KBR Ignored Warnings Of Unsafe Electrical Wiring That Led To Deaths Of U.S. Troops
KBR Ignored Warnings Of Unsafe Electrical Wiring That Led To Deaths Of U.S. Troops
In March, House Oversight Committee chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) announced that he was investigating the accidental electrocution of troops in Iraq and pressed Defense Secretary Robert Gates for uncensored details on at least a dozen deaths since 2003. Contractor KBR is at the center of the probe, with questions about whether it irresponsibly ignored wiring problems.
Today, The New York Times has more details on this malpractice, including the fact that senior KBR and Pentagon officials repeatedly ignored warnings by KBR electricians:
One electrician warned his KBR bosses in his 2005 letter of resignation that unsafe electrical work was “a disaster waiting to happen.” Another said he witnessed an American soldier in Afghanistan receiving a potentially lethal shock. A third provided e-mail messages and other documents showing that he had complained to KBR and the government that logs were created to make it appear that nonexistent electrical safety systems were properly functioning.
KBR itself told the Pentagon in early 2007 about unsafe electrical wiring at a base near the Baghdad airport, but no repairs were made. Less than a year later, a soldier was electrocuted in a shower there.
John McLain, the electrician who in 2007 told a visiting defense contracting agency official about his concerns over the logs, was fired shortly after the incident. Another employee “said his KBR bosses mocked him for raising safety issues.”
This sort of refusal to acknowledge and correct errors seems to be standard operating procedure within KBR, unfortunately. Former employee Jamie Leigh Jones revealed that after she was gang-raped by co-workers, not only did the company place her “under guard in a shipping container,” but warned her that if she left Iraq for medical treatment, she would lose her job. In an opposite situation, a KBR employee who was “busted by the military” for looting in Iraq was “given a promotion.”
Similarly, Bunnatine “Bunny” Greenhouse, who oversaw contracts for the Army Corps of Engineers, told the Senate in 2005, that KBR represented the “most blatant and improper contract abuse I have witnessed during the course of my professional career.” Reflecting the Pentagon’s efforts to protect KBR, Greenhouse was demoted almost two months to the day after voicing that critique.
Despite all these irresponsible, unethical actions (as well as providing contaminated water to troops and evading millions in taxes), KBR recently announced that it had tripled its first quarter net profits and received new contracts worth up to $150 million for 10 years to provide assistance to the U.S. military overseas.
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“KBR Ignored Warnings Of Unsafe Electrical Wiring That Led To Deaths Of U.S. Troops”
So?
May 3rd, 2008 at 3:51 pmJust another little treason. We’ll get back to you if we find an honorable person to take charge.
May 3rd, 2008 at 3:52 pmThe most recent fatality occurred on Jan. 2 in Baghdad, when Staff Sgt. Ryan D. Maseth, a Green Beret, died in a shower after an improperly grounded water pump short-circuited.
Cheryl Harris, Sergeant Maseth’s mother, said in an interview that the Army initially told her that her son had taken an electrical appliance into the shower with him.
—
Ms. Harris meet Ms. Tillman
May 3rd, 2008 at 3:54 pmMore from the party that was supposed to bring accountability to washington….anyone who believes anything a republican says is a fool…period. They have a track record that they cannot hide from.
May 3rd, 2008 at 4:04 pmThis is simply beyond appalling and disgusting. These corporations should be banned forever from any more government contracts. Any executive who leaves to start another company to bid on contracts should also be banned.
The level of incompetency and idiocy that is now our government is reprehensible.
May 3rd, 2008 at 4:06 pmThe Traitors Three: Cheney, Rumsfeld and Bush. And their no-bid fascist corporations: Halliburton, Blackwater and Enron…
May 3rd, 2008 at 4:14 pmAs long as they wear the flag lapel-pin, all is right in the country.
Besides, Democrats gave this administration, including their no-bid cronies, a free pass the instant they took impeachment off the table.
And we’re looking at more of the same:
You can rest assured that McCain will poll in a virtual dead-heat up to the November election, and win by a “diebold.”
