KBR served soldiers in Iraq ice contaminated with body fluids and human body remains

[e-brake]

The scandals for KBR just keep coming. The former Halliburton subsidiary responsible for the sexual assault of Jamie Leigh Jones and the accidental electrocution of a U.S. soldier is now subject of a class-action lawsuit for exposing employees to "unsafe water, food, and hazardous fumes" at the largest U.S. installation in Iraq.
According to the Army Times, Joshua Eller, a former technician with the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing, said that while he was stationed at Balad Air Force Base in 2006, he experienced skin lesions that spread and became worse, along with debilitating blisters on his feet, vomiting, cramping, diarrhea, and severe abdominal pain.
As former KBR Water Purification Specialist Ben Carter described in this clip from Iraq for Sale and in his Congressional testimony, KBR failed to provide adequate water safety, resulting in toxic drinking and bathing water. This war profiteer also failed to manage a medical incinerator properly, instead disposing medical waste and human remains in an open air burn pit. Eller claims that at one point, he saw a wild dog running around the base with a human arm in its mouth that KBR had dumped into the pit. And the grizzly kicker, the suit accuses KBR of using mortuary trucks that "still had traces of body fluids and putrefied remains in them when they were loaded with ice" later served to U.S. troops.
It's high time we hold KBR and Halliburton accountable. Hopefully, Congress will pass Rep. Jan Schakowsky's bill to phase out private military contractors altogether over the next five years. Until then, I fear these scandals stemming from KBR's blatant disregard for the welfare of our soldiers in Iraq will continue.

[tricky]

Originally Posted by e-brake

It's high time we hold KBR and Halliburton accountable. Hopefully, Congress will pass Rep. Jan Schakowsky's bill to phase out private military contractors altogether over the next five years. Until then, I fear these scandals stemming from KBR's blatant disregard for the welfare of our soldiers in Iraq will continue.

It's more than just dollars and cents. Shit like this is unacceptable and if we have to pay more to have the Army do it, so be it. Just like environmental regulation, some things are expensive but absolutely worth the cost.

[Nyteshade]

Originally Posted by tricky

It's more than just dollars and cents. Shit like this is unacceptable and if we have to pay more to have the Army do it, so be it. Just like environmental regulation, some things are expensive but absolutely worth the cost.

The quality of such things can vary greatly by unit. Military guys often cut corners too but there is usually a lot more oversight on that end and if they get busted cutting said corners, heads roll.

Joshua Eller, a former technician with the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing, said that while he was stationed at Balad Air Force Base in 2006, he experienced skin lesions that spread and became worse, along with debilitating blisters on his feet, vomiting, cramping, diarrhea, and severe abdominal pain.

I gotta ask, was he retarded and drinking the water that's used in the showers and bathrooms?

Note before the usual bullshit starts: If KBR wasn't keeping the water up to proper standards even for bathing water, crucify them. But it should be noted that the water for showering and laundry isn't fit for drinking. This is common knowledge there and there is literally TONS of bottled water available.

[e-brake]

Originally Posted by Nyteshade

The quality of such things can vary greatly by unit. Military guys often cut corners too but there is usually a lot more oversight on that end and if they get busted cutting said corners, heads roll.

This is the big issue, oversight. KBR/Halliburton has been operating for 8 years now under blanket immunity that made it impossible to hold them accountable for cutting corners. The only reason it has taken 8 years for them to be sued for this crap is because it was illegal to sue them until now. This lawsuit would not have even been possible in the previous 8 years, its only recent rule changes from the Pentagon and the Iraqi government that has finally opened the door for lawsuits against the contractors working on the biggest Us airbase base in Iraq.

This was the reason that Halliburton cut that chunk of its operations off into a new company called KBR last year. They knew that sooner or later they would be held accountable, and now that the lawsuits are starting the Halliburton assets are safe from any liability and KBR has is now so small that they have little or no assets to lose when the judgments start to roll in against them.