Another KBR rape claim emerges.
Last December, former KBR employee Jamie Leigh Jones alleged publicly that she had been “gang-raped” while working for the company in Iraq. Since then, nearly a dozen women have contacted Jones to say that they too were sexually assaulted by contractors in Iraq. Now, in a new Nation article, another female KBR employee says she was raped in Iraq in January 2008. But, she says she was “told to keep quiet about the incident by a KBR supervisor” and warned that if she spoke up, she would be “in danger.”
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Disgusting. Absolutely disgusting.
April 3rd, 2008 at 4:30 pmDick Cheney said, “So.”
April 3rd, 2008 at 4:31 pmI am deeply ashamed of and mourn for my country. The greatness it once was is lost. I don’t know if we can ever get it back.
As they say, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Well, the corporations in power are corrupt. The neocons who are in power are corrupt. The politicians in power are corrupt. The corporation owns everything and everyone. We are slaves to them.
Being in danger by reporting a rape - by one’s own employer.
Next they will enslave all women to be used and abused by all.
Amerika in the new millenium.
April 3rd, 2008 at 4:32 pmKBR needs to be taken out of all operations. Now!!!!!
April 3rd, 2008 at 4:36 pmWho could have anticipated that thousands of overpaid, underworked, and unsupervised mercenaries would do ‘bad things’? Has anyone on the right side expressed any outrage that these attacks are occuring? How about the fact that the ‘mercs’ get paid 10x what our brave soldiers are paid. This whole stinkpile makes me sick….January 2009 cannot happen soon enough for me.
April 3rd, 2008 at 4:36 pm“She would be in danger”??? WTF is up with this crap? There absolutely has to be a major investigation into this. This is criminal, the corruption seems to go all the way up the chain of command on this, with Supervisors threatening employees, this screams republican.
Bush/Cheney/KBR
April 3rd, 2008 at 4:37 pmHague Trials ‘09
Kill
April 3rd, 2008 at 4:38 pmBilk
Rape
And for every discovered/uncovered rape by KBR that happens to get out there, how many more are there?
April 3rd, 2008 at 4:39 pmATA can’t operate from fuel costs. Why should KBR operate from rape?
April 3rd, 2008 at 4:40 pmNot only does KBR require that their employees who are the victims of violent crimes (by other employees, no less!) abide by arbitration instead of seeking criminal justice against their attackers, but KBR also apparently allows a culture in which rape and sexual assault are condoned to flourish.
Our leaders cannot contract with companies that allow this. And Americans must not allow our leaders to do so.
April 3rd, 2008 at 4:41 pmAre KBL towels the next trend of do-it-yourself crime scene cleanup?
April 3rd, 2008 at 4:41 pmI’m sure that KBR gave her one of the $250 monogrammed hand towels for her trouble.
Its things like this that make you proud to be American, doesn’t it? I hope that all the right wingers who’ve supported the current administration and their policies can sleep well at night.
April 3rd, 2008 at 4:41 pmOr as Cheney would say, “They volunteered”.
April 3rd, 2008 at 4:42 pmThink about it: we PAY these companies, KBR and Blackwater and so on.
It wouldn’t surprise me if they buy infants or child prostitutes, cook them alive and eat them. Cost-plus, you know.
You know those evil organizations in action movies… the ones that took the tower in Die Hard, etc… can we just hire them? There was less rape.
April 3rd, 2008 at 4:48 pmMilitary rape:
April 3rd, 2008 at 4:50 pm41% of female veterans seen at the clinic say they were victims of sexual assault while in the military, and 29% report being raped during their military service.
How many more are related to KBR, an outfit with no jurisdiction?
If they can do it to our country why can’t they do it to thier employees as weLL?
April 3rd, 2008 at 4:50 pmDid you guys hear a brain dead troll???
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:00 pmNever mind,it magically disappeared…POOF!
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:01 pmThe result of the jock mentality and not isolated to the military or kbr. It happens every day in huge numbers in America.
We are probably the most violent society on the face of the earth today.
We allow our women to be raped and our children to be molested. It doesn’t happen in other civilized countries except in the rarest of circumstances.
If a woman is raped in America she is re-victomized in the court system if she presses charges.
Women are brutally beaten to death by men who have restraining orders against them every day.