(”diebold” - a unit of measurement impossible to verify, falling within the statistical margin of error, which gives the Republican candidate the majority of votes in any given election.)
May 3rd, 2008 at 4:16 pm…then they come home and get to stand in raw sewage in their barracks.
When will the military finally realize that the Commander-In-Chief doesn’t give a damn about them?
May 3rd, 2008 at 4:36 pmMaybe if we started referring to the company as “KillingB.R.” or it might stick with folks longer than a yawn.
A week’s attention went to Rev. Wright, while KBR laughs its way out of responsibilities for no-bid American deaths, no-bid American rapes, and no-bid American dollars.
Clearly, this administration has too many disasters for Americans to comprehend the magnitude of arrogant destruction.
Add this to the list.
May 3rd, 2008 at 4:48 pm… OK, in #9, take out the “or”
May 3rd, 2008 at 4:49 pmKBR recently announced that it had tripled its first quarter net profits and received new contracts worth up to $150 million for 10 years to provide assistance to the U.S. military overseas.
Dumbya Bush: MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
May 3rd, 2008 at 4:49 pmKBR, formerly Brown & Root, was implicated in profiteering during the VietNam ICORP, due to the close ties between LBJ and the Brown Bros.
May 3rd, 2008 at 5:03 pmKBR seems to me an apt candidate for the First Corporate Death Sentence…
I wonder if Tracy or some other troll will try to defend this one. Many moons ago the Tracy-troll tried to defend a building shoddily constructed by an American contractor for millions that was supposed to be used by Iraqi police forces but was useless as it let excrement, etc. leak through the floors, with a comment about the foremost need to maintain security in Iraq. Below is the response any professionally responsible architect, electrician, etc. should have:
from the “New York Times,” May 3, 2008:
May 3rd, 2008 at 5:13 pmThose electricians have a ready response to anyone who suggests that poor electrical work might be considered an unavoidable cost of war. “The excuse KBR always used was, ‘This is a war zone — what do you expect?’ ” recalled Jeffrey Bliss, an Ohio electrician who worked for the company in Afghanistan in 2005 and 2006. “But if you are going to do the work, you have got to do it safe.”
Every day something horrific about this administration & its contractors comes out, but this has to be one of the most disgusting & disturbing - not just the incompetence, but the lies & cover-ups. It seems that with Bush & Co., the more blatantly incompetent, unpatriotic, and greedy you are, the more money, promotions, & contracts Bush & the Republicans will award you. They know about all this, and still they defend the contractors & they all sleep well at night. Listen up, you so-called Christian/family values creeps, Jesus would not do this, and he is watching you.
May 3rd, 2008 at 5:21 pm…and yet, the bush administration keeps giving them more contracts and bonuses.
Abu Ghraib, KBR, Blackwater, Katrina, Halliburton, Gitmo, Fallujah, Haditha, Marianas Islands…so is America “God-Damnable” yet?
May 3rd, 2008 at 5:43 pmdasm Says:
Listen up, you so-called Christian/family values creeps, Jesus would not do this, and he is watching you.
dasm- Christians are not in lock step with this administration. You paint a broad brush. As a Christian I work towards peace. Anyone who has seen me write here knows my position. KBR and Halliburton are the devil incarnate. I have called for the impeachment of Bush and company before this site was created.
May 3rd, 2008 at 5:52 pmDo not let this descend into a Christian thing. When did you walk an in Iraq protest? And yes, Jesus is watching, as you say.
OSHA, the goverment watchdog for America’s workers safety surely is out of the loop. Worker health is just too expensive for the republican corporate agenda.
May 3rd, 2008 at 6:03 pmImagine Corporate spending a dollar on worker health.
You want to end this war and the crap associated with it? Then gather with your community and protest. It seems America is more enthralled with the next Country Duet and the nest big movie and video game. This war for oil in the middle east, as McCain has now said what it is all about, will not end until we get off our collective butts. Bring our troops home and impeach Bush before he has a chance to escape to Aruba.
May 3rd, 2008 at 6:06 pmThis is what the repugnicans mean when they squeal support the troops!
