Former KBR employees say workers stole from Iraq, ‘melted down gold to make spurs.’
By on Apr 29th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
Former KBR employees say workers stole from Iraq, ‘melted down gold to make spurs.’
Yesterday, two former employees of embattled contract company KBR told a congressional panel that some of their coworkers frequently stole money and artwork from Iraq. One said that “some of her American colleagues doing construction work in Iraqi palaces and municipal buildings took woodcarvings, tapestries and crystal ‘and even melted down gold to make spurs for cowboy boots.’” Another said that “a KBR foreman tried to take military equipment, including two rocket launchers, detonators and ammunition.” Two weeks ago, the firm was awarded a $150 billion, 10-year contract for work with the U.S. Army.
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They stole the treasury of our country with willing approval from almost everyone in government. No one cared then, they won’t now.
Glad I don’t live near DC. Seems like a place where raw sewage is the cuisine d’jour.
April 29th, 2008 at 3:13 pmWhen are the new gold-lettered KBR towels set for release?
April 29th, 2008 at 3:13 pmSomeone’s going out of business in nine months.
April 29th, 2008 at 3:14 pmThe surge is working!
No wonder Halliburton gave Cheney such a rich severance package when he left to become VPOTUS.
April 29th, 2008 at 3:15 pmThey can kill, rape, burn, pillage, and plunder without fear of being charged with a crime, because Bush and Cheney told them so.
April 29th, 2008 at 3:19 pm“‘and even melted down gold to make spurs for cowboy boots.’”
So?
They’re just getting in on some of the same war profiteering action that dead-eye Dick and chief cowboy are benefiting from.
Priceless gold antiquities to spurs for their cowboy boots. That’s great! America should be proud!
April 29th, 2008 at 3:23 pmSee, Bush has been telling us that privatization works. “Beware the military-industrial complex” has now been replaced with “revere the military-industrial complex”.
April 29th, 2008 at 3:25 pmWell, seeing as how these employees have only been exposed to the KBR set of values as of late (cost-plus! crimes settled by arbitration only!), can you blame them? Even if these employees came into KBR with the ethical and moral values their mammas gave them, they’d be gone by now.
April 29th, 2008 at 3:31 pmMight any of these stolen items have religious value to Iraqis? Even if they were not, the assault on the culture of Iraq by these thefts could do nothing but fan the flames of anger toward the U.S. even further. We’ve got the military bases, they’ve got the basis for resistance.
April 29th, 2008 at 3:33 pmQuestion: What is this congressional panel going to do with this information?
Answer: It will probably go to Nancy’s table, where she’ll sweep it off.
April 29th, 2008 at 3:33 pmcute.
April 29th, 2008 at 3:35 pmI’m sure that topgun is fully supportive of drug dealers, pimps, car theft rings, and immigrant smugglers. Just think of the jobs created by these enterprises and the money it circulates in our economy. Why should there ever be limits on the U.S. entrepeneur?
/snark off while I go barf
April 29th, 2008 at 3:38 pmAnd KBR is immune under both Iraqi and US law.
Sounds like Plato’s ring of Geiges (?ap?). Except Plato said if you can steal and not get caught, would you. For KBR, you can steal, get caught, and still be immune. So why shouldn’t they steal ?
April 29th, 2008 at 3:40 pmtopgun Says:
It’s funny how the left perceives corporations.
Its not funny how you neocons think criminal activity associated with our government is ok.
In fact it is disgusting
April 29th, 2008 at 3:40 pmtopgun Says
April 29th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Never mind the thousands of people that have jobs because of this contract. And the money it puts in our economy. It’s funny how the left perceives corporations. Its like this big fat man petting a cat in a huge office building laughing and planning his next plot!
____________________________________________
We don’t have anything against corporations, per se. Corporations do indeed provide jobs and they are important to our economy.
What we object to are corporations who feel they are above the law. We object to corporations who buy politicians (and pass the costs down to their customers). We object to corporations who rape the environment. We object to corporations who engage in deceptive marketing practices. We object to corporations who really don’t care if they screw people, as long as they make a profit.
Not all corporations are bad. But the amount of stink reeking from KBR has gotten so awful it’s hard to believe that our government can continue to get their work done while holding their noses and looking the other way.
April 29th, 2008 at 3:45 pmIn the old days, before your band of thugs stole the presidency, NOBODY was above the law. It is because of traitorous enablers like you that they’ve been getting away with treason. And you people think you’re Americans, what a joke.
April 29th, 2008 at 3:56 pmLiberators my arse….Americans ar nothing but pillagers and plunderers..no better than a hun or a barbarian
April 29th, 2008 at 4:02 pmAt this point our only hope is a peaceful regime change right here in the U.S.A. Until, and unless, that happens no positive change can be enacted.
April 29th, 2008 at 4:16 pmAh, yes. KBR – winning over hearts and minds for America!!
April 29th, 2008 at 4:19 pm$8.8 BILLION in cash went missing. The media doesn’t seem to care where it went.
April 29th, 2008 at 4:33 pmTwo weeks ago, the firm was awarded a $150 million, 10-year contract for work with the U.S. Army.
Hopefully this is a contract that can be canceled by the new administration. Even if it can’t, according to the rules, the new president should be able to break the rules the same way that the Bush administration has broken rules. What’s good for the goose….
April 29th, 2008 at 5:05 pmtopgun Says
April 29th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Never mind the thousands of people that have jobs because of this contract. And the money it puts in our economy. It’s funny how the left perceives corporations. Its like this big fat man petting a cat in a huge office building laughing and planning his next plot!
And think of all the taxes they pay to the government. Oh wait…I forgot that KBR incorporated in the Caymen Islands to avoid having to pay social security and Medicare taxes on their employees. Sweet…..
April 29th, 2008 at 5:09 pmBut they were above the law–kind of like Cheney and Addington, weren’t they?
April 29th, 2008 at 5:28 pmJust another symbol of the American Occupation, like that of the 104 acre American Embassy the people of Iraq see every day.
April 29th, 2008 at 5:33 pmJust another symbol of the Occupation, like the 104 acre American Embassy that the people of Iraq see every day.
April 29th, 2008 at 5:35 pmHow about all the rape victims get a horsey back ride on Herr Prince, with sharpened gold spurs??
April 29th, 2008 at 5:43 pmThis is not a new phenomena. After VE day, many of our military officers took advantage of the recession in Europe to pick up items at bargain basement prices at bazaars operated by the desperate people of Germany, France and Italy. The only difference now is that the contractors are reaping the bounty, not the soldiers and the Marshal plan worked in the restoration of Europe.
April 29th, 2008 at 6:12 pmBut it’s Iran that’s the problem in the region. It’s the Taliban, al-Queda, the Palestinians and everyone else causing the Middle East to be a tinderbox.
But not us, never us.
April 29th, 2008 at 6:20 pmmisshusseinmolly Says:
April 29th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Bravo! If only I could have clicked ‘Recommend’ more than once!
April 29th, 2008 at 9:42 pm.
Would it be incorrect of me to point out that there still are missing artifacts and works of art of the European Jews from when
BushHitler and the Nazi(R) Party left their mark?.
April 30th, 2008 at 2:04 amHmmm . . . . I guess I got to wonder how much of Iraq’s artifacts; gold, tapestries crystal from the palaces went missing before the American and Coalition forces secured these places? In the early days of the war I do recall mention of there being problems with looting by the Iraqis themselves, and prior to, by Saddam and his regime. Seems a bit farfetched to put all the blame on the Americans and seems to me it is not so much an American trait/ trend as it is a human trait for the lesser life forms among us–the members of the human race.
November 26th, 2008 at 7:33 am