Lets keep up that win at all costs attitude and see how far we fall. Do you really wonder why our atheletes have a steroid problem? Do you really not understand why bullying is one of the biggest problems in your public schools?
Do you really not understand why your football players and cheerleaders are the targets of school shootings?
this is just a glance at our society……just a look in the mirror.
have to stop….end rant\
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:02 pmSo lessee, Obstruction of justice, witness tampering, extortion, failure to report a suspected crime.
Yep, Regular BushitCo credentials, KBR.
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:03 pmBut,RUCerious,they all wear flag lapel pins. That means they are SUPER patriots!
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:08 pmMilitary rape:
41% of female veterans seen at the clinic say they were victims of sexual assault while in the military, and 29% report being raped during their military service.
How many more are related to KBR, an outfit with no jurisdiction?
My question is what happened to the men in the military who committed the rapes. My bet is on next to nothing. The problem is that these people (KBR and the Military brass) don’t understand cause and affect. They don’t realize that by not prosecuting these crimes they are giving their tacit permission for future crimes like these to be committed.
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:10 pmspecialistF, it sounds like some of them sare in need of having those lapel pins attached to their dicks.
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:13 pmOur values unite us in shared beliefs around who we are and how we conduct our business:
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:13 pmUncompromising commitment to Health, Safety and the Environment
Integrity in all we do
Transparency in our business
Accountability for our work
Best-in-class risk awareness, and
Financial responsibility to our stakeholders
From KBR’s site. This is their list of values.What a CROCK!
Fred
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:02 pm
Excellent rant, Fred. :)
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:16 pmMy Air Foce Tech Sergeant friend who just came back from a tour in Iraq (his 3rd tour) told me they now tell all female military personnel to travel with friends and also to carry knives whenever they travel ON BASE (he was talking about the FOB - foward operating base). I asked him if there were a lot of rapes, and he told me about one particularly horrific incident where a group of men raped another man in the showers. He said the conditions are worse than they were on previous tours, and that older, career military guys resent how they are reducing standards more and more and allowing major criminals to serve.
This guy was a big Bush supporter, so he’s not saying these things for ideological reasons.
God help them all if McCain is our next President….
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:17 pmIs anyone beginning to see a definite parallel between our society and the society of Rome before it collapsed?
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:18 pmZ ~ the biggest parallel would be Nero/Bush
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:19 pmRUCerious Says:
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:19 pm
Z ~ the biggest parallel would be Nero/Bush
No one stopped Nero, and it looks like no one will stop Bush.
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:22 pmClearly we are an empire in rapid decline. McCain as president will only serve to hasten that decline.
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:23 pm“and warned that if she spoke up, she would be “in danger.”
OK - I get that the actions of KBR employees are free from Iraqi laws, free of the UCMJ, and free of USA laws.
On the other hand, the above quote to me sounds like something in the sphere of witness tampering, RICO, etc. and definitely more a systemic illness of the whole company.
Isn’t there at least some way to address that ?
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:26 pmMaple, perhaps some appropriate picketing of KBR HQ, or flooding their offices with email, snail mail, perhaps keeping their CIO, CFO and CEO up all night with loudspeakers outside their back yards…
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:28 pmZooey, yep, there are definite parallels. Rome became a society that consumed more and more, and produced less and less. Sounds very familiar. A large reason for Rome’s collapse had to do with the devaluation of currency. They could not keep up with all their expenses (especially the military), so their currency lost more and more value to the point where every product was ridiculously expensive. The gap between rich and poor became more and more extreme. Roman infrastructure degraded and was not maintained because the funds were needed for military campaigns.
We can only hope that there is still time to turn things around.
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:28 pmI hope all the reich-wingers continue to blame the women.
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:32 pmThe danger is not Bush. The most he can do is get us into a war with Iran. It will suck bigtime, but not be fatal (unless you’re in the military or at ground zero during the next terrorist attack on the US)
McCain scares me more. He has a stronger personality than Bush, he knows how to use the military (at least more than Bush does) and he has a temper, and thanks to Bush, he knows how far he can push. This to me is a BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD combination. All this is kids stuff compared to what will happen with McCain.
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:41 pmThose women should have stayed home and submitted to their husbands!
/snark
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:43 pmFrom Wikipedia: In 68AD, a military coup drove Nero into hiding. Facing execution, he reportedly committed forced suicide. (Forced suicide is a method of execution where the victim is given the choice of committing suicide or facing an alternative they perceive as worse, such as suffering torture; having friends or family members imprisoned, tortured or killed; or losing honor, position or means.)