Add this to all the other scandals of treating these people like crap. But then they’re all just cannon fodder to satisfy Cheney’s shadow side and Dumbya’s one-upsmanship over his dismal daddy and mommy.
May 3rd, 2008 at 6:07 pmArizona needs to vote to remove McCain from his senate seat. He’s a no-show for senate votes. Arizona has a hanger-on from VietNam who is riding the coat-tails of 50,000.
May 3rd, 2008 at 6:10 pmdasm Says:
————————————————————
Every day something horrific about this administration & its contractors comes out, but this has to be one of the most disgusting & disturbing - not just the incompetence, but the lies & cover-ups. It seems that with Bush & Co., the more blatantly incompetent, unpatriotic, and greedy you are, the more money, promotions, & contracts Bush & the Republicans will award you
Let’s face it: incompetence, along with devotion to Bush/Cheney, is the number qualification to get a job with this administration.
May 3rd, 2008 at 6:12 pmleftcoast Says:
——————————————————————————–
dasm Says:
Listen up, you so-called Christian/family values creeps, Jesus would not do this, and he is watching you.
dasm- Christians are not in lock step with this administration. You paint a broad brush. As a Christian I work towards peace. Anyone who has seen me write here knows my position. KBR and Halliburton are the devil incarnate. I have called for the impeachment of Bush and company before this site was created.
Do not let this descend into a Christian thing. When did you walk an in Iraq protest? And yes, Jesus is watching, as you say.
Leftcoast,
Do not blame DASM, it is the bush and the neo-con scumbag christians who have pulled your blanket from you, and have now soiled it with their vile reinterpretation of christianity. DASM just posed a valid and cagent statement. He/she even went so far as to further categorize those of his ire, “christian/family value” which clearly labels them as a frightwing fring group within the chrisitian community.
All christians are not “Bad” they are just sheep for letting these scumbags rip off your dashboard jesus and plagarize (as they do everything else) his supposed teachings for their sordid fundamentalist neo-con agenda.
And what did the rest of the christians do? Hmmm, the big godfather was here last week, who did he visit? Need I say more? Religion is a big mafia game. Why do you think they called the Godfather the Godfather. He was just a smaller version of the bigger “Godfather” who lives on his own compound.
Arrest, imprision all the leaders of the pedo-hilic organization known as the Roman Catholic Church, and turn over ALL the assests and open its vaults.
All Religion is vile and anti-human.
May 3rd, 2008 at 6:16 pmThis sort of refusal to acknowledge and correct errors seems to be standard operating procedure within KBR
Funny, it is also the standard operating procedure in the Bush White House. Another thing the two gangs have in common -besides the cronyism, disregard for the law, corruption, etc.
May 3rd, 2008 at 6:17 pmAlecto: In all honesty I respect your view. But, as a person, I am not vile. I am just a person who believes. But that belief would never had taken me to the depravity of the Christians who placed Bush in power. Do not confuse politics and religion, but be weary of the two uniting. There has been a take over by a political machine of people of faith. Just read “Bush’s Brain”. You’ll see how this was done.
May 3rd, 2008 at 6:30 pmLeftcoast- you missed the point entirely. My comment was directed to Bush & his admin. who call themselves Christiand while being anything but. No one else, just them. Read more carefully.
May 3rd, 2008 at 6:44 pmAnd I guess the only other thing I can say, as a p.s., if you will, is– if you felt something was addressed to you, even though it wasn’t, there is an old expression, “If the shoe fits….etc.”
May 3rd, 2008 at 6:48 pm“You house soldiers in the facilities you have, not the facilities you might want or wish to have at a later time.”
May 3rd, 2008 at 6:48 pmdasm- I apologize. You’re right, I read to quickly. And then I go off pontificating. I hope you know that this was not directed at you.
May 3rd, 2008 at 6:48 pmChuck U. Farley Says:
May 3rd, 2008 at 6:53 pm“You house soldiers in the facilities you have, not the facilities you might want or wish to have at a later time.”
EXCELLENT!
Lessee if I got this right….
