Forget Upside-Down Flags

[blzrul]

KBR Ineptitude Kills Soldier(s).

 

There's no excuse for this. And will anyone be surprised to learn that a government contractor, seeking to rape the taxpayers for every last penny, cut corners and placed our soldiers at risk, needlessly.

 

No excuses.

[molson_golden2002]

Are the families allowed to sue the company for this? Or are they protected on the grounds that it would be a "frivilous law suit?"

[KD in CA]

Well gee, they got a "Level III Corrective Action Request" so there's not much more you can do to someone after that.

 

[Steely Dan]

This what happens when we give a single company all that power. It's inconsequential to them even if they can be sued.

 

There's no date on the article but it appears it's from last May.

 

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.

[blzrul]

I would like to see the CEO and BOD brought up on some sort of charges...and KBR removed from the GSA list for ...as many years as possible.

[Chef Jim]

I would like to see the CEO and BOD brought up on some sort of charges...and KBR removed from the GSA list for ...as many years as possible.

 

Maybe we can get your dreamboat John Edwards on the case.

[Steely Dan]

Maybe we can get your dreamboat John Edwards on the case.

 

 

I guess you don't think this a serious problem. It certainly sounds like you don't after that comment.

[blzrul]

 

I guess you don't think this a serious problem. It certainly sounds like you don't after that comment.

Wingnuts like to politicize everything. They have their own laws of association. You have to break it down:

 

Wingnuts' boy Bush started the war.

 

Bushboy's boss, uncle Dick, used to run Halliburton.

 

KBR is a "subsidry" of Halliburton.

 

Hence holding KBR responsible for unconscionable, intentional greed-driven acts that kill our soldiers, is anti-Bush and anyone who says anything bad about KBR will be called unpatriotic and for good measure they'll throw a "Bush Bad" at you.

 

Got it? Good. Now explain that to the families of the dead soldiers.

[Chef Jim]

 

I guess you don't think this a serious problem. It certainly sounds like you don't after that comment.

 

You can guess all you want about how I feel about this situation based on one sentance where I busted Deb's "nutz".

[elegantelliotoffen]

There's a good reason why they call KBR "Kill, Bag, & Replace".

[SD Jarhead]

KBR Ineptitude Kills Soldier(s).

 

There's no excuse for this. And will anyone be surprised to learn that a government contractor, seeking to rape the taxpayers for every last penny, cut corners and placed our soldiers at risk, needlessly.

 

No excuses.

 

Without all the usual bantering, I agree this is criminal and charges should be filed. I have found the defense contractor world to be full of fraud, waste and abuse...and I work for one! While I'm not certain that the CEO and Board are responsible for this, clearly someone is responsible for this neglect. Wrong is wrong- political BS aside.

 

Net-net: Someone needs to be prosecuted for this gross neglect.

[SD Jarhead]

There's a good reason why they call KBR "Kill, Bag, & Replace".

 

Did you make that up little man or read it on Daily Kooks? You're a witty dude for a retard!

[ExiledInIllinois]

You don't say?

 

[elegantelliotoffen]

Did you make that up little man or read it on Daily Kooks? You're a witty dude for a retard!

 

Actually it was made up by KBR employees.

 

After 15 months driving a truck for KBR, Jim Bob Murray returned from Iraq. He says too many of his friends were getting killed, and he didn't like the way the company treated the drivers.

 

"The nickname we had for KBR was Kill 'em, Bag 'em and Replace 'em.

[blzrul]

Actually it was made up by KBR employees.

Hmm. I hear SILENCE from the right.

 

In any event this wasn't a political thread. It was a thread of outrage and has more to do with accountability and responsibility and making things right for our soldiers.

[Chef Jim]

This....

 

Hmm. I hear SILENCE from the right.

 

Followed by this...

 

In any event this wasn't a political thread.

 

 

Makes me do this.....

 

[elegantelliotoffen]

Hmm. I hear SILENCE from the right.

 

In any event this wasn't a political thread. It was a thread of outrage and has more to do with accountability and responsibility and making things right for our soldiers.

 

Not to mention that KBR was making drivers risk their lives driving empty trucks around a warzone to increase their profits.

 

Halliburton-subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR) has a contract to transport supplies to U.S. troops in Iraq. But some KBR drivers say they were often assigned to make the dangerous trips with empty trucks. KBR records confirm the trucks were dispatched empty of cargo, but the company denies it tried to pad profits. NPR's Kathleen Schalch reports.

 

KBR's contract with the Defense Department allows the company to pass on the cost of the transportation and add 1 percent to 3 percent for profit, but neither KBR nor the U.S. Army Field Support Command in Rock Island, Ill., which oversees the contract, was able to provide cost estimates for the empty trucks.

 

http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summa...286-7596706_ITM

[SD Jarhead]

Hmm. I hear SILENCE from the right.

In any event this wasn't a political thread. It was a thread of outrage and has more to do with accountability and responsibility and making things right for our soldiers.

 

Please don't count me as one of the Leftist Loons that populate the majority of this board just because I agreed with you in another thread. Wrong is wrong- from the left or the right.

 

I believe I regularly weigh in on corruption regardless of party. Ted Stevens- POS, Larry Craig- POS, Duke Cunningham-POS.

 

And even though this is not the subject of this thread I would like to see similar outrage when the corrupt official is from the other side of the aisle. Charlie Rangel- POS, Barney Frank- POS, Chris Dodd- POS. To be fair, there is a similar respone of crickets chirping from the left when Dem's are corrupt. The best thing we can do for our nation is to root out the corruption where we find it regardless of party.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

[KD in CA]

Hmm. I hear SILENCE from the right.

 

When do you ever hear a response to elegantidiot from anybody?

[elegantelliotoffen]

Please don't count me as one of the Leftist Loons that populate the majority of this board just because I agreed with you in another thread. Wrong is wrong- from the left or the right.

 

I believe I regularly weigh in on corruption regardless of party. Ted Stevens- POS, Larry Craig- POS, Duke Cunningham-POS.

 

And even though this is not the subject of this thread I would like to see similar outrage when the corrupt official is from the other side of the aisle. Charlie Rangel- POS, Barney Frank- POS, Chris Dodd- POS. To be fair, there is a similar respone of crickets chirping from the left when Dem's are corrupt. The best thing we can do for our nation is to root out the corruption where we find it regardless of party.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Ted Stevens, Larry Craig, and Duke Cunningham were all found guilty of crimes. Nice attempt at a moral equivalency scam Jughead. Any rightwing hack with an ounce of intelligence knows that William Jefferson is the go-to guy for dismissing the corruption of the Republicans.