The people of Rome celebrated his death.
Well, someone did indeed stop Nero.
I’m not advocating Bush receive the same ultimatum as Nero, but the power to remove Bush exists, it’s just not being executed.
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:49 pmRUCerious Says:
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:28 pm
“…perhaps keeping their CIO, CFO and CEO up all night with loudspeakers outside their back yards”
____________________________________________
Now, now — their neighbors don’t deserve the harassment. Can’t we find some way to put pressure on them without messing up the lives of more innocent people?
Hmmm… how about subjecting the KBR officers to the same treatment their female employees are getting?
April 3rd, 2008 at 6:10 pmmisshusseinmolly Says Hmmm… how about subjecting the KBR officers to the same treatment their female employees are getting?
Maybe have some guys like Zed,”the gimp”,and Maynard from Pulp Fiction take a crack at them?
April 3rd, 2008 at 6:21 pmWith a pneumatic nail gun? Where do I sign up for this job?
April 3rd, 2008 at 6:33 pmAnd Caligula/Cheney. Sorry RUC but you always bring out my best ideas.
And Fred, as Zooey said, excellent rant.
April 3rd, 2008 at 6:35 pmNail one to there forehead,too. Make sure you use at least 16d nails for good penetration!
April 3rd, 2008 at 6:55 pmThese guys aren’t contractors, not even mercenaires, they are pirates. Plunder, rape and burn!
April 3rd, 2008 at 7:57 pmOh, yes, well. We may have “come a long way, baby,” but we have a far piece to go when the likes of Randi Rhodes calls two women who put themselves out there to become Commanders in Chief by derogatives of their female anatomy,
Who needs misogynists?
April 3rd, 2008 at 8:12 pmZee
April 3rd, 2008 at 8:12 pm
So Randi Rhodes speaks for all women? Not bloody likely.
I haven’t seen anyone defending what she did — no one.
April 3rd, 2008 at 8:29 pmI have…right here in multiple posts…texas lady. There are a lot of self-loathing women, and to think on places “progressives” revere, like Air America.
As I said. Who needs rapists, who need misogynists, when prominent so-called progressive female voices call two brave women who reached for the top “f!cking wh!res?”
It needs to be asked. It needs to be denounced. And it needs to STOP.
April 3rd, 2008 at 8:44 pmKBR is immune from the law.
They can RAPE, PILLAGE and MURDER without accountability.
How American is that?
April 3rd, 2008 at 9:17 pmZee Says:
April 3rd, 2008 at 8:44 pm
I have…right here in multiple posts…texas lady. There are a lot of self-loathing women, and to think on places “progressives” revere, like Air America.
As I said. Who needs rapists, who need misogynists, when prominent so-called progressive female voices call two brave women who reached for the top “f!cking wh!res?”
It needs to be asked. It needs to be denounced. And it needs to STOP.
Well, I’m not texaslady, but I’ll assume you were answering me. If you could point me in the direction of those “self-loathing” comments. Are they here? Are they on my blog? I haven’t seen them either place — I’ve only seen condemnation.
I’m not saying it doesn’t happen, I’m just saying I haven’t seen it.
I condemn it. I agree it needs to stop. Like I said, Randi Rhodes does not speak for me.
April 4th, 2008 at 1:10 amZooey…where is your blog? Is it here or linked from here? Have you spoken out on Randi’s Imus imitation?
As for Texas Lady’s remarks, they’re here on the same threads you’ve either read or not. She defends Randi.
And her remarks are besides the point. She is entitled to her denial. She’s not a national public performer…at least that I know of. My “we’ve come a long way baby” except for Randi’s sexist rants means exactly that. Who needs rapists, who needs male misogynists when we have female spokespeople, female air jockeys, female comics, who think attacking two trailblazing women by their anatomy is not only acceptable but funny? And all those Obama kids sucking it up. It was listed on Obama’s site as some kind of fundraiser or support Obama event.
Obama needs to step up and say he doesn’t support his rabid followers making misogynistic sport of any women, even if they are his rivals.
And if you have a blog, I would hope it’s saying the same thing. Being silent on the matter, as ThinkProgress has been doing, doesn’t strike me as being very progressive.
April 4th, 2008 at 2:59 pm