KBR Hates our troops. Tries to electrocute them via shoddy/nonexistent safety equipment
Our government loves KBR, gives them no bid licenses to kill our troops.
Therefore, our government loves to kill our troops.
That is, algebra, isn’t it?
May 3rd, 2008 at 7:19 pmTomahawk attack on hospital—-However, witnesses and an AFP reporter at the scene said the main Al-Sadr hospital had been badly damaged and a fleet of ambulances were destroyed.
May 3rd, 2008 at 7:42 pmGot it:
KBR = Killing By Republicans.
May 3rd, 2008 at 7:43 pmthier new motto should be “killing our troops, so you dont have to pay insurgents not to…”
May 3rd, 2008 at 7:57 pmI never Capitalise christain or muslim or jew or any other religion. KBR is just another corrupt corporation giving the United States the big stiff one up our ass.
peace
May 3rd, 2008 at 8:02 pmLoraS @ #13, quoting a NYT story:
An obvious retort would be, “That depends. Is KBR friend or foe?”
——————–
May 3rd, 2008 at 8:10 pmIf the Mafia had as much power and immunity as KBR, we’d be in deep trouble. Come to think of it — KBR already does have that much power and immunity, and we already are!
It’s time to get the factual information on this outfit - just who sits on it’s board (how many administration/Congress folks are involved in direct war profiteering). I suspect that if we were to find the truth about the ownership of these military war complex outfits, we’d find the very same gang of thugs who are running this country.
May 3rd, 2008 at 8:19 pmIt’s all about the money and greed and absolute power to remain “above the law”. This is a huge lesson for the american people; hopefully one which is now learned and doesn’t need to be repeated in 08 before we finally “hit bottom”.
May 3rd, 2008 at 8:20 pmWe all know how the universe works: If we fail to heed the first lesson and learn from it, we will get the same lesson again and again until it damn near destroys us.
May 3rd, 2008 at 8:21 pmFool Zero: KBR, Haliburton, and Blackwater ARE Bush’s personal mafia.
May 3rd, 2008 at 8:21 pmKBR - Killers, Ba$tards and Rapists.
May 3rd, 2008 at 8:22 pmIn March, House Oversight Committee chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) announced that he was investigating the accidental electrocution of troops in Iraq and pressed Defense Secretary Robert Gates for uncensored details on at least a dozen deaths since 2003.
Once your done doing all this investigating “Could You Please Actually Prosecute Someone For Once”. Instead of just investigating and possibly sending them a subpoena. To date that hasn’t been working out to well…
May 3rd, 2008 at 8:27 pmIn America, if faulty wiring resulted in the electrocution of citizen, there would be lawyers involved in a New York Minute… to get Justice and compensation from the guilty contractors.
May 3rd, 2008 at 8:48 pmIn Iraq, the contracters are PROTECTED from liability for their actions….and the incentive to be carefull with the lives of our troops , and the taxpayers hard earned money is accordingly diminished.
Try KBR Execs for murder and make all of the Republicans turn in their “Support our Troops” car magnets.
May 3rd, 2008 at 9:02 pmWhen we end up in KBR’s FEMA Concentration Camps, electrical malfunctions will be the least of our worries. Every dissenter’s name is on the list.
May 3rd, 2008 at 9:23 pmi had hope that congress would impeach at both especially cheney. as much as democrats fear losing the election this year, this needs to be done otherwise future presidents would follow suit
May 3rd, 2008 at 10:03 pm“To contract in Iraq” = “to steal with impunity”?
May 3rd, 2008 at 10:24 pmSorry to break it to you but christians and thier homophobia and anti-abortion wedge issues are the only reason that bush ever came to power. If you are a christian then you are the ones who should be making much more noise than I have heard for the death and destruction that has been done in your name……gop god’s own party!!! God told me to do it!!
The gop claims they own you and I have seen no evidence that they do not.
May 3rd, 2008 at 10:38 pmWhat’s the legal term for this? Negligent Homicide?
But alas, we live in cult-of-conserv-o-world.
Bet KBR’s stock jumps a couple bucks Monday.
