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Friday, December 05, 2008

The next time the Republican Party touts its superior support for the military, don't lett them get away with it
Posted by Jill | 6:36 AM
THIS is how Republican policies support American soldiers:
A report from Wil Granger, KBR’s water quality manager for Iraq, states that non-potable water used for showering was not disinfected. “This caused an unknown population to be exposed to potentially harmful water for an undetermined amount of time,” according to the report. The report also stated the problems occurred all across Iraq and were not confined to Balad.

The lawsuit states there was no formalized training for KBR employees in proper water operations, and the company maintained insufficient documentation about water safety. The suit notes that former KBR employees Ben Carter and Ken May testified at a congressional hearing in January 2006 that KBR used contaminated water from the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. Carter testified that he found the water polluted with sewage and that KBR did not chlorinate it.

The lawsuit states the swimming pools at Balad were also filled with unsafe water.

Eller also accused KBR of serving spoiled, expired and rotten food to the troops, as well as dishes that may have been contaminated with shrapnel

“Defendants knowingly and intentionally supplied and served food that was well past its expiration date, in some cases over a year past its expiration date,” the lawsuit states. “Even when it was called to the attention of the KBR food service managers that the food was expired, KBR still served the food to U.S. forces.”

The food included chicken, beef, fish, eggs and dairy products, which caused cases of salmonella poisoning, according to the lawsuit.

“KBR prevented their employees from speaking with government auditors and hid employees from auditors by moving them from bases when an audit was scheduled,” the lawsuit states. “Any employees that spoke with auditors were sent to more dangerous locations in Iraq as punishment.”

The lawsuit also accuses KBR of shipping ice in mortuary trucks that “still had traces of body fluids and putrefied remains in them when they were loaded with ice. This ice was served to U.S. forces.”

Eller also accuses KBR of failing to maintain a medical incinerator at Joint Base Balad, which has been confirmed by two surgeons in interviews with Military Times about the Balad burn pit. Instead, according to the lawsuit and the physicians, medical waste, such as needles, amputated body parts and bloody bandages were burned in the open-air pit.

“Wild dogs in the area raided the burn pit and carried off human remains,” the lawsuit states. “The wild dogs could be seen roaming the base with body parts in their mouths, to the great distress of the U.S. forces.”


So in addition to debunking the idea that Republicans "support our troops", this horrific case also shows that privatizing government functions to for-profit companies DOES NOT WORK.

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Blogger D. said...
There are no words, although there used to be, and I think the words were "war profiteers." And by the way? Privatization doesn't work to deliver services. It works to deliver profits to people who don't care about services. It has worked that way for the thirty years it's been tried. Bury privatization.

Grumble grumble.
12/5/08, 11:24 AM  
Blogger Cujo359 said...
The problem with privatization as it's currently done is that it leaves few in government who can effectively administer service contracts. At the very least, a better mix of private and civil service workers, plus letting soldiers do some of the job of maintaining their own bases, would work better.
12/6/08, 6:07 AM  
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