The One Story That You Haven’t Heard About KBR

By now, I hope that you’ve heard the report that an Army criminal investigator has declared that the death of Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, 24, was “negligent homicide” because the contractor, Kellogg, Brown &Root (aka KBR), failed to ensure that “qualified electricians and plumbers” worked on the barracks where Maseth died.

Hopefully you’re aware of reports that KBR unnecessarily exposed US troops in Iraq to the carcinogenic chemical, hexavelent chromium.

In a December 2008 broadcast, CBS News reported that,

“Depositions from KBR employees detailed concerns about the toxin in one part of the plant as early as May of 2003. And KBR minutes, from a later meeting state “that 60 percent of the people … exhibit symptoms of exposure,” including bloody noses and rashes.”

You might recall the AP report from as early of as March 2008 that “Dozens of U.S. troops in Iraq fell sick at bases using “unmonitored and potentially unsafe” water supplied by the military and a contractor once owned by Vice President Dick Cheney’s former company, the Pentagon’s internal watchdog says.“

In fact, the following video was posted to YouTube in May 2007

And last, but by no means least, I’m sure that you’ve heard about the sexual assaults of Tracy K. Barker and Jamie Leigh Jones by their fellow KBR employees while working in Iraq.

You may be familiar with all of these despicable incidents.

Yet, the one story that you haven’t heard about KBR is that their government contract has been canceled and that criminal charges have been brought against the employees (and those who supervised them) for these heinous acts.

A few weeks ago, I took a stand with Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) in asking that KBR be held accountable for exposing US troops to a deadly toxin. I ask that you please take a minute to do the same by visiting www.ComeCleanKBR.com. But that is not enough.

As the report by CBS News indicated, “Kellogg Brown and Root, known as KBR, has won more than $28 billion in U.S. military contracts since the beginning of the Iraq war. ” Many of these contracts were no-bid contracts from an administration whose Vice President was a former Haliburton/KBR executive.

In short, KBR made $28 billion while electrocuting, poisoning and literally raping the US civilian and military men and women who were serving their country in a war that was partly initiated by one of its former corporate executives.

To this day, Haliburton and KBR are still responsible for the care of US troops.

That is a disgrace.