May 4th, 2008 at 2:31 amMy only gripe with non wingnut Christians is that with very, very, very few exceptions they did nothing to keep this in the news the last 30 years.
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/050108.html
May 4th, 2008 at 2:40 amI’ll bet the KBR CEO and its executives are wearing flag ;apel pins…….
All the way to an offshore bank to avoid taxes.
May 4th, 2008 at 3:13 amProblem is . . . these folks think that they are immune from prosecution . . . Problem is, the Bush Administration has adopted this fantasy. If you kill an American, or if you’re an American who kills a foreigner on foreign grounds, you are still subject to the jurisdiction of American courts.
Wake up contractors . . . with a new administration, this fallacy is going to be blown out of the black water.
Hague Convention may just kick in and kick your ass.
(Hee hee Dick, this could become your finest moment . . . remember when Saddam went down, might just be poetic if you met a similar fate). Nazi’s didn’t have a monopoly on crimes against humanity, if the criminal is American, justice must be blind.
Next time Dick goes duck hunting in Mexico, some out of work expatriat looking for migrant opportunities should snatch him, send him to Gitmo then to the Hague. Hopefully, Scalia will be riding shotgun. A twofer.
There are probably a couple of endangered whales that could enlist a few of their endangered friends and just troll Dick to Gitmo, saving the tax payers some chump change.
You got a problem with that? “So”
May 4th, 2008 at 4:31 amBetter yet, those whales could troll Dick to Somalia for a little female circumcision.
He doesn’t believe it happens. What better learning tool than a sharp rock and first hand experience.
May 4th, 2008 at 4:41 amDick’s such a girl! ;>)
May 4th, 2008 at 4:43 amI don’t know . . .would a circumsized Dick be any different than Hillary in a lavendere leisure suit shedding croc tears?
May 4th, 2008 at 4:47 amrockyroad Says:
Dick’s such a girl! ;>)
Hey, rr, don’t insult my gender. Dick is a dickhead, plain and simple.
May 4th, 2008 at 4:48 amDick would probably be mesmerized by the lavender and invite Hill to his hiddy-hole for a little hoochie cooch. He’ll flash a little Halliburton green as an aphrodisiac. Smitten, Hill will jump on Dick’s assets! (she’ll jump into any bed if it promises to go green). It’s her tax-free morality holiday!
Go green! (Oh Bill, STFU, my turn).
May 4th, 2008 at 5:05 amLora S
You are so right. I really don’t think that Dick likes women. Why would any woman like him. I don’t even think that he likes him, much less women.
His daughter, impressive as she is, has foresaken men, speaks volumes about what she learned from Dick.
May 4th, 2008 at 5:14 amJohn McLain, the electrician who in 2007 told a visiting defense contracting agency official about his concerns over the logs, was fired shortly after the incident. Another employee “said his KBR bosses mocked him for raising safety issues.”
********************************************************
I think we can agree that this by itself strongly suggests that KBR is guilty of far more than mere criminal negligence, although that by itself would be bad enough. Firing someone in retaliation for calling attention to potentially fatal safety violations suggests deliberate malfeasance — and if KBR was engaging in these kinds of shenanigans here in the US, they’d have been hauled into court long before this.
May 4th, 2008 at 8:24 amWhy should KBR care is our troops get killed, they still get paid. It’s not like Bush or Cheney care about the troops anyway. As long as that billion dollar paycheck arrives on time, our troops can die by the hundreds. Do you guys really think KBR gives a damn? They work for Cheney that should tell you something about them.
May 4th, 2008 at 9:02 pmWhy should KBR care is our troops get killed, they still get paid. It’s not like Bush or Cheney care about the troops anyway.
The fault lies ultimately with the American people.
May 4th, 2008 at 10:25 pmThey talk a good game about supporting the troops, but are too lazy to actually do anything beyond slapping a magnet on their vehicles.
A democracy needs an intelligent, interested and informed populace to sustain it.
I’m begining to doubt that there are enough Americans who meet that requirement to support a true democracy.
WAIT..WHO’S ON AMERCIAN IDOL TONIGHT?…I GOTTA GO!