The death of a Green Beret in Iraq, electrocuted while showering this past January, finally attracted the attention of the Pentagon and US lawmakers to the issue of shoddy and dangerous electrical work on US bases in Iraq. At one building complex, soldiers have complained of electrical shocks in their living quarters daily.
For millions of dollars, private contractors have upgraded Iraqi buildings, including the electrical systems, that house American troops. The New York Times got its hands on internal Army documents that show the electrical work done by private contractors has caused more deaths and injuries than the Pentagon has acknowledged.
Critics accuse these companies of overbiling, failing to protect female employees from sexual assault, and providing unsafe water to soldiers. Electricians working for KBR, a former subsidiary of Haliburton receiving a bulk of the work, say they warned the company about the danger the unsafe work posed to soldiers; but, their complaints fell on deaf ears. While allegations of overbilling and corruption concern me, it's even worse when the subsequent work puts soldiers in harm's way.
Quai D'Orsay
Thomas Pink
Rebecca Taylor
Not acceptable at all.
1With the economy in the state it's in, are you really suggesting we clamp down on such a lucrative jobs program?
2Ughhh I agree Brendelwoman..
3Haliburton. Ugh. I got rid of all of my mutual funds with shares in Haliburton. I'm not earning the same return, but at least my 401k isn't killing soldiers (that I know of).
4That pesky N.Y. Times needs to mind their own business, NOT.
This is outrageous if the almighty Halliburton who claims to be the best (one) for the job on every job can't insure the quality of basic electrical wiring than we need to let other contractors get a chance at these bids.
5Wow, why does it not surprise me that Haliburton is the contracting company involved in this? Torgleson, I really need to look into my mutual funds, too; I definately want to dumped them if they are investing in Haliburton!
6agree Brendel
and Citizen - poor wording on the article title... even if you're going for the pun, it's in poor taste.
7Don't kill the messenger - the title makes a strong point.
8I was surprised by how hard it was to invest in companies that I didn't think were slimy.
9Yeah, Steph, I agree. If the title is what's upsetting I think someone's missing the bigger picture. Such as the fact that Haliburton paid Cheney 30 million after he left to run for VP and then were awarded, they didn't bid mind you, they were awarded Iraqi contracts.
There are generals who have attested to the fact that board members of Halliburton were in on the military planning sessions to select which targets to hit so they could rebuild them.
10Eh, it's a little tasteless. But not anything to lose sleep over.
It scares me that people are not way more pissed about Haliburton.
11What is this??
"There are generals who have attested to the fact that board members of Halliburton were in on the military planning sessions to select which targets to hit so they could rebuild them."
I'd never heard of this....did I miss something?
12I'm sure it was out there but you had to dig really deep in alternative media, and if you mentioned it in polite company you were labeled an 'Obama loving nutjob who'd believe anything bad you heard about the Bush Administration.'
13I also heard that KBR recently started charging the US a huge amount more for towels...because now they have the KBR logo embossed on them. Who in the world is overseeing the work over there?
The influence Haliburton has over our results in Iraq is truly terrifying. Just tragic.
14I heard it on Democracy Now! With Amy Goodman. Depressing show, but I trust her.
15That's from Raci: a 'Clinton supporting nutjob who'd believe anything bad he heard about the Bush Administration' especially from commie, terrorist loving commentators.
16This post made me think of Bunny Greenfield.
17Who is Bunny Greenfield?
18I googled it...couldn't find that specific thing, but there were plenty of others to choose from. It was really depressing, actually.
19Yeah, who is Bunny Greenfield?
20I tried googling it, too, but with little effort. But Halliburtonwatch dot com is crazy!
21Here's an article on Mrs. Greenhouse.
"Bunny Greenhouse was once the perfect bureaucrat, an insider, the top procurement official at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Then the 61-year-old Greenhouse lost her $137,000-a-year post after questioning the plump contracts awarded to Halliburton in the run-up to the war in Iraq. It has made her easy to love for some, easy to loathe for others, but it has not made her easy to know."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/18/AR200510...
22Torgleson, I saw that site, too! I actually bookmarked it.
Liliblu, thanks for the link to that story. That is so wrong!
23What a mess. With all the real enemy threats the soldiers are facing over there, they should not have to also be threatened by electric shock due to shoddy contracting work. There needs to be much stricter oversight of those private contractors. War profiteering is disturbing enough, but war profiteering that actually costs our soldiers' lives...
24Can you imagine if that was your family member? At least if your loved one dies in battle, you have the feeling they were part of a fight for a larger cause. I hope the family sues the pants off that company.
25Yay for no-bid contracts
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