying to amass power in an unprecedented way that threatens our Constitution’s checks and balances.
If this woman was raped, every single one of the people involved, as well as every single individual, male or female, at KBR, Halliburton, Defense, State, Justice, the White House or even the CPA, who may have aided in hiding the event or seeking to repress her right to get justice, should be punished as severely as the law allows.
December 16th, 2007 at 9:09 am