KBR Pissing in The Water
Not for rape, or murder this time though. It seems they have learned at least a little bit from previous experiences and are, at the very least, keeping those kinds of things quite and out of sight. No, this time our contractor friends are in the news for supplying contaminated water to U.S. soldiers and other military personnel. I don’t know which offence is worse, to be honest.
The water in question wasn’t used for drinking water, rather water used for sanitation and the like. The military maintains standards for water used for drinking, or potable water, as well as non-potable water, or water used for laundry, shaving, bathing, and so forth. KBR did manage to maintain and preserve the standards for potable water, but neglected its duties in the department of non-potable water.
The Associated Press managed to get their hands on a report by a Pentagon watchdog which describes the unsafe water. Discolored, smelly water was what was being provided to our servicemen and women (I’m sure it says more, but I cannot find anymore), and the effects suffered by our troops are listed as abscesses, cellulitis, skin infections, diarrhea and other illnesses. Apparently it isn’t enough for our troops to have to worry about the myriad threats that Iraq presents, they now have to worry about whether or not the water they use is safe to wash cloths in.
The report digs back until March 2004 and runs through February 2006 and involves three sites run by KBR as well as two military installations. So not only does KBR find itself cutting costs and inflicting damage to our military, but they do the very same to their own employees. Well done guys! And to think that KBR is the largest recipient of government dollars for war contracting, over $15 billion dollars in contracts. Yet they won’t bother to maintain minimum standards on the contracts they accept.
As you may imagine, KBR disputed the claims initially, actually, it was Halliburton Co. who disputed the claims as they were the parent company to KBR. Though how you could dispute claims that your company had ‘missed contamination that could have caused mass sickness or death at Ar Ramadi.’ I do not know. I suppose it has something to do with not having a soul.
I’ll let any interested parties review the article for themselves, I hate spoiling the end. But I must again ask an old question: Why do we continue to allow civilian companies billions and billions of dollars to perform duties in war zones when we have military personnel trained and capable of doing the same job? There have been more cases of blatant abuse and neglect by current contractors in this war than I can count. Yes, the military has screwed up royally a few times, but they have been held accountable for their actions; contractors have free reign in Iraq to do as they please.
So, here is your link and I am out. Just remember kids, these contractor scum are being paid to provide substandard service to both U.S. military personnel and to the Iraqi people with your tax dollars. Later days.